Early on in my time learning Japanese I began to read manga. I had never really been interested in manga prior to learning Japanese, but I thought it would be a good place to start. To my surprise, it was not only an amazing way to start reading in Japanese, but also a great way to continue reading long into my journey. I am fully convinced that manga is one of the greatest tools for learning Japanese, so here's why you should give it a try.
There's a manga out there for you
One of the best
things about manga is the diversity of subject matter. Unlike with
English comics, Japanese manga is much more mainstream, so you have a
lot of genres to choose from. There are of course manga that cover
all genres of fiction, such as fantasy, action, historical/period,
slice of life, etc. But did you also know that there are non-fiction
manga? For instance the Manga de Wakaru （マンガで分かる）
series has
titles that cover all sorts of subjects, such as organic chemistry. Or Inside Darling's Head (ダーリンの頭ン中）
which
uses amusing conversations between the characters to discuss
differences between Japanese and English. So whatever it is that you're looking
for, there's bound to be a manga for you.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Which is pretty
fortunate for language learners. In the beginning especially, the
illustrations in manga will be a great aid in understanding what is
going on in the manga. Having images alongside the text will help you
to puzzle out new vocabulary meanings from context and help to
reinforce grammar by showing you who is doing what. Plus, because a
lot can be understood simply from the pictures, you don't necessarily
have to look up every single word in order to follow along. This
makes it easier to enjoy Japanese, which will help you to stay in
contact with the language for longer periods of time – and when it
comes to language learning, the only thing that really matters is
staying immersed.
An abundance of furigana
When it comes to
Japanese media, there are certain types that are easier for learners
to get into than others. In my experience, one of the biggest factors
in determining difficulty for media is whether or not it features
furigana. Some novels will have a little bit of furigana, but most
video games and other types of media completely lack it - aside from
manga, that is. Many manga series have furigana for every single
kanji, which means it's extremely easy to look up words. So while
manga can cover just about any subject, the abundance of furigana
helps to keep the difficulty level much lower.
Wherever you are
in your journey to learn Japanese, manga has something to offer you.
Check out the media introduction
section for some series recommendations, or search
around on your own for a title that you'd like to read. So if you
haven't tried reading manga yet - what are you waiting for? Grab a
volume and starting living Japanese.
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Wonderful post. Such a diverse range of genres and subject matter in the world of manga, indeed.
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