All Levels Challenges in Translating English Graded Readers for L2 Japanese Learners more

In this presentation, we will share the experiences we gained while translating 30 graded readers for elementary-level L2 English learners into Japanese. The readers we translated are from the Cengage Foundations Reading Library series. Our work went beyond simple translations; it involved carefully adjusting lexical choices and sentence structures to ensure that each translated book was appropriately graded for its target audience of L2 Japanese learners. The framework we used is based on a widely used Japanese language textbook, GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Specifically, we divided Genki’s 23 lessons into 6 levels according to its vocabulary and grammar lists, and translated the 30 books into one of these 6 levels. Japanese extensive reading materials are limited in number, but translating from English graded readers could greatly expand availability, offering learners more diverse and accessible content.