reading japanese visual novels

[Rocketzero]

a while ago i came across a post on visual novel air called how to read visual novel in japanese and i downloaded the program i"nteractive text hooker" but i don't know how to use it so can someone tell me how i can use the program to read the japanese text on visual novels?

[Guest]

I think a tutorial will do a better job than I.

 

Try this, I haven't checked it since I used a french tutorial but the idea is here.

[Nyanko]

Try this, I haven't checked it since I used a french tutorial but the idea is here.

Just wanted to link that, I also used that guide to set up everything.

 

Also on the same site: How to read visual novels in Japanese 2 years time 

[Rocketzero]

Just wanted to link that, I also used that guide to set up everything.

 

Also on the same site: How to read visual novels in Japanese 2 years time 

I finally got it to work, thanks alot you guys and i'm sorry for the late reply.

[Tatsujin]

Just wanted to link that, I also used that guide to set up everything.

 

Also on the same site: How to read visual novels in Japanese 2 years time 

lol ... you seriously gotta learn ALL 2000+ Kanjis in order to read Japanese? That's just down-straight stupid. I heard it was 300 for elementary, 800 to be socially active and 1200 or 1600 if you are a lawyer or something like that. Someone confirm, I can't believe 2000+ that's just ... sorry :/

What does mnemonics mean?

[sanahtlig]

You don't NEED to learn 2000 kanji to read visual novels.  That's what dictionaries are for.  Some VNs are more difficult--much more difficult--than others.  You're going to want to stay away from those to start off with.

 

You can actually play most VNs using machine translation alone.  It's not pretty but it gets the job done if all you want to do is understand what's going on.

[sion12]

I do wonder how many you need to learn before you can read most VN effortlessly. i study Chinese until primary year 5 learning about 300-ish words per semester at most and i can read any chinese novel/newspaper fine so i guess as long as you are on par with primary level of kanji in japn you should be fine?

 

funny thing is i dont know if knowing chinese made it easier or harder to learn japanese because on one hand you can remember and understand most Kanji(by itself) instantly (but not all the different readings) but on the other hand when kanji is used in sentence it or with other kanji it often mean something completely different

[zoom909]

They'll throw around 2000 kanji and their various pronunciations and meanings at you.  Even for slice-of-life.  That's what you need in order to read effortlessly  For more complex stories, the number goes up from there...

 

But of course you don't have to learn all of them to begin reading in Japanese.  That's why mankind invented dictionaries (and in the case of Japanese, aids such as furigana and text hookers)

You start with the easiest, most common ones, because those are the ones you encounter the most.  Then, the more you learn, the less you have to look up, and your speed increases.

 

That's why I think it's a bad idea to learn 2000 kanji before you study anything else.  You could be starting to read during that time.

[sanahtlig]

Kanji are just one of the many obstacles to learning the language--and ironically, Japanese is even harder to read when rendered completely in hiragana.  The problem can be mostly circumvented using programs that display furigana over the kanji you don't know.  They're usually--but not always--accurate.  Much of a VNs text is spoken so kanji aren't that big of a deal.  Lack of vocabulary and grammar understanding is what makes reading VNs difficult, not lack of kanji knowledge.  Kanji are only a problem if you can't text hook or listen to the words being spoken.

[Pabloc]

Well, it's like Zoom and Sanahtlig already said (except that small remark about machine translators - you can't understand anything with them).

 

Cramming 2000-something arbitrary characters is 1) hard, 2) time-consuming, 3) boring and 4) it still may be insufficient for a lot VNs.

It's the best idea to leave kanji for last, and start studying them after you will be able to read VNs with MeCab/JParser/other dictionaries. If you have very good memory, you will automatically memorize common ones while reading, without even trying too much. Also, like this, you will only learn stuff that is actually used in VNs (that's a big plus if you aren't planning to use your JP for anything beside reading for now). By memorizing random kanji, you can end up learning completely useless stuff (depending on your source).

[Tatsujin]

I want to rephrases what I was asking. I mean to say the 2000+ MOON LETTERS that do not look like the same as the others. I know that if you combine few Kanji (and possibly Kanji plus hiragana/katakana? correct me if I'm wrong) then the way it is pronounced will change to fit the actual theme or word or THING. That much I understand. So my question implied on the 2000+ moon letters (no character is the same as the other one in terms of strokes) - that's my question.

[sanahtlig]

So my question implied on the 2000+ moon letters (no character is the same as the other one in terms of strokes) - that's my question.

Your question isn't even a question.  I have no idea what you want to know after your "clarification".

[Pabloc]

@Tatsujin

Kanji = single, unique character = moon letter. And yes, that magical 2000+ refers to those. Bonus - each character still counts as 1, even if it has multiple readings and meanings (and most of those do). ^^

Combined kanji (or kanji compounds) indeed can form different words. To make things funnier, those words can mean something that can't be easily deduced from the meanings of the individual kanji that make them up. ^^

As for hiragana, when it's added to a kanji, it's generally responsible for grammatical stuff (it's called okurigana then).

[Tatsujin]

@Tatsujin

Kanji = single, unique character = moon letter. And yes, that magical 2000+ refers to those. Bonus - each character still counts as 1, even if it has multiple readings and meanings (and most of those do). ^^

Combined kanji (or kanji compounds) indeed can form different words. To make things funnier, those words can mean something that can't be easily deduced from the meanings of the individual kanji that make them up. ^^

As for hiragana, when it's added to a kanji, it's generally responsible for grammatical stuff (it's called okurigana then).

Alright, that makes sense. Thanks, Pabloc.

[Rocketzero]

You don't NEED to learn 2000 kanji to read visual novels.  That's what dictionaries are for.  Some VNs are more difficult--much more difficult--than others.  You're going to want to stay away from those to start off with.

 

You can actually play most VNs using machine translation alone.  It's not pretty but it gets the job done if all you want to do is understand what's going on.

and i'm seeing that popotan is one of the more difficulty ones