Three Ways to Improve Your Japanese Reading Ability

Someone asked me a few days ago what my secret is for learning Japanese. Obviously, this conversation took place in English. If we had been communicating in Japanese, he would have known the futility in asking such a question of me. But ask he did, and it gave me a chance to weigh the various tools I have used to improve my language skills, especially in reading Japanese texts. I’m one of those “Try Everything” types, so I’ve encountered more than my share of unsuccessful methods. But a few tools have risen to the occasion and brought consistent, albeit sometimes slow, results. I present three of them here for your edification or bemusement.(13 more paragraphs)