London is a little far for me, I’m up between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland so think it’s a 7-8 hour train journey since there’s no danger I would be able to drive that way in one sitting even with breaks every few hours.
I have been wanting to go to London but not sure I can justify it just for this 
pity my work wouldn’t send me on a work trip for a few days.
I didn’t know that when I was living there. It would have been helpful
The one in Canada is in Toronto I think, which is also not helpful for me. 
I had to try and recalibrate based on eng reading to get a better approximation for where I was going with prose [something for which I am really grateful to Natively]. Like, that bear one I’ve seen a few recommends for was too baby but still incomprehensible (and a truly awful amount of hirigana instead of kanji), while 宅急便 was more grown up by those standards… and still incomprehensible. I’d like to think I’m at least reading, idk, James and the Giant Peach level [to use an equivalent English term], but actually I kind of doubt that.
Read Real Japanese is still sitting on my lower shelf lol.
I swear sometimes the people making these books don’t actually speak to people learning and just kind of guess
I’m not too bad with the Hiragana ones but that could just be from reading so many of them, but the finding something suitable that wasn’t too incomprehensible and wasn’t too babyish was a struggle for me even after finding Natively, though that was just because I overestimated my abilities and grossly miscalculated. For me, I didn’t want to follow the Yotsuba, Shirokuma cafe or Kuma kuma kuma bear path.
I don’t even think I’ve hit that level of understanding yet in Japanese I know I’m reading ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 but I’m not understanding everything, just getting the gist of what’s going on and probably would struggle to give an English translation of most sentences even if I do understand that sentence.
Not sure if anyone else thinks this or not but I felt that these books seemed to be geared more towards people who were studying Japanese literature, such as for a degree rather than as a second language. I know they are supposed to be for language learners but the impression I got was different to books like graded readers or even the textbooks. It reminded me of books I used to get when studying English literature and how those books dealt with explaining English.
2024/10/01:
TL:DR - Did little in the way of reading or listening last week due to ill health but hoping this week will be different, though I am back at work as of tomorrow.
I think I got a little done on Tuesday last week then everything went to hell from Wednesday after the Broadband was installed. Good news, the broadband works great, bad news, I spent most of the week in bed ill or struggling to focus so nothing much got done.
Listening: I managed to listen to Game Gengo’s grammar series videos, full N5 grammar, full N4 grammar and full N3 grammar. I feel like I understood most of it but at the same time, I don’t remember it all. I did pick up a few things though so that helps at least. I also spent a decent chunk of yesterday listening to the audio in Shin Chan.
Reading: I did very little reading last week, most of it yesterday while playing Shin Chan. On a plus though, I can understand about 90-95% of that game without looking anything up and I like the fact that they explain some of the vocabulary because Shin Chan seems to either be acting like he’s deaf or the poor boy has issues and his family just don’t care enough to take him to get checked out. Some of the misheard words are quite funny. I think I have also given up on ダンジョン飯 manga for the moment, it’s becoming too much to follow set book club time frames between what I’m trying to do myself, so I’ll pick it up again at a later date. Think I will continue to listen to the anime though but start again and only do an episode at a time so I don’t get overwhelmed.
Speaking: Managed to do about 2 sentences at the language exchange group on Tuesday last week before the guy switched to someone who’s Japanese was way better than mine. Didn’t appreciate the new comer deciding to be an asshat and take the piss out of my progress while self studying (I have enough issues getting out of kicking my own ass for lack of seeable progress, I do not need anyone else doing it as well). He decided to imply that the last 4 years of study for me had been a complete waste of time and tried to pass off that he was N3 or N2 level in 6 months til he slipped up and told us his N4 marks from a few weeks ago (online tests not actual JLPT marks). I’m not saying his Japanese wasn’t good, it was definitely better than mine for speaking and listening but we had been focused on different things. He had spent the last 6 months in Japan, speaking with friends and texting all in casual Japanese for around 12 hours per day but struggled to read from the book someone took in, whereas I’ve spend the last 4 years mostly working on reading and understanding than listening and speaking, and definitely not managed more than a few hours focus on only a few days each week. I wish I could focus for 12 hours a day and just immerse in it for a few months and I’m sure my Japanese would be a hell of a lot better than it is now.
Writing: non existent this last week.
So plan for this week;
I’m hoping that work won’t be too bad over the next few days since I’m still recovering but we will see how it goes.
Also, I managed to pick up a few more books from series I was missing them from as well as the physical copy of レンタルロボット and the Japanese Thesaurus that was mentioned to me and another essential expressions book in Japanese that I’ve been wanting for a while but was too expensive on Amazon.
Not cool. I hate people like that. Japanese is not a competition (and if it is, we’re all losing to 8 year olds ), and your progress is valid.
And it sounds like he has a lot of communication skills but is lacking in reading, so he probably shouldn’t be riding around on a high horse anyway. 
Yeah, definitely not cool, and yep we’re all totally losing to the 8 year olds I’ve heard a few of the kids speak when I’ve been on my language exchange or my tutor lessons and I definitely struggle to keep up
I didn’t get much of a chance to hear a lot of what he was saying when actually speaking Japanese but did catch when he was talking about the JLPT scores which kinda surprised me considering how he was hyping himself up.
The group was decent the first time so I don’t think this kind of thing is regular and I’m hoping that it isn’t going to start becoming an issue. Also hoping his attitude is better next time.
Hah; sounds like he needs some real goals besides the JLPT. 
Real Japanese learners brag about all the media they’ve bought and can’t understand. 
I feel this deep in my soul 
I feel called out because of all the books I bought and can’t yet read
Not to worry; I speak from experience myself.
idk sounds like they have no communication skills whatsoever if they’re going to be a real asshat about it
Yikes, there are unfortunately a lot of people about who want to turn learning into a competition 
but the only ones we are competing against are ourselves really. Focus on what you like and have fun with and what aligns with your goals - as readers our abilities aren’t necessarily always the most obvious when we show up at a language meetup, which makes it hard to flex to strangers…but just imagine if they could all see our bookshelves.
Exactly, and as long as we’re making progress and enjoying the journey, that’s what matters.
Tbf, I could crush him with my bookshelf I actually feel if you’re learning a language and not reading, you’re missing out on a huge part of that culture. You can get so much just from reading books, it’s unbelievable.
I made fun of a Japanese learner and was crushed by their bookshelf and now I’m a flat pancake in another world Isekai series let’s go!
All the girls love pancakes. 
like Flat Stanley, only I don’t think I’d like this guy even if he paid me to act like I did
Knowing some of the weird af Isekai series out there, I wonder how many people would read that kind of Isekai 
To be honest that’s why I’m always wary of Japanese learner communities. I like that they’re usually super passionate and active, but some of the folks there think Japanese can be solved with a mathematical formula (which is Anki+immersion most of the time).
It’s gotten to the point that I kind of get the ick just hearing “immersion”, like its treated like a secret hack when it’s just interacting with native materials.
Left a server because one person started arguing with me about me liking textbooks because it’s inefficient, duh. Some people act like you have to suffer to make progress. I’d rather be the slowest snail on earth while enjoying learning than miserably speedrunning it (if they enjoy that more power to them, but learning a language is not my top life priority).
Anyway, everyone should learn the way they feel most enjoyable and comfortable with, and not judge others for their choices or progress… Like I don’t care if someone only does Duolingo, if they enjoy it and engage their brain a bit each day, who am I to discourage them? It doesn’t hurt me personally.
Yeah, I’ve had my own run ins in multiple different communities, not just the language learning ones. Partly why I like this one so much, because everyone here seems happy to live and let live. We all help each other out, give suggestions etc but no one is disrespectful towards anyone or their choices, everyone is very accepting and friendly.
I think a lot of people don’t understand what immersion actually means, I know I didn’t and it’s only been more recently that I’ve understood it correctly. You can be immersed in a language and still learn nothing, to learn it you have to interact with it like you said. 
I had a similar problem on a community I had been a part of for a few years. It was for writing and getting your writing checked by natives or polyglots. Tried attempting a book to see how much I could read of it and it took me hours to try to read a few pages (no furigana and I had only been studying a few months at that point so knew I wouldn’t be able to read much). He tore into me making me feel incredibly stupid for even trying to learn Japanese never mind try to read a book. That one experience caused me to almost give up completely because I felt so stupid afterwards. Took me almost 2 years after that before I found here and attempted trying to read a book again, albeit easier books and learner materials.
Exactly. As long as you’re having fun and not hurting anyone, take as long as you need and enjoy the process. Have fun with it and find things that encourage you to continue on your Journey 
TL:DR - kept up with listening and my lessons/ language exchange, have recently started writing and hope to start reading properly again. Plans to work through all my textbooks on a schedule starting from January 2025
Apparently I’ve kept on better track for posting weekly updates since I became ill
Most of my time over the last few weeks has been spent listening to Japanese, mostly audiobooks, games, textbook audio or YouTube videos on N5/N4 grammar with a little N3 stuff thrown in as well. Still not 100% but since I will need to go back to work on Wednesday, hoping to get through the rest of Genki book 1 & 2 between now and then (I’m only listening and doing a bit of speaking/ writing to get my head back around some of the grammar that I feel I have no real knowledge of even though I’ve read or heard it multiple times especially recently).
I haven’t read much in the way of books recently, most of my reading has been through game text on Shin Chan and the professor or Pokémon Violet. Most of my game listening has come from Shin Chan and the professor or from Yakuza 0 recently. I’m definitely improving on how I had been previously (I see that with the amount of phrases or full sentences that I don’t need to look at the English for in Yakuza 0 as well as the improvement I’ve seen in listening to a few audiobooks I’ve tried before).
Speaking, I have continued with my lesson and language exchange each week, seeing improvements in those over the last few weeks where I’m trying to make longer sentences or I’ve come out with phrases they haven’t been expecting. Sounds stupid but these little improvements that I’m seeing others notice is having a big impact on my motivation the last few weeks while I’ve been so under the weather. Hoping I can last a week at work and then I’m off for another week holiday (which will mostly still be rest because of how I’m still feeling).
Speaking does seem to be improving wether I’ve been listening actively or passively, though I a, seeing bigger improvements when I’ve been doing both and spending a longer period of time with the language both from listening and from reading.
I have been writing a bit over the last few days, mostly just from textbook questions and conjugation/ grammar examples but I am finding it easier to bring the needed words to the front of my mind and use them than previously. Conjugation for te-form and such is also getting quicker for both recall and recognition when being spoken or heard.
My books arrived today. Most are just from series I have the rest of or are from my wishlist that were on sale or at least pretty cheap on CD Japan. Also managed to get the Thesaurus that was recommended and a grammar/ expressions book I’ve been after for a while.
I think come January I’m going to look at sorting a proper study schedule and work through each of the textbook style books I have that I haven’t yet worked through so that I can see if that brings bigger improvements. That also gives me a few months left of this year to get back on track and get myself back into a better routine (especially with the times changing on my language exchanges and such when the clocks go back at the end of the month, easier for me to change my time than for them to change their times).
I’m hoping that after my next time off I’ll be back in a better health space and be able to start focusing on stuff properly again but I also don’t want to make myself burn out trying to cram too much in when I’m still recovering.
Plan going forward:
This should tide me over the next few weeks while I continue trying to get my health back in a decent place as well. I may read a few easier things in between if I feel like it.
