11/2/2024
First Burns! 
Otherwise WK as usual. 15 lessons this morning. Yesterday only had one set of reviews.
Read 3 short stories; will deep read them after digesting Andy’s video. Lesson 13-15 have a lot of fine points to review. Meanwhile, Duolingo is teaching me math.
11/4/2024
I had an extra hour to study yesterday because my body does not have a daylight savings time setting.
Duolingo vocab for math
WK6足すto add something e.g. numbers “ Plus” たすJLPT N4
*2足す2は4です。
*一に一を足すと、二になります。If you add 1 to 1, that’ll be 2.
WK 3引くto subtract MinusひくJLPT N5
*１０引く５は５です。
*十引くニは八でしょ？Ten minus two is eight, right?
WK 25掛ける(usually written with kana alone) to multiply Times かけるJLPT N5
*3かける3は9です。
WK 23割るto divide Divided byわる N3
*4割る2は2です。
*4を2で割ると2です。
WK 15合計Sum, totalごうけい N3
*6と4の合計は10です。
*合計で三千円になります。That will be a total of three thousand yen.
WK8数 Number, amount, count かず
*日本では、生まれる赤ちゃんの数が
下がっている。In Japan, the number of babies being born is decreasing.
WK 31平均Average へいきん N3
WK19順番turn (in line), order of things, sequential order じゅんばんN3
WK 26占めるto make up i.e. constituteしめる N3
WK18等しいno different (from), just like, equivalentひ と し い
*１ヤードは３フィートに等しい。
WK11秒second (unit of time) びょう N3
Grammar だけThe particle だけ (dake) means only, just, as much as, at least. <compare to しか> on Andy video 15.
見ているだけです。I am just looking.
Today was business as usual. Grammar focused on godan verb conjugations. Reading the KC site is finished…it stopped at A2 level. I will take my confidence and resume the tadoku graded readers at level 2. Slowly working my way through the 25 story e-book. The library takes it back in 5 days.
11/6/24
slowly progressing through level six by starting the second batch of kanji… burning lots of kanji now.
WK new content incoming that won’t really matter to me because they will be in higher levels.
Reading is significantly improving but skimming over grammar is not a good idea. Verb conjugation is a huge hurdle at this point. The stories mostly have the long forms and polite text instead of the casual conversations taught in Genki.
11/7/2024
Tadoku
しとしとOnomatopoetic drizzly
よろよろstaggering
国と離れたばかりでした. I just left my country.
離れる (はなれる) to lose connection with, to drift away from N3
～たばかりJust did, Something just happened
• Degree: - Highlights the ‘rough’ amount/degree of something (similar to くらい).
• Limit:- Highlights the ‘limit’ of something (similar to だけ).
• Completion:- Highlights the ‘end’, or ‘completion’ of something. When connecting ばかり to the past form of a verb (using た), it will imply that a specific action has ‘just finished’, ‘just stopped’, or ‘just been completed’.
11/8/2024
WK: cleared all level 6 vocab, started the last 11 kanji…does that mean more vocab incoming?
My exposure to kanji and vocabulary via reading and Duolingo is outpacing WK. I really want to go faster so soo sooo badly. But knowing my life/work schedule, it will mean gratification now and pain later because SRS shows no mercy. Slow and steady discipline it is then.
Tadoku level 2: vocab intense and keeping me busy with lookups. On the bright side, the grammar is becoming familiar.
Tokini Andy: on hold while I do verb conjugation drills.
Duolingo: I am starting on section 4 unit 3 – currently known as Discuss the outdoors. This sentence from unit 2 is still challenging me in the meantime:
ほんの数人の学生しかその試験に合格しなかった。Only a few students passed that exam.
ほんの mere; only; just; slight
数人 (すうにん) several people; a few people
しか nothing but; except; no more than
合格しなかった (ごうかく しなかった) Compound word: 合格 + しなかった
• 合格 (ごうかく) passing (an exam); pass; success; passing grade
• +しなかった [makes a verb from a noun] Past (~ta) Negative
11/10/24
Of course the new kanji unlocked new vocabulary. 22 to be exact. I could not resist doing them all in one batch. Next week could be a bit challenging except that I know all the words already.
Tadoku levels don’t seem to have any rhyme or reason. Some are dense while others really should have been lower levels.
Level 7 unlocked this evening. 27 more level 6 vocabulary appeared at the same time.
Level 7 breakdown: radicals 19, kanji 36, vocabulary 117.
11-12-24
Got bitten in the rear end by a dog yesterday. Only had evening reviews on WK and some quick Duolingo.
Today I did reviews (mostly burns) at work. No new lessons until my weekend starts. Tomorrow I have to give a 30 minute power point presentation…probably should stop procrastinating on that… but first some Duolingo while I eat dinner.
BITE THAT MOTHERTRUCKER BACK!!
He was sorry afterwards. It wasn’t really his fault. Bad dogs often have bad owners.
11/14/24
My presentation went well yesterday but it could have been handled in an email.
Today I got up too early with too much energy so I did all 27 lessons for the last level 6 vocabulary. Hopefully, I will start level 7 in a couple of days.
I have to give kudos to whoever on the WK team went back and improved the context sentences. They actually use words from previous levels.
“unpopular opinion” incoming: the sophomoric humor of the old days was off putting. I stopped reading the context sentences very early in my first WK run.
Meanwhile over on Duolingo, the lessons are introducing the volitional verb form. This is where I stopped the Tokini Andy videos so it may be time to revisit him.
11-15-24
Tadoku –
New words related to familiar words:
農業 agriculture のうぎょう 農 agriculture, farmers 業 business, vocation
博士 expert doctor, PhD, Dr. はかせ 博Dr 士samurai
大志 ambition; aspiration たいし
後輩junior (at work, school, etc.)
先輩senior (at work or school)
建てる to build, to construct
建物building
10-16-24
怠け者 lazy fellow (なま)け(もの) I’m used to 者 being pronounced しゃ as in 医者doctor and 歯医者 dentist
てくれる is one of the most casual ways to ask for a favor, with てもらう being slightly more polite. ていただく (the humble speech variation of てくれる) is even more polite.
Modifying nouns
Tadoku version (originally written in kana only)https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/4914/
これは、いちごのケーキ。
これは、いちごのケーキがすきな友だちのほちゃん。
これは、いちごのケーキがすきな友だちのほちゃんが 飼っているねこのどの。
これは、いちごのケーキがすきな友だちのほちゃんが 飼っているねこのどのが怖がる虫。
これは、いちごのケーキがすきな友だちのほちゃんが 飼っているねこのどのが怖がる虫がだいきらいなわたし。
This is a strawberry cake.
This is Ho, my friend, who loves strawberry cake.
This is the cat, which Ho, my friend, who loves strawberry cake, owns.
This is the bug that the cat, Ho, my friend, who loves strawberry cake owns is scared of (fears?).
This is me, who hates the bug that the cat, which Ho, my friend, who loves strawberry cake owns is scared of.
11-18-24
Yesterday officially started level 7 with all 19 radicals. Putting Duolingo on hold until it gets an audio bug fix.
Finished 12 of 15 Tadoku level 2 free stories. Skipped three that were not interesting. That last one about the cake seemed easy but is a real head scratcher for grammar. I went to bed thinking of that poem about the house that Jack built. One day, I may write it in Japanese.
Today, passively listened to Mango language app during 2 three hour commutes. … will do my reviews +/- 18 kanji lessons during dinner.
11-20-24
Good news Bad news: repairmen showed up yesterday without notice. They tore down a wall and left the noisy industrial machine again because the studs are still wet— 
surprise. They came back this morning and removed the machine. “someone” will call me “soon” about rebuilding the wall. Friday roofers will be here for initial inspection since the hurricane.
Thinking of end of the year goals.
WK as usual- guru’d all the radicals, 4/5 apprentice’d the 18 kanji, started 15 vocabulary on level 7 that are not related to level 7 (what is this madness?)
Tadoku level 3
#1 Frogs- side quests
https://www2.nhk.or.jp/school/watch/clip/?das_id=D0005300818_00000
日かげ shade 日なた sunlight
蛇 snake へび serpent じゃ
蛇口 faucet じゃぐち
蛇行 meander, wander じゃこう
食べられてしまいました。need help with this conjugation.
食べる = to eat
食べられる = to be able to eat / to be eaten (needs context)
食べられて = て form of above
食べられてしまう = to be eaten completely / accidentally / even though (I) shouldn’t have
(Look into てしまう・ちゃう for how this works)
(Dropped “to be able to eat” as an option as it doesn’t seem to make sense)
食べられてしまいます = above + polite/formal (unsure on the difference)
食べられてしまいました = above + past tense
Hope this helps 
You are amazing. Thank you. This is the part that was tripping me up. I will look into it. There does not seem to be an equivalent in English.
BTW: (The frog) was eaten completely (on purpose) in an instant (by a snake).
11-22-24
Just WK today and yesterday. 18 kanji guru’d 10 vocabulary lessons.
11-24-22
Tadoku #2 Insects
アリant
トンボ dragonfly… my favorite insect.
This song has become an ear worm.
https://youtu.be/h_YjIiIpAtA?si=oTBajZzzUodKuSdq
蛾 moth が
クモ spider
Jorōgumo 絡新婦 じょろうぐも is a type of yōkai , a creature of Japanese folklore. It can shapeshift into a beautiful woman, seduce and consume men. She sounds like a succubus.
Continued WK with 15 vocab lessons. My reviews tomorrow will be during system down time… may have to wait for Tuesday depending on my sleep schedule.
11/29/2024
Generally quiet week of Japanese during the US holiday time.
Tadoku: Finished 12 of 25 ; skipped the manga and the one with Okinawa-ben
Passive listening : stranded alien dawn gamer while puttering around the house
Active listening: Mango language
Grammar: Tokini Andy 15 and 16 again.
WK: daily, increasing lessons to clear vocabulary faster as long as error rate is low
12/1/2024
Lots of WK burns coming through. Finishing last half of level 7 kanji and will go faster on the vocab since I have the week off. Ended today at 0/0.
Origami skills are rusty but I managed to so the first advent day challenge this morning because I got up early as if it were a work day.
Tokini Andy
https://youtu.be/qTt39_q4wFE
verb conjugation…completely with regret time stamp 19:45 (see above about the frogs)
Active/passive listening: Mango language is reviewing dates
Duolingo is fixed on my phone: will resume next month
Personal reading challenge starts tonight. Lyman Frank Baum “A Kidnapped Santa Claus”
Monks of Kyoto
This was a series of old stories written with extra layers of polite. Not much vocab (thanks to Duolingo) or grammar but several words written in kana instead of kanji stumped me for a while. Overall, the scenes seemed incomplete or just not satisfying to read. My side quest sent me reminiscing over my walk around the mini-Omuro trail in Kyoto.
Growing tomato トマトをハウスで育てる理由 | NHK for School
There are so many nhk schools videos involving tomatoes.
October 10th is national tomato day in japan.
ポール・ジャクレー（Paul Jacoulet、1896年-1960年3月9日）
art history is not my thing; this one I just skimmed.
引っ越す to move house ひ っ こ す
避暑地 summer retreat ひ しょ ち (avoid hot earth)
General collection of butterflies - Special collections - Laboratory of Entomology - Special collections
野ばら wild rose のぼら
Mimei Ogawa- original author=father of modern children’s literature; did I see a statue of him near the dome in Hiroshima?
Future bedtime listening https://youtu.be/uyYQaO0S1ts
Despite the title, this story is about war….lots of related vocabulary.
12/3/24
You know you are doing WK too slowly when it has been two days and no new lessons are available. My apprentice count is 18. Once those guru, I will be level 8 with a whole lot of level 7 vocab to do. Studying ahead… only one word gave me trouble…Wondering if I should adjust my strategy to get two levels complete per month.
What have I been doing in the meantime? READING! (and origami)
サンタクロースがさらわれちゃった！A Kidnapped Santa Claus written by the same person responsible for the Wizard of Oz. The plan was to read with English in parallel. However, the Japanese is an adaptation rather than a 1:1 translation, so it’s up to me to figure it out. The first few paragraphs are whimsical, which is cool, and then it gets weird as far as the language/writing style goes.
ワタシ and オレ why??? Santa refers to himself as わし (“I“ when spoken by an old man).
Also continuing the Tadoku free level 3 side quests.
Tokini Andy is introducing passive conjugation. I already don’t like the way he is presenting it so I will find another resource for this part.
Mango language: reviewing places and directions…. Very chill background activity.
Good news bad news: drywaller was here all day yesterday to close in the wall; he said today someone would come by to tape and mud; no one came today.
Three good resources for the passive form:
WK reached level 8 - unlocked 12 radicals 27 kanji 44 vocab and 18 level 7 vocab
Today I did all 18 vocab and realized that even when the lessons available is zero and grey you can still click the advanced button and do more if you want. I thought this was a hard limit.
Overdid it on the reading yesterday. My eyes refuse to focus on the characters. This happens a lot when I have too much screen time. I would print the stories but would still need to do digital lookups.
Tadoku short side quest
7. Shitake 椎 shi 茸 take
椎 shi for the tree that provides the dead logs on which it is cultivated, and take 茸 for mushroom
Saying shitake mushroom is like saying ATM machine PIN number.
