こたつ猫 
1/2 of me wants to learn that song. The other half of me can tell a contagious earworm when I see it 
5 Likes
Yeah, it’s stuck in my head just like the song from Princess Kaguya
It links to a full playlist, so just starts playing random Japanese kids songs
4 Likes
2024/12/12:
TL:DR - update on changes I’ve been making and the progress I’ve noticed more over the last few weeks, and my bingo card choices for 2025.
Updates are a bit scattered atm, partly because my routine has been messed up again, will need to set a property schedule for next year.
This is just a quick update (wasn’t quick by the time I wrote it to mark my progress with changing things a bit over the last few weeks. I’ve been managing to do more shadowing, though I kinda fell off the wagon with recording myself and playing back, though I do intend to try to bring this back and do one section a week (7 days of shadowing the same section and recording myself). each section is only a page so it isn’t that long. When I have been shadowing, I’ve been listening and repeating afterwards, then re-listening and trying to repeat with a slight delay then listening a third time and trying to repeat at the same time, recording each time then playing back afterwards. My tutor has said that she has noticed an improvement in lessons (we’ve been doing about 5-10 minutes, giving me a chance to try each A and B part with her doing the other, so first time is me just trying to say things as I see then for part A, then we switch and I’m then repeating the part B she’s already covered, if that makes sense).)
I’m slowly getting back to reading though I seem to be switching between several books atm. With ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂, I’ve started having less of a tolerance for ambiguity again so have been reading each part slowly and looking up every work I don’t know again, think that is partly because I’ve not read it in a while, though I have noticed I looked up less words this time and seem to be starting to remember more of the words I’ve seen previously. I’ve also started being able to guess the meanings or more words from the Kanji and context, which I noticed with 世界の真ん中の木 as well. It’s not a massive improvement but every letting thing is another step in the right direction.
For listening, mostly it has been music lately, or the audio in みんなの日本語中級, which is faster but not quite native fast yet. Again, managing to pick out more but I’m not quite at the same speed yet so I have had to re-play a few bits. With music, it’s songs I’ve listened to a lot before, though now they seem clearer and more short phrases are jumping out at me. I’ve been trying to listen to Japanese music on low through headphones while studying as it seems to be helping me focus more even though there are words. Sitting in quiet is causing me to become more distracted lately, not sure why.
For textbook study I’ve been trying to complete a chapter of みんなの日本語中級１across a few days if possible, done 3 /12, it is about 7 pages of vocab and grammar point explanations then about 14 pages of exercises between the grammar point practice, speaking/writing, reading/ listening and then the actual problem exercises. I have quite liked the longer passages for listening where they give a long conversation or a report/ short story about something then ask comprehension questions. They are around an A4 page long and cover a lot more vocabulary compared to the shorter passages from the beginner textbook (expected but still good). This is partly why I wanted a new CD player as the online audio from the website actually misses those individual audio out, though everything else is included. I wondered if it may be because the rest of the info isn’t presented in the main textbook (only the answer books) but this has the written script in the textbook. I’ve been using it to read along then shadow it as well (as best I can) and it’s been enjoyable so for.
Speaking freely is still a struggle but even in English I do tend to respond more than start conversations, (which I’ve only recently noticed, this is my default), unless I’m curious about something. I need to work more on this, or at least find more interesting topics for to discuss with other people.
Bingo 2025 books, beware of Spoliers:
Original idea was just to use Novels/ Light Novels and children’s books but I bridged out to include a few manga as well as a non fiction book. If it gets me reading more varied content then it’s all good 
- Features a cat/s - liked the anime so thought this would be a good start
- Book + Adaptation -wanted to read this for a while so will read alongside the anime adaptation, but if this is too difficult, then I will switch it out for the next part of ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series since I’ve just picked up some of the anime DVDs (will just watch them up to the point I am in the books so I avoid spoilers)
- Favourite Colour Cover - covers both of my favourites in one cover so it had to be added
- Science Fiction- one of the first books that was recommended to me
- Past book Club - wanted to read this with the book club but I only managed to understand a small part of it here and there
- Character retired (age) - this was recommended though I was originally going to read it for a different prompt
- Curious title - found it on CD Japan looking for something else, it has dragons too apparently
- Non-human protagonist - Already seen the anime and quite liked it, originally this was sent to me by one of my Japanese penpals
- Was recommended to me- Has dragons too, might read alongside the audio book
- Unknown Premise - actually picked up both this and the second one as I saw it on CD Japan and liked the cover, no idea what it’s about but I’m guessing some kind of Magic users maybe?
- One word title - think this will be more difficult than I think but apparently it’s one to read, I don’t actually know much of what it is about either
- Character with Disability - I bent the rules slightly for this one, non fiction with one person’s view of their own life living with Autism
- Title included number - read book 1, which I will be re-reading next year so will be good to see if I can also understand at least parts of this one, not my usual genre but it has been easier for me to read than most fantasy
- Natively-no ratings - one of my earlier cheaper Amazon finds, think it was printed by them too but I really liked the cover, unsure exactly what it’s about as well
- 2nd Volume of series - first volume is already in the list so might as well add this too
- Features a dragon/s - should be an easier book to read, I hope
I see a trend of dragons/ cats in almost half of these and also a trend of books I know nothing of or very little about. A few of these I am anticipating being quite difficult (for me) so I have already decided just to use it as a learning experience and see how far I can get, though I do intend to try to read as many of these as possible by end of year. I’m most likely going to start with the shorter or lower level ones and take it from there. We’ll see how things pan out though.
8 Likes
2024/12/18:
TL:DR - Working out my plan for the end of this year and start of next year, what I want to complete by end of January and how I want to move forward with reading going forwards.
Kinda wondering where December has disappeared to, feels like just a few days ago was the 1st and now we’re almost 2/3 of the way through 
I have been keeping up quite well with a chapter of みんなの日本語中級 1 per week (2 when I’ve been off and will hopefully get another 2 chapters next week and the following week 
) so on target to have the first book completed by end of January at the latest. Thinking I may also need to complete the second one before I actually start Tobira but will see how that pans out. If I do need to complete it first, then I will catch up with Tobira at the end of Feb, beginning of March.
I’ve been reading through 世界の真ん中の木 and finding it easier as I go. About 2-5 look ups per page, most of which are words I’ve seen before but slightly unsure of reading or meaning though I am managing to figure some out from context and then checking to be sure I’ve got it correct.
I have been working through some decks on JPDB but mostly either filler words or words I missed from Genki and MNN beginner book. I have been using time to go through some of the decks and mark off the cards that I either know or can guess reading and meaning correctly from the words before the meanings are shown. It’s helping me to figure out where some of my issue lie and why I only understand parts of the books I’m reading as it shows I only know about 65%-75% of their vocabulary (世界の真ん中の木 doesn’t seem to be in their list though but 不思議駄菓子屋銭天堂 and キノの旅 are). I’m sure there will be some words that I know but aren’t yet logged as I’ve only gone through a few of the card lists. I know it’s not what it’s made for but I thought it might help me figure out what I need to focus more on. I’ve downloaded the Tobira decks as individual chapters, hoping it should be correct, and I will make a start of those once I’ve finished with the few words I was missing from Genki and MNN. MNN 中級 set and second beginner book doesn’t have a deck yet though I have considered typing the vocab lists in one at a time for each book to create a deck for each.
I’m wondering if maybe I will manage to get 世界の真ん中の木 finished before the end of the year, as I’m only reading it when I have time to read at least a few pages and have access to something to use to translate any words and readings I don’t know. There are only about 100 pages left not including the あとがき and authors note at the end. 10 pages a day could be doable. After that I will re-start ゆっくりおやすみ、樹の下で (was only 3 pages in iirc) and use that as my intensive reading book with a minimum of a chapter a day since they are only 3 pages long. My hope is that doing this, along with the textbooks and extensively reading 不思議駄菓子屋銭天堂 should help increase my vocabulary & reading speed as well as help me to better understand grammar/ sentences in context so I don’t need to translate as often. I’m not in a rush to complete them, so happy to take it at a leisurely pace and work through my easier bingo books to begin with.
For listening/ watching atm, I would like to finish the season of Naruto on Netflix (think they only have around 25 episodes atm) then beginning of the year make a start on the 不思議駄菓子屋銭天堂 anime series. I would like to add podcasts back in next year as well, maybe one or 2 most days but we will see how things take off.
10 Likes
2024/12/26:
TL:DR - new study plan to be implemented and get back into a routine, also plan going forward for how to increase my engagement with Japanese for better output and enjoyment.
This last week has been more hectic than normal, a lot of last minute changes and break in routine which has kind of made everything else fall apart with my structure I was kind of getting back into. Plans for the few days off kinda spiralled away from me due to last minute changes so ended up not doing what I had planned to. I don’t even think I’ve managed time to read much over the last week either so hopes for finishing books I’ve started may not happen.
Only thing that has been a constant is my lessons and language exchanges but more and more I can see where the regular studying actually helps me to switch into that mode in my brain where it becomes more automatic and less fumbling around trying to remember common words and basic grammar.
Something good has come from all of this though, and I feel I have a better understanding of what I would like my study routine to look like, just hoping that I can pull that off while still filtering in the gaps that will inevitably happen when real life gets in the way.
The set up I’ve been using recently when studying had been working well for helping focus and for helping me to make better use of my time. I was using pomodoro method but 20 minutes of study from textbooks then 5 minutes of break in 3 sessions (70 minutes). During the 5 minutes break I was doing flashcards, re-reading something or doing something different but easier in Japanese (kind of reviewing, unless I needed an actual break). Then after 70 minutes I was taking a 10 minute break for grabbing snacks, water etc. I was doing this for about 2 and a half hours in the afternoon/ evening with some days doing the same in the morning as well (only on the 3 days not at work).
The rest of the time I was doing other things, playing games, reading in English etc. I think this is maybe the way forward for me but I also need to figure out how this looks on days when I am at work so I can keep a routine on those days as well, to try to prevent me slipping back into old habits and slack off.
If I can stick with it, maybe separate it into a session of textbook study and a session of shadowing/ listening study each day, it should help me get into better routine as well as help pull things back to where they were when I was feeling more confident with my speaking ability and struggled less to form basic sentences.
I would also like to try to incorporate something to reduce my screen time so I scroll less (less scrolling = more time I can use for reading/ listening in Japanese).
My book bingo for next year is most likely going to be intensive reading for the most part so will need to be done when at home with access to a dictionary. Alongside this I will continue with reading ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series or similar while at work. By the end of next year, I’m hoping that I will be a solid N3 level working towards N2 and have a way bigger vocabulary than I currently have (worked out I only know around 3000 words which explains why I’ve struggled so much with reading). From the JPDB decks I’ve picked up, I only have an understanding of about 70% of ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 books that it lists.
Plan going forward:
- Get my study routine back on track with at least one session of study per day when not at work (2 and a half hours using the technique above) with a view to increase that to 2 sessions per day whenever possible
- Get my reading back on track - work on one book extensively and one intensively (currently mostly been reading through one intensively -世界の真ん中の木)
- Reintroduce regular listing content and shadowing per study session
- By end of January - get the last of the books for my bingo card and make a start on reading them
- Get the last of the ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 DVDs and season 3 of 本好き(could help a little towards my listening goal and it’s part of my bingo for reading the book + an adaptation ).
New years resolution: spend more time with the language and spend less money buying new books, though since I also plan to buy the rest of 本好き light novels, not too sure that is gonna work out the way I planned 
本好き book 1 is my goal for being able to read by the end of 2025, and if the clips of the anime are anything to go by, I feel this will be the next series I really want to read through once I make a start on it. Hopefully by December 2025, I will have finished 銭天堂 series as well
8 Likes
2024/12/30:
TL:DR - Started my 2025 Bingo a few days early since I’m unwell and bored.
Been unwell again the last few days so focused mostly on reading. Managed to finish ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 6 early this morning and found I’m looking up less as time goes on. The grammar is becoming more intuitive so my look ups are mostly just vocab that I’m unfamiliar with or can’t quite remember on the fly.
Decided since 1st January is only a few days away and that this time between Xmas and New Year is usually just time in limbo for me, I would make a start on the first of my 2025 Bingo reads: 紫禁城の秘密のともだち and can already see this will most likely be similar to 銭天堂 series for look ups. Every Kanji has Furigana (or has Katakana if it’s representing what I believe are Chinese pronunciations of the words). There’s some pictures dotted here and there, and I’m guessing there will be a lot of every day vocab as well as myth/ legend vocab throughout. Learned something new today when I found out 鳳凰(ほうおう or Ho-oh) meant phoenix. Explains why Ho-oh in Pokémon is named as such.
7 Likes
2025/01/01: (will be editing this for the next few days as part of a record for the listening challenge)
Happy New Year! 
And an update:
Decided to watch/ listen to ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 anime series as part of getting back on track for regular listening with the January listening challenge. Watched episodes 1-10 (90m). It seems to cover most but nit all of the chapters with one chapter per episode (or 2 episodes for really long chapters). This covered books 1 & 2. Found the first 3 episodes to be straight forward and I could understand the majority or guess the meanings but I was able to understand in real time without look ups or pauses. Episode 4 onwards I was listening while I was arranging books (making it easier to find my bingo reads so it’s less effort to pick up the next one). Will need to go back and re-watch those episodes to check my understanding of them as a result. Really enjoying it. It’s kinda giving off nostalgia vibes and the animation/ stop motion is quirky too.
Made a start on the first of my bingo read novels the other day (noted in the post above) and a start on my first bingo Manga today (same card, different prompts); Sandland. It was a gift from one of my Japanese penpals for Xmas 2023 and now it is surprisingly approachable, probably around early Lv20s so far. The grammar is straight forward and I already know the story as it ties in with the anime I watched in 2024 (the manga covers the first part of the series until the first major event resolution then the anime added a second conflict). There’s some look ups for vocab and set phrases due to one of the characters’ speech patterns but otherwise it’s easier than expected and has full furigana for all Kanji. Kinda wanted to start Frieren manga but will hold off on that atm.
Study sessions will start again next week as I’m back working normal hours from tomorrow and will hopefully be back to at least 95% health by then .
For the listening challenge, my plan is to focus on a few things and watch/ listen to them until I understand the majority of it before moving onto something new.
Reading, I’ll continue with my 2 bingo entries at home and continue with zenitendo (or breaking into Japanese literature) while at work, it seems to have less look ups and I can still get the gist of what’s going on. I have a few other books still in the reading list that I had started but may put them off for the moment until I have more time.
Lessons and language exchanges will continue though I didn’t have one this week due to being unwell, and hopefully the meet up nearby will start up again in January/ February time.
For writing, I was considering trying to write a journal entry but for what I’m reading rather than what I do day to day. So like keep a record in Japanese of the things (I think) I understand from reading. But I’m not even sure how to note this properly in English so I need to think more on how to incorporate writing into my study regularly without it being rote examples from the textbook questions.
I’ll be doing my usual - switching things that don’t quite gel right - so I can get back into the swing of regular study again.
Listening for this week:
Wed 1st: 90m of Zenitendo episodes 1-10
Sat 4th: 120m of Naruto episodes 5-9
Sun 5th: 96m of Naruto episodes 10-13, 79m of 雲のように風のように
Total listening for the week: 6h 25m
8 Likes
2025/01/06:
TL:DR - Study thoughts, 2 Bingo reads completed, a new favourite series (Frieren) and plan going forward.
The last week I’ve been starting to read through the manga on my 2025 Bingo challenge, I also started the first childrens’ book on it just before New Year knowing I wouldn’t finish it before the start of the year.
I completed 2 Manga (Sandland and Frieren) and still working through the childrens’ book 紫禁城の秘密のともだち一 which has been fun so far. For some reason, I thought it would be in the same sort of atmosphere as ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series, a bit serious and having a lesson to learn (not sure why I thought this), but instead it seems very different. It’s definitely fantasy vibes, in a totally unrealistic and child like way. I have been enjoying it so far, hoping I’m actually understanding it correctly though as there is a lot of new vocab for me, some of which I can guess, others have been names of mythical creatures and palace terms from Chinese I think.
Frieren has become a new favourite. I know the vibe is kind of sad and introspective but it actually hit a chord with me. It’s one of the deeper thinking character tropes I’ve come across even in English. I was able to understand large chunks and even just flipping through a vocab list a few days before, I managed to pick out a lot of the new vocab and their meanings first time I saw them in context (it’s full furigana so didn’t need to remember readings first time). Will definitely be continuing with the rest of the Manga as my book to read at work before switching back to ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 series, though I will most likely re-read it further down the line as well. I’ve also added the DVD to my to get list along with the rest of the ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 anime, Sandland and ダンジョン飯.
I’ve noticed that with my lesson and language exchange I’ve been understanding more and asking for clarification less. Though unsure if that’s been from the increase in listening the last few days again, from the additional reading over the last few weeks or from the slight break in lessons while I was unwell. I also haven’t studied since the turn of the year so hoping to get back into that again today with a quick recap before starting the next chapter in みんなの日本語中級１as I would like to get those finished ASAP so I can then start on Tobira.
I’ve decided with the textbooks the best thing to do is try to gain a quick understanding of the grammar and be able to translate it correctly (or at least get the gist enough to recognise it in context) so then when I start seeing it in the wild, I will begin to pick it up in context and internalise it so I no longer have to translate it. My understanding is that is how I’ve been internalising things so far and may be why I have managed to pick up more kanji compound words while reading than while I try doing SRS like Wanikani (been stuck on level 14 for at least the last 3 months or so, whereas I was taking about 14-19 days a level before). Some of the words I’ve been picking up from reading have more kanji that I’ve never seen before and seem more complex yet I’ve picked them up within a few pages/ chapters and still been able to recognise them in other media. I’m wondering if I have been too focused on thinking the textbooks are where I’m learning from (as this would have been the case originally when I was ONLY reading from textbooks) but instead, the internalisation part of my learning - so I can actively recall the info - is happening when I’m using the language in context for reading and listening. It kind of sounds obvious - practice using the language and you will get good at using the language - but this is the first time I’ve noticed it properly. It is making me rethink how much of my energy should go into the textbooks and how much of my energy should instead be focused on immersing in native content. Food for thought going forward, I think.
On a different note;
this last week I thought it would be a good idea to digitize a copy of my home Japanese library list so I don’t accidentally buy something I already have. Managed to find a free website that allows you to manually create book entries and collections as well as tag books, and their app lets you scan barcodes of books for easier entry. took me about 6 hours total to scan and manually input all 622 of the Japanese books I have to hand (though I do still have 3 without ISBN that I couldn’t be bothered to manually input, I don’t actually know what they are as they were just sent free with a few orders from Orange-design books). Also means I have a record for insurance purposes if need be though I hope I never need it for that purpose. I still need to create collections for textbooks, Manga etc (though all novels and light novels may end up in one together since the lines are a little blurred), but that should be simple enough to do.
I have another order from CD Japan on the way, had to wait for them to source something I ordered before Xmas, and then my Tutor gave me a few recommendations today for books so will have to keep those aside for an order later, probably alongside the DVDs I plan ordering.
So plan going forward:
- Continue reading through 紫禁城の秘密のともだち at home and Frieren while at work
- Continue listening to 30 minutes or more per day whenever possible (Fridays are a no go usually and since the laptop broke, every day is onsite in the office atm until it’s replaced)
- Continue with my lessons and language exchanges
- Pick up the textbooks again from today
- Pick up shadowing again on a daily basis
This part below will be edited over the next week to include my listening for the week.
Tues 7th - Japanese with Hikari 1.5x speed - 120m (real time, not episode times)
Wed 8th - 4 x Naruto episodes (14-17) - 96m
Sat 11th - Japanese with Hikari 1.5x speed - 45m (real time, not episode time)
Total for this week: 4h 21m
Additional edit: decided that 紫禁城の秘密のともだち is good practice for reading Katakana as one of the characters speaks in a Katakana style.
Additional edit 2; 紫禁城 character that speaks in Katakana is only in one chapter but it did help me a bit with Katakana practice. Some others say words or names in Katakana so might still help.
9 Likes
That happened to me too, once I got past episode 4 (tho I had to really push myself until then)
I find this in general quite helpful. (I’ve done it with jpdb decks when I wasn’t in the mood to do reviews, and wanted to mark words I already knew)
Whatever the cause, congrats!
I think you’re onto something there
I think if you’re at a point where you’re considering it, you should try learning into it, and see how it goes. For myself, my perception is that reading (or listening) is the primary way things will stick, but also that, some things won’t stick without additional reinforcement or clarification. But it’s not uncommon for me to be stuck on a word when doing SRS, but immediately get it when I’m reading fwiw (context is a powerful thing lol). Similar for grammar.
Never occurred to me, but then again I don’t have insurance
I just use a spreadsheet to track mine. Also lets me easily see what percentage I’ve actually used (usually mid to upper 40s, though it’s gonna take a dive when my current order gets here)
6 Likes
That was exactly what I was doing. I think maybe this is the way for me to go. Find a list, have a flick through then read what the list corresponds to.
Thanks just hoping it continues.
I’m very much considering switching (at least for MNN) to just reading the grammar book and the reading/ listening part then going to the next section, rather than trying to write the answers to all the questions which can take me several hours for one section. Imm sure it is helping in some ways but not in others.
I only have it because it’s the home contents insurance. I should properly photograph or document my games and stuff as well but tbf, as long as the house isn’t burned down, it’s unlikely to be needed. I doubt anyone will break in just to steal some books and the games are useless without the consoles, most are only worth pennies for re-salability
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Yeah that doesn’t sound all that productive, if you’re not specifically trying to work on writing, imo. It sounds like you’re onto a good approach in any case, so good luck
Right, I don’t even have that. I’m generally inclined to think insurance is a racket/scam, but given the amount of money I’ve invested (and will likely continue to invest) in manga, maybe I should research it. Then again, I could buy more books instead. Some of the ones I own would be really annoying to replace tho, if anything did ever happen tho
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I don’t get a choice unfortunately or I’d save myself the money each month. If I don’t have insurance and anything happens then the mortgage company can sue me for the damage and being uninsured 
There are some things that would be annoying to have to find replacements for but tbf, most of my stuff isn’t majorly important. There’s a few things that have sentimental value having received them as gifts from people who are no longer here but mostly as long as my pets are safe, anything else should be able to be replaced or isn’t a major loss.
4 Likes
Do you mind sharing the site? One of my 2025 goals is to get all of our physical book collection catalogued ideally to start getting rid of at least some of it. I found a site that works ok, but almost all of the Japanese books I’ve entered so far I’ve had to add manually. Would love an alternative if you found one that played nicer with Japanese books.
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No worries, took me a while to find one too:
https://www.librarything.com/home
It’s free (as long as it’s a personal library) and they have the library thing app on iOS and android that lets you scan the ISBN. I had to manually input less than 20 books (out of over 600) and added about 10 covers manually but if you type the book name (I copy and pasted from their Natively page) and put the ISBN in then it picks it up and usually adds the cover automatically. All the rest of my books scanned fine with no issues just using my phone camera.
There is an additional app you can use called Tiny cat but as my library is marked private (by choice, you can mark it public instead) I can’t use that app.
3 Likes
Thanks!! I’ll have to check it out. I’ve been using https://www.libib.com which works great for English books (and I’ve also mostly had luck with my German books as well) but have struck out on pretty much everything in Japanese except for really popular manga (like Chainsaw Man).
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I had the same problem with libib. If I’d only had a few books I would have just input them manually but did not fancy doing as many as I have
You can pick sources they search from based on country so I just selected all the Japanese ones it would allow me to and the only ones I had to input manually were a few from decades ago and a few random newish books under a year old that didn’t seem to have their ISBN recognised (such as the latest book in the second zenitendo series and 君を守ろうとする猫の話).
It lets you record games, music and other media as well apparently but I haven’t tried anything else yet.
3 Likes
2025/01/13:
TL:DR -Not completed as much this week but found alternatives that help both review and listening. Continuing with the books and normal lessons/ language exchanges. Looking at new ways to help improve my study routine and progress throughout the year with smaller goals.
I haven’t done as much as I would like to over the last week, there’s been a lot of other stuff that has taken precedence and had some health stuff with family going on as well which could be ongoing for some time.
I’ve tried to keep up by doing at least one thing per day even if that’s just been reading a few pages and continuing trying to get back in a decent space with Wanikani (since I’ve been stuck on Lv 14 for several months now). I’ve also been looking at different ways to study/ learn more efficiently (this also seems to be an ongoing theme with me especially when I start feeling overwhelmed with things outside of Japanese).
I’ve continued reading 紫禁城 book 1, some of the chapters are a bit weird and off the wall at times (this has been very different to either 世界の真ん中の木 and ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 which is to be expected) but I’ve been enjoying it. Most of the stuff I need to look up are Chinese words, names of mythical/ legendary creatures or things to do with lacquered paint on the buildings, so other than those, it has been very approachable and exactly what I’ve needed during this time. Frieren manga I’ve taken a step back from for the moment, but will continue with this from Wednesday again when back on shift.
Also been continuing to watch Naruto periodically (some episodes are easier than others but I know the gist of the story so far as I’ve watched it before with English subs further than this) and I have been continuing with the “Japanese with Hikari” video lessons. Most of which is just reviewing what I already know regarding grammar but I’m also picking up some new vocabulary through listening since she only speaks in Japanese. The lessons I’ve been watching are all spoken at a slower speed than normal so I’ve been speeding them up.
Taking inspiration both from other blogs on here as well as from some of the language learning process stuff I’ve been listening to/ reading through recently, I’ve been thinking about trying to use a habit tracker to make things a bit easier and possibly trying out some language learning projects throughout the year as a way to help my studying and give me smaller goals to work towards throughout the year since this has been something I have struggled with.
I think I need to work on smaller aspects of the language in more detail, hence why I’m looking at language projects but I need to do a bit more research into exactly what I want to focus on so probably won’t start those properly until February onwards. Looking at doing one per month alongside other studying.
I will be continuing with the textbooks, hoping to get more done later today and finish this chapter tomorrow at the latest so I can get back on track next week.
For reading, I’m wondering if I should set myself specific minimum “pages read” goals daily or weekly as I would like to finish reading some of the larger books in a month or less to keep on track with my 2025 bingo. I have my order with my last bingo book choices on the way, hopefully here by Friday. Weekly goals at the moment seem to be more viable of an option due to work and timed commitments.
Listening goals per week seem to have had a better effect than trying to listen everyday and forcing myself to listen when I’m not in the mood for it and have no mental capacity left to deal with more sensory stuff (not sure why reading does not have a similar effect on me, I can read all day in Japanese if the book is easy enough or the look ups are infrequent - 5 or less per page - compared to more difficult reads).
Writing I’ve been doing a bit better on. I’ve been writing out notes in Japanese from my lessons and language exchanges as well as trying to write a paragraph before each lesson or language exchange session to give me something to talk about during it. I still need more practice but at the moment it’s not something I can do on a daily basis.
I am looking at trying to get the last of the books that I genuinely want and clear off any books that I’ve added to my CD Japan wishlist on a whim until I’ve cleared the majority of my backlog (wishful thinking maybe?) so last order of books for the year will be at the end of January. After that, I’ll only be adding books if they are genuinely recommended and I think I will read them but don’t at this time intend to place any more orders for the foreseeable. I’m hoping that should give me plenty of time to work through things and if I start saving the money I have been spending on books/ Japanese media, then I should hopefully have enough in the next few years to actually go to Japan and meet up with some of the Penpals and language exchange partners I’ve been speaking to regularly.
Plan for the rest of January:
- Continue with my lessons and language exchanges
- Work on figuring out what my projects should be for this year to try to build better language learning habits as well as improve my Japanese more efficiently
- Continue working on my 2025 Bingo card (this is currently my yearly goal to clear off all of the squares if I can, with the books I chose last year)
- Continue with the Listening challenge and my weekly goals for this
I’ll review again next week and see how things are shaping up
This part below here will be updated throughout the week with my listening progress:
Mon 13th - 3 x Naruto episodes (18, 19, 20) - 72m, Japanese with Hikari 1.5x speed - 40m (real time)
Tue 14th -
Wed 15th -
Thurs 16th -
Sat 18th -
Sun 19th -
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I’d recommend a weekly goal! With a daily goal, you’d likely encounter the same problems you faced with daily listening.
Be kind to yourself however. If at some point you’re reading a harder book, reaching that page goal will likely be much slower and require more brain power. So it’s okay to adjust it week to week, depending on what you’re currently reading.
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Yeah, I have had a better time of it this time with the listening challenge by doing a weekly goal so think that might be the way to go for me.
For page goal, I been thinking it over most of today and was considering adjusting it per book? Not sure if that makes sense or not but with 紫禁城 I’ve found I can still read about 6 pages even if I’m tired and still get a decent level of understanding/ enjoyment from it (so a weekly goal of 42 pages) whereas with Freiren, I can read about a half a chapter (chapters are about 20-25 pages, so 70-80 pages per week), and for something like 本好き (still a bit far above my level) I would probably only be able to do a page or two (so 7-10 pages per week), so the goal would be adjusted based on what book I was reading. If I read more than the minimum, fantastic, but if I only read the minimum it’s still progress, and I know that if I’m reading it on days I’ve got more energy, I can read a lot more than the minimum so it should be doable.
Decided on finishing the Japanese with Hikari Beginner 2 videos as part of my listening and project for January (only got 3 more sections after the one today, so one per week from this week should be fine), continuing with the intermediate one across Feb/ March, and then the Advanced one across May/June so it’s done by end of first half of the year. Alongside which I’ll still be studying MNN intermediate books then Tobira though that might have to be a weekly goal of so many pages rather than a chapter a week to start with.
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I would definitely do weekly. Too many things that can come up within a day, and sometimes you just need a day off (I say this as someone who read 352 days last year, and has been sick all day & thus not reading 
).
That’s really cool! Do you mean writing by hand, or typing? (Hard either way)
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