How to Use Manga to Study Japanese in Japan

For students studying Japanese in Japan, finding materials to use to practice Japanese outside of the classroom is important and, depending on how you go about it, fun. Ideal for practicing spoken Japanese is, of course, a Japanese friend, but you can also study on your own by watching TV or movies, listening to music, or reading, especially manga. I find that manga are ideal for studying on your own for a variety of reasons. Manga, for those who are unsure, are Japanese comic books. You might be familiar with Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Naruto, or the Gundam series as popular manga that have also been turned into anime cartoons and gained an audience in America as well. In Japan, manga are everywhere and their readership spans all ages and both genders.

Manga are much shorter than books, and the writing in them appears in shorter bursts than full paragraphs or pages. In manga, you are mostly reading dialog. Although slang can make deciphering what the spiky-haired hero is saying challenging--since the phrases and contractions used often cannot be found in dictionaries--this can afford you great opportunities to ask your Japanese friends, host family, or sensei to explain.

It is also easier to concentrate on manga than on textbooks or novels. They are full of pictures, action, and drama. Many popular manga have an anime counterpart, allowing you double exposure to what you have been studying: you read the lines in the manga, and hear them in the anime. Granted, anime are not scripted verbatim from manga, but there are often word for word quotes scattered throughout. Manga and anime are a good way to give yourself a break from serious studying while still exposing you to Japanese.