I don't speak it. I can read *very simple things* if I have a dictionary and I either know the material ahead of time (like with Harry Potter), OR it's material that has pictures to give me contextual clues (most manga).
If I work at it a lot and have a dictionary handy for the kanji, I can usually generate a reasonable amount of meaning from an unknown manga. I was actually surprised at how well I did with volume 2 of Saiyuki (just out now in English so that I can check my work...) but it is so damn much work to do this that it has to be something I desperately want to read, something that has no hope of seeing a U.S. release. The item currently occupying the "I will read it despite the work involved" slot is Tori Maia's yaoi bondage porn series 星の館. Given that it's porn, there's more dialogue than you might expect. *sigh*
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-05-24 04:42 pm (UTC)If I work at it a lot and have a dictionary handy for the kanji, I can usually generate a reasonable amount of meaning from an unknown manga. I was actually surprised at how well I did with volume 2 of Saiyuki (just out now in English so that I can check my work...) but it is so damn much work to do this that it has to be something I desperately want to read, something that has no hope of seeing a U.S. release. The item currently occupying the "I will read it despite the work involved" slot is Tori Maia's yaoi bondage porn series 星の館. Given that it's porn, there's more dialogue than you might expect. *sigh*