🌠 A quest to learn japanese! (meagstudies' study log)

[meagstudies]

Level 45

time on level 44: 8 days, 3 hours
a very short update

Wanikani
so… I guess I leveled up about 2 days ago, but I didn’t even notice! Probably because I’ve mainly been doing reviews in Flaming Durtles lately and didn’t notice the level change at the top of the screen. Once again I already knew lots of the kanji from this level due them coming up a ton when reading (缶、姫、俺、釣、竜、to name a few). Some gave me some trouble though… * cough * 粒 * cough *

Since this update is so short, I’ve decided to list my favorite (and least favorite) kanji from level 44:

• faves:
  • 缶 → I’ve loved this one for a long time, I love how かん means “can” but it’s not katakana, it’s kanji
  • 斗 → looks like a ladle, and I like the vocab we learn with this kanji
  • 梨 → tbh pears are quite a forgettable fruit to me, but I do really like this kanji. you’d think I’d like 桃 more because I love peaches, but I’ve already known that kanji for a long time so 梨 seems so much cooler to me
• worst:
  • 粒 → idk why it but it doesn’t look like it should be pronounced りゅう. I’m hoping this will be one of those kanji that gets easier once I learn its vocab
  • 挨 and 拶 → I know these are the kanji for あいさつ so the readings aren’t hard, but ughh I kept getting confused about “push open” and “draw close.” I just want to call these the あいさつ kanji

Other

Haven’t really been doing much other than Wanikani. I read some 七回死んだ男 and 神さまがまちガえる２, and I’ve been trying to listen to easy podcasts and stuff, but most of my focus this last week has been on school and work. Hoping to read a bunch this weekend

[meagstudies]

Level 46

time on level 45: 14 days, 22 hours

I have nothing to say about my kanji studies so there’s not a section for it this time

Grammar
I’m now back at the part of Bunpro where I really didn’t understand what was going on most of the time, so even though it’s technically review, it feels new

Reading
I FINALLY FINISHED ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ (series) | L25 !!! I wrote two reviews on it (one for each book), tldr it was very fun to read, 5/5 for the first book and 4/5 for the second. I’m not going to get started another Zelda manga just yet since I’m reading a ton of other things right now. But when I do, I’ll read Four Swords, which I’ve never played so it’ll be a completely new experience! I was going to read the Oracle games manga first, but now that it’s coming to NSO I’m going to wait until I actually play those games.

(Speaking of which… Minish Cap for Switch I don’t want to pay for NSO+ because I really don’t think it’s worth the money, but they’re making it so tempting. I’ve wanted to play Minish Cap for so long bc it looks so cute and I’ve heard great things about it. If only I could just buy it on its own sorry this has nothing to do with Japanese but I’ve been thinking about it since that last Direct. anyway back to talking about what I’m reading)

Reading both 僕が愛したすべての君へ | L30 and 七回死んだ男 | L30?? at the same time has been very difficult, will probably have to drop one of them, but eventually I’d like to have read both.

[meagstudies]

Level 47

time on level 46: 9 days, 0 hours

Wanikani
I just realized how close I am to level 50! The end is in sight!

I’ve been thinking about it again and I’m still not sure if I want to continue past level 50. My main motivation past level 50 tbh is making a level 60 post i guess we’ll see when we get there

Grammar
Really haven’t focused much on learning new grammar since my last update. But as of today I finally, finally understand the difference between わけではない and わけがない! I think it helps that I really tried to cement わけだ and わけではない in my head before reading about わけがない. Last time, I studied them all at the same time and it confused me so much. I’ve also been really breaking down all sentences I come across reading that use わけだ or わけではない. I’m more of an extensive reader than an intensive one, but this has been super helpful in clarifying what this construction means.

I also reviewed ～ても～なくても and とすると・とすれば・としたら recently. But わけ is the most notable thing.

Reading
Took 七回死んだ男 off my reading list. I had a hard time remembering what happened in 七回死んだ男 and what happened in 僕が愛したすべての君へ. And I’m still really new to reading novels so reading several at once was making it harder than it should have been. I really liked the part I did read though so I’ll definitely come back to it

I also stopped reading 魔女の宅急便 and at this point, after marking it as Stopped 3 times, I’m starting to wonder if I should ever come back to it I do really love the movie, so maybe I should make watching that a goal of mine instead of finishing the book version.

So now I am reading:

• 極主夫道１１ (as usual)
• 寄生獣１ → not really my favorite so far tbh, but I’m still interested in where it’ll go and I’m having fun reading it
• 僕が愛したすべての君へ → a lot easier than I thought it would be! Somehow even though the language is more difficult than 魔女の宅急便 I find it easier to get through in general. Not really that far in the story but the premise and intro are interesting!
• 神さまがまちガえる２ → on Chapter 9 right now and oh my god it’s getting really interesting…

And, because of course I spend more time thinking about what I want to read instead of actually reading, here’s the lineup for what’s next:

• LOOPERS → I want to read stuff with the VN club but I never actually got that far in LOOPERS. So I want to make sure I can actually finish a VN before joining the club again
• ちはやふる → this is what I’ll read after 寄生獣! I’ve heard a lot of good things about this series although I don’t know much about it other than it’s about karuta
• the Four Swords manga → when I get around to it
• モブサイコ１００ → been trying to think of when to start reading this. Maybe while I’m waiting for volume 12 of 極主夫道 after I finish volume 11?

[meagstudies]

Level 48

time on level 47: 15 days, 22 hours

Wanikani
Fell a bit behind on my reviews for a few days. It’s down to 0 now but I have a ton of lessons to get through before I can actually start level 48

Grammar
Again, not much grammar study. I think since my last update I studied として and にしては. It’s spring break now though so I’ve decided to use this time to study a lot of grammar!

I’m also joining that grammar dictionary club that’s starting up soon, my copy arrived in the mail the other day

Reading
Finished up 神さまがまちガえる2 and 極主夫道11, so now I am just reading 寄生獣1 and 僕が愛したすべての君へ.

I’m so glad I dropped 七回死んだ男 and not 僕が愛したすべての君へ. It seems that people didn’t like 七回死んだ男 and it ended up being much more difficult than L30. I didn’t like the prologue of 僕が愛したすべての君へ, but now I’m starting to get invested! So it seems I picked the right novel to drop.

@meagstudies

So I want to make sure I can actually finish a VN before joining the club again

Uhh so that was a lie because WE’RE PLAYING ZERO ESCAPE! I’ll join the VN club this time even though I haven’t finished LOOPERS because 1) I own 999 already so I’m not spending money, 2) 999 is one of my favorite games ever, and 3) I tried playing it in Japanese a long time ago and it was too hard for me then, but I know I’ve learned the vocab/grammar I was struggling with back then so I don’t think it will actually be too difficult?

Listening
Natively has audiovisual content now so I’m trying to get more listening practice in. I finally finished up リラックマとカオルさん which I started years ago, and now I’m watching 極主夫道. As far as I can tell it’s basically word for word the exact same as the manga so even though it would be difficult without JP subs I’m able to follow along with subs.

[meagstudies]

Not a level up post, but I have been ridiculously active in the forums today, so… why not also add to my study log? (I say as if I didn’t literally just say in another thread that I only update this when I level up…)

In the last (almost) week since my last post, I have:

• neglected my kanji studies okay not too much, reviews are still manageable, but I haven’t even learned the level 48 radicals yet
• watched quite a bit of 極主夫道. Halfway through season 1 now!
• finished 寄生獣１!! And started the second volume because even though I thought the first was only okay, I still want to see where this goes
• started reading モブサイコ１００ today! My absolute favorite manga I haven’t read many manga in English but this is one of them, I used to read the fan translations over and over again when this was coming out, so I’m super excited to read it again but in Japanese. At first I tried reading it super intensively but, uh, that didn’t work out, so I’ll read it like normal
• studied grammar:
  • にしても
  • と言うのは事実だ
  • からいうと
  • にとって
  • ことから
  • というより
  • はもちろん
• read this week’s dictionary club chapter. guess I’m in a grammar mood this week
• refrained from buying a billion books with the Bookwalker coin up promotion, trying to narrow it down to just a few books
• decided I’m going to join the Read Every Day Challenge again! I’ve missed hanging out in that thread so now I am (im)patiently awaiting the Spring thread…

So I guess I’ve been ridiculously active with my studies too! Probably because 1) it’s spring break and 2) I’ve been sick for like 2 weeks so I have nothing better to do than sit in bed and read all day (I’m basically better now though dw!)

[meagstudies]

Level 49

time on level 48: 17 days, 23 hours

Wanikani
woooh I’m almost to level 50! Not much to say here, just continuing to do my reviews as usual

Bunpro
Since my last update, I’ve learned:

• をはじめ
• てはじめて
• さえ
• さえ～ば
• たものだ
• さて
• むしろ
• つまり
• すなわち
• 却って
• まるで…ようだ

This is around the point where I completely fell off Bunpro last time around (actually it was when all the “not only A but B” grammar popped up, so a few lessons down from here). I’m feeling better about the grammar this time! It helps that I’ve encountered more of this grammar when reading and listening. Like むしろ? Before, I was so confused what it meant, but it was in a podcast episode the other day, and it’s in my WK reviews so I see the kanji form a lot.

Reading
Technically I have 寄生獣 on my list of what I’m currently reading, but I’m not actually actively reading it right now. I only started the second volume when I did because I just had to know how the fight at the end of vol 1 ended! I’ll pick it back up soon. Probably.

Other than that… I’m reading, but not nearly as much as I’d like. Like… one page a day. I’ve rejoined the Read Every Day Challenge (homepost), it’s been fun to read through people’s updates, but it’s been hard for me to actually read myself. I’m mostly motivated to read 999 right now, but it’s hard to set aside time to play it since I’m on campus all day. I mean, I could play it here, but I feel awkward playing games on campus lol

Listening
Doing the Listen Every Day Challenge (homepost)… although I’m not actually listening every day, but I’m still listening more often than usual ^ _ ^

[Kikikois]

i think you should play it on campus anyway! yesterday i sat on campus in broad daylight playing shin megami tensei on my 3ds LOL no shame

but in all seriousness, i doubt anyone would notice or care!

[AngelicRuin]

Keep up the good work! It’s always nice to see someone stick with their study log (and actually study) for an extended period of time. I struggle with the not-reading/etc-as-much-as-I’d-like thing as well, but as long as no one stops learning we’ll all get to our elusive Japanese goals eventually.

[meagstudies]

@Kikikois

i think you should play it on campus anyway! yesterday i sat on campus in broad daylight playing shin megami tensei on my 3ds LOL no shame

but in all seriousness, i doubt anyone would notice or care!

you’re right, people probably don’t care lol, i’ll go ahead and play on campus!

@AngelicRuin

Keep up the good work! It’s always nice to see someone stick with their study log (and actually study) for an extended period of time. I struggle with the not-reading/etc-as-much-as-I’d-like thing as well, but as long as no one stops learning we’ll all get to our elusive Japanese goals eventually.

thanks for the words of encouragement!! i’m surprised I’ve kept up with studying Japanese this long haha, i’m not the best at sticking to any one thing, but as long as i’m doing something every day i’m happy with my progress. good luck with your studies!!

[meagstudies]

Level 50

time on level 49: 12 days, 7 hours

Wanikani
I have not been keeping up with my reviews… and now I’ve got a pile. It’s by sheer luck that the kanji I needed for leveling up came up during the times I’ve tried chipping away at my reviews. But luckily I’m taking a break from lessons soon, so my reviews will eventually go down then

Which brings me to my next point: so as I’ve said before, I’m stopping at level 50. But what I mean by that is that I’m stopping after I’ve learned level 50 kanji, so that way I’ll be done right at the end of level 50 (and beginning of level 51). So this is my last level.

But I’ve given it some thought and decided this doesn’t necessarily have to be a permanent stop. After three months I’ll reevaluate and decide whether I should continue Wanikani to level 60. It all depends on whether I feel like I need Wanikani at the end of summer. I’ll keep doing my reviews as usual, just not lessons.

Anyway, looking at upcoming radicals/kanji…

it feels like it’s been so long since I’ve seen a png radical… guess it’s only used in 鬱 which looks like a mess in this post’s 12pt Arial

FINALLY

Seeing some other somewhat familiar kanji in there, but I can’t tell if I actually recognize them or if they just look similar to other kanji I know.

Grammar
Most of my focus has been on grammar lately. It’s the main reason I haven’t been doing as much kanji study or reading. Grammar’s been a big part of what’s holding me back with reading, so I want to be done with the Bunpro N3 grammar asap!

• ような気がする
• とても～ない
• 別に～ない
• ばかりでなく
• ではなくて
• だけでなくて～も
• だけしか
• は言うまでもない
• 決して～ない
• わけにはいかない
• ～ようとしない
• もしかしたら
• たとえ～ても
• ことに
• ことか
• ～かというと
• でいうと

Reading and Listening
Not a lot to say here. Haven’t really been reading or listening a lot for various reasons. I’ve been reading in English for once which is nice but I’ve barely read in Japanese. I just need to finish one book this month to keep on track with my goal since last month I read three.

[meagstudies]

wow! get ready for a really long update post!

WK break, lots of grammar, book progress, and other languages

Haven’t leveled up yet. But with this being the last week of classes I figured I’d give an update! Especially since I doubt I’ll be leveling up any time soon. I don’t have much time for kanji thanks to finals + graduation + moving + misc stuff I’ll talk about below

Wanikani

@meagstudies

Which brings me to my next point: so as I’ve said before, I’m stopping at level 50. But what I mean by that is that I’m stopping after I’ve learned level 50 kanji, so that way I’ll be done right at the end of level 50 (and beginning of level 51). So this is my last level.

But I’ve given it some thought and decided this doesn’t necessarily have to be a permanent stop. After three months I’ll reevaluate and decide whether I should continue Wanikani to level 60.

I’m honestly thinking of starting this right now since I’ve already paused on lessons for a bit. I’ve done all my kanji lessons for this level, but they’re not really sticking. I don’t want to do any of my remaining vocab lessons because I barely know the vocab/kanji in my reviews right now.

So I might just start my break now! I’ll likely level up sometime soon as long as I do my reviews, but I’m still considering this the start of my lesson break. Thinking about it though three months seems like a long time to not do lessons if I’m considering still reaching level 60. idk, we’ll see how I feel later

So what does that mean for my study log? I guess I’ll have to figure out another way to time my updates!

Bunpro

My focus has still been on grammar. I’ve learned so much these last few weeks I have to put it under a read more!

Grammar I've studied (bunpro n3 lesson 7 and half of 8)

• ～ずつ
• ずっと
• だらけ
• もっとも
• 再び
• み
• と同じくらい
• と同じで・と違って
• と並んで
• に違いない
• 当たり
• に当たる
• に限る
• に限らない
• めったに～ない
• 割に
• volitionalとする
• volitionalとしたが
• 言うまでもない②
• そうもない
• ないことはない
• なんか
• また～も
• ついでに
• と共に
• につれて
• 直ちに
• たとたんに
• おきに
• たびに
• あるいは
• ながらも
• において

But with that, I am going to take it easy now with grammar study. I’m not overwhelmed yet, but I want to make sure I know these grammar points better before trying to cram more into my head

I’m so glad I spent this last month or so focusing on grammar. I’ve come across so much of these while reading, and it’s been nice to go “hey I know that one!” instead of having to look up all this grammar all the time.

Reading & Listening

I’ve started and finished two manga since my last update. ウスズミの果て which was so good, I’m kinda obsessed with it now. And マグナムリリィ１ which was a fun boxing manga. I’ve been pushing myself to read more and more difficult things, but it was nice to be able to read at a quicker pace.

Now I’m rotating between 僕が愛したすべての君へ, 寄生獣２, and ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂１. I’ll likely finish ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 very soon, then 寄生獣. And then I can focus on 僕が愛したすべての君へ and ZE (which I’ve fallen behind with because I don’t have time for gaming with classes)

Still putting off listening practice

Other Languages?!?!

So I don’t know how much I’ve talked about this, but Japanese is not the only language I am studying/have studied! It’s definitely the one I focus on the most and am the most consistent with. However, two things have come up recently that will mean my attention will be split between two other languages.

First off, my Irish professor has reached out to me and asked if I want to join a new class consisting of other former students of his. I’m quite rusty since it’s been a couple years and very few people here speak it, so this summer I am going through my old notes and trying to get used to speaking it again. It’s the only language I’ve learned where I actually feel comfortable listening/speaking (even though I’m still a beginner) so I’m excited to get back into it.

As an aside, it’s unlikely that anyone here also speaks Irish and happens to stumble across my study log but just in case: Níl ach cúpla focal agam, ach labhair Gaeilge liom!

Second, my boss is having me use Duolingo for a bit to see how it teaches language (for context I’m a linguistics research assistant). I haven’t used it for years because of all the problems with it, but I’ll admit it’s pretty fun despite its flaws. I chose to learn Spanish on it because out of all the courses, it seems to be the most fleshed out. I don’t know how long I’ll be learning Spanish or if I’ll continue studying it once I’m done with this work thing, but it’s going to take up a bit of time.

[AngelicRuin]

Honestly the last 10 levels of WK still have some useful kanji, but the frequency of seeing them is much lower. I think it’d be better to focus more on grammar and reading/immersion (like you said you were doing). I think it’s cool that you’ve studied/are studying other languages - I studied Spanish for a few years in high school, which I’ve all but forgotten, but studying multiple languages at the same time would probably melt my brain.
I’ve got about a 1000 reviews right now that I really don’t feel like doing, so I’m probably more or less done with WK. I’m doing a study abroad to Japan this summer, and I’m going to (hopefully) spend a ton of time learning more grammar on Bunpro and reading free manga on Bookwalker.
Anyway, good luck with your (continued) language studying!

[meagstudies]

Yeah that’s a big reason I’m considering stopping now at level 50. Definitely felt the diminishing returns even in levels 40-50, I can imagine it won’t get much better with the lack of level 51-60 content…

If I’m being honest with myself, my main reasons for continuing to 60 aren’t really for the sake of learning Japanese. It’s more like I need to complete the “game”, get that gold badge, make a level 60 post, etc. I mean of course I’m still learning Japanese by continuing WK but you know what I mean, there’s better ways for me to acquire Japanese at this point than by continuing kanji SRS

idk. gotta reevaluate my goals and figure out if reaching level 60’s really worth it in the long run.

I am going to try out the new kana vocab lessons in the next few weeks just to see how I feel about them though. Mostly out of curiosity, not because I need to learn those words

@AngelicRuin

I think it’s cool that you’ve studied/are studying other languages - I studied Spanish for a few years in high school, which I’ve all but forgotten, but studying multiple languages at the same time would probably melt my brain.

I think it helps that I’m getting to be kinda intermediate at Japanese… or at least not a beginner? In high school I tried to learn multiple languages at once but I was in the beginner stage for all of them, I think that did melt my brain So I’ve only worked on Japanese for these last couple years. But now that I’m actually at a point where I can actually read (wow!) and I’m confident I won’t mix it up with other languages, I’m ready to try other languages again

Hope you have a great time in Japan! And good luck with your studying/reading too!

[meagstudies]

Level 51

time on level 50: 34 days, 1 hour
making a decision on wanikani completion

Grammar, Reading, & Listening

Since my last update, I have done very little with Japanese. I had finals and graduation, I volunteered for a conference, I had to spend most of my free time packing and moving, and all my other free time has been spent with Tears of the Kingdom. So my last update still holds true:

@meagstudies

Now I’m rotating between 僕が愛したすべての君へ, 寄生獣２, and ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂１. I’ll likely finish ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 very soon, then 寄生獣. And then I can focus on 僕が愛したすべての君へ and ZE (which I’ve fallen behind with because I don’t have time for gaming with classes)

Still putting off listening practice

Wanikani

Woah! Finally in the Reality Levels!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about WK completion. Thinking about level 60 and why I want to reach it. Like I said before, it’s become more of a game than anything… earlier, I said this:

@meagstudies

But I’ve given it some thought and decided this doesn’t necessarily have to be a permanent stop. After three months I’ll reevaluate and decide whether I should continue Wanikani to level 60. It all depends on whether I feel like I need Wanikani at the end of summer. I’ll keep doing my reviews as usual, just not lessons.

@meagstudies

I’m still considering this the start of my lesson break. Thinking about it though three months seems like a long time to not do lessons if I’m considering still reaching level 60. idk, we’ll see how I feel later

But… I’ve just gone and thrown all that out the window.

First off, after giving it some thought, I’ve decided I’d still like to eventually reach level 60. Yes, it’s mostly the gamification talking, I won’t deny that. But I’m so close, and I figure might as well do these last 10 levels? And even though I’m proud of myself for making it this far and reaching level 50, I want to push myself further and finish Wanikani.

And I’ve realized something: the next three months is either the best timing for a break… or the worst timing. What do I mean by this? Well, if I stop or pause WK lessons now, reviews will go down, and I’ll have plenty of time for other studying. Grammar, reading, listening, maybe even… speaking?? (no promises lol). This summer I have an abundance of free time, so this will be an excellent time to catch up with book clubs and work on grammar.

The problem is, once summer is over I’m going to start grad school. And I really don’t want to still be working on Wanikani then. So I’ve decided it’s better for me to just finish up these last 10 levels now. I’ll still be prioritizing grammar and immersion though!

Well, time to get to these 100 lessons:

[MiuEverGarden]

Congratulations on your graduation, woo! That’s awesome news!
And yes, I totally understand that gamification thing… Still, I’m sure, the words from the last 10 levels will still prove to be useful.
Good luck and have fun playing ToTK:D!

[meagstudies]

I know it’s only been a few days since I last updated, but I want to get my new study routine/tasks in order. While it’s nice that I don’t have classes now, it’s a bit hard to get into a solid routine without having a school schedule to work around (especially since both of my jobs are flexible with hours too…). Talking through what I need to do on my study logs is very helpful for me, so I’m just going to make a quick checklist of what I’d like to get done for the rest of this week

Wednesday 5/24
7 kanji lessons (燥瓶耕,肯脂軒軟郊)
whoops i’ve been slacking on bunpro! do those reviews
not much reading today since I’m busy with work and visiting my mom, but I might read something

Thursday 5/25
10 kanji lessons (隅隻邸郡釈,肪喚媛貞玄)
ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 Ch 5
寄生獣 chapter 11

Friday 5/26
finish up kanji lessons (苗渦慈襟蓮,亮聡浦塚又, + 膚 if it’s unlocked)
finish ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂
寄生獣 chapter 12

Saturday 5/27
5-10 vocab lessons
999 day! play for 4 hours

Sunday 5/28
5-10 vocab lessons
寄生獣 chapter 13 (as a warm up for 僕が愛したすべての君へ)
僕が愛したすべての君へ 2 hours total (break into 1 hour chunks)
寄生獣 chapter 14 (finish!)

---

If all goes well I will finish two books this week: ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂１ and 寄生獣２!

[meagstudies]

Level 52

time on level 51: 10 days, 4 hours
feeling unmotivated… でも諦めてはだめだ！がんばらないと！

Wanikani

I really only spent 10 days on level 51? It felt like so much longer.

Something weird I realized is that we actually learn all the grade 5 jouyou kanji before grade 4! The last grade 4 kanji is 腸 (level 57), but the last grade 5 kanji is 耕 (level 51). idk, just thought it was interesting

Grammar

After a three week break, I’m getting back to Bunpro lessons! Learned: 第一 and ますます

Going to hop back into the dictionary club! I’ll just skip to the current week’s reading and backtrack later

Reading

Yeah… I don’t think I’m going to be able to catch up with 999 honestly though I’m so unmotivated when it comes to reading at all lately. Maybe it’s the stories I’m reading? Maybe it’s the difficulty? Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading the same four things for a whole month, and some of those even longer?

So yeah as you can see I didn’t really follow through with my checklist. That’s not to say I haven’t read at all though. I have ~10 pages left of ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 and I read half of 寄生獣 chapter 11. It’s just not as much as I’d like. EDIT: I finished ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂 just a few hours after this post!!

I keep checking my bookwalker notifications every day for 極主夫道 volume 12. That series never fails to get me out of a reading slump

Some notes on my 2023 reading goals:

@meagstudies

read 24 books (9/24)

I am now one book behind on my 2 book/month schedule… But if this summer is anything like last summer I’ll be reading a lot so I’m not worried about this

@meagstudies

read 10 books that aren’t manga! (0/10)

uhh yeah that’s not happening. This was way too lofty of a goal. In my defense, I figured since last year was the first year I read any book and I read nearly 20 of those, it shouldn’t be that hard to read 10 novels, right? (wrong). Instead of being stubborn and struggling to read 10 books and burning out, I’m going to adjust my goal and say I’d like to finish five novels this year. I can even think of most of them!

• ふしぎ駄菓子屋銭天堂
• 僕が愛したすべての君へ
• コンビニ人
• あん

And if somehow I do read 10 non-manga books, then that will be an amazing accomplishment!

[meagstudies]

Quick little update because I just took a major step towards actually using Japanese!! By that I mean I finally, finally signed up for an italki lesson. Oh my god I’m so nervous, but this is really important to me, and I know the instructor is there to help me improve and not to judge.

I also did italki’s language placement exam thing just out of curiosity, and it put me at A2. Which is higher than I thought since I barely understood anything from the test and kept forgetting what I was supposed to repeat back. I’d say I’m more at A1 for listening/speaking haha

[meagstudies]

Level 53

time on level 52: 9 days, 21 hours

Wanikani

Not much to say here other than I’m more or less staying on top of my reviews! (although I have ~80 waiting for me right now… I should probably go do that)

edit: oh yeah there’s this too: (i probably spend way too much time on these forums)

Grammar

Bunpro grammar learned:

• 一方だ
• 一方で
• ついに
• すでに
• ずに
• ずにはいられない
• なし
• 考えられない
• 必ずに
• 向き
• 向け
• 上がる
• 切る
• 切れない
• きり
• かけ

Reading

Going to spend today getting through as much 寄生獣 as possible! (and doing some grammar study)

I haven’t made much progress with reading lately like I mentioned in my last level up post, but I have a solution to that! I’m going to put 僕が愛したすべての君へ to the side for now and start reading 1 new manga and 1 new prose book: ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 and ぜんぶ、藍色だった (as voted by the Natively forums).

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I feel like there was a lot more I wanted to say a couple days ago but I forget what I wanted to talk about

[meagstudies]

small but important update

This morning I did my very first italki lesson! Since I already made a kinda long post about it, I’ll just link to that thread:

Italki prep suggestions

Just had my first lesson!! And thought I’d give a little update in this thread! The instructor was very patient and I really liked her teaching style. I ended up not preparing as much as I wanted to, but that’s okay because the conversation was very guided. Messed up with quite a few things but I wasn’t embarrassed like I usually am when I try to speak Japanese. She just corrected me, I said the correct version, and we moved on. And surprisingly I didn’t mess up any of my numbers? (I had …

I also have homework: gotta think about how to talk about my day and what I do (e.g., in the morning/during work/at night) and look at a dictionary as little as possible. I have a couple weeks until my next lesson so I have lots of time to think about it!

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I think I’m coming down with a cold or something and it’s kinda hard to think / focus on studying or work. But at the same time I’m super motivated to do Japanese stuff right now. So my heart is like 「勉強しよう！」 but my brain is all 「昼寝してぇー」…so annoying -_-