Omg what is that even?? It’s so hard to read!!! 
I’m planning on working through the advanced one next year too! Study buddies?? 
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Did someone say grammar book club? Count me in! 
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Korean grammar in use study club
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Let’s go! Just checking for interest, @bizoo @NihongoLearner19, would you maybe be interested as well?
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i don’t do explicit grammar study so I won’t be joining but i do like to read other people’s experiences using different methods so im sure to be lurking 
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I’m interested! I’m definitely feeling like my grammar is a problem so I would appreciate the external pressure to work on it haha
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I probably won’t join in until January 2025, but we could just have a casual KGIU thread to post about studying with it maybe? 
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Japanese
Another week, another Wanikani level! I’m realizing I’m not going at the most efficient speed on Wanikani, despite doing 20 words a day. This level, level 2, took me 6 days. The thing is, I’m not sure I want to do something about it. I remember last time, my retention was a lot worse when I did exclusively radicals, then exclusively kanji and exclusively vocab, over mixing it all up. So I don’t exactly know the best course of action here, maybe I could try using the lesson picker to get more radicals/kanji at the beginning of levels, but then that’d leave me with a huge pile of vocab, and readings to remember.
I have also come to realize some things that I’m both embarrassed I didn’t see last time and annoyed that Wanikani doesn’t straight up teach it. Mainly, patterns. 六日 and 六つ used to be some of my leeches, I could never remember those readings, it was like they came out of nowhere, and I was using separate mnemonics for each one. However, I noticed I could just think of 六 having an alternate reading of むい. From then on, you get 六日 and as for 六つ, the い just gets replaced by っ, just like in 四つ.
Articles read:
Since I’m visiting my family this week, I couldn’t bring Genki with me. In the meantime though, I may just watch a couple Cure Dolly videos (I’ve realised that I can just turn off the sound and just read the subtitles, that way I’m not bothered by the voice and I can still get the explanations), I’ve already watched the first few ones.
Korean
It has also been an interesting week for Korean. I’ve decided to try something that I’d been putting off for more than a while: reading articles! I’ve been thinking about potentially taking the TOPIK II some time next year (probably during the October test date), and for that, I’d need to be able to read things like articles, if I want to get a good score. I really do need to do a mock test at some point, because I actually have no idea where I stand right now.
So yeah, I’ve been reading articles on 어린이동아, which are meant for kids and therefore easier I assume, but still have so much specific vocab I need to learn. I’m debating actually pulling those articles into LingQ (since I still have my yearly subscription, though not for long as I won’t be renewing it for next year, that was a waste of money), or maybe printing them, or making an Anki deck. I don’t think I’ll be able to learn things like 선서 조작 otherwise, I’m just not gonna be reading a high enough volume of articles to get enough repetitions to learn them purely through exposure.
I’ve also started reading News In Korean (뉴스로 한국어 공부하기) | L20, to get more of that press specific vocabulary. I’ve been eyeing Generation Gap and Other Essays | L16, which I’ve seen Natalia Garza talking about on her channel. So I’ll probably end up starting that once I finish News in Korean, maybe next year?
I actually stumbled upon this video by Someday Korean who mentionned that she was doing a News November challenge, and that seems like a good idea!
어린이동아 기사:
Also, in terms of listening, I’m realizing that I could actually be listening to podcasts with subtitles/transcripts! It’s not like my pure listening skills are bad, and that’s why I listen to audiobooks anyway, so I can just chill listening/reading along to podcasts, without tiring myself too much. I’m wondering if that might actually make my reading speed better, we’ll see, because I know I can keep up to reading subtitles, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to read books at the same speed. One thing though, I do find that a lot of podcasts for learners are somewhat slow, which I don’t like. Sure, I can always speed them up, but then the voice gets awkward so it’s not optimal. So does anyone have any recommendations for native podcasts with either subtitles or a transcript? In the meantime, I think I may listen to Didi’s Korean podcast a bit if I have the motivation, but well, we’ll see what ends up happening, I don’t want to jinx myself.
In terms of reading, I’ve read quite a bit of 외모지상주의 1 | L28??. I think I mentioned this in another thread, but this is actually the webtoon that I started Korean to read. The translation was so slow, I think twenty chapters behind at the time. I actually had been checking my level trying to read this and failing, therefore telling myself that I wasn’t ready to read webtoons. I’m now pretty sad that I did that, but there’s no going back in time. Those first few pages, I feel like I still can’t understand much, not more than I did half a year ago. And for good cause, it’s full of slang! Not every character has such a slang heavy speech though, so some part I understand fully, while I’m struggling with others. So it’s not that my level is stagnating, I just haven’t focused on slang. At least this will be a good introduction to that, I am planning on reading the rest of it, after all I have 500 chapters to catch up on, so that’s plenty of material to read. I get stuck at the weirdest things, like, what is 번너크? Burn Knuckles, which I knew from the translated version but wow I did not think it was gonna be this.
I’ve also finished 스파이 패밀리 Spy Family 1 | L28??, which I will be continuing. Unsurprisingly, I struggled a lot with understanding all the konglish, and even English sounding names. I’m coming across a lot of new vocab in it, but between lookups and the visual help, I’m hoping that I’ll learn most of it fairly quickly.
So far, I’m also keeping well with 12시간 뒤 1권 | L26??, but finance vocab still hasn’t dropped, it’s just a matter of time at this point. So, wish me luck?
Spanish
A quick note for Spanish, I started El cuco de cristal | L30??! The best moment to do it was probably not when I was trying not to pass out on a train, but oh well. I got scared by the introduction about birds, but thankfully that doesn’t continue. Actually, does anyone have a topic that they’re particularly bad at in every language they know, including their native language? That’s birds for me. I can’t. I just, can’t recognize birds, and wouldn’t be able to name them if I could because I barely know any bird names (and why would I learn them, when I wouldn’t be able to use that knowledge anyway since I can’t recognize them). I don’t particularly love birds anyway (seagulls are thieves I swear, I’ve seen one fly away with an entire tuna sandwich once, of course dropping it just behind the fence), but it is still a bit embarassing that I can never understand bird names.
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Anything involving boats and water really. Boat stuff comes up a lot in books and I’ll look it up and be like 'yeah I don’t know that in English either 
’ and frankly my brain just…doesn’t care. Like distinguishing between 港湾 vs 埠頭 
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I worked my way through this entire book when studying for the TOPIK exam and it is 
! Very helpful and the layout is nice.
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If you’re wanting to read more articles, this newsletter might be of interest. The articles are rather short and straight-forward, and about all kinds of topics. I can’t speak to the actual language level as it is waaaaay beyond mine, but hopefully it’ll be helpful to you 
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Ooh, exciting! It’s sitting on my shelf tempting me every time I see it - I’m looking forward to starting this one! Looks like you’ve made good progress so far.
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I really wanted to do this nice pretty end of the year recap, but I’m procrastinating doing it so I guess it’s just not gonna happen and I’ll have to settle for chaos instead.
Korean
Stats and goals
Novels (including children’s novels): 12/10
Novel-like graded readers: 4
Audiobooks: 6/5 (+ half of 명탐정 셜록 홈즈 1 | L25)
Manga volumes: 31
Overall I’m really happy. I read close to 14 000 pages in 2024 in Korean, half of that being manga, but with still a good chunk of various novels. My reading has improved by leaps and bounds, from stuggling even in that L15-L20 range to starting to read YA novels. My reading speed in particular has seen a lot of improvement as well within the year.
This is particularly visible since I picked up books I’d stopped reading a while ago, so there is that direct comparison in speed. 죽이고 싶은 아이 | L26 is a great example of that, since I started it April, and just finished it at the end of December (in two reading sessions over a single day).
Another example of that is 또다시 같은 꿈을 꾸었어 | L24, which I just restarted, from chapter one since I’d forgotten. And while back in January/February, it had taken me over 3 hours, this time it was just around 35 minutes for the first chapter.
So I’m definitely happy about the progress I’ve done with Korean. I will most definitely be delving more into YA novels, and starting to pick up more difficult books in general, not limiting myself as much.
I’m also looking forward to reading more webtoons and manga, as I did indeed manage to read a lot of those around the end of the year.
Spanish
I did not read that much, but hey, the goal was to get back into doing at least some Spanish, after years of inactivity, so I at least did good in that sense. Definitely hoping to do better this year, but we’ll see.
(just putting this so I can compare the difference)
Japanese
This was my newest language of the year. Or rather, mid year! After a wonky start (bad timing, I got sick shortly after starting), I got back to where I was before I got sick. I’ve read some Tadoku graded readers, I’m getting more familiar with vocab/kanji through Wanikani and my Anki deck, so it’s just a matter of continuing what I’m doing. Currently at L4 of Wanikani (I took a break for the holidays, and had to catch up to the reviews), but I’m about to level up.
Italian
Not much progress on that side tbh. I kinda forgot about Italian, so I haven’t done as much as I planned to. I do want to do more this year though, listening and speaking in particular, because how am I gonna speak with my grandma in Italian if I can’t understand what she’s saying or form a sentence?
…Chinese (traditional)
This one was not planned. But I did pick up Chinese in December. Not gonna be a huuuuge priority, but I’d still like to chip at it little by little. Feel free to roast me for my lack of self control 
. But well, what’s done is done, I started it, so I can’t stop now!
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That’s AWESOME!! It’s been so cool watching your progress with Korean! 
Seriously well done!
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A good start of the year language wise. My health went a bit haywire (so many viruses about right now, and of course I catch the one I’m not vaccinated against since it’s not recommended in my demographic because we’re just supposed to get a minor cold from it, meanwhile I got bronchiolitis), and then I went and overworked myself doing University stuff. But hey, at least now I can say from experience that reading in Korean does not take as much energy as it used to, because I can still read a bit while exhausted, so that’s a win, I guess?
Korean
Lots of reading in so little time! Most of what I’ve done so far actually this month for Korean has been reading, apart from the second season of Squid Game that I started watched (with English subs because my brain cannot compute audio right now). But yeah, somehow, between all that reading, I finished 4 novels, 1 nonfiction and 6 volumes of a webtoon, 나 혼자만 레벨업 1 | L27. I was afraid that my goal of twenty books (novels or nonfiction) for the year would be too much, but turns out I was afraid for nothing, since I’m already a quarter of the way in. So I think I’ll be changing that goal to 25 novels (or nonficitons) for 2025, that’s just more satisfying, and at the pace I’m going so far, the five additional books shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve also finished 당신을 기다리고 있어 | L32, which as one of my goals for the year was to start reading in the low 30s, I’d say this is going great as well! I’m happy to say that I did understand a lot of what was going on, although I was oftentimes confused as well. There are two more books in the series though, so I think I’ll wait a little, maybe a few months, and read them later, that way I can see if I progressed.
I also read a nonfiction, 나 같은 사람 또 있을까 | L25, and while I did technically read some nonfiction last year, it was different because it was 그림 에세이, not a full on 에세이. I’m happy to say that it was a success though! Not the most enjoyable thing to read I’ll admit, the last section in particular I did not love, but that doesn’t take anything away from having been able to actually read this.
Musings on reading speed
As my Korean reading speed has gotten widely better than it used to be in just a few months, I’m realizing that some things I were doing that I thought were helpful were actually very much detrimental. So, let’s talk about this!
For whatever reason, when I was reading in Korean up until recently, I tried to to it in a weirdly academic way? Holding the book or my phone with both of my hands, or one hand for the book and one hand with a pencil, following the line I was reading. I was also trying to prevent myself from fidgetting or stimming as much as possible. I guess I thought if I wasn’t moving as much it’d mean I’d be paying more attention to the book, and therefore get more out of it?
But well, this seems obvious in hindsight, but stimming helps me concentrate, so stopping myself from stimming? Not only does it distract me, because I have to do this conscious effort to not move, and I’m also less focused in general, because that’s the whole point of stimming in the first place. So yeah, that’s definitely a change that I’ll stick with, it’s crazy how much of a difference it makes.
Now the only caveat to that is, I’ll miss a line, or two, or five, and then have to jump back regularly, just getting a broad idea of what I missed, and continue forward. But this is actually not a true caveat, I don’t think at least, because this is what I do in English, French and Spanish anyways! And that way, I’m also learning how to speed read in Korean, looking not at every word individually and in order, but at larger chunks to make sense of things. Since I was reading very carefully line by line before, I hadn’t trained that skill in Korean at all, so I’m happy that I can do that now.
Another thing that affects my reading speed is subvocalizing. And as it turns out, I’ve actually found a way to not do that as much in Korean, by picking a song I’ve listened to on repeat a lot and thus can sing or hum along to. And then if I listen to it on repeat while reading, I won’t be able to subvocalize, because I’ll be busy humming or singing. And I can always stop and subvocalize something if I need to, konglish mostly .
Spanish
I finally got back to El cuco de cristal | L31, and I can’t believe I hadn’t finished it earlier. Now to be fair, the first hundred pages or so are maybe a bit slow. But once it really got into the story? I could not put this down. I will definitely be reading more of Javier Castillo, and in fact, I do have another two of his books. I do think I’ll be picking a bit of a buffer book first, with lighter themes, and since I bought Licencia para espiar: Edición limitada (Colección Especial) | L30?? for Christmas, I think I’ll be reading that one first.
Italian
I’m still waiting to go back to my apartment so that I’m able to tackle the graded readers I have. However, in the meantime, I’ve been watching some of Caffè Italiano con Manu on Youtube, which has little talks about anything and everything, but at a slower speaking speed, and that’s been great. So I definitely recommend those to anyone learning Italian. I would appreciate any other resources for listening you may have though.
Chinese
On this front, I started reading some short stories on Mandarin Bean and Du Chinese (which, btw, for anyone not aware, Du Chinese has a 50% discount for university students, you just need to email them from a university student email). It’s been really fun so far. I’ve also been watching the cdrama Couple of mirrors | 双镜. Going slow but steady.
Japanese
I’m slowly progressing on Wanikani (now on L5, I took a break on SRS while I was super sick). I’ve also started reading Doraemon, which is hard, but the point is to just do more stuff in Japanese.
Now, where I was surprised this month is Satori Reader. I hadn’t actually looked much into it yet, but since I’ve had such a great experience with similar apps for Chinese, I tried a story on there. And wow was it hard. I was reading the first chapter of the Spring story, which is said to be a beginer story and yet contains so much bird specific vocab. So that discouraged me a little. I was hoping it would stick more to vocab that’s immediately useful in the beginner section.
So, for those that have used Satori Reader, do some of the other stories have some more beginner friendly (and useful) vocab? What about other apps or websites? I guess I could just come back to Tadoku and Watanoc, the website I was using for N5 news articles, but I kind of wanted more diversity. I do think I will be rereading the first two volumes of Crystal hunter though, get myself back into reading in Japanese a bit.
And hopefully in February I’ll be able to tackle more grammar, since I’ll have access to my textbook again.
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I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been ill, but I’m really impressed with all the Korean reading you’ve been doing! I’ve been struggling along with 뉴비가 너무 강함 1권, which I started last year and stopped since it was too hard. Coming back after having read several other things, it’s still difficult (internet slang is my nemesis) but more doable.
I really want to read 당신을 기다리고 있어 | L32 now that you’ve mentioned it. I read it in a college class, in English translation, and remember enjoying it even though it ends sadly, as I recall. I don’t think I would be able to appreciate it very well at my level though, unfortunately.
For Satori Reader, I know people on the Wanikani forums have a whole thread dedicated to it that might be helpful for you.
Also, is El cuco de cristal more of a mystery or a thriller? I couldn’t quite tell from the synopsis.
Sorry for all of the jumbled thoughts! It’s exciting to see all of your language progress and musings.
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Same. Slang in general tbh, because I haven’t been coming across it as much, so I have a huge hole in my Korean knowledge when it comes to slang.
That’s part of the reason why I’m planning to wait to read the rest of the series. It was great, but I do feel like I missed a lot of the double meanings behind things, only got to the surface level.
I feel like it’s a bit of both, a mystery thriller? I agree that the synopsis is a bit confusing, but I think that’s the point, you’re meant to be confused along with the characters. Have you seen the Netflix adaptation of La Chica de Nieve? Plot aside, because they’re very different on that front, it has that similar feel to it, the suspense growing bigger and bigger as everything gets more and more complex and starts to unravel.
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I had noticed you suddenly raced through the book! I started it last week and having the same experience. Really enjoyable and difficult to put down. The chapters are quite short too so it’s easy to say “just one more chapter”!
I saw this week that both El cuco de cristal, and El juego del alma (the sequel to La chica de nieve) have been picked up to be developed into Netflix series.
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Now that just means I have to quickly read El Juego del Alma, I have it anyways, it’s just back at my apartment .
I’m happy to see that you like it too! The short chapters were definitely detrimental to my ability to stop my reading sessions. I basically only stopped because I was forced to because of an appointment or otherwise, not by choice
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Have you looked at the “dialogs” section? It’s below the difficulty tiers at the very bottom. The difficulty varies but they’re generally on the easier side especially on the early eps, and focus on functional conversation. Like ordering food, asking for direction, checking in at the airport or hospital, etc.
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