The presentation aims to show what difficulties L2 Japanese learners have in reading a written text with mimetic words and onomatopoeia. These words attract L2 Japanese learners especially thanks to the popular media such as anime and TV shows. Iwasaki, Vinson and Vigliocco (2007), and Moritoki (in printing) pointed out the difficulties in understanding mimetic words for L2 learners, although systematic research of the difficulties has not been carried out yet.

The research method is following the Reading Corpus of L2 learners of the NINJAL project. Approximately 20 L2 learners ranging from level A2 to C1 in Europe and Japan were asked to read a Japanese online comic in the way they usually read it on their own, such as using dictionaries etc. They were asked to say aloud in their native language what they were doing and how they understood the text. The findings are that the learners have difficulties (1) in understanding the meaning and distinguishing the differences between synonymous words, (2) in relating the meaning of the word to the context, (3) in understanding the emotion which is described in the context.

Mimetic words and onomatopoeia tend to be used in conversation with non-native Japanese speakers because of their overall aptness in both meaning and usage. However, proper instruction and careful consideration of the appropriate usage are required for L2 learners in order to establish a good relationship with other people communicating in Japanese, as well as for the uses of automatic translation in the near future.