I can see how that would be a pain, but is it weird that I actually find that cool to be able to read? I was brought up on the old original GB games though
Yeah, some of the anime and manga merch selling stalls/ shops here have started selling them. I kinda wanted a Demon Slayer one but it’s usually characters I don’t want.
I have a few Japanese games on PSP, PS Vita and Switch now too and noticed CD Japan have some older games but I really should go to Japan and pick some up(might be cheaper than the shipping at times ).
I have no idea how to do that but I do have a DSi R4 card for the emulator roms. I have a 3DS and new 3DSXL so maybe could find out how to change the older one.
For anyone who’s played 空の軌跡, the drama cds are pretty fun. I wouldn’t recommend them if u haven’t tho, cuz I think I may have spoiled myself on a thing or two that I’m not up to yet
Decided to watch Flying Witch series that I bought yesterday so ended up watching all 12 episodes today.
There was more I understood this time from listening than when I first read the Manga. I’ve mostly been listening and only occasionally looking at the screen though.
Only complaint is that the UK blu-ray has only English or Japanese voice over WITH English subtitles. If I had a multi-region blu-ray player I’d consider getting the Japanese version if it has Japanese subtitles or option if no subtitles though. The theme tune is kinda catchy but the chorus makes me think of this guy every time it says “my friend” :
After some thought, I’ve decided to incorporate audiobooks with text, as well as game playthroughs where everything is fully out loud, and the majority of the playthrough is speech. This will result in me doing much more listening overall. And as I mentioned before, I think listening with text is more productive for improving my listening overall rn. That not only helps me acquire new vocab, but I can notice when I didn’t correctly identify a word/phrase I heard as well. It will also help me progress on one of my current reads.
Given that, I’m increasing my goal to 75, with a stretch of 100 Actually I realized that’s totally unrealistic… I’ll stick with 50 for now. While this is a bit of a double standard, I’m excluding anime with subs, since anime is already so variable. I’ll still try to push myself to consume a good amount of audio-only material, bc that’s also beneficial in ways that having text is not.
I’m also a little torn on this challenge. I’ve somehow found myself in a weird situation where it feels like reading is much more difficult than listening. Every time I try and read a book without audio, even something at a level I’d be fine listening to with no text, it’s such a struggle.
Since my mantra with Japanese this year has been follow the fun, I’ve been trying to only read things that don’t feel awful to slog through, which has mostly just meant really low level manga.
I’m reminding myself that kids become fluent in their native languages before they learn how to read, so maybe having someone “read to me” will lift me out of this particular pit. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with my listening skills being way higher than my reading as long as it’s not impeding my ability to get more Japanese input.
(At my current reading speed an audiobook, with or without text, is the most Japanese-dense activity, probably followed by podcasts/streams and then TV. Reading has got to be way down there)
Anyway, another Shitsurei Rant™ that probably just doesn’t matter since I’m not planning to change my habits without a really clear signal that I should.
I think it’s inherently more difficult, where japanese is concerned at least. My comprehension seems similar for both, despite having spent vastly more time reading. (In part bc they complement each other)
Fwiw words/expressions you get out of that will still show up in unexpected places, in harder material.
I worry sometimes that I read too much L20-26 manga. But like I picked up わたおし and 天才令嬢 (L32/33) again today, and they feel a lot easier than they did a month or two ago, even though I’ve been reading 90% L20-26 manga in that time.
Most of humanity for tens of thousands of years became fluent without being able to read at all. You can definitely become fluent without extensive reading. You will just have to double or triple down on your listening in exchange. As long as you can read well enough when you absolutely have to, that it good enough.
With that said, I have spent time dedicated to reading as much as I could a could a few times. Every time that I do, I end up improving my reading a fair amount in a short time in some domain (kanji, reading speed, etc.). It may be worth it to try 1-2 weeks of truly extensive reading to see how much it helps.
I suppose next month I could consider a reading challenge instead of a listening one.
I WANT to be able to read because I love reading and there’s so much I want to read in Japanese. It just feels so much like I’m flailing when I’m reading in a way that listening doesn’t right now.
I’ve been tired all day and basically only managed a few minutes of listening to a new audiobook. I’ll probably rewind some of it tomorrow because I kept spacing out and not actually listening.
Rather than force it I’m just going to go to bed early tonight and hope to make up some time tomorrow
Okay! Here’s my sorta two-week mark update. First of all, I decided to move my goal from 50 hours to 40 so I don’t go crazy lol. I technically kinda caught up bc I used Youtube videos but I’m not happy about it. I also DO want to read with my eyes sometime this month soooo new goal! Not to mention I’ve been intermittently without power off and on for these two weeks…;; so I starting catching up on the 11th!
August 11th-14th
So much more gaming YouTube hah…aha…ha
21 min
17 min
32 min
26 min
22 min
Other YT game video but I’m too lazy to link it cause I forgot to save lmao
38 min
Audiobook: ㅈㅅㅋㄹ Okay book, not amazing but it was easy to listen to so.
4 hrs
Audiobook: 이상한 과자 가게 전천당 3 My favvvvv series it’s so easy but I should stop spoiling myself and also listen to harder books lol.
2 hrs 30 min
Total Korean: 19 hrs 15 min / 25 Total Spanish: 4 hrs 39 min / 15
I finished 空中ブランコ！Yay! I didn’t like it as much as the first book and felt like it was lacking some of the original charm. I probably won’t move on to the last book.
I started ミシン (小学館文庫 た 1-4) | L30?? because I remembered hearing about it in a ほんタメ video before and…oh my. Have you ever read a book where you know you’re just already way too old for it? The first story was a “純愛” story that I think I would’ve found romantic at age 14. Unfortunately I’m already on the wrong side of adulthood and I was cringing, dying inside, and laughing (and also triggered by the main character just blowing money on designer clothes while not having a job and musing that not spending money on what he wanted would equate to major poor people behavior™️ , but maybe that’s just because I listened to it while sitting in traffic commuting home lolol). It’s giving me serious 2000s nostalgia for shojo stuff like Nana or Paradise Kiss and is a total vibe.
Feels very unfocused and hard to follow. Maybe this is something that it’s only happening on volume 1, but I have already tried a few times to continue and I’m not really feeling it.
I listened to 4:21:09 of カラフル | L27
Very easy, very in-your-face, very SOL and very YA. I feel like 16 year old me would have loved this book. 40 year old me is a bit bored.
Finished ch 2 of 転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命 | L33 … I noticed that sometimes I fool myself into thinking I understood something I heard, only to look at the text and realize I missed part of it (to be fair, I’ve done this with text only too). Also some things are just hard with and without audio.
When I finish this (6 hrs of audio, so probably 7-8 more hrs total) I’ll try 弱キャラ友崎くん Lv.3 | L29 . Those felt challenging back in March/April, but should be easier now. In any case, the books are sitting on my shelf.
I’m watching ガールズバンドクライ for the 5th time now, but with EN subs (so it doesn’t count for this). It’s been helpful to double-check what I’m hearing, and see what things I’m still missing. My next rewatch probly won’t be in time for August (depends how fast Blu-ray 3 gets here), but if there’s things I’m still not getting in real time by then, I’ll probably resort to actually writing those parts out, or even Anki
).
3.5 hrs total
