🙋 Language goals for 2024? How did you do in 2023? ✨

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2024 goals - Korean
I basically just don’t want to forget my Korean-- I’m not tracking my listening or conversation but I will be practicing. I don’t plan on making flashcards, but we’ll see. I took a long break after cramming for TOPIK (6!) and also moved away from Korea, so I’m hoping buckling down on reading will help me keep up my Korean.

  • 4000 total pages read in Korean (inc. novels, young adult books, manhwa, poetry)
  • 12 books (inc. novels, young adult books, language study textbooks)

2024 goals - Spanish
I’m starting to learn…please…just study for once and make some gains in 2024…It’s so embarrassing not being able to converse with my family.

  • 20 books (children’s books, language study textbooks, graded readers)
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I’m just now realizing that I didn’t set any goals for Spanish, since Natively Spanish was launched after I posted my goals and that’s what motivated me to go back to Spanish. But I guess, simple 2024 goals would be to read, read and read. Just consume as much content in Spanish as possible, and tackle those high leveled books that I bought.

2024 goals for Korean
  • I had to stop my Italki classes, since my schedule no longer lines up with my tutor’s. I will try to get back into it though, but we’ll see how that goes.
  • 3/5 novels finished
  • 2 graded readers finished, and another that I’ll finish next week. I’ll get back to the others when I get back to my appartment.
  • 4 natively bookclubs joined for Korean, so far no book finished.
  • almost daily reading, on the right track here
  • I haven’t kept up with writing regularly, so I definitely need to change that
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I am spending waaaay too much time reading that one LN series right now, so my stats aren’t as good as I hoped, but still 6 non-LN, including 1 non-fiction so far, so I am still on par.

OT:

Same; personally, I don’t like the social baggage associated with words like husband. I like the idea conveyed by partner (we’re in this together!), but in French that’s the word you use when you are not married, so I use “spouse” myself.
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Nice idea to check progress after a few months

2024 goals

  • Read at least 10 books - I’ve read 2 so far, and I have 20-30 pages left of a 3rd one, so this is going fine so far

  • Read at least 20 manga - I think I’ve read 1 volume so far… I’ve been focusing more on books. I’m currently reading a few though, but 20 might be ambitious. We’ll see…

  • Read and listen to more news/non-fiction content - It’s a lovely goal in theory, super hard for me to accomplish in practice. My daily free time is so limited, I end up just doing reviews and keeping up with book clubs, and never engage with other media. But let’s see how this goals throughout the year

  • Read the dictionary of intermediate japanese grammar - Ongoing!

  • Start on the SKM N2 books - Ongoing! Progressing through the vocab book

  • Read すずめの戸締り and コーヒーが冷めないうちに - Not started yet, my goal is to start on one of them as soon as I finish my current book

  • Focus more on immersion and enjoyment than SRS - heh, this is a good goal. I think I’ve been doing well so far because I don’t have the stress of taking the JLPT this year, but I’m still very stuck in SRS

Just wanted to wish you lots of success and good luck with that - I’m in the same situation, but “lucky” that I use the language at work so I get some practice. It’s really a struggle learning a language you are not so interested in!

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Quarterly check-in:

Read 35 total novels

8/35

I’m p much on track for this one so far; 25% of 35 is 8.75.

Read a “classic” novel

I’d had こころ lined up for both this and the “higher Natively level than read before” square, but then I ended up going with 夢十夜 (same author, but a series of short short stories) for the box instead, so I’ve still got nothing for this.

Read 4 nonfiction books (may or may not count as novels)

0/4

Read 175 manga

10/175

Read all of the 黒子のバスケ main series in January (it’s 30 volumes, so should be doable providing I succeed in staving off burnout) | stretch goal: read the two volumes of EXTRA GAME as well

Yeah, this very much did not happen lmao. I got most of the way through vol 7 before basically getting burned out, though not so much on the series as on manga in general. My mental health has been basically poop since the end of last year, and several days I’ve only done like the bare minimum to keep up my reading streak, and I’ve barely touched manga at all. Even getting back into a beloved series (I watched the anime twice years ago, have a bunch of character songs, and have read a bunch of fic and DJs and written a few fic myself) that I’d been dying to read couldn’t save me lol

Listen to something other than songs at least once a month

Ohhh I forgot I was gonna do that. I haven’t exactly kept a record of anything. I know I listened to the 『明日をくれた君に、光のラブレターを』の朗読 at one point, though I don’t remember when and I don’t remember if I listened to any audio dramas at all this year. I did watch some anime and dramas in Jan and Feb though.

I’ve been playing Dragon Quest X Offline, which is partially voiced, since the 29th, so that’s March down. Doesn’t count for much, but it’s still some.

Make progress on BunPro (N5: 126/126 | N4: 104/177 | N3: 2/217 | N2: 3/210 | N1: 1/180)

N5: 126/126 | N4: 107/177 | N3: 3/217 | N2: 5/210 | N1: 1/180

Get all bingos on my bingo board

I’m at 1 bingo so far

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This is hard to quantify in the middle of, but I’m working on it.
I started NHKにようこそ! | L32 this week, and while there’s been a lot of lookups, the text so far has been otherwise easy. So on my way I suppose.

I think I’m at 100% for the year so far. There were def some phone it in 1 page of manga kind of days, but I’m still considering that a streak.

I’m in the middle of ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 1 | L23 and また、同じ夢を見ていた | L25 and don’t see not finishing those.

Should have this in the next few months.

Uhhh.
Well we’ll get video games for Natively soon and hopefully that gets me more motivated.

So, uh, I think my listening is already here. My reading is def low A1 and my speaking is for sure A0.

I did find the Magic Treehouse books in French at my local library, so I’m planning on starting to read those soon.
Very annoyingly there’s no audiobook version in French so I’m not sure how much I want to read them or if I want to find some other beginner friendly books with audio… we’ll see…

Another team "partner". I feel like the word husband is icky. I only use it around family and friends who know him as a person. Or when I don't want to deal with telemarketers and tell them that I need to ask my husband 🤮 Otherwise he's my partner.
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Halftime update!
I’m at 11/20 for “not LN” books, including 1/4 non-fiction. I am on the verge of finishing one more non-fiction book, though, so I am nearly on par!

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Due to some things going on in my private life, my second quarter was in a bit of turmoil and not a lot of reading got done (compared to what could have been done):

  • So far I am at 4 books read from my physical TBR - reading no. 5 currently - so this is not looking great but still doable…
  • I have listened to a couple more new series, but none that were already on my TBR, so… fail XD
  • I bought vol 1 of Flesh & Blood to read with the book club, so this is also a fail. :melting_face: but also a win… depending on your viewpoint. :face_holding_back_tears:
  • Still looking good on the Bingo card front - though I really need to make an update
  • I am no longer on track for 1 book per week, if I exclude audiobooks. If I include them, I reached 52 books on June 27.
  • my daily reading goal is definitely not even close anymore. I have lost quite a few days but for good reasons, so I have 0 regrets there.
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  • Almost finished N3. 194/219 grammar points!
  • Finished reading 魔法が消えていく within 3 weeks!
  • These books changed slightly. Removed ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 since I didn’t own it. All other books have been finished aside from Kiki’s Delivery Service (which I’m currently reading) and 世にも奇妙な商品カタログ2.
  • Finished all my マジック・ツリーハウス books. (10 books!)
  • Have only read one NSFW volume of manga. There’s still time for this one though.
  • Currently have only finished 2 games (last year I finished 4), but should be able to finish the 3 more by the end of the year.

So far everything is going very well!

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  • I’m at 4750 pages and that’s with me not reading at all the past few days while sick. I’ll probably knock it out soon
  • 2/4 nonfiction books
  • 35 conversation hours (67%)
  • 112 listening hours (I’m behind, that’s 39%)
  • 4 physical books read

I gave up Swedish a few months ago :slightly_frowning_face:

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Halfway check-in:

Japanese

  • So far, I’m at 23/50 LN/novels, so I’m mostly on track there.
  • I’m at 42/50 volumes of manga read, so doing great there.
  • I haven’t finished any novel series yet, but hopefully I will later this year.
  • I’ve done ~20 hours of pure listening, which is better than nothing but not quite enough, since I’m going to Japan later this year.
  • I’ve read 27 TBR books, so I knocked that goal out of the park!

Mandarin

  • I’m at 1.5/2M characters read, so I’m on track there.
  • I’ve read 1 physical book so far and 1 of my owned manhua, so I need to work on my manhua a bit more.
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Halfway point update:

On track. I’ve finished 24 books so far compared to same time last year’s 19.

I believe 13 out of these 24 books were from authors new to me. Several of these authors I’d happily read again, so this is going well.

So far so good? More or less.

So far I’ve gotten 20 new books, out of which I read 7. But then there’s also the audiobooks… Hmmm. It’s hard to keep track :see_no_evil: Currently my 積読 is 37 books high, which sounds like it’s probably about the same as before despite the new additions? So I guess maybe on track overall.

This is going well, I think. I’ve listened to 53 hours of audiobooks without accompanying text and I’m satisfied with my comprehension. Some I need to listen to several times, and pause often for lookups, others I fully understand more or less at once.

Very on and off, very slowly and very casually, I’m doing it. Not much progress to present, but that’s okay.

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  • No bingos yet. I’ve crossed off 4 of the (minimum) 10 squares needed for that, so I’m almost halfway. Working on a book now that’ll mark off another square, so it’s slowly moving.
  • Physical manga: I finally had the good sense to make a tag in my library for this; I’m at 178 volumes. This isn’t the number I started off with at the beginning of this year, but it’s close; I’ve probably only read 5 or so of these physicals. Not doing great here.
  • 0/5 TV shows and 0/5 movies. On the bright side I’ve watched little to nothing in English either…?
  • F&B: 16/24 done. Very possible I finish this year.
  • Spicy: noooope, haha.
  • Bonus: Actually, I’ve been doing well here! I’ve finished reading a whole seven books, which is seven more than I thought I’d get to this year.

Not to worry, I’ll argue on your behalf in front of the judge. :ok_hand:

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This is fascinating to look back on… I am nowhere near most of these, and some of them aren’t even on my radar now. I’m going to end up attempting FSN again when they release the new version tho :sweat_smile:

  • SAO 7/36 finished (only 2 this year)
    • Too many lookups, but okay without translation
  • L30 books - besides SAO, I’ve only finished a few L27-28 LNs and various L28-29 manga
    • I’m trying to stay in i+1 territory, but maybe I should push myself a bit more
    • VNs aren’t on my radar, but 五等分の花嫁 2 feels comfy so far
  • Reading speed is definitely meaningfully improving. まだまだけど
  • Monolingual dictionary - I should do this more… I probably need to do it as an exercise tho, since it’s too disruptive when reading
    • maybe I’ll try it with トゲナシトゲアリ lyrics
  • Writing/conversation - slightly improved, but won’t be any meaningful progress without more active practice. It’s not a huge goal rn

New goals:

  • Read as many 百合姫 monthly series as possible (well on my way)
    • Same for 少年エース
  • Read more with audiobooks

Edit: this inspired me to start 転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命 | L33 with the audiobook :slight_smile:

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I’m really not sure what copium I was smoking when I made the goal to read all my TBR but that has not happened. :rofl: I’ve read 27 books so far this year and only 5 of them were from my TBR. :joy: Maybe by the end of the year?!?

As for my goal to read 15 40+ books, I am at 5 so far (with another 5 or so 35+ ones). Possibly doable by end of year!

I haven’t read any 本好きの下剋上 yet, so this is also a fail. :see_no_evil:

In my defense, I’ve been having a busy year. :see_no_evil:

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Mid year update:
Still working on fixing the burn out since it now comes and goes.

I did manage to finish the Flying Witch manga until I found a new one just released so that thill be next on the list once it arrives. I still have to re-read Kino’s Journey and Zoo book 1 but I have read some additional books this year (Kitty detectives as well as some 1st year primary school level non fiction books). Failed 本好き so it’s on the back burner til I improve my reading level.

I got stuck on MNN blue book but switched to Shin Kanzen Master then I will go back to MNN blue books.

And I have managed to have a lesson most weeks as well as 1-2 language exchanges each week too. Whether my speaking is improving though is up for debate :joy:

I’ve also started to use my primary school level Japanese vocabulary dictionary and Kanji dictionary so that’s a little improvement at least.

Hopefully I’ll get the re-reads completed in the remainder of the year as well as fixing the burn out once and for all.

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I’m pretty sure this is all of us :joy:

As long as it’s not getting worse :joy:

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Ending up DNFing that since it was more frustrating than fun. My current read + listen level is probably 25-26 right now. My just read is probably more like 22-23. I don’t know if I’m going to make this by the end of the year, but I’m definitely going to try!

As of today (7/1), I’ve read every day this year, so I’ve already attained this! :white_check_mark: :tada:
This was always a sandbagged goal in order to not get depressed if I missed a day of reading. I think since I’ve already made it, I’m going to revise it to read more days than not for the rest of the year.

I did finishふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 1 | L23 and また、同じ夢を見ていた | L25 with their respective book clubs. I’m working on two more right now, so soon on this one.

Still haven’t finished a game, and I’m not playing one right now either. So, this feels … unlikely.

I fully stopped with French this month. I don’t know if I’m going to pick it back up or not, but I’m trying to not stress about it too much.

I’ve been feeling a bit down on my Japanese progress lately, so reflecting on where I started this year has been really helpful. I’ve also absorbed an additional hour or so of French back into Japanese (for now at least), so I’m sure that’s not gonna hurt either. :slight_smile:

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I did tell my tutor that I had forgotten a book snd it ran away instead of saying I had lost it. Not sure if that’s worse though :rofl:

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Welcome to the dreaded plateau where you only realize in hindsight that it was a hill all along. :face_holding_back_tears:

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