#Weekly Graded Readers

131 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

hearty loom
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This chat is dedicated to providing a weekly graded reader for people that are new to Japanese and want to get involved in the book club, but don't feel comfortable yet with the difficulty of reading an entire novel. Each week a new free reader will be posted and anyone that wishes can participate in discussion about the reading, ask questions about anything you're unsure about and get more comfortable reading in Japanese.

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Questions for the reading:
1.) Why are the children playing じゃんけん?
2.) What did the winner of the first round play (in kana or English)?
3.)What happened to the second piece of cake?

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please use spoilers for your answers to hide them any other readers.

sweet latch
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Thank you for setting this up, it was pretty validating 🙂 kudos to a recent Unit. 1. ||Dividing 2 pieces of cake among 3 children|| 2. ||チョキ (scissors)|| 3. || 猫は食べた (The cat ate it)||

hearty loom
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I think you learn a lot more in Unit 1 than it seems like. until you get around to actually using it

clever urchin
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|| 1。ケーキが二つ,でも三人。Only two pieces of cake for 3 children.
2。チョキ
3。猫食べた。
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This was cute and easy, thanks 🙂

hearty loom
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Weekly Reading for 5-19: https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/8884/ Level - 1 Reader, slightly more difficult than last week's reading.

Questions for reading:
1.) What are the names of our character's in this story?
2.)Where did they go?
3.) What is the Japanese word for Icicle?
4.) What did they make in the back yard?

にほんごたどく
admin
ディアさんの冬休み

ディアさんはタイ人の留学生です。ディアさんは雪を見たことがありません。冬休みに日本人のなおみさんと山梨へ行きました。二人は雪でいろいろなものを作りました。

lament gazelle
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  1. ||ディアとなおみさん||
  2. ||山梨へ||
  3. ||つららと思う||
  4. ||雪だるまとかまくらだね||
whole basin
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Just finished reading this weeks grader. Anyone else feel like this one was way harder than last week's? Still pretty easy but I feel like it went from kindergarten to like 2nd-3rd grade level.

hearty loom
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It was. The jump from 0 to 1 is massive.

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I'm going to be rotating from 0 to 2 each week, so people have some variety and get at least 1 grader a month they can participate in even if they're just starting out

whole basin
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Sounds like a great idea, i didn't realize this week was level 1. Excited to see what level 2 looks like.

plain quartz
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  1. ||ヂィアさんとなおみさん||
  2. ||山梨に来ました||
  3. ||「Icicle」は日本語で「つらら」です||
  4. ||雪だるまとかまくらを作りました||
clever urchin
hearty loom
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Yea, I'll see how the group feels about level 2 next week, if everyone feels it's too difficult we can just alternate between 0 and 1 for awhile

lament gazelle
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It wasn't much harder from my perspective, just more text.

hearty loom
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if nothing else it was about 4 times as many words.

whole basin
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way more kanji too, level 0 barely had any kanji.

lament gazelle
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Kanji is your friend

hearty loom
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for sure, but definately increases the difficulty early on 🙂

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also, if you could do that level 1 reader, you can probably do the current manga.

lament gazelle
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How can it increase the difficulty with furigana?

whole basin
whole basin
lament gazelle
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I get frustrated of to much text, especially text I hardly understand but not because of Kanji with Furigana alone.

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That are two different things for me.

lament gazelle
whole basin
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Lucky for us we have been studying for a few years so it's not really a problem, but for those people who are under a year it could be.

lament gazelle
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More text plus Kanji, yes.
Same text with Kanji and Furigana instead of Hiragana, no.

whole basin
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I think it just depends on the person lol

clever urchin
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Sometimes I'm so mad when there is Hiragana instead of Kanji with Furigana. Then I'm like "I might have understood that word faster, if I would've seen the Kanji " ^^

plain quartz
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The first text featured sentences with very few words, and a "story" centred around an instantly recognisable game that made it even easier to guess what the words mean even if you don't know them, and then the game is even repeated in the few pages. The second text has a much, much larger vocabulary and longer, albeit still structurally simple, sentences. I didn't struggle with the second text but honestly I find it kinda absurd to suggest that the second one isn't objectively on a more difficult level

vestal topaz
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I'm a little late but thanks for doing this! For the Jankenpon one, I'm curious, how does rock become グー and paper パー?

I think for scissors it comes from the onomatopoeia for cutting right? (チョキチョキ)

whole basin
vestal topaz
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oh cool!

vestal topaz
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Thanks!

glacial ridge
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  1. || ヂィアとなおみ ||
  2. || やまなし ||
  3. || つらら ||
  4. || ゆきだるま ||
lament gazelle
glacial ridge
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Ah right

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Hmm what is the phonetic difference between ディ and ヂ?

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is the second one dzi or something?

lament gazelle
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Yeah something like dzi or zhi

acoustic plinth
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  1. ||ディアとなおみさん||
  2. ||山梨||
  3. ||つらら||
  4. ||雪だるまとかまくら(雪の家)||
hearty loom
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@graceful plinth this is the thread

graceful plinth
hearty loom
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so each week I'll post a reader, the level of the reader is the difficulty. 0 is the easiest and either 2 or 3 will be the hardest I link to from this channel

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and then some questions to help with reading for comprehension if you want to do them

whole basin
graceful plinth
hearty loom
whole basin
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@floral bridge here it is.

floral bridge
hearty loom
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Reading Questions:
1.) What were the names of the three strangers from the start of the story?
2.)Why were the strangers mad at まるおくん？
3.)Who climbed the tree?
4.) What happened after the big fall?

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Rereading this, 2 is the hardest we're gonna get. This is another jump from before. Do note that level 2 it reads 'backwards'

glacial ridge
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  1. || 山田 と 川口 と 小川 ||
  2. || まるおくん's cat caused their bird to escape? ||
  3. || 山田さん ||
  4. || the kanji in their names were mixed up ||
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that was a pretty hard one, I followed tadoku reader's suggestions and didnt look anything up. The confusing part was after the main character shouts and they all get mixed up or something

hearty loom
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yeah, I don't think I'll be going up to 3, so expect next weekend's to be another 0

whole basin
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Oh man this week's was difficult for me, I think I was able to follow about 90% of it but it was definitely hard to read.

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The pics helped a lot, totally forgot how much visuals can help when reading.

hearty loom
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yea, like I said, this is the hardest it's gonna get

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I think the jump from this to a manga is not to big

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so as a "bridge" reading group, it's a pretty solid option

whole basin
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If im being honest the manga was probably easier for me to read/understand compared to this weeks graded reader 😄

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it might be because I have never read anything in that particular style before right to left/ up to down.

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well, the manga is like that too now that I think about it. Maybe because the sentences were way longer? idk 🤷

glacial ridge
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it was kind of a weird plot to begin with lol

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I actually read it a few days ago before this because im just going through all the free readers. There's been a few top/down ones and that adds to the difficulty yea

plain quartz
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1.) ||山田さん、川口さん、小川さん||
2.)　||まるおくんの猫は三人のとりを逃がしましたから。||
3.)　||山田さん||
4.) ||漢字の顔をした人の顔は変わった。||
Definitely would have had problems without the pictures 😅 but also I wouldn't have been able to understand this a month ago at all, so progress shark_pikapika

hearty loom
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That's the primary goal here. Getting to see that progress!

hearty loom
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This week's reader, back to level 0 - https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/8757/
1.) What are the names of our two main charcters?
2.) What plans do they decide to do while in the office?
3.) What is the onomatopoeia for a doorbell sound?
4.) What happened inside the appartment?

にほんごたどく
admin
まだ？

田中さんと大川さんは同じ会社の社員です。田中さんは大川さんの家へ遊びに行きますが、大川さんは、なかなかドアを開けません。「まだ？」「もう少し待って」「まだ？」「待って、待って、もう少し」･･･。「まだ」と「もう」が、たくさん出てくるお話です。 NPO多言語多読の会員が読みもの作成ワークショップで作りました。

glacial ridge
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thats a good one

plain quartz
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  1. ||大川さんと田中さん||
    2.　||大川さんのうちにいっしょに飲みたい||
  2. ||ぴんぽーん||
    4.　||サプライズ　誕生日のパーチイー||
silk dock
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  1. ||田中さんと大川さん||
    2.||大川さんの家へ飲みます||
    3.||ピンポン||
    4.||田中さんの誕生日パーティー||
hearty loom
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I like this reading because it shows how the same phrase can be used in a few different ways...there is another that we'll do for いいです

whole basin
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I have been reading each story at least twice on 2 different days and I find it's always easier to read/understand the second time around.

hearty loom
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This week's reading：https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/6645/#bd-look-inside

Level：０
1.) Who is our main character for this story and why are they in Japan?
2.)What are some of the ways "いいです" is used in the story?
3.)What is the part time job of the main character?
4.)レジ袋は？ is a phrase you'll hear if you ever visit japan, what does it mean?

whole basin
hearty loom
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mostly because I wanted to do this book after the last book

plain quartz
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1.) ||ケンさんは日本で日本語を勉強します。||
2.) ||As a compliment, as agreement, as permission||
3.) ||コンビにに働きます。||
4.)|| It's a plastic bag at a register.||

hearty loom
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oh I will be adding this to all future readings as well:

A.) What new word or phrase did you learn from this reading?

bronze comet
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My answers are a bit lengthy but ELA ptsd is real: || 1) Who is our main character for this story and why are they in Japan?
The main character is Ken. He is a high school student and is in Japan to study Japanese. ||

|| 2) What are some of the ways "いいです" is used in the story?
In the page where he meets Sakura, he says it to her, complimenting her hat.
In the page where Sakura invites him to eat ramen together, he says it to agree to go with her.
In the page where they are ordering ramen, he seems to say that the Tonkotsu ramen is a good choice, so he orders it too.
In the page where the boy asks if the seat next to his is free, he says it to tell the boy it's fine to sit next to him. ||

|| 3) What is the part time job of the main character?
The part time of the main character is at the convenience store. ||

|| 4) レジ袋は？ is a phrase you'll hear if you ever visit japan, what does it mean?
Looking at how it is used and the picture of a plastic bag with the phrase near it, it seems to be used when you go to a store and they ask if you want your items in a bag. ||

|| 5) What new word/phrase did you learn from this reading?
Definitely “レジ袋は.” Seems like a nice thing to know that is probably not seen very often in study material. ||

hearty loom
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Something to note, is in convinience stores bags cost extra (a small amount, usually less than 20 yen) so they will always ask if you want a bag because they're going to charge if you say yes.

bronze comet
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oh i see

hearty loom
bronze comet
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oh yeah now that i look again the plastic bag has a price of 3 yen on it

hearty loom
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so, you can see, the bag would be an extra 3 yen

bronze comet
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thats interesting

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where i live, plastic bags are banned so if you forgot a bag you have to buy a reusable one for like $1 or else carry it all in your hands

hearty loom
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I believe it's either a trash or recycling based tax to discourage their usage

whole basin
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Me excitedly waiting for this week's reader.

hearty loom
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Ask and you shall receive!

This week's reading: https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/5180/ Pages 1-25 (This is a long one, we're gonna split it in half)

Level: 1
1.)Which member of the family catches the mouse?
2.)What do Keiji and Eiji have in common?
3.) What new word or phrase did you learn from this reading?

にほんごたどく
admin
にほんごえほん　あいちゃん２（１）

「にほんごえほん　あいちゃん」の続編。えびす家の楽しい5つの話が入っています。 ネズミがうちの中に入り込んで大騒ぎ!?「ネズミ」 ／ ふたごの好きなものは？「すき」 ／ 毎日の挨拶がたくさん出てきます。「おはようからおやすみまで」 ／ あいちゃんが迷子になっちゃった！「夏祭り」 ／ アルバムにはえびす家の歴史がつまっています。「アルバム」

bronze comet
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  1. ||えいじ catches the mouse.||
  2. ||They both do not like vegetables.||
  3. ||I learned the word for mouse (ねずみ). Managed to learn it with context clues!||
hearty loom
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Just got back in town at midnight last night and have to go to work at 8am today, so I'm gonna be a bit delayed in posting ths time. We'll be finishing up the rest of the previous reading

hearty loom
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Ask and you shall receive!

This week's reading: https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/5180/ Pages 26-63 (Second half of last time)

Level: 1
1.) What do you say when someone else is leaving the house?
2.)Who got lost at the festival?
3.)How did the lost child get described?
4.)Which picture was your favorite?

にほんごたどく
admin
にほんごえほん　あいちゃん２（１）

「にほんごえほん　あいちゃん」の続編。えびす家の楽しい5つの話が入っています。 ネズミがうちの中に入り込んで大騒ぎ!?「ネズミ」 ／ ふたごの好きなものは？「すき」 ／ 毎日の挨拶がたくさん出てきます。「おはようからおやすみまで」 ／ あいちゃんが迷子になっちゃった！「夏祭り」 ／ アルバムにはえびす家の歴史がつまっています。「アルバム」

whole basin
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Guess i'll just read it again this week 😄

hearty loom
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You should start by reading the whole post 😉

whole basin
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I never read the post

hearty loom
whole basin
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just find that hyper link and dive in baby 😄

whole basin
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Was rereading this weeks reader and i like how in the last story the grandma has passed away and they are reminiscing on old memories. I feel like it handles the concept of death in a children's story very well.

whole basin
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@hearty loom are we done with the weekly readers?

hearty loom
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has been just you and me, so not really been worth it to put stuff together

lament gazelle
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That's so demotivating. No matter what we try, we get hardly enough participation to justify our efforts. shark_cry

whole basin
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Plus I don't agree at all, we went from having nobody come to the bookclub except you and me, to having 5-10 people come every week. efforts have definitely been justified.

whole basin
lament gazelle
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We had that last year in the beginner book club, too. 5-10 people in the book club

whole basin
lament gazelle
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I'm not sure if this trend will continue. I hope for the best and expect a similar outcome to last year.

whole basin
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Again saying negative stuff like that doesn't help at all. if anything it's a hindrance. If people read that then it can only have a negative affect on the participation.

lament gazelle
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It's necessary to discuss this in my opinion. Without it, we can't evaluate how much effort is reasonable.
I'm always willing to get suggestions for the book club or be present in the VC.
But how much extra effort we put in is still debatable. And currently I'm not willing to do any extra effort for the Satori-Reader club or Graded Readers, even though I like these ideas and I'd love to see them prosper.

whole basin
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It doesn't take much effort to get people interested, I only posted a few times in other servers and was able to get a lot of people to show up. Once we decide on another manga I will do the same thing again and I think likely more people will be interested since a lot of the people in the other servers are moving to Japan in august and could use the extra study time.
We post in this server several times a day as well, all it takes is a promotional message here in there to garner interest, I personally don't see that as much effort. Saying that particpation will drop on the other hand is a self-fulfilling prophecy imo.

hearty loom
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I'm more than happy to start posting again in this channel if people are going to participate

lament gazelle
silk dock
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Sorry, I've started going back to the beginning and didn't keep up with the current one, but I do like this and have trouble finding other things at a level I'm comfortable with. I would also like to join the book club but since it's already several chapters ahead I'm afraid I might run into the same problem. I understand if the lack of participation here is discouraging but at least I'd like to ask to know when you start a new book over there so I can join.

whole basin
whole basin
silk dock
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Thank you

hearty loom
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The week of 5/27-6/2. https://yomujp.com/n6_valentinesday/

Difficulty: N6 (very easy)

Questions:

  1. What are the two holidays discussed in the reading?
  2. What is the difference between the two holidays?
  3. What new vocabulary were you exposed to in this reading?
日本語多読道場 yomujp
9640-yomujp
バレンタインデー - 日本語多読道場 yomujp

今日(きょう)は、2月(がつ)14日(か)、バレンタインデー（Valentine’s Day）です。日本(にほん)では、女(おんな)の人(ひと)が 男(おとこ)の人(ひと)に チョコレート（chocolate）を あげます。

glacial ridge
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|| valentines day and white day, on VD the boy gets chocolates, on WD the girl gets a present, I hadn't seen くる in くるでしょうか used like that before ||

silk dock
neon kiln
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|| 1. Valentine's Day & White Day; 2. On Valentine's, women give men chocolate while on White Day, men give women presents; 3. 後 = after or later, and the phrase 一か月後 means "A month later"||

neon kiln
hearty loom
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of course, never too late. and your answers were spot on!