Reading in Your Target Language
Reading in your target language is a great way to interact with your target language in a native format, as well as to be entertained.
I know that Japanese in particular (and other languages with non-Latin-based alphabets) can be daunting to begin reading. And a lot of beginner Japanese material can be boring.
But reading in your target language will provide a number of benefits if you can take that first leap into reading.
Some interesting information about the benefits of reading in general (from this post):
Emory University studied the brains of students (via fMRI) before and after reading a novel. They found increased connectivity in the brain areas involved in receptivity for language after reading, and (surprisingly) in the areas involved in physical sensation and movement. This effect lasted for up to 5 days in some subjects.
โThe neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist. We already knew that good stories can put you in someone elseโs shoes in a figurative sense. Now weโre seeing that something may also be happening biologically.โ
-Gregory S. Burns, MD, PhD
Other studies indicate that reading for just 30 minutes a week can produce the following benefits:
Readers are 20% more likely to feel happier about themselves and their lives, report less feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and lower feelings of loneliness. Non-readers are 28% more likely to report feelings of depression.
Readers have higher levels of self-esteem, coping abilities, empathy, creativity, and community spirit.
Readers are 27% more likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger and 50% more likely to enjoy it. Readers are 37% more likely to get greater pleasure out of their social lives.
Readers are better able to make decisions, plan and organize, and to prioritize.
Readers are 57% more likely to have a greater understanding of cultural diversity and social issues and 21% more likely to have greater general knowledge.
Why read in a foreign language?
To truly absorb a foreign language, you not only need to understand how to listen and speak, but also to write. Reading and writing in English (or your native language) uses a different set of prescribed language than listening or speaking in it.
Some benefits of reading:
Larger repository of vocabulary
If a five-year-old is read to daily, they will have heard over 300,000 words in their short life. If you read daily in a foreign language, you can experience similar exposure. And when you read, often more than a few of the difficult words tend to show up more than once in a book, thus allowing you to cement them in your memory.
While reading you will be exposed to idioms,ย set phrases,ย slang,ย colloquialisms, and other nuances of languages that you could miss if you learn stand-alone vocabulary (or stand-alone kanji). Language doesn't exist in a vacuum, and reading is seeing vocabulary (and kanji) in their native habitats.
Better understanding of grammar
Sentence structure, verb tenses, particles, etc. are all on display when you read in your target language, and the occurrences of particular structures can indicate the order of usefulness of the grammar. It will help you to cement in your brain the way grammar points are used and make it easier to remember particular set phrases.
Speaking, listening, & writing
Reading can help your language ability in all aspects. Knowing a wider range of vocabulary and understanding set phrases to use with grammar points will help your speaking to sound more fluent and to move away from textbook language and into the actual language for daily life.
You will learn written phrases and vocabulary, and can use them in your writing. This will help you to sound more mature in emails, rather than having to stick wtih short sentences with limited vocabulary.
In both writing and speaking you will be able to quickly know (by feeling) that a sentence is not quite correct. Just as in your native language, you will know instinctively when there is something off.
Your listening will improve as well as many of the phrases and vocabulary words you have read will come up in conversation (unless maybe it's the JLPT listening exam).
Other skills learned whilst reading in a foreign language include critical thinking and educated guesses. You will need to understand what you are reading, make smart guesses about meaning and context, and be careful to not skip over any crucial words or parts of speech. The more you read, the faster your brain can work to grasp all of this as quickly and effectively as possible
Culture, history, & knowledge
It is nearly impossible to become truly fluent in a language without understanding the culture and history behind the people who speak that language. Things that you are very familiar with in your native language oftentimes will not come across well if directly translated into a foreign language. The way that you view the world is likely different from the way someone who speaks a different language views it in a variety of ways.
Understanding the culture and the history of the country/countries a language is spoken in is just as important as understanding the vocabulary and grammar.
Finally, learning a language in general, but also reading native texts from a language, can help you to see the world in a different way, and to see language as a whole in a different way. Translating vocabulary, understanding how a grammar point works, and finding information from a different perspective will help you to better understand your culture, your language, and the world around you.
