2025/06/24:
TL:DR -
Finding everything seems to be coming together as I continue primarily focusing on listening as opposed to anything else. Reading understanding is improving, as is spoken understanding with more ability to pick out exact words causing an issue rather than pulling a blank on the entire sentence when an unknown word crops up. Lessons are continuing at a steady pace with some free speech/ small talk in between.
All in, things are going well and I’m happier with my slow but steady progress.
A little later in updating this week, forgot to do so on Sunday and yesterday was a busy day though I did manage to cram in around an hour of listening as well as some reading etc. It’s becoming easier to add in study for Japanese now, rather than having to fight myself to sit down to read or listen or even pick up Anki for the audio flashcard deck I’m using for additional listening/ shadowing practice which seems to be working not too badly.
Textbook -
I picked up 新完全マスター N4 漢字 textbook again and found as I’ve been going through this, it has become much easier than I remembered from the first time. As in, I’m actually able to understand the sentences inherently without having to translate them for the most part, though I think it has been a little over a year since I completed it the first time. My focus then was just practicing the Kanji, not actually understanding the sentences within it. So I’m pleased at the fact this is showing how much progress I’ve made in the last year.
For some my progress might seem pretty slow (I’ve seen people learn Japanese to a higher degree than I have in the same time I’ve been working on it) but I’m understanding that even though it’s been slow going, I am progressing and I’m not having to do as much mental processing to understand what I’m reading and hearing at this level. Even compared to only a few months ago.
I’ll be heading back to Genki II once I’ve finished with the 新完全マスター N4 漢字 book unless I decide to switch to the other 新完全マスター N4 books again as I did struggle with them the last time and I don’t think I managed to get through them completely.
Writing -
Using the 新完全マスター N4 漢字 textbook, I’ve been writing out the answers as well as re-practicing stroke order with the Kanji. I much prefer this to typing though typing has it’s on pros. With the exception of the small amount of handwriting I do in English each week to mark my Lesson progress, Japanese is what I use when handwriting things nowadays, even if it is just textbook answers, and notes from lessons/ language exchanges.
My hope is that further down the line, I will start keeping note of my lesson progress etc in Japanese but I’m not quite there yet.
Speaking/ Shadowing -
I feel I’ve been speaking better in lessons, even in the short small talk section at the start of each and I’m getting better at pin pointing words I don’t understand to ask what those specific words mean rather than not understanding the whole sentence just because one word throws me off.
I’ve been finding it easier when shadowing both the Tutor (who is getting me to shadow him and then correcting my intonation, pronunciation/ pitch accent) and When I am shadowing the audio flashcards. If I’m struggling with either, I’ve been focusing more on the intonation first slowly, then picking up speed. I’ve also been shadowing parts of the Comprehensible Japanese videos I’ve been listening to.
Reading -
My original plans to test how much I could read in 24 hours on Sunday (since I usually work Friday, Saturday) were crushed what with me having issues with my eye on Saturday that limited my ability to either use screes or read for any real length of time. As a result, I have decided to do an unofficial read-a-thon for myself between Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th to see how much I can read in 24 hours.
I have read a little more of 坊っちゃん and ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 1. Currently reading through Chapter 5, having also listened to the first few chapters. As silly as it may sound, I’ve found that even the sentences in 坊っちゃん are becoming easier to understand without looking things up. Yes there is still a lot that I’m not understanding but there is also a lot that it becoming clearer that is no longer just Kanji and Hiragana on the page that I’m reading out. Not sure why that still surprises me every time I manage to understand something I feel is more complicated than I should be able to understand.
For ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂, I have also found this a lot easier to read and understand this time around. To the point I am managing to grasp the bigger picture as well as a lot of the details I missed the previous time around. Plan for this is to continue reading through both then once I finish ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 again, I’ll continue working through the rest of them as my easier reads going forwards (I do have both all of this set as well as the first 3 of the new series so that should keep me going for the moment).
I’m hoping that this time around it will help me to gain a solid base to progress onto higher level content, though I know I will still need to muddle through some stuff, it is helping me to retain more readings and recognise more words (both meaning and readings) since it fades Furigana out after the first appearance on the page.
I will need to look at a few other options for easier reads incase I need a break from them but that might spiral into my manga options since I;ve a few easier Manga and I can always re-read ルリドラゴン as a back up.
Listening -
Listening is progressing well. I’m about 3/4 of the way through the Beginner playlist though I think the intermediate one will be too difficult for now, I plan to use it alongside an additional easier playlist to try to continue progressing, rather than just focusing on the easier content. There has been a fair number of videos where I have understood the majority of it without look ups but a few of them, I have resorted to looking up certain words, rather than just sticking with extensive listening.
I managed a fair amount of listening on Saturday what with being out of commission after issues with one of my eyes meaning I was unable to work and couldn’t read due to the pain. So listening was the next best thing. I did manage to catch a lot of what was going on even without being able to see the videos. (so glad my phone brings up the last playlist I was watching and auto logs me in to see the next video in the list).
As I’m kind of hanging around waiting for most of Friday 27th, I’ve decided I will change my audio-thon to Friday27th - Saturday 28th, starting around 8am ish when I drop my car off at the garage then listen to as much as possible across that 24hrs. My read-a-thon will start once I wake up on Saturday instead.
Flash cards -
Currently 20 audio cards per day, which is actually only around 5 new words since each word has 4 different cards. One for Japanese listening only, one for audio Japanese sentence using the word, one for the English meaning with an image and one for written Japanese of the sentence, all of which will play the Japanese Audio either straight up or once the answer is revealed. I feel like it’s working out for me so far, though there have been days I’ve added more cards to my work load when I have come across words I know well enough. I’ve left the words I know in (partly because I’m unsure how to take them out, partly because I can’t be bothered and partly because it’s still good practice for memorising the usage and sentences).
Alongside this, I’ve continued to work through my Kanji Recognition with WK at my own pace (have a lifetime sub for this so not like it’s costing me anything extra). I have been trying to get the words and Kanji I know out the way first as these are easier to remember/ recognise. For the most part, I’ve started giving up on the memory aids they give you as only a few seem to help me yet I have been creating my own story for each Kanji using the radicals yet relating them to similar Kanji so I know the difference which seems to be helping me so far, especially for the current body related ones I’ve been coming across that have all looked similar to me until recently (脳、胸、膝、腰).
Lessons -
My Tutor has said he is happy with my progress and that the current content is easier than where he feels I am at, which he is trying to speed through a bit quicker, though he is continuing to check my sentence building and how efficiently I am able to translate from English to Japanese as well as for sentences on the fly when being asked questions both about my self or about the textbook content.
The current lessons may be easier but I still find they are helping both to build my confidence as well as increasing my speed when forming sentences using the grammar we’re covering. I also feel that it is helping me to process information quicker for recalling what the correct response should be.
My Tutor does seem to be slowly switching to Japanese for instruction as well though he is still explaining things in English for grammar at the moment.
Section kept for updating listening progress til next update:
So far:
May - 9h 34m
01/06-23/06 - 23h 24m
24/06 - Comprehensible Japanese beginners playlist - videos 34-44 (complete) - 50m
25/06 - ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 1 Chapter 5 - 27m, Japasen “For beginners” playlist videos 1-5 - 38m - total for today - 1h 5m
26/06 - finished the last 7 videos of Japasen “For beginners” Playlist - 41m, ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 1 chapter 6 & 閉店 - 32m - total for today - 1h 13m
27/06 - Audiothon results for today - 6h 32m
28/06 - Listened to Comprehensible Japanese video game play list episode 1 - 1h, ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 book 2 Prologue - 3m total - 1h 3m
29/06 - Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay video - 11m, Comprehensible Japanese - カエル探偵１(only watched part of this, will finish the rest tomorrow) - 22m - total 33m
30/06 - Comprehensible Japanese - カエル探偵１- 46m (still another 20-25m left which I’ll finish tomorrow).
Total for this week - 12h 2m
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but it was actually just skipped updates due to overwhelm and burn out (work and personal life related). Still, I managed to keep the basics going, audio sentence cards on Anki, Kanji on WK, the occasional comprehensible input video from YT as well as my language exchange and tutor led lessons.
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