It’s been a couple of months since I updated. I’ve switched up how I have been doing most of my listening and reading for the last couple of months.
Before, I was mostly just reading and watching whatever I felt like in the moment, but recently I started reading manga and watching the adaptation at the same time. I will generally try to stay about a volume ahead in the manga while I do this. This has been incredibly helpful for understanding higher level shows that I would otherwise have been lost on.
When reading I have the luxury of being slow, re-reading half a page, and looking up half a dozen words in a row when I need to. I can take all the time I need to understand what is going on. Then I can take the unfamiliar vocab and grammar and review them by watching the adaptation 1-2 days later.
It essentially works like SRS, but unlike apps like Anki, I can actually stick with it.
Of course, this technique is limited because it requires a manga/book series to have a fairly faithful adaptation, but I have been able to make good use of it the past couple of months.
In this way, I watched through half of ソウルイーター S1 | L28, most of ジャヒー様はくじけない！ S1 | L27, and all of 姫様“拷問”の時間です S1 | L26 without too much trouble.
ソウルイーター in particular felt great because the show would have been far beyond my level if I hadn’t read it first. I felt like I was really punching above my weight.
I also tried a few more games in Japanese, but I didn’t play much of them. Some I tried just because I could, knowing I wouldn’t be able to understand them (Halo Reach), others I meant to continue playing but got distracted by other things (Professor Layton, Dragon Ball Kakarot). Hopefully I can find the energy to play more games in Japanese next year.
For now, it’s onto the last push for the year. I have less than a month left and still have a few Japanese goals that I need to reach.
