You’ll develop verbal aptitude

2024年8月13日

A: I’m worried about my son who gets a bad grad in Japanese.
B: My son has the same problem!
A: You know? They say that if you read a lot of books as a child, you’ll develop verbal aptitude.
B: I know, but I can’t imagine that my son reading books!

In this situation, what should you say “You’ll develop verbal aptitude” in Japanese?

Casual

B：ほら、子供こどもの頃ころにたくさん本ほんを読よむと国語力こくごりょくがつくって言いうじゃない？

Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.

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A word-for-word translation

B：知しってますか？子供こどもの頃ころに本ほんをたくさん読よむと言語げんご能力のうりょくが発達はったつすると言いわれています。

This is also fine. It’s natural in Japanese and ‘develop’ is translated accurately.
It can be a bit stiff, so you often see the expression in writing.
In Japanese, ‘develop’ + ‘some ability’ can be said 能のう力りょくがつくwhich is close to the sense of ‘ gain ability.

For your information, ‘reading comprehensive’ can be translated as 読解力どっかいりょく.