I was mildly interested in it, since I remember liking the anime many years ago.
The first volume being discounted was what convinced me to vote for it 
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TIL that it has an anime. 
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Just added it to the site: 京都寺町三条のホームズ S1 | L30??
Not sure if I’ll read the LN, but maybe I’ll check the anime in the meantime
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Right, reading along the audiobook is OP for extensive reading. I’m sad to have discovered it this late.
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Besides manga and a book I’ve very specifically picked for extensive reading without audio, that is the only way I’m reading books right now. I can’t imagine it’s a long term issue since having a parent or other adult read aloud to you is a huge part of how most kids learn to read. Bonus points, it’s massively improved my listening comprehension: my tv with no subs level is way closer to my comfortable read to audiobook level than it was a few months back.
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I know this is going to sound like a stupid question but when listening to the audio and reading at the same time, do you look up all the words and grammar you don’t know or is it close enough to your level that you don’t need to look them up because you can guess them from context?
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If you’re just asking in general - I’ve done both (my current audio read requires many lookups). The latter can be more frustrating, bc now you have 2 disruptions everytime you need to look something up, but it’s also helpful for ambiguous readings that you can’t figure out via dictionary.
One thing I just realized - one of the advantages to reading with audio is you can also absorb pitch accent.
I have a sorta subjective impression that reading with audio is also better for vocab absorption (as is watching anime with subs), but I wonder if that’s actually true.
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I often read with audio on Satori Reader currently but it almost feels like cheating. I want my “regular” reading to get faster, and I’m not so sure it is effective for that. I feel like I get more out of trying to read the text without it. Still I tend to go with the audio tracks since it’s part of what I paid for. I’ll get enough pure-text reading with native material later.
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It depends. Like you kinda said, if it’s close enough to my level I usually just try to figure out from kanji or context clues. I will look up words that I see a lot and don’t remember perfectly (since that’s a good sign to me that it’s a word worth stopping for). When I’m extensive listen-reading I will try and do lookups in the pause at the end of sentences, or read a little ahead to be able to do lookups as they come in the audio. That all goes out the window when it’s above my level. Then I usually go sentence by sentence and typically need to look up multiple words. I don’t like reading at that pace so I rarely do, outside of maybe book clubs.
Pitch accent, vowel length, intonation, etc. My in head voice when I read at my level without audio is a lot stronger than it used to be too.
I’m definitely better at recognizing the spoken words when I’m watching TV. It’s probably better to both see and hear it simultaneously, but I also don’t have any more than my gut feeling on that also.
I definitely used to get a cheating feeling before but it’s been so helpful to me that I’ve stopped feeling that way.
Regular reading speed is simply about being able to decode symbols quickly. I think if you are listening while looking at symbols you’re still seeing the symbols as many times as if you were reading yourself.
The one part of reading to yourself that I think you miss out on is where you have to struggle to remember a reading to a word because they will just read it for you. You can still get the struggle for meaning (a lot of times I will pause the audio thinking I need to look something up and realize after I’ve paused that it just took me a few extra moments to fully get the meaning). Apparently that struggle to just barely remember is i+1 content and is the best way to learn.
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One of the earliest things that improved my reading speed was watching anime with subs. I think audiobooks have contributed over time too. I can certainly skim/superficially process characters much better.
Like @shitsurei mentioned, the bottleneck is decoding, and - just like with furigana - you are sort of short circuiting that process (audio is just aural furigana, no?). So you may acquire vocab, but you don’t much progress on decoding kanji meaning and reading (which is much more involved, since you have to recognize those, plus integrate it with the rest of the sentence simultaneously). I wouldn’t call it cheating tho (and previously had a similar worry)
When I used Satori Reader, I would read with audio, then read it a second time without, so I was working on both.
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I was just meaning generally. I find it difficult to look stuff up while listing and reading at the same time even with pausing. But then I find trying to listen and read at the same time difficult as it is. I usually need to focus on one or the other.
I also find pitch accent difficult to pick up when listening actively and need it broken down or spoken more slowly. I’ve considered Dogen’s pateron for pitch accent but unsure how much I’d use it at this stage.
I do find that hearing helps me to remember vocabulary readings and also grammar better than any other way, so I tend to read out loud and speak my answers before writing them. It may just be my way of learning though as I remember struggling with reading and writing as a child, especially spelling. I have also found that I can accurately write words out in hiragana from hearing them without knowing what they mean (I do this with my language exchange and tutor led lessons to look up later though they will also send me the kanji of the words if asked).
I struggled to read and listen at the same time with the book clubs, tried just reading but was too slow for the pace of the club and tried just listening but recognised and understood very little, partly why I gave up with them as I was no longer enjoying it.
I might try this on some of the lower level stuff I’ve got and see if that helps me improve to a point I can listen and read better together.
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Yeah, it gets pretty tedious, particularly if you’re doing it on mobile or tablet. I use my phone for the audio + tablet for the reading. Lookups get split btwn the two. If Kindle app can identify it, great - otherwise it’s easier to do the switch on my phone.
In general, I don’t think it’s so productive to read/listen to stuff where there’s a ton of lookups (that whole i+1 thing). I’m only doing it now bc I’m an SAO otaku, and I got excited that there’s an audiobook now.
I don’t think I’d acquire it like that either, unless I was just listening for pitch accent. But some amount will accumulate in the background, over a long period of time. Even if it’s a small amount, it’s still more than the zero you’d get from not having audio.
Ultimately I think shadowing is really the way to go for working on pitch accent (at least for me). But if an analytical approach works better, then Dogen’s Patreon seems great too. I don’t really understand pitch accent in a formal sense tho. (I talk all of 1-3 hrs a week, max - so it’s not important to me)
Makes sense to me… I read outloud while reading sometimes, and my lessons are mostly reading manga outloud (with some conversation). Early on, I reinforced a lot of vocab through music.
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I have tried reading and listening and it was a blast! It helps to plow through the book and is more about the listening and overall comprehension rather than deep study in the dictionary and grammar I found. It helps to reduce the speed of the audio to 75% if you want to take it a little bit slower. If they repeat the same word a few times and it is really important in that moment then I will stop and look it up but otherwise I will keep with the voice.
I think you can choose your books for this. Like, I did it with Kiki’s Delivery because it was convenient - ‘free’ book from the library and audiobook available also not such a difficult book, that might be the magic combination to try it out. But when I am reading tougher books and/or on the commute then I go digital on the kindle and zoom in so the pages are shorter and look up everything, no audio.
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Shadowing is good, but I think the analysis route is more in line with my learning style. I do have shadowing books I’ll be on next.
Most of my lessons are conversational though I don’t actually need spoken Japanese so they aren’t necessary. I just like the people I do the exchanges with and the tutor lessons give me a way to ask questions of a native speaker as well as the motivation to continue since I keep those up regardless of if I’m doing other studying.
I think my biggest issue that way is that most of the books I am comfortable with don’t have audio or are back to being graded readers and too easy for me.
I have a few audio files from Read Real Japanese but even those are quite difficult. And I can’t slow those down on my phone or tablet. The other audio books are all higher level than my comfort zone at this time. I will keep that in mind once I’m higher level though.
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Try out the Magic Treehouse books: マジック・ツリーハウス 1 恐竜の谷の大冒険 | L19. They aren’t the world’s most exciting stories, but they’re way better than graded readers. There’s also the Quadruplets books: 四つ子ぐらし 1 ひみつの姉妹生活、スタート! | L22. Based on your recently read books they might be a bit of a stretch, but they are more compelling than Magic Treehouse (but still kids books).
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Thanks for the suggestions, I’ve some of the magic tree house books on my list (a few in my CD Japan basket too 
) though they don’t seem to have any audiobooks available on platforms I have access to atm 
I’ve not heard of the quintuplets books so will check those out, there seems to be audiobooks for those but will see if I can access them.
Recently I’ve been reading the non fiction science books but 一年生 level seems to be the hight of my understanding level at the moment. Though the みぢかなぎもん one has been much more difficult with a lot more kanji and words I don’t know.
I think I’m at a comfortable reading level but listening is something I need to focus more on.
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you can also check out aozora short stories… while older, some of them are in the lower level range and they very often have free recordings on youtube or from aozora rodoku.
https://learnnatively.com/search/jpn/books/?bookproviders=aozora&max=22&sort=level_asc
I remember these stories fondly, for example: 手ぶくろを買いに | L20 and 赤い手袋 | L21 (funny that both deal with gloves 
)
Personally, I always found grade 5&6 of those elementary school graded series much easier/comfortable to read, as for me personally a lack of kanji makes stuff harder to parse.
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New link for the book poll since it’s gotten quite buried:
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I am happy to see that every option has some votes. No book left behind. 
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I’ll check those out, thanks 
I didn’t know they had audio recordings for those, I’ve read one of them before and found it easy enough to read so the audio should be ok.
For the science books, my issue is more lack of vocabulary than the hiragana and lack of kanji. The higher level ones have more unknown vocabulary for me which makes it more difficult for me to read and understand while stopping every few words to try to make sense without going off track but I do have the full set of each of the ones I found interesting 1st to 6th year (if available). I will re-read them more than once til I understand them without much look ups.
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