Discussion Can you guys read a manga knowing basics of Japanese??!

[Shaher]

Hello,
I was wondering, can someone who knows to read only katakana or hiragana translate manga or he must know kanji?

 

[Ju-da-su]

Re: need some help

Doesn't mean to sound mean or anything...but go learn more first. Just being able to read what is being said without knowing what it means won't be enough for you to translate anything. After all, dictionary WILL NOT help you with every single thing in there. :S

 

[ikuroi]

Re: need some help

lol, well grammar is usually a big part of a language so, like the post above... no, it's not enough.

 

[raghu2345]

Can you guys read a manga knowing basics of Japanese??!
What would you do in that situation?

Thinkin' about it?

 

[TitaniumChloride]

Well, it's possible but it's really tedious and there's going to be a lot of stuff that won't make sense. Besides needing to know hirgana and katakana, a dictionary at hand and decent knowledge about the grammar can help a lot. Good sites to get started on grammar are JGram and Tae Kim's Japanese guide.

 

[~Brianma~]

Yeah, it will be very hard and 100% you will not enjoy it...

But on the brighter side, it is a good way to improve your Japanese language skills.

 

[raghu2345]

I am a beginner and I can read around 300-400 kanji.So I can read a manga with simple kanji with furigana. Ex.. Doraemon...

 

[~Brianma~]

Yeah, that is a good way too.

 

[Ju-da-su]

Sorry if this question sounds stupid, but...how basic? I need the standard before I can say anything... .-.

 

[`clone.]

I've been studying Japanese for three years and yet I still cannot read one manga page without any help. And besides, if you were to stop and analyse and translate each and every kanji in your mind, in my opinion, that would destroy the flow of the manga. I would prefer reading it in English and study more Japanese, until I am convinced that I can fluently translate one Japanese page without any help.

 

[Mushashi]

i did jap for 3 years at school and i didnt bludge (living in denial?!?!) i dont think but even the most action packed word lacking manga was hard to grasp, i could understand alright i guess but half of what i was reading was coming from the pictures, you need a bit more then the basics .

 

[raghu2345]

hmm.. maybe manga text are complicated

 

[Mushashi]

its not that its complicated, but you live in tokyo u should be able to read it.

 

[Poneglyph420]

Being fluent is not exactly required, but sure helps for more involved manga.
I knew nothing before I lived in Japan. For the most part most of my manga friends know almost no japanese at all.

Only matters if you want to read raws or translate IMO.

 

[TunaSFX]

It really depends on how you read the manga. If your gonna read online scanalations, then just knowing the basics are not enough. If you read the takoban volumes, those volumes usually have fumigana (little hiragana next to the kanji) However just knowing how to read it isn't enough. you have to be able to understand it as well. If you want to practice understanding japanese, you can look at some simple vocabulary words, or try the longer and more enjoyable method of watching anime.

 

[saladesu]

Furigana is present in non-tank raws (ie magazine raws) too, actually, but typically only for shounen and shoujo manga. Very rarely (or never) will you see furigana for seinen and josei manga regardless of their source, except for extremely uncommon/difficult words. This is because shounen and shoujo manga are aimed at a younger audience who may not be able to read even some of the simpler kanji.

Furigana would be very helpful since it enables you to be able to check a dictionary quickly and easily to find out the meaning of that word, but you also need to have some basic understanding of grammar at least to be able to have an inkling (note: not a full understanding) of what the sentence is saying.

Reading a manga without having a decent command of the language is possible but you'll only have a partial understanding. It's good practice, I can vouch for that since that was what I did when I just started picking up Japanese, too. But don't even try translating because chances are 80% of it will be incorrect and you'd just be misleading those who don't know any better.