I’ve been crocheting since I can remember … but I didn’t learn to read a pattern until recently and I still have to look up anything beyond the american single crochet. I like Japanese crochet patterns and below are some tutorials (perhaps even one day my own) on how to read the pattern if you can barely read the ひらがな and カタカナ.

purly shells: how to read a japanese crochet pattern. This ROCKS. She’s marked up the image to show you how to go through it.