August Listening Challenge 👂

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1

Hey all,

I’m seriously lagging in my listening goals for this year (119 out of 300 hours). Meanwhile I’m crushing my reading, writing, and speaking goals. Clearly there is an inbalance.

I decided I would do a 50 hour listening challenge in August to boost my numbers.

My rules are simple:

  • no target language subs unless they’re hard subs like on many YouTube videos (and no native language subs, naturally)

  • background listening doesn’t count

I’d like to invite others who want to improve their listening to join. It doesn’t need to be 50 hours, just set an hour goal for the month that is challenging but doable for you. I’ll make this post a wiki so that others can add their name to the list and update their progress if they like.

This thread will be for generally updating how you are achieving your goal.

Anyways, I like company so regardless of what language you’re studying feel free to join!

Name Language Goal Hours Achieved
@cat Japanese 50 53.3
eefara Japanese 50 50.1
Biblio Japanese 50 0
暁のルナ Japanese 50 47.7
polv Japanese 50 13:26
nativelearner Japanese 50 50.6
CatDQ Japanese 30 39.3
Ddochi Spanish/Korean 40 39
Neon_Kitsune Japanese 31 12.5
bungakushoujo Japanese 80 80
brandon Korean 30 7.5
mikemike888 Japanese 50 79.5
Megumin Japanese 20 17.5
16 Likes
2

eefara’s home post

Hello everyone. o/ I’ve done my fair share of complaining about my poor listening, so I hereby pledge myself to listening to 50 hours in August. :muscle: I’ve been accumulating resources for this day; here are some tentative plans that will probably change as soon as I start, haha:

Initial Plans
Audiobooks

Audiobooks: these will probably be my main source of listening? I have several ready to go on both Audible and audiobook.jp, and some even come with the bonus of maybe being near my level, haha. Here’s my short list of things to pick from:

Stretch goals (not super likely but I like to dream):

A lot of my audiobook listening is probably going to be trying to find a sweet spot for myself level-wise so I can do a better job picking more appropriate stuff for myself in the future.

Drama CDs

Drama CDs: I have a nice stack of drama CDs that I’d like to slowly listen through, but I’m not sure difficulty-wise where they’re going to fall. Might end up as weekend listening?

Youtube

I have Ghost Trick playthrough someone did saved and ready to go.

Podcasts

Podcasts: I’ve listened to a bunch of Teppei before, and I might fall back on him/some others I’ve got saved to try, but these might be last on my list since I’m trying to explore other mediums.

Next up, a small calendar just to track whether I listened on a day:

  • :heavy_check_mark: : I listened that day, but didn’t hit the ~96 min. needed to fulfill the daily average.
  • :100: : I listened to 96+ min. that day.
:sound: Aug :sound:
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
01 :100: 02 :100: 03 04 :100:
05 :100: 06 07 08 :100: 09 10 11
12 :100: 13 :100: 14 :100: 15 :100: 16 :100: 17 18
19 :100: 20 :100: 21 22 :100: 23 24 25
26 27 :100: 28 :100: 29 :100: 30 :100: 31

(Calendar stolen from the Listen Every Day Challenge on WK.)

Listening Log

Audiobooks

08/01:
華麗なる探偵アリス&ペンギン | L22 - 2h 27m

08/02:
華麗なる探偵アリス&ペンギン | L22 - 52m
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 45m

08/03:
https://learnnatively.com/book/5b9046476c/ - 29m 30s

08/04:
ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 1 | L24 - 45m 29s

08/05:
ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 1 | L24 - 83m 49s

08/06:
レンタルロボット | L18?? - 16m 50s

08/07:
レンタルロボット | L18?? - 86m

08/08:
medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠 | L32 - 44m 52s
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 16m

8/10:
放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件 | L22 - 69m 46s

8/11:
放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件 | L22 - 43m 57s

8/12:
放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件 | L22 - 80m 26s
秋が きました | L19 - 8m 45s (listened x3)
赤い鳥 | L18 - 2m 51s (listened x3)
星めぐりの歌 | L18 - 2m 42s (listened x3)

8/13:
放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件 | L22 - 38m 45s
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 55m 33s

8/14:
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 105m 36s

8/15:
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 113m 15s

8/16:
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 89m 21s

8/17:
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 68m 35s

8/18:
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 51m 28s

8/19:
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 62m 07s

8/20:
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 104m 38s

8/21:
ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 | L30 - 60m 6s
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 33m 6s

8/27:
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 143m 26s

8/28:
デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L26 - 112m 46s

08/30:
華麗なる探偵アリス&ペンギン | L22 - 34m 07s

Drama CDs

08/08
華Doll* 1st season ~Flowering~ 1st Album, 「Birth」: 5m 27s

08/12
華Doll* 1st season ~Flowering~ 1st Album, 「Birth」: 5m 27s

Podcasts
TV/Anime/Movies

08/04:
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 50m (ep 1&2)

8/19:
十角館の殺人 S1 | L31 - 53m (ep 1)

8/22:
十角館の殺人 S1 | L31 - 44m + 48m 16s (ep 2&3)
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 48m (ep 7&8)

8/23:
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 24m (ep 9)

8/25:
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 72m (ep 10, 11, 12)

8/26:
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 72m (ep 4, 5, 6)

8/27:
十角館の殺人 S1 | L31 - 46m (ep 4) + 48m 30s (ep 5)

8/28:
ゴーストハント S1 | L26 - 24m (ep 3)
D.Gray-man S1 | L24?? - 48m (ep 14 & 15)

8/29:
D.Gray-man S1 | L24?? - 168m (ep 16-22)

8/30:
D.Gray-man S1 | L24?? - 96m (ep 23-26)

Youtube

08/05:
死の運命を変える隠れた神ゲー『ゴースト トリック』 - 18m 26s

08/08:
死の運命を変える隠れた神ゲー『ゴースト トリック』 - 30m

08/12:
【ロフト爆買い】手帳好きが厳選したおすすめ文房具 | 見たら絶対ほしくなるLOFT購入品紹介
 - 34m 43s

8/13:
462「痛み」を表す５つのオノマトペ！ - 9m 45s

8/16:
【実況】夏なので怖すぎるホラーゲームに挑戦します!!part1【影廊 -Shadow Corridor-】 - 26m 34s
【実況】夏なので怖すぎるホラーゲームに挑戦します!!part2【影廊 -Shadow Corridor-】 - 25m 23s

8/24:
https://youtu.be/PQntsTSmTPU?si=SQfs2qFcndsz50zp - 32m 31s
https://youtu.be/2PhA1soKXAk?si=gkSRjAORJTgUIkzg - 33m 48s

8/28:
# 最強のチキンを決めたい男達【鳥魂】 - 16m 20s
【PICO PARK】５人で協力してパズルを解くつもりだったのに・・・。 - 30m 53s
# 435 日本人が使うSNS🇯🇵 #日本語ポッドキャスト - 11m 31s
# 436 学校・会社で使う自然なあいさつ:speaking_head::jp: #learnjapanese - 9m 13s

8/30:
大流行中の銭湯が舞台のホラーゲーム『 地獄銭湯 RE 』 - 24m 01s

Numbers for calcs

2h 27m + 52m + 45m + 29m 30s + 45m 29s + 83m 49s + 16m 50s + 86m + 44m 52s + 16m + 69m 46s + 43m 57s + 80m 26s + 8m 45s + 2m 51s + 2m 42s + 38m 45s + 55m 33s + 105m 36s + 113m 15s + 89m 21s + 68m 35s + 51m 28s + 62m 7s + 104m 38s + 60m 6s + 33m 6s + 5m 27s + 5m 27s + 50m + 53m + 44m + 48m 16s + 48m + 24m + 72m + 72m + 46m + 18m 26s + 30m + 34m 43s + 9m 45s + 26m 34s + 25m 23s + 32m 31s + 33m 48s + 143m 26s + 48m 30s + 112m 46s + 16m 20s + 30m 53s + 11m 31s + 9m 13s + 24m + 48m + 168m + 96m + 24m 01s + 34m 07s

6 Likes
3

Interesting. I’ll bite and go for 50 hrs as well. Edit: incorporated audio with text on Aug 13.

オーディオブック
Series ch text Time
ポーション頼みで生き延びます! 1 | L28 1 なし 29 min
君の名は |L30 1-2 (half) なし 40 min
裏世界ピクニック | L32 1 なし 93 min
SAO 1 4 なし 19
転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命 | L32 All* あり 532

*Didn’t listen to the 8 min bonus story

ADV/VN/ゲーム 動画
Game eps text Time
屋上の百合霊さん【Liar-soft】 playthrough 1/25 なし 32
空の軌跡 4/45 あり 32

Watching without looking at text, since I can just glance at background briefly

声優ラジオ
Series eps Time
ガールズバンドクライ〜ラジオ 1-10, 17-19 (おまけあり) 566
ガルクラ 生配信８月９日 65
トゲトゲ生配信 3 (part) 25
カフェ・リーベ女学園より愛を込めて (わたゆり) 1 (DNF) 10
ひまりと依の“ささやき”ラジオ (ささ恋) 8 + omake 50
ぼっち・ざ・らじお！ 48 67

Other options:

インタビュー
Interview Time
斎藤千和 AnimeNYC 30[1]
GBC Creator’s studio (or w/e) 45[2]
  1. Time has been halved from 60 minutes, since half the panel was translation
  2. Time halved - distracted
ドラマCD
Series ep/ch Time
All Around Type Moon 1 (partial) 15
Fate stay night Curtain Call~ LET US DRIVE TOGETHER 43
空の軌跡 1/12 30*
ガルクラ 3/9 32
暁のヨナ
五等分の花嫁
ダンまち
よるクラ??
犬夜叉
薬屋のひとりごと
Hollow Ataraxia drama cd
Fate/Zero - 王たち

AATM CDs: 70:10, 50:51, 34:19

空の軌跡 ep 1 is 55 min, but there’s a decent amount of music, and I kept spacing out/not paying attention, to a point where I felt I should subtract time

字幕なしアニメとドラマ
Series eps Time
ガールズバンドクライ | L26 1-10 (4 was 2x), 3 & 5 (commentary) 372 min
カーニバル・ファンタズム S1 | L27 1-8 (コメンタリーなし、コメンタリーあり) 210
ガルクラ 生オーディオコメンタリー 3-13 253
AKB0048 S1 | L27 8-13 138
時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん S1 | L25 4-6 69
ヲタクに恋は難しい S1 | L27 2-3 41*
彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる S1 | L25 1 25

*Skipped OP and/or ED, so deducted from the usual 23

Total so far: 2,863 min (47.7 hr)

6 Likes
4

I think it’s pretty much up to you. I don’t have any anime in my post because I barely watch it as-is; if I happen to watch an episode, then I’ll probably count it.

4 Likes
5

I am shamelessly stealing from eefara :orange_heart:

I also went with 50 hours which seems like a decent number. Most likely Audiobooks and podcasts will make up the majority of those hours, but I might add a bit of anime or TV shows depending on mood.

Time Goal: 51:55/50 hours :partying_face: :partying_face: :partying_face:

Log:

(accumulated time in brackets)

Audiobooks

Audiobooks:

Drama CDs

Drama CDs:

Youtube

Youtube:

Podcasts

Podcasts :

  • YUYUの日本語Podcast
TV/Movie/Anime

TV/Movie/Anime:

Daily Check-In:

:sound: Aug :sound:
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
6 Likes
6

I like the idea of cataloguing the totality of what was listened to. :eyes: I’m going to steal your theft and add a similar section.

4 Likes
7

Absolutely counts. So long as it’s not (heavily) text supported I’m counting it. There is some reading needed in some shows and movies but I’m not going to be a purist here :sweat_smile:

6 Likes
8

Cool. I think I will try to reach my goal without counting that first, and add it in at the end of the month, if I’m not there yet

5 Likes
9

Whatever works! We’re not starting til August anyways so there is plenty of time to play around and tweak methods before then

5 Likes
10

Nice challenge. First of all, I will not be counting audiobooks and podcasts, since I do both in passive mode. (Though I have corresponding ebooks for most audiobooks.)

Probably YouTube and anime, or maybe something else like movies or live actions I haven’t thought of. Maybe I’d include JP hard sub (though I want to keep to the minimum), but I wouldn’t count enabling soft sub.

Total time: 13:26 hr (27%)

Logs

Aug 1, Thu: キュン死 :cat: (7 min)
Aug 2, Fri: るろうに剣心 S2E8 (23 min)
Aug 3, Sat: るろうに剣心 S2E9-10 (46 min)

Aug 5, Mon: 李姉妹 (23 min)
Aug 6, Tue: Armenia Vlog (29 min)
Aug 7, Wed: Fish and chips, and UK (26 min)
Aug 9, Fri: North Korean memories (17 min)
Aug 10, Sat: Belarus (27 min)
Aug 11, Sun: jobless in Taiwan (13+10 min)

Aug 12, Mon: Akane-sensei, Isawa Onsen (13 min)
Aug 13, Tue: Chocolate in Taiwan (15 min)
Aug 15, Thu: るろうに剣心 S2E11 (23 min)
Aug 16, Fri: Uyghur (46 min)
Aug 17, Sat: Carcinization (12 min)
Aug 18, Sun: Japan visa for Chinese people (22 min) + るろうに剣心 S2E12 (23 min)

Aug 19, Mon: るろうに剣心 S2E13 (23 min)
Aug 20, Tue: るろうに剣心 S2E14 (23 min)
Aug 21, Wed: るろうに剣心 S2E15-16 (46 min) + むいむいKanji (12 min)
Aug 22, Thu: るろうに剣心 S2E17 (23 min)
Aug 23, Fri: るろうに剣心 S2E18 (23 min)
Aug 24, Sat: るろうに剣心 S2E19-21 (69 min)
Aug 25, Sun: Utada Hikaru (18 min) + プリン (12 min) + るろうに剣心 S2E22 (23 min)

Aug 26, Mon: Dramas (39 min) + るろうに剣心 S2E23 (23 min)
Aug 27, Tue: Foreigners chat what lang? (14 min)
Aug 28, Wed: むいむい Wikipedia (21 min) + るろうに剣心 S2E24 (23 min)
Aug 30, Fri: Vietnam border (26 min)
Aug 31, Sat: るろうに剣心 S2E25-26 (46 min)

5 Likes
11

Also shamelessly stealing from eefara and Biblio :v:

I will also go for the stock 50 hours. I’m trying to hit 500 total hours by the end of the year and 50 hours is enough of a push toward that goal without being overwhelming. Hopefully this challenge will help keep me from failing my larger goal as I have been sorely lacking in listening practice for the past few months.

Initial plans

I may listen to the occasional podcast, but it will almost definitely be in the background, so I won’t count it. I may listen to a couple Drama CDs or watch a few Youtube videos if I happen upon something interesting, but I don’t have a plan for anything in particular there.

Mostly, I’m going to be watching TV. Mostly anime, as that is a lot easier to access than Japanese live action in the west and the live action shows that I have watched have been hit or miss.

Shows I'm planning on watching

ドラゴンボール | L23 (Already started)
姫様“拷問”の時間です | L25
カードキャプターさくら | L19 (Already started)
ホリミヤ S1 | L24

Log

Drama CDs

Drama CDs:

Youtube

Youtube:

TV/Movie/Anime

TV/Movie/Anime:
僕の心のヤバイやつ S1 | L24 Eps: 4-12 (Finished)
見える子ちゃん S1 | L26 Eps: 8-12 (Finished)
ハリー・ポッターと謎のプリンス | L29 (Finished)
ハリー・ポッターと死の秘宝 Part1 | L30 (Finished)
ハリー・ポッターと死の秘宝 Part2 | L31 (Finished)
ドラゴンボール S1 | L23 Eps: 39-61
日常 S1 | L26 Eps: 16-26 (Finished)
カードキャプターさくら S1 | L19 Eps: 34-35 (Finished)
犬夜叉 S1 | L27 Eps: 29-30
ハナヤマタ S1 | L23 Eps: 2-12 (Finished)
シトラス S1 | L24 Ep: 2 (Stopped)
CLANNAD | L26 Ep: 11-12
殺戮の天使 S1 | L25 Eps: 1-5 (On hold for now)
ゆるめいつ 3でぃ S1 | L19 Ep: 6-13 (Finished)
美少女戦士セーラームーン | L24 Eps: 1-33

I will only mark this calendar if I hit at least 1.6 hours on that day, which is the average needed to hit 50 hours in the month.

:sound: Aug :sound:
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

一緒に頑張ろう！

6 Likes
12

What do you like to watch? I almost exclusively watch live action so I know where more of the “hits” are, and where they’re available legally.

4 Likes
13

I’m generally not too picky on shows. Anything comedic or action would be great, but any other genre would be fine too. As long as the show is compelling and not too slow paced I usually enjoy it well enough. Also, any Japanese dubs of American shows would be interesting. I’ve been trying to get a physical copy of the Japanese dub of Supernatural, but it’s super expensive. :cry:

My biggest problem is that most streaming sites use geo-blocking. I can use a VPN to look like I’m in Japan, but they will eventually block whatever VPN I’m using and I won’t be able to use the service anymore. Netflix and Amazon prime are notorious for doing this. I don’t want to sign up for a service, just to be blocked a couple of months later, and I also don’t want to switch VPN providers every few months.

Because of this, I resort to other resources for live-action shows, which tends to be pretty scarce.

If you know of any reasonably priced streaming services that do not use geo-blocking (preferably with a wide-selection), then I am all ears.

3 Likes
14

I will join, I’ll try to do 30 hours. Minimum of half an hour a day when working and more on days I don’t work, 7 hours minimum per week will be my goal.
I’m already trying to do more listening each day so it may help me get more listening in. :slightly_smiling_face: I have no idea how to do that cool tracker calendar though.

Initial plan: I’ll focus mostly on the podcast series I’m listening to and listening to stories I already know from the short story books I have, that way if there’s anything I don’t know, I can look it up if need be. I may add more if I need to.

Podcasts
  • Japanese with Shun
  • にほんご Thinking out loud in Japanese
  • Learn Japanese with Noriko
Audio books
Aug
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
6 Likes
15

For the calendar, I just quoted one of the existing calendars, then deleted everything around it. If you put an ‘x’ inside one of the pairs of brackets, then it puts a check mark in the box.

For the list at the top, there should be an edit button for the table when you hover over it. You should be able to edit yourself in using: "[name](link to your post)" in the first column

3 Likes
16

I did try to copy the table (both from the original wk and from the ones above) but I don’t know if it’s me or a setting on my device, it doesn’t show correctly, just shows the numbers, not an actual table (even in the edit screen once I’ve added it to the post). I also tried creating one but I can’t adjust anything so it has 4 columns and 6 rows with no way for me to add extra columns or make any changes if I create it myself :sweat_smile:

Edit: strike that, I found the html code for the original table and that works :woman_facepalming: code is not my strong point :joy:

2 Likes
17

Are you in North America or elsewhere? My recommendations are from America, availability may vary based on locale.

Netflix America has actually recently added a decent chunk of good live action dramas. Off hand: MIU404 (crime show, comedy, heart warming), The Full Time Wife Escapist (romcom comedy that is actually quite low on cringe!), Dearest (crime, drama, thriller-ish), Invisible (crime comedy), House of Ninjas (drama, action), Let’s Get Divorced (comedy, drama), Erased (this has an anime too I think), Unnatural (crime drama).

Viki is another option. They have a heavy lean towards trashy romcom, but outside of that there is Don’t Call it a Mystery (based on a manga, crime drama), The Sealer (honestly hilarious but maybe not meant to be), Risky (dark drama), Master’s Daughter (thriller), First Love (movie, drama, thriller), Impossibility Defense (movie, horror), Heaven and Hell: Soul Exchange (drama, crime)

JME is only available in the US+Canada but they do have some shows and movies not available on other services. I ended up canceling them though as I just couldn’t justify the price ($25/month!). They have 合理的にあり得ない ～探偵・上水流涼子の解明～ S1 | L30?? thught which I’m desperately trying to finish before my sub runs out because I adore it.

Also shouting out the huge number of free movies on the Internet Archive (filtered link). Some have hard subs unfortunately, but some real gems in there. The Happiness of the Katakuris (movie) for example.

I do have another site I use but it’s VPN access required which you said you didn’t want, and that’s totally fair. The VPN dance can get tiring :sweat_smile:

8 Likes
18

You should be able to copy-paste this. You may need to remove (`)s from above/below the text though.

|||:sound:|Aug|:sound:|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|月|火|水|木|金|土|日|
||||01[ ]|02[]|03[]|04[]|
|05[]|06[]|07[]|08[]|09[]|10[]|11[]|
|12[]|13[]|14[]|15[]|16[]|17[]|18[]|
|19[]|20[]|21[]|22[]|23[]|24[]|25[]|
|26[]|27[]|28[]|29[]|30[]|31[]||
3 Likes
19

Thank you, I appreciate it :blush:

1 Like
20

Thanks for the recs. I am in the US, so those should work for me. US Netflix might still give me trouble because I do always use a VPN for privacy reasons, which I think will still cause an issue even though I am actually in the right region. I’ll definitely check out the others though.

$25/Month is definitely expensive, but I might try JME out for a single month just to see what they have.

3 Likes