Asejet Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Does anyone read here lightnovels? They are very good fiction book for refreshment. They are lot of good one. If you watch anime, then most anime are adapted fron light novels. I read sword art online ,log horizon,baka and test, mahouka kokouno reitsuee etc. If u not read try it. Search for baka -tsuki on google or wiki. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 What are lightnovels compared to normal novels? I haven't heard of any of those. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asejet Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 They are Japanese novellas translated into englis by fans and free to read online. They are distributed in volumes. Wikipedia 'baka-stuki' you will probably get it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 In Japanese, a light novel is specifically written with only common words and characters, and often features manga-style illustration. Very often, they are either adapted from anime or manga, or the other way around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 What do you mean by 'only common'? As in like, slang? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asejet Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Do you read them swimmingly? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 No, but I know about them. Basically, Japanese novels can contain words that are pretty obscure, and aren't written in the phonetic mode - so you need a dictionary or a very good education on hand to read properly. Light novels are sort of like the simple English wikipedia, to an extent - though not as much. Sort of like saying, "You're wrong" instead of "Your reasoning is fallacious" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Thanks Swimmingly, thats really interesting! So is Japanese not written phonetically? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Japanese has several different writing styles. There's kanji, which is a pictographic system very similar to Chinese (indeed, I've heard that Japanese and Chinese can read each other's writing, to an extent). Then you have katakana, which is phonetic. There's also hiragami, which is also phonetic, and is simpler and easier to write. I don't know why they have so many systems. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Japanese language developped independantly of Chinese, but they got together a centralized power structure and, when trading with China arose, they coopted the Chinese system for themselves. Chinese writing is not phonetic, so the first system that arose was an adaptation of that - "classical" kanji. Hiragami came next, a phonetic system derived from the Chinese characters and Japanese spoken language. Lastly, katakana, which is used for "foreign" words (think "hottodogu" which is "hot dog" in japanese). All three are used commonly, often in the same texts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left Posted May 11, 2014 Report Share Posted May 11, 2014 Kanji was used by the men when it first got imported, and the women were kept from learning it. The women then developed Hirigana and katakana. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver Posted May 19, 2014 Report Share Posted May 19, 2014 Free books? I can get behind that. I don't usually like translated stuff; no matter how it's done, something is going to end up lost in translation, if only because a text assumes a certain cultural awareness. Still, free books are nothing to scoff at, if they are half-decent. Any particular books anyone could recommend? A short novella might be the best palette cleanser after what I'm reading at the moment... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terisen Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Does anyone read here lightnovels? They are very good fiction book for refreshment. They are lot of good one. If you watch anime, then most anime are adapted fron light novels. I read sword art online ,log horizon,baka and test, mahouka kokouno reitsuee etc. If u not read try it. Search for baka -tsuki on google or wiki. I have the first volume of Sword Art (go figure with my avatar, huh?) I quite liked it and enjoyed the little insights that you couldn't get from just watching the anime. I might have to give the others you listed a try. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furugeru Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 I have the first volume of Sword Art (go figure with my avatar, huh?) I quite liked it and enjoyed the little insights that you couldn't get from just watching the anime. I might have to give the others you listed a try. You should try the Spice & Wolf novels. They are currently being officially translated by Yen Press and are better than most LNs. I don't really like Baka Tsuki. The vast majority of the translations on that website are meh at best (not all, but most). You're better off just learning Japanese. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terisen Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 You should try the Spice & Wolf novels. They are currently being officially translated by Yen Press and are better than most LNs. I don't really like Baka Tsuki. The vast majority of the translations on that website are meh at best (not all, but most). You're better off just learning Japanese. I'll give those a look, thanks. I tried learning Japanese a while back and then realized I just didn't have the time nor the drive to learn it. Plus, I've already done the whole second language thing with Spanish, specifically Peruvian Spanish (used to live there). I'm good with two languages for now! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 If you liked SAO, you should check out Log Horizon. Same sort of premise, but less action scenes and moping and more worldbuilding and tactics. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terisen Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 If you liked SAO, you should check out Log Horizon. Same sort of premise, but less action scenes and moping and more worldbuilding and tactics. Ya know, I gave Log Horizon a go and it just never quite grabbed me the way SAO did. I've only watched a handful of episodes, so I concede that maybe I stopped before it got good. I remember hearing the premise and rolled my eyes, thinking it was a dead rip-off. I see it's not, but I can't quite click with any of the characters. I'm going to assume that you'll tell me I should give it another chance, right? And, hey, I like moping! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 (edited) No, no need to give it another go. Some people like action and depressed people (See: Game of Thrones), and other like world consistency and writing depth. And some like all of it. Fun fact - The SAO light novels as they approach the Alicization series becomes more and more like early Log Horizon style books. As for the translation quality, it's very true many light novels have low quality translations, even in print. It's also true that most light novels are not of the best quality writing at all. Light novels as a genre are mostly self indulgent or mainstream culture cliché tripe, aimed at youth from 10 to 18. Quality-wise, the original writing is more similar to western comic book writing than to western print novellas (and indeed the light novel industry is heavily influenced by the manga industry, and vice versa). That's not to say they are all bad quality - like comics, there are some that provoke good thought, some with unusually high quality dialogue, exposition, or whatever; every section has it's outstanding series. And even the bad series are designed to please, rather like a McDonald's 1$ hamburger. I'm just saying that the translators don't always have as much to work with as you'd hope, and they're not about to start rewriting books to have better prose. Edited May 20, 2014 by Tempus 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asejet Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 (edited) Reading is an immortal art. We can compromise some where in quality while reading light novels. I advise beginners to start with SAO series. I agree with Tempus and Terisen(Did u change the avatar after reading topic name?Its cool.) because the people who translates these books are volunteers and they try their hard to justice with books content. If you take note,readers heartily thanked them everytime they release new chapter.I also owe them for there dedicated work. Some wonderful series Sword Art Online Moonlight sculpter Log Horizon Mahouka koukou no Reitusei( It promises hell of magic system) Campione Date a live Edited May 20, 2014 by Asejet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terisen Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Reading is an immortal art. We can compromise some where in quality while reading light novels. I advise beginners to start with SAO series. I agree with Tempus and Terisen(Did u change the avatar after reading topic name?Its cool.) because the people who translates these books are volunteers and they try their hard to justice with books content. If you take note,readers heartily thanked them everytime they release new chapter.I also owe them for there dedicated work. Some wonderful series Sword Art Online Moonlight sculpter Log Horizon Mahouka koukou no Reitusei( It promises hell of magic system) Campione Date a live Ha, nope, it's been my avatar from the get go! Just so happened that SAO was part of the conversation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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