Deciphering vs reading

Are you a first-time reader?

If so, there are a few things you’re going to want to know.

You’ll be reading less than you think.

You will be deciphering.

What’s the difference?

Reading is what happens when you look at written characters and take in their meaning.

Deciphering is what happens when those written characters are incomprehensible, and you need to look up vocabulary words and grammar in an attempt to discern their meaning.

It’s important to know this going in. Otherwise, it’s easy to think you’re doing something wrong and to give up.

It may even take reading multiple manga volumes (or other native materials) before you encounter even one line of text that you feel you read.

This is normal. This is what you must expect going in.

Before you start, you’ll want to ensure you are ready to tackle your first manga.

Once you’ve made substantial progress with common grammar and vocabulary, you can speed your reading by learning to tolerate ambiguity.