VNs for learning Japanese

[M1rv3]

I just finished my last Class of Japanese in my University and got UNICERT level A2. Since I want to continue to learn japanese and improve my skills I was thinking "hey maybe there is a learning VN or something to help me here" since learning with playing should be a good method ^^

So Id appriciate it, if one of you guys know some games/vns that teach japanese. Since I do know some stuff, it doesnt have to be on a complete beginner level. Id love to learn some more Kanji (I know about 110), and some grammar. 

 

PS: If you dont know what UNICERT A2 means, its basicly a certifact in Europe to classify the speaking abilities of a person. There are A1,2 B1,2 and C1,2. Meaning A - Beginner, B - business, C - native language.

[tahu157]

110 kanji probably isn’t enough to keep reading VNs from being a totally frustrating experience. But if you want to try, this list was put together by r/visualnovels

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnyyDt7jimEz-dgeMSKymRaT2r3QKBPm9AzqZ6oUWAs/pub

[namiultedjapanXD]

One of my first VNs I read in Japanese was Aikagi. Its a short (2-10 hrs) vanilla and heartwarming story that I found to be a good start. It's not the most exciting VN out there but I like to read a nice romance VN every now and then. The art is great and the sentences are short. The vocab is basically 100% slice of life so it is very easy. Every time I start a untranslated VN my reading pace is slow until I get a little bit further in where I get the flow that writer intended. At that point I am able to read pretty quick which makes it very fun to read. 

[M1rv3]

It would be nice if the used kanji had the reading above them. I saw that sometimes used in Anime shows for kids. I should have added that I can read hiragana and katakana of course ^^

regarding that list, as far as I can see they are just normal vns right ? I thought more of a active learning, instead of just reading like a book. This way I dont have to look up everything I dont know, which would be every other word for me ^^

But I defently check the list out

Edited February 12, 2019 by M1rv3

[VirginSmasher]

Honestly, any Japanese reader will tell you to read whatever you find the most interesting. I wouldn't go jumping into a VN by Mareni, Masada, or Romeo right off the bat, but just pick something that will hold your interest and use a text hooker to help memorize vocab that'll pop up throughout your reading.

[Fiddle]

In case you haven't seen it:

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Fiddle

[M1rv3]

20 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

Honestly, any Japanese reader will tell you to read whatever you find the most interesting. I wouldn't go jumping into a VN by Mareni, Masada, or Romeo right off the bat, but just pick something that will hold your interest and use a text hooker to help memorize vocab that'll pop up throughout your reading.

Can you recommend a good text hooker ? I just recently learned about them, but have no clue how they work and what to use

[bakauchuujin]

I would recomend VNs based on series that have already had an anime before the VN. Some examples would be Nisekoi: Yomeiri!?, New Game! The Challenge Stage! and Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?? Wonderful Party!. They generally use rather simple language, many of them have voice acting for all of the characters including the main character and if you are familiar with and like the anime/manga/LN they came from it is most likely going to be easier to understand what is going on as well as feel motivated to continue. A downside is of course that these are generally only on PS4 and PS vita which I would assume doesn't work with text hookers or at least complicates it and you of course need the console.

[VirginSmasher]

7 hours ago, M1rv3 said:

Can you recommend a good text hooker ? I just recently learned about them, but have no clue how they work and what to use

Textractor is the best one out there right now. I use it in combination with Chiitrans as a parser for dictionary definitions and look up random words it doesn't hook properly online. Here's the git for it.

https://github.com/Artikash/Textractor/releases

[Ren'ai Arrow]

Pick something that looks interesting from here

11 hours ago, tahu157 said:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnyyDt7jimEz-dgeMSKymRaT2r3QKBPm9AzqZ6oUWAs/pub

and read. Just read, and keep reading. Use a text hooker (I use Textractor + Chiitrans Lite) but do not use a machine translation, it'll just impede your progress. It's also nice to mine the words into a vocabulary deck on Anki so you can retain them better, but the most important thing is that you read. Every. Single. Day.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Ren'ai Arrow

[Sparteh]

Hanahira. Seriously, this is probably the first untranslated VN for the majority of untranslated readers. 

18 hours ago, tahu157 said:

110 kanji probably isn’t enough to keep reading VNs from being a totally frustrating experience. But if you want to try, this list was put together by r/visualnovels

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnyyDt7jimEz-dgeMSKymRaT2r3QKBPm9AzqZ6oUWAs/pub

This list here has a variety of relatively easy VNs, however I need to make a few notes. Start with more school life stuff like Flyable hearts, Hoshimemo or Key works. School life is the basic vocabulary for wast majority of other novels (since nearly all of them takes place in highschool). Avoid Eustia, Baldr, Route Double, Subahibi, Chuusingura, Himawari or Island for now. They do have specific vocabulary that will make your reading hard if you know little of JP. 

[adamstan]

8 minutes ago, Sparteh said:

Hanahira. Seriously, this is probably the first untranslated VN for the majority of untranslated readers.

Yeah, I'm going through it now. It's just sugar and fluff, but pretty enjoyable and funny. The only difficult thing for beginner might be lots of weird contractions (typical for casual speech) they use sometimes. For example, I had to search and scratch my head for a while before I got what "ひとんち" was - it was shortened 人のうち ("someone's house"). Nevertheless, I read it with texthooker (I use ITHVNR + Rikaichan) for looking up unknown words, and it's manageable this way.

Edited February 13, 2019 by adamstan

[M1rv3]

12 hours ago, VirginSmasher said:

Textractor is the best one out there right now. I use it in combination with Chiitrans as a parser for dictionary definitions and look up random words it doesn't hook properly online. Here's the git for it.

https://github.com/Artikash/Textractor/releases

Thanks I got both to work, they are really usefull but yeah, Ive to look up basicly every kanji there is^^

I dont know if Im doing it right but, do I have to copy the phrase from textractor and paste it into chiitrans everytime I want to look up something ? Did I something wrong or shouldnt it take the text automaticly ?

EDIT: Nevermind I figured it out. Thanks again, it does really help alot. I started with "私のリアルは充実しすぎている" since it looks interessting and is free

Edited February 13, 2019 by M1rv3

[Ren'ai Arrow]

3 hours ago, M1rv3 said:

I dont know if Im doing it right but, do I have to copy the phrase from textractor and paste it into chiitrans everytime I want to look up something ? Did I something wrong or shouldnt it take the text automaticly ?

Just set up Chiitrans to capture the text from the clipboard in the settings while making sure that the Textrator extension for copying the text to clipboard is active.

[adamstan]

Wow, I just switched to Textractor+Chiitrans combo, and it's great - much better than convoluted setup involving rikaichan inside an obsolete version of Firefox etc... Thanks

[Clephas]

On 2/12/2019 at 1:27 PM, M1rv3 said:

Can you recommend a good text hooker ? I just recently learned about them, but have no clue how they work and what to use

My advice is to download all the text hookers.  Textractor works for a lot of stuff but not everything.  Some stuff will only work with good-'ol agth, others with the original ITH, and yet others with ITHVNR or VNR.  While you can rely on your primary (Textractor in this case) you shouldn't hesitate to switch as needed or search out h-codes.

[KoiitoKinenbi]

On 2/14/2019 at 1:13 AM, Clephas said:

My advice is to download all the text hookers.  Textractor works for a lot of stuff but not everything.  Some stuff will only work with good-'ol agth, others with the original ITH, and yet others with ITHVNR or VNR.  While you can rely on your primary (Textractor in this case) you shouldn't hesitate to switch as needed or search out h-codes.

I managed to get it to hook without problems using Textractor! Thanks for your help.