🪴 Ivy's Big Adventure (Study Log) 🇲🇩 ♋

[Ivy_K_Elliot]

@alygator

Just wanted to say hello and congratulations on finishing all N5 grammar on Bunpro.

Hello!
Thank you

@alygator

I actually got motivated by your post because I’ve mostly just been doing reviews and only doing 3 lessons once or twice a week on Bunpro. I should really get a move on to complete all N5 and N4 grammar since I’ve just committed to taking JLPT N4 in July.

Glad to hear that it helped you get some motivation. But when it comes to grammar, I don’t think BunPro is enough. Fortunately it also has plenty of linked resources for each grammar point, so make sure you give some of them a try, if you’re not doing it already. Good luck on your test preparation!

@alygator

but I wonder if may be you would be open to the idea of watching them dubbed in Japanese? I probably couldn’t do it myself

Not sure whether I’m at that level yet, but I might give it a try just our of curiosity. For some reason a mammoth speaking my native language feels ok to me, but I never imagined it speaking Japanese. xD

[Ivy_K_Elliot]

Kanji Wallpaper progress

From this (Oct 22, 2022)

To this (Dec 1, 2023)

[Ivy_K_Elliot]

January 2023

WaniKani lvl 20 (almost there)
WaniKani lvl 21
WaniKani lvl 22

Keeping lvl up speed consistent

@Ivy_K_Elliot

Tried to adapt it to myself.

• My schedule is often chaotic, so I set intervals for lessons and reviews, instead of specific hours.
• Decided not to go for 3 options. In the afternoon I’m mostly sluggish and studying is a bad idea. As for the evening, I don’t want to mess with the SRS time, having 8-10 hours for Apprentice 2 (even if technically I’m just sleeping xD). And this will also result in reaching Apprentice 3 at the time of the day when I’m the busiest. So only morning lessons for me!
• The above is only for radicals/kanji lessons, while vocab is something I’ll let myself be free with. Learning vocab is usually the easiest part for me.
• All of this also means that even though I’ll be leveling up in the evenings, I’m still going to leave new radicals for next morning.

01.01.2023

Not setting any specific goals for this month except for WaniKani levels. I’ll be busy with exams for more than half of the month and also spending more time with my best friend (we see each other only twice a year, in January and June during the examination period). So my only plans are sticking to a consistent lvl up speed on WaniKani and KaniWani, reading at least a small section everyday and not stressing too much over trips and exams.

I think it was a little too much Japanese for today. I spent about 5 hours on my studies, which is more than double of my actual goal. It seems to happen because I don’t have the other areas of my life planned that much, which leads to confusion about what I should be tackling next.

03.01.2023

I definitely need more courage to interact here on the forums, but I still feel awkward replying or joining a conversation. Hoping to get over it as the year passes. I really enjoy reading other logs, challenge updates; the way everyone does it differently. I’m learning a lot from you all.
A while back I stopped taking notes on paper, cause it takes a lot more time. But seeing others post their handwritten notes reminded me of how much I actually love doing it!

Also willing to make lists of favorite vocab and sentences I find while reading, as many people here do. I don’t think I can do it on a daily basis, but once every 3-4 days should be manageable.
Lovely community! So happy to be a part of it.

05.01.2023

Japanese:
Got to level 20 on WaniKani and lvl 8 on KaniWani. I’m actually glad for joining the reading challenge, cause it motivates me not to skip days. I collected some words and sentences I liked, but I don’t think I have the power in me to make it into a post.
And… The lovely e-mail from Koichi! It’s so precious. Even though I’m already applying
most of those tips, it’s still a nice reminder and I see how it might help many less experienced learners. I felt the urge to reply to the e-mail without expecting to get a reply, but I did! And it made my day better. :3
I also made the mistake to check this thread in the middle of my study sessions, and I ended up laughing for about an hour and a half. These are so fun. Language related jokes and typos are my favorite.

Other activities:
Somehow my mind decided that I don’t have enough on my plate, so I ended up adding drawing to my daily to-dos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NYqmhESI-Y&list=PLvC6SzlfP0vG877HypyCADWA9hhxepxBY&index=8&t=207s
Not sure whether I’ll be able to stick to it, but I like that it’s not very demanding and can be adjusted to your own liking, while still keeping it specific enough to avoid decision fatigue.

Just some life:
Been feeling sick for the past two days making it pretty hard to go through the lessons and reviews. I hope to get better by Saturday cause I’m finally leaving the country to visit my friend. A 14 hours travel which is already exhausting on its own. But I’m so happy to finally see her and spend 2 weeks together.

18.01.2023

It’s been a while since I wrote something in here. I prioritize spending time with my friend, since we won’t be able to see each other for another half of a year. I really miss my cats, waiting to see them again in about a week. I had plenty of time to reflect on my life as a whole and it felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s amazing how being away from home can shift your mind to different thoughts and lets you see everything from another perspective. Just feels like leveling up as a human. xD
And… it’s mid-winder, but the weather is greeeeat! Makes us enjoy our daily walks so much more.
Japanese:
Nothing special going on regarding my studies. Trying to stick to my lvl up speed and it seems to go pretty smooth. It terms of reading, the change of environment made me completely forget about it for a while, but I’m back to it. I think that learning Japanese will be more of a background task while I’m away from home.

Tracking daily activity

Since one of my goals is spending at least 800 hours for Japanese studies per year, the average time per day should be 2h 12mins.

Jan 2023	Recognition	Handwriting	Reading	Grammar	Time per day
Tools	WaniKani	KaniWani	Satori Reader	(yet to decide)	Boosted
01.01					5h 24mins
02.01					2h 58mins
03.01					3h 9mins
04.01					2h 42mins
05.01					2h 42mins
06.01					2h 51mins
07.01					-
08.01					-
09.01					1h 43mins
10.01					1h 55mins
11.01					1h 42mins
12.01					1h 3mins
13.01					-
14.01					2h 10mins
15.01					2h 8mins
16.01					1h 58mins
17.01					2h 48mins
18.01
x

Extensive reading

Satori Reader | Hole in the Wall

壁の穴
Sections	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58

Physical activity

The weather got better, so I want to bring back daily walks.

Jan 2023	月	火	水	木	金	土	日
Week 1							01
Week 2	02	03	04	05	06	07	08
Week 3	09	10	11	12	13	14	15
Week 4	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Week 5	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
Week 6	30	31

- Going for a walk; - Stretching

1 year plan to draw (by Marc Brunet)

Jan 2023	Gesture Drawings	Perspective Basics	Study of art I like (lineart only)
03.01
04.01
05.01
…
17.01
x

[ekg]

@Ivy_K_Elliot

I also made the mistake to check this thread in the middle of my study sessions, and I ended up laughing for about an hour and a half. These are so fun. Language related jokes and typos are my favorite

Me too! And getting distracted is also part of the fun of learning, or so I keep telling myself!

In any case, hope you can share some anecdotes of translation mishaps of your own down the line! XD (I’m sure everyone will love it! <3 )

---

You seem to have a good firm grasp of your studies, so I will just wish you good luck going forward - with the reminder that it’s always fine to make use of all the question-threads (language, grammar, culture) or make your own for deeper discussions!

Good luck with your studies!

[Ivy_K_Elliot]

@ekg

You seem to have a good firm grasp of your studies, so I will just wish you good luck going forward - with the reminder that it’s always fine to make use of all the question-threads (language, grammar, culture) or make your own for deeper discussions!

Thank you!
I’m definitely going to do that, but not this month since I got my exams and this amount of screen-time doesn’t help with my eyesight, so I have to limit myself.

[ekg]

Yes! Japanese goals are great, but other IRL goals are greater I think! XD And certainly your own physical health. I hope, you’re getting screen glasses if that’s what you need, or are in other ways experimenting on helping screen time being bad for you. Default settings are generally terrible, whether it’s a mobile phone, TV or a laptop screen. ^^;

I can’t read on other people’s screens frankly, as I really need the light turned down immediately, until I don’t feel like a bright lamp shining into my eyeballs (which it’s literally about). Make it like reading on paper in feeling, and it’s much better. Using night-light settings to increase red-colors/less blue colors as well as lowest light settings possible, unless you actually need more. That sort of thing is what I’m implementing. ^^ Better to increase the light on the scream as necessary than to constantly blast myself with it. ^^;

[Ivy_K_Elliot]

@ekg

I can’t read on other people’s screens frankly, as I really need the light turned down immediately, until I don’t feel like a bright lamp shining into my eyeballs (which it’s literally about).

Yessssss, can totally relate. xD