On to chapter 3! How are you doing so far?
We’ll spend 2 weeks on chapter 3, September 28 to October 11. The home thread for this bookclub is here .
Who will read Harry Potter now?
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I think I’ve been spoiling myself. I’m currently reading One Punch Man on BookWalker where I don’t have the benefit of a dictionary or an English version and I’ve been muddling through and getting the gist of what’s happening.
But I feel like that’s been helping my reading comprehension more that HP where I have all these tools available to understand every sentence.
I’m going to try doing the same thing with this chapter to see how it goes.
Edit: So my OPM reading has actually paid off:
ハリー狩り : Loc 831
Much easier to understand when you’ve gone through pages and pages of ヒ－ロ－狩り 
One week in and oh boy is it tough. Lol
I think the hardest part are names like Smeltings or Stonewall High. Alto high funnily enough, knickerbockers was easy to read.
I agree! I don’t know why but there were just lots of words I didn’t understand at all this chapter which really slowed me down.
That’s interesting! I think for me because I’m SO familiar with the original text, those words are how I know I’m following properly
I’m reading the Kindle edition while listening to the Audible edition of the book. Most of it is the same, but sometimes a sentence is completely different between the two editions. At least that forces me to concentrate! Has the book been re-translated or rewritten after it was first published in Japanese?
Oh yes! I’m listening and reading and that helps. I’m forced to read along fast, guess what half of the sentences mean, and get most of my comprehension from having read the book multiple times before. I really enjoy reading and listening though! I plan to re-read the book next summer. By then I should be around level 30 and that should help. I hope!
I’ve noticed that exact same thing too. The differences are minor like adding そして to the beginning of a part in the audio but it’s not there in the text, or doing the same with conjunctions.
No idea why though.
The differences between spoken and written Japanese are bigger than in languages like English. Homophones can easily be distinguished in writing with the use of kanji for example, but could be ambiguous in speech. As for conjunctions like そして, if you have a specific example we could figure out where the difference lies, but I suspect it makes the speech flow better from one sentence to the next.
I didn’t get around to read till today. But I had a good day and managed to do the chapter in one sitting.
I would be lost without the English version. I read one section at a time, about a column of text or so, trying to find a good place to stop (one I know I can recognise easily) Always doing the Japanese first. It feels good when I then do the English version and feel it added nothing, as in, there was nothing I had missed.
I still need to work on my grammar, but I get most from context.
Is anyone else listening to the audiobook on Audible Stories? I did that for the first two chapters, and was going to listen to the third chapter today, but it doesn’t seem to work anymore! The link opens properly, but when you click play, it shows an error message. I guess they might have removed it from the list of freely available audiobooks…
I’m only in Chapter 1 REALLY comparing the Audible to the Kindle version… There are A LOT of SMALL differences between the Kindle and the “Twilight” (chess piece cover) bunko edition, which was written by the same translator, but many years earlier. Then the Audible was done after the Kindle version… But the last two are pretty close so far in Chapter 1.
@Windgreen, they discontinued Harry Potter Audible for FREE on Sept. 30, 2020. :*(… It’s paid only, now… So of course I bought my copy. (Grumpy, but I REALLY enjoy listening)
Aww, they removed it?
I didn’t notice cause I already bought it so I could listen on other devices more easily (and forever =P )
I just hope they put the other books in the English version of the store, when they see that we DO buy the Japanese books! 
Last I checked they only had the one, and probably cause of the promotion. Their selection of Japanese books are quite thin, considering they DO have them, just, on the jp version of the store =/
I guess there are some licensing issues, for them to offer them in all stores.
Edit: I can FIND the others. But they are only “Add to Wishlist”
Please, everyone with an account, add them to your wish list! Let them know we want them!
@Shannon-8 @Abstormal Yeah, how unfortunate that they removed it from the Audible Stories selection!
After only two chapters, I’ve come to really enjoy listening to the audiobook! Although it’s too fast and difficult for my current Japanese level 
, it’s still fun, and when I do understand things, it’s a nice small win. 
I would buy it, but unfortunately, unlike the ebook, the audiobook is not available for purchase in my country’s version of the store, and buying it internationally would be too expensive with the current conversion rates! 
I had never signed up for an Audible Premium Plus free trial, that’s what I did yesterday. Once you do that, if I understood it correctly, you can choose 1 audiobook title, and you get to keep it even after your trial ends or you cancel your membership. I chose this book, let’s see if I still have access to it after my free trial ends! 
I hope that your plan works as a workaround, @Windgreen. Another advantage is that once you OWN a copy, you can play it at 85% speed, which is what I need when reading while listening. I listen at 100% when only listening…
@Abstormal, OK, I will put a bunch of Japanese books in my “wish list” :D. I do think it’s a copyright licensing thing…
Yes, anything you buy with a credit you get to keep forever. It’s the “unlimited” titles that you haven’t purchased that disappear if you cancel your account.
This is basically why I bought it! 
And wow did I understand more at that speed!!!
It made more of a difference than I thought it would!
Also can confirm:
Yup! That is yours forever!
I never got a free one, cause they tempted me with a lower annual price instead =P
So I grabbed annual, and planned on only having one year, two at most.
Now I’m down to 4 credits left of year two, and already have more than 4 items I want to pick so will definitely go for a third year =P
Most of my credits went to Wheel of Time. I have owned the books for years, and tried more than once to read through them. But so hard to find enough time!
but with audiobooks I can listen while walking the dogs or cleaning (Especially when cleaning rat/mouse cages. I have a LOT! )
Audible will do that to you! I’m a previous employee so I took full advantage of my unlimited access and it’ll be many months before I get through everything, but beforehand when I was a regular member I would say “just a couple more months” over and over forever!
Just finished chapter 3! I’m on a binge-reading streak to catch up, read this one in about 2hours give or take. My favorite part was:
「ハリーに取らせろよ」
「ハリー、取ってこい」
「ダドリーに取らせてよ」
「ダドリー、スメルティングズの杖でつついてやれ」
It’s really awful in its implications, but I couldn’t help but laughing when I read it. I like how it shows the different speech styles between the three of them as well.
I wouldn’t say there were a whole ton of new words I learned this chapter, but my favorite has to be "ああいう” which is used by Uncle Vernon a couple of times. Here’s jisho’s definition: Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary
@kmurgs It’s the same for me! Having read the series so many times, it’s so much easier to understand the meanings of words that I hadn’t learned yet, and the katakana words come naturally as well.