There was an upper limit on the bonus you receive and I had enough to get the max extra on more than one order. I also put an order in before I was paid then realised I had extra money to play with so kind of went a little overboard. There was also a list of stuff that’s on back order so those were separated so I don’t need to wait for the other stuff. The points I get will pay for most of the next order I was looking at putting in so I’ll only need to pay postage and VAT.
I’ve never used them before. Might need to check them out though CD Japan order+ shipping and VAT has still been cheaper than purchasing through amazon.co.uk
Ahh that makes sense. I didn’t manage to go above the upper limit, so I forgot it was there … And yeah the points will help towards whatever I’m ordering the next few months, so it should be worth the rearranging. It makes nervous that they don’t explicitly show them, but w/e
suruga-ya.com/ja - the search barely works in EN, so gotta use it in JP
That’s true Cdjapan is often cheaper than Amazon… Tho I did manage to find (used) 熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる | L24 and 雨夜の月 | L23 on there for way cheaper (ordering together helped)… Anyway, once you get used to low cost + free shipping, it’s hard to go back
I usually check amazon first and then check cd Japan and work out what’s cheapest. I still buy stuff from amazon I can’t get cheaper elsewhere or is on proxy at cd Japan.
I am kind of dreading finding out the total cost I’ve spent on books but I do intend to read them so it was buy them now and get a discount next time or wait and pay more overall. After the next order though, once the points show, I don’t plan to be ordering anything new for a while.
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out. I was using ISBN/ product codes or Japanese for CD Japan and Amazon so shouldn’t be an issue
TL:DR - Switching up my plan again for the listening challenge and had to switch my reading plan due to not getting what I ordered. Happier note, I finally have been able to order several books I was missing from several series.
This week I’m off work on holiday so will be spending more time reading/ listening than normal, partly because of the August listening challenge and partly because I rally need to work through my reading backlog
August listening challenge and new plan:
I’ve been taking part in the Listening challenge for August, finding that it has been helpful for me getting more practice in but that I need to go about it a better way than I have been.
So today, instead of just listening to try to understand what I can, I decided I will switch things up a bit. While I’ve a bit more time to study this week, I’ll be working my way through Podcasts and short stories intensively to get as much from them as I can. They are pretty short, most between 5-10 minutes or less, so listening to them several times each shouldn’t be too draining. We’ll see how I get on with it though.
Reading progress and thoughts:
Alongside these, I’ll still be reading through my lower level books, still reading through ふたごの魔法つかい人魚のうた at the moment but CD Japan cancelled the others I had ordered on backorder due to being unable to source them so after this, I should be switching to ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series as it’s the next closest level I have and hopefully by the time I get through all of those, I’ll have a better grasp of things at that level so I can then make the jump to slightly more difficult stuff. That’s the plan anyway.
My lesson this week has been moved so I have a little more time to prepare and I’m still a little unsure what to speak of this time as the other stories from Read Real Japanese are a bit much in terms of content, except maybe Kaeru but I didn’t understand much of that the last time. I’ll still read them for the learning experience but don’t want to talk about them.
Not done any writing this week but I will be going back to the textbooks later this week for more writing and output practice.
New study resource for helping understand sentences and speaking better:
I’ve also found a new YouTube channel from a native speaker who helps to explain how to stop translating from the end of the sentences and how to break down longer sentences so they make sense since this os something I’ve been struggling with in lessons.
The same native Japanese speaker also has an online course subscription that is relatively cheap and focuses on things like rhythm, pitch accent, intonation etc. I’m considering taking this but maybe later in the year. I don’t want to put too much on at once and end up causing myself to get burnt out again.
I also placed an order to suruga-ya to pick up the last book I’m missing in several series that I’ve been unable to get from CD Japan or from Amazon, so I’ve that to look forward to as well as the rest of my CD Japan order once it arrives. It’s split into 2 orders still so I think one is just ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 now, and the other is the other books that were on back order, fingers crossed those don’t get cancelled
Oh I’ve listened to a few of her listening practices and have been curious about her course. I think the last time I was on her YouTube she was just setting it up or maybe only a few levels of it was complete. I just remember deciding to pass on it for some reason, but being interested in the future. Definitely let us know if you do try it out. I’d like to get into some pronunciation practice within the next 6-9 months. (I’ve looked at Dogen’s stuff before and despite it being a really good English language resource, it’s WAY too memory-based and I’m never going to study that hard to learn.)
I’ve looked at Dogen’s stuff too. I was considering his patreon but Think I’ll wait til Feb and binge as much as I can in my 3 weeks off.
Hers though has an option starting at just $5 per month (for an affordable option) or $15 for those that can afford it. It seems pretty decent but I’ve not tried it yet. I’ll post about it on here if I do
Although I seem to be doing ok with the listening challenge, I’m starting to feel burnt out. I think it’s been from trying to focus on listening for extended periods of time which is telling me that I can’t be doing enough intensive listening day to day usually or I’d have better stamina. I’ve done around 11 hours so far, so I’m going to try breaking it down into chunks and also doing extensive listening when not doing short intensive sessions. I’ll see how that goes.
I’m also kinda bothered by the fact that CD Japan hasn’t shipped one of my orders that everything should have been in stock for and that’s now a week was kind of hoping to have them in time for going back to work but I don’t think that will happen. Suruga-ya have dispatched their order so that should arrive early next week
Did you email them about it to see what the hold up is? The only time one of mine was delayed like that was bc one item in the order turned out to be temporarily backordered (it originally said in stock, and the product page itself still said in stock, even after the status changed)
I’m only up to 6 hrs with the audio challenge so far (well behind where I want to be). Intensive listening can definitely take a lot of energy! Hopefully I’ll catch up soon
They did email me for one order to say it was delayed because of out of atock items and others on back order, but I haven’t asked about the other. Everything showed as in stock and should be dispatched in 1-2 days but that was 31st July. It’s just the rest of Mysterious sweet shop so it’s not urgent, I just wanted it here before I go back to work.
I might send them an email if they still haven’t dispatched it by Friday.
I did manage a bit more this afternoon then ended up falling asleep while listening to something so won’t be counting that. I’m only able to do more this week coz I’m iff work. Usual work days I’ll be back to about 30 minutes per day. I’ve had most success with just the Podcasts with Shun and the really short “short stories” since they are only focus for a few minutes.
I hope you manage to catch up to where you want yo be with it. Whatever happens though, you’re still managing to do some listening which is still a plus
I had a look at “I’ve been kicked out of the S-rank guild. But only I can communicate with dragons. Before I knew it, I became the greatest Dragon knight” Light novels, most of what I looked at it’s conversations, there’s some descriptions and very little furigana but I think the fact it’s mostly conversation is why it’s so low level. It does look easier to read than I thought it would be though and I did manage to read chunks of it without looking anything up when I flicked through it. Seems decent enough but Imll give a proper view on it once I’ve read it. Thinking I’ll read that next and keep Mysterious sweet shop for when I’m back at work.
I recognise a lot of the Kanji compound words even if I’m unsure of the actual reading so I don’t think it will be too difficult. I’m kinda tempted to put the kids book I’m reading to the side so I can read them now I know they shouldn’t be too bad
Spent a lot of time this week listening and a lot less time reading, though I have tried to do a chapter a day when I can. Still working through パルサー宇宙戦記ふたご座の戦士, finding it easier to understand the space and crew terms now as well as picking up on the readings and meanings of some of the other words without looking them up.
The rest of ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series turned up yesterday and my last 3 CD Japan orders should arrive later this week or beginning of next week. ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series will be my next read, should be easier for reading while at work and I can also look at listening to them too.
So far for the August listening challenge, I’ve completed 22 hours and 20 minutes. Around half was beginner comprehensible listening but also some stuff higher than I can understand. Although I’ll have less time for the next few weeks, I should still be able to complete my original goal of 30 hours total across August.
I’ve continued with my lessons and language exchanges and managed to try speaking longer sentences as well as trying to explain things a different way if I’m stuck for words. I am still struggling to find things to speak of so most of it is about the books or normal day to day stuff. Occasionally I have managed to speak about a book or podcast or even a story from my own experiences albeit in simpler language. My tutor and I did have a good laugh earlier at me getting tongue tied trying and failing several times to say “温かかった”.
I didn’t do any further textbook work but did manage a few pages of writing for practice before my lessons and language exchange.
Watched all of Flying Witch anime today, thought it was an episode per manga but it’s apparently only books 1-4 and they never made a second series. It’s kinda wholesome and I liked seeing the characters brought to life. I really Like the art style too (the mini art book I got with it is great).
That one I picked up secondhand from Amazon UK alongside the two I have for ふたご魔法つかい series. Some of my out of prints have come from Amazon, others from CD Japan if they have them. I did also pick up a stack of old second hand novels from a site call orange-design books but I had no real idea what they were, just thought they were interesting from the cover or the synopsis. I have also picked up a few new and second hand from Suruga-ya recently as well. If I am looking for a series though, I’ll buy what I can from wherever has it. So some of the 2 or 3 part series have come from different places, most recently one of the Monster hunter series where I managed to get one book from CD Japan then realised they didn’t have the rest so I got the others from Amazon UK. I mostly use ISBN when looking for books, and Amazon JP usually has the series marked so I can get all the ISBN from there
Most of the books I have, other than the ones from Orange design books, are either recommendations, book club nominations or ones I’ve deliberately looked for after seeing people talk of them on here (unless it’s game favourites like the Tales series or Zelda series, Ico etc).
I don’t know if the Amazon sellers have their own sites, if so, it’s usually Samurai media, REXuk and EBICHU ^0^ Trading. There is another but I can’t remember the name of it now.
Short update, finished パルサー宇宙戦記 ふたご座の戦士 yesterday so started ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 from book 1 again. Just finished reading chapter 1 and listening to chapter 2. Will read through chapter 2 from tomorrow and will listen to it again once I’ve finished reading it as I think that would work better when reading alongside the listening.
I couldn’t make it work before when I first tried to read it with the club, I couldn’t focus. This time, I’ve managed to read it, listen and listen/ read alongside. Found I managed to understand parts better on the second listening/ reading alongside than I did when just listening but I think it would work better for me to read the chapter in full then listen/ read alongside.
Hoping to have this book finished by end of next week so I can start catching up with the others in the offshoot book club now I can focus on it better.
TL:DR - Listening challenge is going well, listening and reading are both improving and I’ve picked up a few new options for speaking practice along side my language exchanges and tutor lessons.
Updating today as Tomorrow will be a busy day.
I’ve kept up with the listening challenge. Of my original 30 hour goal, I’ve completed 26 hours and 35 minutes not including today’s listening (which I’ve not done yet since it’s just after midnight for me now). I’ll stick to my original goal but see how much more I can do as well. I’ve found it’s gotten easier as I’ve continued to listen more and I’ve also found that my reading has improved a little as well, which is most likely to do with the extra reading I’ve been doing over the last few weeks but I’ve noticed more understanding as I’ve read and listened to ふしぎ駄菓子屋・銭天堂.
Reading is going well and I’m liking ふしぎ駄菓子屋・銭天堂, managed to read all of chapter 3 yesterday, finished about 11pm but broke it up into separate sessions of around 6-7 pages at a time. My reading speed is also improving faster than I thought. That could just be me getting used to the layout and process of each story though.I’m choosing to look up less words but that’s mostly because I’m being lazy and trying to just read extensively.
Speaking is still only really in my lessons or language exchanges though today I feel I did better than normal in my language exchange and I’m starting to try to use different ways to say something if I don’t have the words I want to use. My lesson will be tomorrow so will take some time later to prep some stuff for it. Tonight I have a meeting with a conversation group online so we’ll see how that goes and then tomorrow I will also have a face to face meeting with a different group for conversation practice so hoping those go to plan.
Writing is falling by the wayside at the moment, I’m only really writing for my lesson homework and the prep for the lesson or the words that I want to use from my language exchanges. I haven’t gone back to the text books yet but will do at some point. Collecting vocabulary and acquiring the grammar I’ve studied is still progress towards my ultimate goal, and I’m very much enjoying reading now I’m around Lv 21-23.
Side line plan for beginning of next year/ once I've finished ふしぎ駄菓子屋・銭天堂 series:
re-read Zoo book 1 and see what improvement I’ve made with a possibility of starting to read Zoo book 2.
TL:DR - Finished ふしぎ駄菓子屋・銭天堂 book 1 and started on book 2. Completed 2 and a half hours of lessons today with 2 new tutors and managed to pass my listening goal of 30 hours (currently at just over 36 and a half hours).
Reading:
Finished ふしぎ駄菓子屋・銭天堂 book 1 early this morning. I definitely understood a lot more than when I tried at the beginning of the year. There’s parts my brain is glossing over but mostly, I’m managing to understand the gist of what’s going on and getting some of the nuance.
Started book 2 today and I’ll try to work through it at a decent pace. I’m preferring to read the whole chapter in one sitting if possible or at least read half in one sitting if possible. Most chapters in the first one were around 20 pages or so which seems to be a comfortable amount for me at this level.
Speaking:
I took 3 lessons this morning (2 x 1 hour and 1 x 30 minutes) with 2 new tutors. I’m still keeping my other tutor since I do get something from the lessons but I also plan to take lessons with these tutors as well at least for the next few months then will decide if I want to keep all three doing different things. Each has a different approach and from what I’ve seen today, each has a different strength. It was 2 and a half hours in total. One I intend to have 2 hour lessons every 2 weeks, the other, I haven’t decided of I want to do 2 hour intensive lessons or just do an hour instead each week. Possibly leaning towards 2 hour lessons on alternative weeks so I end up with 3 hours of lessons each week, one hour of free talking, and 2 hours of more intensive stuff working on my pronunciation/ rhythm as well as my comprehension. Though homework may get quite intense.
Writing:
Not much writing recently, I think I will look at starting that up, doing a hour each day I’m studying. Just trying to use new words or refresh grammar.
Listening challenge:
36 hours, 39 minutes so far. Definitely more listening than I usually do. I think I want to schedule listening (both active and passive) each day and see how it improves over time.
I’ve come to the conclusion that even the stuff I should know but miss when listening, is due to the fact I’m not getting exposed to Japanese audio daily in large amounts unless it’s my lessons or language exchange so I want to change that and see if the increase in listening, even at a passive level, has a significant increase to my skill level. I did notice large improvements in active understanding when I was listening to Terraced House passively and studying at the same time, same wth when I was reading the tadoku free series and also listening to stuff in the background so going to try it and see how it goes.
TLDR - Frustrated again but working on a plan by the end of the month and going to continue with the listening challenge and reading through ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 for now.
Been frustrated the last few days with progress again (seems to be a recurring theme) I think with this I really need to take a step back and remember this isn’t a race, nor a sprint. I have seen improvements although haven’t noticed these until after the fact.
Reading for instance, with ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 2 as I’ve been reading through it, I’ve mostly found that I have better comprehension than when I first started with it. I’m also finding it easier to remember readings of the words as I’m going through as the furigana is phased out on each page. I am also considering trying the WaniKani bookclub for ダンジョン飯 manga. I haven’t tried one of their book clubs but the pace does seem a little quick for me though I may just be comparing to how quickly I’ve been reading children’s books instead of how quick I can read Manga.
Listening-wise I managed to pass my goal of 30 hours for August so took on the September challenge at 50 hours to complete. So far, I’m on 7 hours not including today’s listening which I’m still in the process of. I have found with listening that I am able to summarise what the episode is about (since most of my listening is beginner level stuff from Japanese with Shun or Nihongo-Learning so far) but with audio books, even if I know what’s going on, I still can’t really keep up with it. I think part of this is speed of listening, so maybe if I slowed it down it may help, and part of it is not having a great understanding of sentences when listening. While reading I really need to break down longer sentences which I haven’t been doing when listening because I don’t want to stop the audio every few seconds to try to catch up.
Writing has fallen by the wayside, though I think I really should look at adding this back in, I haven’t gone back to the textbooks yet either. It is on my list but at this time, I want to focus more on the reading and listening since I feel this will help me more for the moment.
Speaking-wise, I have had 2 language exchanges this week and will have a tutor lesson later today. I haven’t been able to book the other tutors as well yet though I would like to do so from the next few weeks going forwards as I feel the additional teaching will help me and it also gives me experience practicing the same things with different people giving feedback on it. I do need to get a copy of the Marugoto books I don’t have though as one of the tutors uses this and I was struggling to see the info on the small screen. As of yet, I haven’t managed to get the webcam or the headset set up properly for my laptop either so I’m still stuck on using the iPad for the moment.
I do think I need to shake things up a bit but I think for the moment I will proceed with the listening challenge continuing to listen to Japanese with Shun and re-listening to the audio books for ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 and see if there is any improvement in my listening after 50 hours this month.
I’ll spend some time by the end of the month to go over my progress and routine and see if there is something I can do to be more efficient with my time.
Slight catch up a little bit earlier than usual due to being off work.
Been doing good with the reading this week though I think I need to see about doing more intensive reading practice (maybe once I’m feeling better) as there are things I’m coming across that I’m struggling with or glossing over. Some chapters I’m understanding at least 90% so I can understand the gist of what’s going on, others I can read it but understand around 30-40% so I’m missing the important stuff and will need to re-read.
Thinking I will use ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series as my new litmus test to gauge my Japanese level similar to what I did with the ミラーさん novels.
I was going to see about going back to the textbooks from next week but may have to put that off for the moment til I see how I fare going forwards.
Just some personal stuff I’m keeping a note of to see effects on study/ motivation/mood - feel free to skip
Yesterday ended up being taken to the hospital with chest pains on the left sode of my rib cage at the front. Thought it was muscular but started getting worse through the day and after about 5 hours (11:30 ish from 6:30am) it was pretty bad so they got first aiders involved and then ambulance was called. They ruled out anything serious but gave the option of go to a&e or go home and a 40 minute drive with how I was feeling was not a good idea (this was about 12:30 ish). Spent the next 6 hours in a&e getting xrays, bloods and physical tests done and being monitored while confined to a bed (unable to do listening since my phone was low and it’s a hospital but managed to finish reading another chapter and start on the next one). Got told around 6:30pm that they think it’s a virus or inflammation of the tissue surrounding the lungs or intercostal muscles/ cartilage causing the pain and best to monitor it while resting for the next few days. So I’m off work, possibly unpaid due to previous absences this year. My dad and brother helped drive me and my car home so I managed to get home safe and hopefully it heals/ improves over the next few days.
Since I can’t do much else while resting, will see if I can catch up on listening and some reading during this time (since I don’t need to move around or start up for it) and hopefully be back at work for the training on Wednesday.
I hope you feel better soon! That sounds very stressful and unpleasant. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to read if you’re not feeling up to it.
… And yeah the points will help towards whatever I’m ordering the next few months, so it should be worth the rearranging. It makes nervous that they don’t explicitly show them, but w/e
so after this, I should be switching to 
was kind of hoping to have them in time for going back to work but I don’t think that will happen. Suruga-ya have dispatched their order so that should arrive early next week 
tho now that Fate/Stay Night got released, the chances are even lower 
(I’m kidding, I’ll get there in time… And like you said, even if I don’t…)