Recently I came across a few posts (outside of /r/LearnJapanese) where the posters discussed the whole “Japanese novels” based on their light novels experience. So let me be clear first. Light novel is a category of fictions targeted at kids. While the situation may change in the future, at this point in time, light novels have several distinctive characteristics that makes them feel different from the general novel (小説).
Some of these characteristics can be found in the Young Adult Fiction category of the English literature as well. The writing tips described in Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies apply to most Japanese light novels. Needless to say, some of them make light novels not the ideal tool for learning the language.
While the problems with song lyrics originate mostly from their edgy, artistic nature (See “Song Lyrics as a learning tool?”), most problems with light novels are caused by their nature as a light entertainment aimed at young readers. This leads to loose grammar, uncommon expressions, unrealistic speech and irregular transcription thereof among other things.
When looking at it from the language-learning point of view, the situation is similar to the old debate about the usefulness of anime as a learning tool. Yes, there are things you can learn from anime and light novels, but you need to have a reasonably good grasp on the language to tell which elements are useful and which aren’t.
I actually noticed the problem while browsing reddit. From time to time, Japanese learners write free-style Japanese text unrelated to language learning, and such text sometimes looks like coming from a typical light novel (or from 2ch-derived Internet boards, which is another big issue that must be discussed elsewhere). They might have picked it up from other pop media such as manga and video games, because these media also have the same typical writing style sometimes.
Anyways, this is similar to the stereotypical anime otaku who speaks like an anime character. You might want to be careful not to imitate the wrong features of light novel writing.
As I’ve mentioned above, loose grammar and uncommon, even made-up expressions are often found in light novels. I’ve seen so many questions in /r/LearnJapanese resulting from sloppy or intentional irregularities. Like with song lyrics, I often can’t help but feel that the posters should forget what they saw and just move on.
Some other aspects you should be aware of:
Liberal use of creative furigana
Questions on ‘creative furigana’ (I just made up this term) pop up often in the forum. This ranges from outrageously creative ones such as making us read 禁書目録 as インデックス (See 『とある魔術の禁書目録』) to the tamer ones such as あの娘 == あのこ which are arguably common even in regular literature. While this creative furigana is highly popular in pop media including light novels, it’s rarely done in serious text. People who are learning vocab mainly through pop media may have difficulties telling how acceptable a certain reading is. These people may find my blog post “Joyo kanji and their readings, and how to learn them” useful.
Overuse of difficult kanji words
Generally speaking, both the number of kanji used and the ratio of kanji in written text have been decreasing ever since the post-war kanji reformation. One of the exceptions to this trend is light novels that use and overuse difficult kanji for the cool effect. I’m certain that this happens with teenagers from other cultures as well. Obscure language and big words are cool.
Generally speaking, such attempt at making oneself look cool gets old and lame as one gets older. Therefore, abuse of difficult words can look immature outside of the light novel community.
Too much energy and emotion
In many works of pop media, the language used tend to be more intense and emotional than in regular materials. I’m certain that this is well understood in the context of anime in the form of “Real people don’t speak like anime characters.”
With light novels, this effect is also found in descriptive (non-speech) part of the text. Therefore, if you pick up the writing style of the typical light novel, you may end up sounding too intense or emotional when you shouldn’t. One typical example is the overuse of sentence-endings like ～たんだ. I often see people writing 「彼はきのう学校に行ったんだ」 when it’s perfectly OK to just say 「彼はきのう学校に行った」. The former sentence has additional emotional element, which may make you sound like a drama queen depending on the context.
Please note that the characteristics described in this blog post applies not just to light novels but also to other similar forms of entertainment including manga, games, and visual novels. In my opinion, this trend started in light novels and has been slowly spreading to other media.
As a final word, let me reiterate my point that light novels, as well as anime, can be useful tools for learning the language. You should, however, be aware of the risks involved, and eventually diversify in terms of the range of materials you make yourself exposed to.
Japanese post that discusses the same topic: http://ysjapanese.wp-x.jp/2016/05/gakushu-kyozai-to-shiteno-light-novel/
