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    Dual language books?

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    • F
      Firstname Lastname.8pup8tp last edited by

      i.e., 2 columns per page, one with the original Japanese, one with the English translation, with a box at the bottom for translator notes.

      It would help tremendously with learning to read Japanese.

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      • Nutaris
        Nutaris Premium Member last edited by

        Interesting idea, but it probably wouldn't be as useful as you would expect. Translation, especially from Japanese to English, isn't a 1 to 1.

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        • F
          Firstname Lastname.8pup8tp @Nutaris last edited by

          @Nutaris I'm aware, hence, translator notes block. And frankly, anyone at the level where reading a dual language book is practical should be aware enough about the differences between languages that they'd understand the differences in sentence structure, grammar, and likely some of the culturally specific features like honorifics, etc.

          It won't help much with grammar, but it would help develop vocabulary, and kanji recognition.

          The more important aspect is that it helps with motivation - you'd be learning while reading something you actually want to read, rather than practice phrases/passages.

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          • G
            GeorgeMTO @Firstname Lastname.8pup8tp last edited by GeorgeMTO

            @Firstname-Lastname-8pup8tp I figure such a thing is unlikely to be profitable to JNC (they'd likely need to pay an additional license fee in order to print the original Japanese text too, so it's not "free").

            I do know there are some dual language manga (Chobits is the only one coming to mind?) listed on the Japanese version of bookwalker if you think this is something that'd help you learn. I think their main purpose was more for JP readers trying to learn English than vice versa, so you'll probably have to look at things marketed to the JP audience rather than EN one.

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