🔊 Listen Every Day Challenge - Spring 2024 🌸 🌈

[hotdogsuplex]

Welcome to the “Listen Every Day” Challenge, spring 2024 edition!

If you’re trying to improve your listening skills, want to listen to Japanese music, found an interesting Japanese youtuber, or have a plethora of unwatched podcasts in your playlist, then this is the place for you. You can listen to Japanese music while doing your spring cleaning, or listen to a podcast while taking a walk in the sun that we haven’t seen in months, anything counts!

History of the challenge: In summer 2022, @KJules started the first listen every day challenge. Then in autumn, @omk3 took over, and has been making them ever since. However @omk3 has recently asked for someone else to take over, so I’m hosting for the time being.

What is it: A place to set goals for yourself and talk about what you’ve been listening to. You can use it like a study log to keep track of what you’ve done, ask for advice and resource recommendations, or geek out/bond over common interests.
Beginners and experts alike are all welcomed.

To quote @omk3 quoting @KJules quoting @windupbird quoting @Redglare (please no one call the plagiarism police):
This is a thread for people who:
want to spend time more time listening
want to improve their comprehension
want to hold themselves accountable and have a place to document their progress
simply want to join in on the challenge!

Time frame: April 1 - May 31

This is the “official” recommended time frame, but late starters are absolutely welcome! You can start and finish your personal challenge at any point during that time, and shorten or lengthen the challenge to the time period that works best for you.

Your listening materials can be whatever you want, anime, podcasts, youtube videos, audiobooks, TV, JLPT listening quizzes - you name it, anything goes as long as it is something in Japanese “Listening” can be interpreted creatively, if that helps keep you motivated!

Will you be participating?

• Yes
• No
• I’m starting late
• Don’t know

Past challenge threads

🔉 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge (Summer Edition) 🏖
🔊 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge - Fall 2022 🍁
🔊 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge - Winter 2023 ❄ 🧤
🔊 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge - Spring 2023 🌼 🌱
🔊 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge - Summer 2023 🏖 ☀
🔊 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge - Fall 2023 🍁 🍂 - Volunteer needed to keep the challenge going!
🔊 Listen Every Day Challenge - Winter 2024 ⛄❄

Threads worth checking out:

Kurzgesagt Watching Club

What do you listen to for Japanese practice?

Extensive Listening Challenge 2022

There’s also a list of resources here. Please check it out if you’re looking for advice, and add to it if you have something you think others would like!

Calendar template

			April
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

			June
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
					01	02
03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

If you’d like to use these copy this text and paste it into your post

||||April||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|月|火|水|木|金|土|日|
|01[]|02[]|03[]|04[]|05[]|06[]|07[]|
|08[]|09[]|10[]|11[]|12[]|13[]|14[]|
|15[]|16[]|17[]|18[]|19[]|20[]|21[]|
|22[]|23[]|24[]|25[]|26[]|27[]|28[]|
|29[]|30[]||||||| 

||||May||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|月|火|水|木|金|土|日|
|||01[]|02[]|03[]|04[]|05[]|
|06[]|07[]|08[]|09[]|10[]|11[]|12[]|
|13[]|14[]|15[]|16[]|17[]|18[]|19[]|
|20[]|21[]|22[]|23[]|24[]|25[]|26[]|
|27[]|28[]|29[]|30[]|31[]||| 

||||June||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|月|火|水|木|金|土|日|
||||||01[]|02[]|
|03[]|04[]|05[]|06[]|07[]|08[]|09[]|
|10[]|11[]|12[]|13[]|14[]|15[]|16[]|
|17[]|18[]|19[]|20[]|21[]|22[]|23[]|
|24[]|25[]|26[]|27[]|28[]|29[]|30[]|
||||||||

[hotdogsuplex]

Participants

If you’re participating, please add your name to the list! (Please keep it alphabetical)

Username	Date Joined	Days Completed
AlejandraP	April1	–
araigoshi	April 1	??
grutendon	April 1	14
hotdogsuplex	April 1	tbd
Jira2406	April 4	10
Jojo_Sunshine	April 2	Home Post
macalys	April 1	Home Post and thread
pyr_3	April 1	4
Redglare	April 1	Home post

[macalys]

macalys Home Post (and Thread)

Hearing japanese is totally the number one motive I’m now learning this language so this challenge is kind of made for me The first time I checked a japanese word in a dictionary was because I heard it in an anime or a game, and part of my vocabulary is still coming this way.

When I don’t hear japanese, I miss it (really !), so I admit keeping on listening every day is kind of normal for me. I didn’t struggle with the last winter challenge, at least (less than with the read every day challenge )
As for my material, it will be games and anime mainly. However, I now listen to audio books or series. And I’d like to listen more podcasts too, so I’ll be watching the recommendations of everyone.
Also, one hour a week, I have an italki lesson when I talk a little with my teacher too. Listening some dialogs is part of our routine.

I listen a lot of j-music too, pop punk and anime music essentially, but it’s more passive listening so I won’t count it in my listening practice, except if I study the lyrics and sing along

	Listening	Type	Notes
	Weekly Italki lesson	Online lesson	I use Irodori textbook
	The Jam Maker	Satori Reader series	Here it is
	Free	Anime	The characters are lovable and their friendship is so enjoyable to watch
	Orange	Anime	I watch it with japanese subtitles
	Collar x Malice	Visual Novel	Love and mystery around a terrorism investigation
	Nihongo con Teppei for beginners	Podcast	I like his voice
	Comprehensible Japanese for beginners	youtube channel	I feel smart when I listen to it

A calendar

		C	Apr	E
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

			June
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
					01	02
03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Listened when listened

	Listened	Type	Notes
	Solo Leveling	Anime	Very bloody but classy ^^
	The Apothecary Diaries	Anime	The heroine is smart and badass, the anime is a blast
	Fire Force (炎炎ノ消防隊)	Anime	Season 2 - Sick and tired of the lewd jokes with Tamaki and the violence towards children. I won’t see season 3 when they launch it.

My study log
macalys corner, an enthusiastic study log

Previous challenge
macalys Home Post and thread, winter edition

[araigoshi]

- Natively profile  
- General Study Log
- Reading Challenge
  - Winter Challenge    

Tracker

April

Wk	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
14
15
16
17
18

May

Wk	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
18
19
20
21
22

June

Wk	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
22
23
24
25
26

What I’m listening to

Name	Type	Started	Progress	Time ()
葬送のフリーレン	Anime	2024-04-19	1 Episode 1	0h25m
Persona 3 Reload	RPG	2024-02-03	5/5	0h00m
Japanese from Small Talk	Podcast	2024-01-15	35 episodes 1-40,84	0h00m

Completed

Note: Time and progress only count time and progress in Spring, not any time spent in Winter on carried over items.

Name	Type	Started	Progress	Time
Log Horizon	Anime	2024-03-30	21 episodes 5-25	8h25m

Paused/Stopped

Name	Type	Started	Progress	Time
デジモンサヴァイブ	VN	2023-12-20	Prologue 5 Scenes	0h00m

Daily Log

Date	Name	Type	Amount	Time
Week 16	–	–	–	–
2024-04-19	葬送のフリーレン	Anime	1 Episode 1	0h25m
	コツ	Study	200 Items	0h20m
2024-04-18	コツ	Study	200 Items	0h15m
2024-04-17	コツ	Study	200 Items	0h15m
2024-04-16	コツ	Study	200 Items	0h20m
2024-04-15	コツ	Study	100 Items	0h15m
Week 15	–	–	–	–
2024-04-14	コツ	Study	100 Items	0h15m
2024-04-13	コツ	Study	100 Items	0h10m
2024-04-12	コツ	Study	100 Items	0h30m
2024-04-11	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 24-25	0h50m
2024-04-10	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 22-23	0h50m
2024-04-09	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 20-21	0h50m
2024-04-08	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 18-19	0h50m
Week 14	–	–	–	–
2024-04-07	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 16-17	0h50m
2024-04-06	Log Horizon	Anime	1 episode 15	0h25m
2024-04-05	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 13-14	0h50m
2024-04-04	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 11-12	0h50m
2024-04-03	Log Horizon	Anime	2 episodes 9-10	0h50m
2024-04-02	Log Horizon	Anime	3 episodes 6-8	1h15m
2024-04-01	Log Horizon	Anime	1 episode 5	25m

---

I’ll be joining again, probably trying to add more natural Japanese to the mix.

My plans are a lot less concrete than for the reading challenge, but what I’m thinking:

• Some real life-ish Japanese TV (I’ve heard good things about Terrace House and 日本人の知らない日本語?)
• Diversify podcasts beyond just Japanese from Small Talk
• Restart the pitch accent/phonetics practice

[pyr_3]

pyr_3’s Home Post

			April
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

			June
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
					01	02
03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Daily Log

Date	Listened to
4月１日	Daily Japanese with Naoko: Movies, あかね的日本語教室: Hakone Vlog
4月２日	Nihongo con Teppei: episodes 202-205
4月４日	Comprehensible Japanese: Setsubun Demon
4月５日	Daily Japanese with Naoko: Catching a cold, Comprehensible Japanese: Best-Before Date and Expiration Date

Previous Challenge

Listen Every Day Challenge - Spring 2023
I haven’t studied a lot since then because last year was pretty eventful for me. Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to get my Japanese back to where it was before my hiatus. I hope this challenge will be a much needed motivation to keep going.

[NeoArcturus]

I would definitely need some motivation with listening, but I’m not sure if I can stay consistent with it

Do songs in Japanese count as listening material?

[araigoshi]

So the challenge is pretty free-form to define listening as what you want (hence my plan to include pitch accent practice in the next challenge too :p). So what counts is what you think counts.

I know before any challenges that songs in Japanese were some of my first listening material where I understood some of it. I will warn for music that if you intend it to be Japanese practice, you should make sure you’re actually trying to understand the lyrics, and not just enjoying the performance.

Oh also some songs will enunciate things that usually aren’t (e.g. the u sound in です) or omit/stretch things in ways that speech wouldn’t, to make the lyrics fit into the instruments. So it’s just worth being aware of that.

[macalys]

@NeoArcturus

Do songs in Japanese count as listening material?

Depends on you.
For example, some don’t count watching anime as listening, some do (I do).
If you want songs to count, they count (for you) ^^

[polv]

polv’s Listening Challenge of Q2 2024 Home Post

• Previous Challenge

I plan to listen everyday for 2 months’ duration, on top of listening exercise everyday. At least, I plan to finish that 耳から覚える 語彙 N1.

About listening everyday part, I don’t really limit a minimal duration, though I wouldn’t like it to be too short.

Also, looking forward to what others are listening to.

				4 月
	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
(1)	01	02	03	04	05	06	07
(2)	08	09	10	11	12	13	14
(3)	15	16	17	18	19	20	21 ・
(4)	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
(5)	29	30

				5 月
	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
(5)			01	02	03	04	05
(6)	06	07	08	09	10	11	12
(7)	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
(8)	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
(9)	27	28	29	30	31

				6月
	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
(9)						01	02
(10)	03	04	05	06	07	08	09
(11)	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
(12)	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
(13)	24	25	26	27	28	29	30

[NeoArcturus]

@araigoshi

I will warn for music that if you intend it to be Japanese practice, you should make sure you’re actually trying to understand the lyrics, and not just enjoying the performance.

No worries, I always try to indentify as much as possible, while also enjoying the performance

@araigoshi

Oh also some songs will enunciate things that usually aren’t (e.g. the u sound in です) or omit/stretch things in ways that speech wouldn’t, to make the lyrics fit into the instruments. So it’s just worth being aware of that.

I’ve noticed the first point already, but I didn’t know about the omitting thing, thanks for telling me!

In general, I don’t plan songs to be my only listening resource, but I think I can be way more consistent with my listening if I include it as one, as I listen to Japanese songs almost every day.

Anyway, I think I’ll join the challenge then! I’ll post my hope post later on, though.

[Jira2406]

Jira’s Home Post
First time trying a challenge here, but I think I should do fairly well. I’ll be starting on April 4th.

			April
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

			June
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
					01	02
03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Updates!

• Update 4/7/24 - Kicking off the challenge by not updating my tracker! Ain’t that the best . Anywho I’ve been listening to Speak Japanese Naturally literally every day as of recent. (I will go to war for Fumi-san I love her) So that’s what I did for the 5th and 6th!

• Update 4/9/24 - I know I’m listening to a lot more Japanese content because 80% of my ads on Youtube are now in Japanese lol.

• Update 4/11/24 - Gave my calendar a face lift (literally 2 emojis) because it looked so plain. Anywho I watched Japanese ASMR for the first time, which was interesting but also very sleep inducing. I also feel like I’m going a bit crazy, but I keep telling myself “crazy is coooooool” especially if you’re learning while loosing it right?

• Update 4/18/24 - I Lamp. That’s it. That’s the update.

[hotdogsuplex]

Hotdog’s home post

This time I'll be participating for April and May. Quartet 2 study group starts in a month so my listening time will go down to about one hour per day.

Resources: Comprehensible Japanese, Nihongo-learning, Daily Japanese with Naoko, Terrace House, SDV let’s play, Inuyasha, Japanese music

			April
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

[Redglare]

Redglare’s home post

I’ll be joining again this round~ Last time I focused on watching anime without subs to practice listening. Some days I tuned into streams of vtubers and watched their vods. I made a rule for myself to keep a balance between binging and never watching an anime, so I try to keep it to one episode a day and to not skip two days in a row. I feel like that worked pretty well last round, so I’ll do that again this time.
(ちょっと大変になっちゃうかも, exam season and all that. まぁ, something is better than nothing.)

Apr	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18

May/June

May	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22

June	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Week 25
Week 26

---

Previous home posts

• Winter 2024

	Video	Notes
	[Apex]の全ランクざっくり紹介	36 min
	[Apex] ざっくりキャラ紹介ブラッドハウンド	18 min
	[Apex] ざっくりキャラ紹介オクタン	25 min
	[Kanae] Outfit reveal #七次元生徒会	28 min
	[Kanae] VCR Rust 2 #1	1h 20min
	Kanae, The Movie (Battle Royale 3)	48 min
	[Kimono Mom] Relationship Q&A	29 min
	[Apex] ShibuHaru/Hoshikawa coaching part 3	164 min
	[Apex] ShibuHaru/Hoshikawa coaching part 4	125 min
	[Apex] ShibuHaru/Hoshikawa coaching part 5	120 min
	[Apex] Kanae + Kamito collab	118 min

	Anime	Episodes		Notes
	Frieren	23 → 28
	Spy x Fam S2	8/12

[NeoArcturus]

NeoArcturus’ Home Post

I was still a bit unsure about whether I should join or not since my listening practice isn’t really consistent, but I decided to join in the end, I don’t think that you will bite me if I miss a couple of days, right? RIGHT??

Anyway, since my listening skills are still worse that 下手, I’ll try to not go too hard on myself. My main resource will be Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners, but I also listen to Japanese songs a lot. I might also occasionally try to watch the videos for the articles on NHK Easy Web News before reading the article.

I hope my listening comprehension will have improved at least a bit by the end of the challenge!

			Apr
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

			Jun
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
					01	02
03	04	05	06	07	08	09
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

[alygator]

Alygator’s Spring 2024 Listening Challenge Home Post

			April
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Another bilingual listening challenge for me. Aiming to listen to:

• Japanese 3-4 times a week
• Spanish 3-4 times a week

Resources:

• Comprehensible Japanese
• Daily Life with Naoko
• Nihongo con Teppei
• Jammaker on Satorireader
• Resources from other people’s posts on this challenge - Thanks for sharing!
• Pimsleur in Spanish/Japanese
• Duolingo Spanish Podcast
• Chill Spanish Listening Practice
• Spanish for False Beginners
• Money Heist
• Dreaming Spanish

[Sylph]

Sylph’s home thread

			Apr
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
01	02	03	04	05	06	07
08	09	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

			May
月	火	水	木	金	土	日
		01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

---

I’ve only done this challenge once before, and I’m not a regular, but I figured maybe it was time to try again since my listening is still pretty terrible.
Since it’s so bad, I’ll be counting pretty much anything. I’m not sure I’ll have time to update daily but I’ll try to check the boxes and give a summary from time to time.
This should be fun. We’ll see.

[hotdogsuplex]

(Yes I’m a little late with the start, just bear with me) To the new challengers: welcome! To returning challengers: welcome back! Let’s all do our best and try super hard over the next 2-3 months, I know we’re all gonna make lots of progress, and at the end we’ll all be super proud of ourselves

Now who wants to hear a funny story? …You don’t? Yes you do here goes: the first listen everyday challenge started back in June 2022, which just so happens to be the same month I came back to Wanikani. While scrolling the forums, I saw the challenge a few times, looked at it once, and then completely ignored it. “Wanikani is for reading, not listening, no one’s gonna do that challenge, it won’t last long, listening isn’t even that important anyway.” …Well look who’s hosting the challenge now past-hotdog!

[Redglare]

Home post // April 1

First day of the spring challenge! Watched ep 23 of Frieren, continuing where I left off from the winter challenge

@hotdogsuplex

…Well look who’s hosting the challenge now past-hotdog!

Wohoo!

[macalys]

Home Post and thread

Let’s gooooo !

4月1日月曜日

Solo Leveling, 2 last episodes of season 1.
Finishing the winter anime seasons on crunchyroll. I understood well the first episode, this is the first time I’ve felt so at ease with this anime (I found it difficult to understand in general).

@hotdogsuplex

“Wanikani is for reading, not listening, no one’s gonna do that challenge, it won’t last long, listening isn’t even that important anyway.” …Well look who’s hosting the challenge now past-hotdog!

I love the irony

[araigoshi]

2024-04-01

Previous (Winter) | Home post | Next

Date	Name	Type	Amount	Time
2024-04-01	Log Horizon	Anime	1 episode 5	25m

First update of Spring! Pretty uneventful, watched one more episode of Log Horizon.