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EveryLingua Dictionary
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Japanese reading texts by level

43 texts from N5 to N2, 5 886 words in all, with 152 comprehension questions. Each text shows how much of it is explained in this site’s vocabulary — calculated, not claimed.

N5 (11)

N5  ·  113 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

Morning at the Station

A weekday morning, from the alarm clock to the train.

N5  ·  105 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The New Room

Maria shows a friend round her new flat.

N5  ·  91 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

Sunday in the Park

A Sunday in the park with a dog, a ball and a sudden shower.

N5  ·  108 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

Shopping at the Supermarket

A shopping list, a price and a mistake at the till.

N5  ·  98 words  ·  1 min

StoryAnime and manga

土曜日(どようび)のアニメ

A younger brother, a Saturday-morning anime and a drawing of a cat.

N5  ·  82 words  ·  1 min

DialogueAnime and manga

どんなアニメが好(す)きですか

Two new classmates find out what kind of anime the other one watches.

N5  ·  92 words  ·  1 min

DialogueTravel

ホテルまでの道(みち)

A visitor with a map asks a passer-by how to get to his hotel.

N5  ·  98 words  ·  1 min

StoryWork

パン屋(や)の朝(あさ)

A student’s early job at a bakery, and a customer who does not come.

N5  ·  84 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

大(おお)きい青(あお)い傘(かさ)

A sunny morning, a sudden afternoon rain and a classmate with a big umbrella.

N5  ·  82 words  ·  1 min

MessageTravel

今(いま)、駅(えき)です

A host mother and her guest find each other at the station.

N5  ·  58 words  ·  1 min

EmailWork

アルバイトを休(やす)みます

A part-time worker writes to her manager that she is ill.

N4 (11)

N4  ·  133 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The Umbrella on the Train

An umbrella left on a train, and the office that keeps such things.

N4  ·  125 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The First Part-Time Job

A first day working in a café, and one cup of coffee too many.

N4  ·  133 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

A Friend’s Birthday

Planning a surprise birthday party in a small flat.

N4  ·  118 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The Day I Caught a Cold

A cold, a day off work and a visit to the doctor.

N4  ·  132 words  ·  1 min

StoryAnime and manga

健太(けんた)の漫画(まんが)

A boy who wants to draw manga finishes his first story — eight pages in three weeks.

N4  ·  129 words  ·  1 min

StoryTravel

新幹線(しんかんせん)の忘(わす)れ物(もの)

A bag left on the bullet train, a helpful station attendant and a grandmother who laughs.

N4  ·  130 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

ゴミの日(ひ)

A newcomer puts out the wrong rubbish on the wrong day, and gets to know her neighbour.

N4  ·  123 words  ·  1 min

DialogueWork

コピーの使(つか)い方(かた)

A new employee asks a senior colleague how the office copier works.

N4  ·  96 words  ·  1 min

DialogueAnime and manga

アニメ映画(えいが)、行(い)かない?

Two friends plan a trip to the cinema to see an anime film.

N4  ·  104 words  ·  1 min

MessageTravel

電車(でんしゃ)が止(と)まってる

Three friends on a trip: one of them is stuck on a stopped train.

N4  ·  83 words  ·  1 min

EmailWork

土曜日(どようび)の仕事(しごと)のこと

A part-time worker writes to her manager to swap a Saturday shift.

N3 (11)

N3  ·  139 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

Moving Day

Moving out of a first flat: boxes, a neighbour and a last look round.

N3  ·  139 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The Town Festival

A small town festival seen from the volunteers’ tent.

N3  ·  131 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

Dear Host Family

A thank-you letter to a host family, written a month after going home.

N3  ·  143 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The Train That Stopped

A train stops between stations, and a carriage full of strangers waits.

N3  ·  175 words  ·  1 min

StoryWork

初(はじ)めての間違(まちが)い

A new employee sends a client the wrong file — and learns what to do in the first minutes after a mistake.

N3  ·  198 words  ·  2 min

StoryAnime and manga

アニメの日本語(にほんご)

A learner who learned his Japanese from anime greets his new teacher — and the whole class laughs.

N3  ·  172 words  ·  1 min

StoryTravel

雪(ゆき)の温泉(おんせん)の町(まち)

Heavy snow cancels every bus, and a one-night trip becomes two.

N3  ·  144 words  ·  1 min

DialogueTravel

スーツケースを空港(くうこう)へ

A hotel guest sends her suitcase ahead to the airport and asks for a late checkout.

N3  ·  154 words  ·  1 min

DialogueAnime and manga

文化祭(ぶんかさい)の準備(じゅんび)

A first-year member of the anime club tells the club leader that the festival pictures will not be ready in time.

N3  ·  110 words  ·  1 min

MessageEveryday life

おばあちゃんのスマホ

A grandmother sends her first messages to the family chat — five times over.

N3  ·  108 words  ·  1 min

EmailWork

打(う)ち合(あ)わせの日程(にってい)について

An employee asks a client to move next week’s meeting because of a sudden business trip.

N2 (10)

N2  ·  195 words  ·  2 min

StoryEveryday life

Rethinking How We Work

Working from home: what one office worker gained, and what she missed.

N2  ·  166 words  ·  1 min

StoryEveryday life

The Future of a Shopping Street

An old shopping street, its empty shops and an attempt to change that.

N2  ·  185 words  ·  2 min

StoryEveryday life

What a Library Is For

What a town library is for, now that most people carry a screen.

N2  ·  246 words  ·  2 min

StoryWork

海(うみ)の見(み)える事務所(じむしょ)

A company opens a small office in a seaside town, and one employee moves there from the city.

N2  ·  219 words  ·  2 min

StoryAnime and manga

字幕(じまく)の一(ひと)つの言葉(ことば)

A subtitle translator spends a whole evening on one joke in an anime episode.

N2  ·  230 words  ·  2 min

StoryEveryday life

商店街(しょうてんがい)の本屋(ほんや)

The old bookshop on the shopping street is about to close — until its customers come up with a plan.

N2  ·  168 words  ·  1 min

DialogueWork

納品(のうひん)の日(ひ)をめぐって

A supplier has to tell a client that a delivery will be late, and the two find a compromise.

N2  ·  213 words  ·  2 min

DialogueTravel

台風(たいふう)と島(しま)の旅行(りょこう)

A typhoon is coming, and a traveller at a travel agency has to decide what to do with her island trip.

N2  ·  183 words  ·  2 min

MessageAnime and manga

舞台(ぶたい)の町(まち)へ

Three friends plan a trip to the small town where their favourite anime is set — and agree on some rules first.

N2  ·  151 words  ·  1 min

EmailTravel

旅館(りょかん)への問(と)い合(あ)わせ

A traveller writes to a Japanese inn before booking: her father cannot climb stairs, and her mother eats no meat or fish.

Learning words one at a time and practising grammar one point at a time is work on separate parts. A text is the first thing that needs both at once — and the only exercise where nobody tells you which rule is being tested.

What makes a graded text is a number: how much of it you already know at your level. If it is too low, reading turns into looking things up. Here that number is calculated for every text against this site’s vocabulary and shown with the text — together with the level that follows from it, next to the level on the label.

Every text is written for this site. Click a word to look it up without leaving the page.

What is measured here — and what is not

Coverage tells you about this site’s vocabulary, not about the text. If a text stands at 96 %, four words in a hundred are not explained anywhere here; they are then in the glossary next to the text.

The measured level can be below the stated one, and that is intentional. A set of minutes made up of perfectly ordinary words can be a very hard text — what makes it hard is the sentences they sit in. That is why the average sentence length is shown alongside.

Whether a text is good is measured by nobody here. That is for the reader to decide.