Jon's Progress

[Jon001]

Me

I’m British, living in London for nearly forty years. Native language English. I’m studying Japanese for the challenge and in part for the mental exercise of wrapping my brain around another way of thought.

I was always mediocre at languages at school, with my major studies having been in the sciences. This is a chance to see if a lifetime of learning has taught me enough to be able to pick up a very different language to my first.

I want to start my journey through listening and reading, and move on to speaking and typing at a later date. I’ve started out on Duolingo but it doesn’t feel the right route for me, and it doesn’t explain the grammar at all well. So, I came here six weeks later to look into WaniKani.

My Japanese, Month 3

A month ago, I wrote up my study plan and the time has come to report on how the month went.

https://community.wanikani.com/t/i-have-a-cunning-plan/69898

I started the month having just completed level 3 WK, and was looking to get a subscription if I decided to plump for WK as my kanji learning programme.

Month 3 targets:

1. Develop a better feel for rhythm, pitch, tough vowels and consonants, including diphthongs, devoicing and r/g weirdness.
2. Build reading speed?
3. Look into font changes?
4. Around another 300 words (2 WK levels?).
5. Spend a few days on a basic grammar other than Duolingo. (Tae Kim or Misa?)

I decided WK was for me (hence this log). Although rtk is probably faster, my primary learning modes are for listening and reading, whereas RTK seems to focus on reading and writing. WK teaches readings and there are sound files and pitch indications, so as well as being a good primary route to get a leg up to start reading, WK will serve as a second source for help with listening. I also rate the fact of a community very highly for my motivation. The lack of an official Duo community is one reason I dropped it as my primary learning vehicle.

I bought a one year licence as I expect to learn to at least level 20 and more likely 30. After a year I will have a pretty good idea what the right balance between learning by reading and SRS-style memorization should be for me.

Goal 1:
Develop a better feel for rhythm, pitch, tough vowels and consonants, including diphthongs, devoicing and r/g weirdness.

I’m not doing as well as I would like on rhythmic reading of sentences to get that metronome-like spacing of mora. I’m still so slow in actual reading, I can’t manage even small sentences evenly. I switched the pitch indicators on in WK, and have watched Dogen’s free videos. I only wanted to give myself a leg up for later, so I thought that might be enough. I might want to add 10 minutes kotu pitch exercises to a daily schedule, once I’m organized enough to have a daily schedule.

I looked up several sources to help with the pronunciation of “r”, “n” and “g”. G sounds didn’t seem to be the issue I’d thought, but ん was probably more difficult to make up for it. I think as I listen more, it will come better. I did find some rules on when to devoice, but I’m not sure how broadly they apply. It’s also a problem with WK, because I messed up with my typing a few times; by not voicing the i or the u in my head, my fingers didn’t type them in romaji either. I’ll think about this. WK might not be the best place to try getting vocabulary pronunciation right. I’ve decided not to worry about pronouncing the diphthongs.

A mixed bag: I think I’ll give myself 3 out of 5

Goals 2 and 3
Build reading speed?
Look into font changes?

I took community advice and shelved these.

Goal 4
Around another 300 words (2 WK levels?).

Well I did all of level 4, have done lessons on all but 35 vocab on level 5 and all level 6 radicals and kanji as compensation for the missing 35 vocab. My level ones are hitting enlightened. So I’d say yes to the two levels of WK, but no to the 300 words. I probably managed 250 and some of the WK words were duplicates of words I learned in Duolingo.

Speaking of Duo, I throttled right back this last week, losing my 86 day streak on purpose. I don’t have the time I would like to spend on WK and grammar, and I don’t need Duo’s transparent manipulation with streaks. It’s just an unasked for monkey on my back — I get to choose my own monkeys, thank you!

All in all maybe 4/5.

Goal 5
Spend a few days on a basic grammar other than Duolingo. (Tae Kim or Misa?)

I did a bit on both Tae Kim and Misa. I spent the time, but it just didn’t go far enough. My write up screeches to a halt half way through basic adjectives. I think this is going to be a continuing goal over the next month. 3/5 at best.

Other Things
I downloaded a vocabulary audio file to my phone to listen to on repeat, then promptly lost my headphones somewhere. I’ll pretend I could do with some new ones anyway.
I tried out Busuu as a Duo alternative. I’m not sure I’d be gaining much in switching.

Month 4 Targets

1/ Two more WK levels
2/ Finish my basic grammar notes
3/ Use koto daily for 5/10 mins pitch training to make hearing pitch changes more automatic.
4/ Search for the primary listening programme that can help me get to the point where I can watch simple anime and understand most of it. It should complement WK and also help with reading and grammar if possible. I’m wondering if should use Satori Reader to just read to me. Perhaps that’s a good way in, even if I don’t have the vocabulary yet to take full advantage. I can also look for simple audiobooks.
5/ Find the right level of effort in Duolingo. Maybe ditch it entirely if I can find something good enough to complement WK as a listening/grammar vehicle.

[Jon001]

Time to report on Month 4 of my Japanese learning journey, and once again it’s been patchy.

First the goals as I set them a month ago:

Month 4 Targets

1/ Two more WK levels
2/ Finish my basic grammar notes
3/ Use koto daily for 5/10 mins pitch training to make hearing pitch changes more automatic.
4/ Search for the primary listening programme that can help me get to the point where I can watch simple anime and understand most of it. It should complement WK and also help with reading and grammar if possible. I’m wondering if should use Satori Reader to just read to me. Perhaps that’s a good way in, even if I don’t have the vocabulary yet to take full advantage. I can also look for simple audiobooks.
5/ Find the right level of effort in Duolingo. Maybe ditch it entirely if I can find something good enough to complement WK as a listening/grammar vehicle.

Goal 1: Two more WK levels
I exceeded this goal. I finished last month having nearly completed level 5 and was starting in on level 6. This month I finished level 7 completely, and tomorrow should guru enough kanji to hit level 9. I’ve done lessons for 56 of the level 8 vocab. I’d say that’s comfortably over two levels.

A couple of days this month I missed my 15 lessons a day, but I caught back up later both times and am on track.

A definite 5/5. My first full score.

Goal 2: Finish my basic grammar notes
I made a tiny bit of progress. Perhaps. Really though, I’m nowhere near finishing the basic notes. WaniKani ate most of my Japanese learning time. I’m way too slow on reviews.

I did do a little more, listening a bit to Misa, and I did crack open TaeKim a few times. Jon has clearly not being paying attention grammar class even when he bothers to turn up. Must do better.
A generous 1/5.

Goal 3: Use koto daily for 5/10 mins pitch training to make hearing pitch changes more automatic.
I was supposed to do this daily but I doubt I managed more than a dozen days. I never reached 90% on the Pitch Accent Minimal Pairs Perception Test, and the trend isn’t improving. It remains spotty, wandering between 68% and 88%. The only good news on this was my instantaneously distinguishing between 当たり and 辺り, when doing the latter lesson. Both あたり. Not the same pitch, is it, I thought to myself. And gave myself a slight pat on the back on confirming that (one’s heiban and the other atamadaka). Maybe not a stellar achievement, but we take our wins where we can.

I need to get that percentage up, and to do kotu more regularly.

Score 3/5

Goal 4: Search for a primary listening programme
I don’t know about this. I bought into Satori reader, but I haven’t really spent the time on it. Not even enough to judge if it’s the right way forward. I let it read to me a few times, but it’s too fast for me to follow the text, even on the simplest stuff at 80% speed. If I close my eyes and listen, I can certainly pick out several of the words, but the idea that I’d be able to passively improve listening and reading to the point I’d be able to run with it myself, seems a long way off.

In other listening news, I waited two weeks before buying new headphones, convinced my old ones would turn up. Eventually I cracked and went to my local Curry’s. I bought not one but two pairs. I wasn’t going to get caught again. Of course, three days later I found the originals. I now have no excuse not to listen to Japanese on the go.

Goal 5: Find the right level of effort in Duolingo.

I ditched Duolingo for most of this month. That might have been too radical. there are things I was getting from Duolingo that I’m not yet able to get from Satori Reader. The grammar it uses (where I am in the programme) is very simple and I can cope with it. Throwing myself into more complex grammar and words isn’t clicking yet. I’m not sure whether I should prioritise Satori and stay away from Duolingo or persevere with DL and use it to catch up enough to pick up in Satori. Duo is slow and it’s bad for teaching vocab unless you pay extra. It’s another SRS so you can’t just revise when you want. Everything is SRS these days and I can only cope with one, and that’s WK at the moment. Even Satori has a built-in SRS system. I want something to complement WK that I can switch on when I want and learn what I want. It needs to be electronic to let me hear native pronunciation, so books aren’t the answer. Satori is the closest I have at the moment. That and the Self-Study WK script which does audio, but no grammar.
2/5 I tried, but I don’t think I’m there yet.

Observations

WK reviews are still taking too long. I’m not a fast typist and I’m prone to making mistakes. If I go slowly I get some pretty good stats on reading and meaning. It gives me time to recall the mnemonic and figure out the reading. If I charge at it or am a bit pressed for time so I can’t concentrate, my percentages drop like a rock. I will typically give up, get a cup of tea and try again later. Perhaps I’m too worried about getting a lot of leeches.

I keep lists: of rendaku I’ve been caught out on, when it’s not the obvious kun’yomi or on’yomi reading, and occasionally the conversion of elisions into little tsu. I’m also trying to revise transitive versus intransitive verbs. I may need to extend this to adverbs, but I’m fumbling by at the moment.

I’m wondering if after I’ve reached the end of level 10, I can use Nuit’s word map to help me. Just go through all the words.

Moving Forward

Working on my overall goal of concentrating on kanji and vocabulary for months 4 to 6, I think one more month the same as the last, although I’ll try to do more grammar and pitch practice next month. Then maybe in month 6 I’ll mix it up a bit and put WK on the back burner for a month, looking at other ways to revise vocabulary and grammar. That will mean all attempts to reach L15 WK by the end of month 6 will be impossible, but I think that was a badly calculated goal on my part anyway. Goals for the coming month are

Month 5 Targets

1/ Complete WK 10 or as close as possible.
2/ Progress basic grammar
3/ Use koto for 50 trials pitch training daily.
4/ Listen to Satori Reader 3 times a week.
5/ Try to find a faster way to revise WK.

[Jon001]

I’ve also been thinking whether there’s a difficulty level that can be objectively given to vocabulary. This is where I’m leaning.

Readings

• If a word just consists of multiple kanji, each should be pronounced using the on’yomi, or at least with whatever I learned with the kanji. Otherwise add +1
• If a word just consists of multiple kanji and the sound of any of them is a secondary reading (even if there are two equally common) add +1
• If a word is a single kanji or includes okurigana and there’s an on’yomi reading add +1.
• If a syllable is elided and replaced by a little tsu add +1
• If a vowel is extended abnormally, for example とお rather than とう add +1
• If a mora is rendaku add +1

Meanings

• If the words consists just of kanji, it’s probably a noun. Otherwise +1
• If the word ends in hiragana u sound, it’s probably a verb. Otherwise add +1. [there are mora like ず where it’s more likely something else, but I’m still figuring that out. For now it’s +1]
• i for adjectives otherwise +1 (even if it’s a na-adjective ending in i, don’t add — it’s about getting the meaning.)

Maybe I should add

• phrase meanings. +1 The ones where there’s a list of phrases covering similar or the same concepts, each of which has two or three words, and I’m not including “to”, or “to be”. You know there will be ten ways to say that kind of thing in English and you are going to pick a similar phrase not on the list at some point. [As an example I recently learned 大役 as Important Task, Great Duty, Important Role. What’s the betting I type in Great Role or Major Service, Important Job or something similar during one of the reviews?]

Or maybe that’s just me.

I’m going to work on this idea over the next month. (I really need to survey adverbs.) The idea is that is any word is +2 or more it automatically goes into a separate pile or whatever for extra learning. There’s a list script that can go in the self-study script and I might give that a whirl.

[hrudey]

@Jon001

A definite 5/5. My first full score.

That accuracy, though! You should give yourself like a 7/5, at least! You are on fire, like:

Other than that, finding the right tools is always a big part of the challenge. I’ve come around to MaruMori for grammar, but it’s very much SRS as well - though you can go through it as fast or slow as you’re able to. I also try to watch GameGenko or TokiniAndy (sort of alternate) when I have some free listening time to try to reinforce some of the early grammar concepts.

[Jon001]

Thank you. I kind of “cheat”. Except not really.

I put it down to giving up and taking a break. Taking tea helps, but it’s not that necessary. This morning was good. I did 90 reviews, the biggest review I’ve done in one go so far and it was super accurate although slow, given my penchant for sitting on something for a while until the answer comes. I got only two wrong and levelled up.

However, I did stare at “sheep” for three minutes until the answer came. I had “you” (mnemonic ewe) rolling around in my head, which I knew was wrong for the vocab. My usual “who, what, where, why, how” refused to reveal the mnemonic. I had to resort to visualisation, which I’m not good at. I saw a rabid looking sheep in a tree (because kanji branch is shi and that’s the wrong part of the mnemonic). But why rabid? Because Japanese sheep are vicious. And the mnemonic came back: hits you Jesus. hitsuji. Normally I don’t use Jesus for ji but because of the agnus dei thing and turning the other cheek when hit, it seemed appropriate for sheep. So was it worth three minutes to get it right? Probably not. I was very close to giving up. Those 90 reviews took me nearly 90 minutes, which is far too long, but the stats that remain do flatter.

This evening I only had 14 to do. I got three wrong in the first five and just gave up and went shopping. I didn’t look up the answers. However, when I returned and had another crack at it, I found it all reasonably easy again, getting one wrong, which is par for the course.

Is that cheating? I don’t think so. I don’t like the whole review treated as a test thing. To me a review is a learning experience. They say you don’t fatten a pig by weighing it, and if what I’m doing during a review isn’t learning, I’m wasting my time. So I will occasionally wander off. If I see a kanji that needs the onyomi and I know the onyomi and can get the answer right, but I can’t recall the kunyomi, I might think about that for a bit and even go look it up. It’s part of why reviews are so slow.

I wonder if I’d be better doing it the fast way and bugging out after 10 seconds if I can’t get it by then.

[Jon001]

Another month passed. Where does the time go? Five months of my Japanese journey has come and gone, including nearly 4 months of WaniKani.
This was a bad month. I really struggled and level 10 has ground on a bit. I sacrificed almost all potential progress in other areas to keep going in WK and even then didn’t get as far as I’d hoped. However I hit level 11 this morning so I’m going to post the congratulations banner to cheers myself up. Progress is progress!

Month 5 Targets

1/ Complete WK 10 or as close as possible.
2/ Progress basic grammar
3/ Use koto for 50 trials pitch training daily.
4/ Listen to Satori Reader 3 times a week.
5/ Try to find a faster way to revise WK.

Goal 1: Complete WK 10 or as close as possible.
I was never happy that I could get to this point, hence the “as close as possible” ( a cop out when doing targets). I skipped three days of level 9/10 and never caught up. I reached level 11 this morning; however, I’m nine days behind the curve in terms of the amount of level 10 vocabulary outstanding.

Three extra days is nothing, but the flagging and lack of sufficient motivation to correct is something. I need something new. Accuracy remains generally good.

I’m wondering about so many words disappearing into Enlightened not to be seen again for another 4 months. Words/kanji I still feel a little uncertain of. Will I stand a chance of remembering them when burn time comes? Next week I’ll hit the 1000 WK vocabulary at Guru and that’ll be a bit of a milestone. I may hoist a jar or two.

Score 4/5

Goal 2: Progress basic grammar. No. No active learning. I just earwigged some conversations on Community that I think allow me a score of 1 rather than zero. 1/5

Goal 3: Use koto for 50 trials pitch training daily. No didn’t do that. 0/5

Goal 4: Listen to Satori Reader 3 times a week. No. Not at all these last three weeks. I suppose I looked at other reading in Natively and I have been listening to the audio vocabulary lesson I downloaded from Audible, so maybe a 1/5.

Goal 5: Try to find a faster way to revise WK. I didn’t get what I was hoping for but I finally did something. Two somethings.

I have always put extra work into the radical lessons. If the learning mechanism all sits on the foundation of the radicals, it’s wise to pay attention to them. This month I tried putting extra effort into the kanji too, in the hope that it would pay dividends when it came to the reviews. I tried to get ahead of the issues, thinking through the mnemonics that seemed a bit alien to my way of thinking. I’m not sure that it worked, but it was worth a try.

I wanted a different ordering on reviews, all meanings followed by all readings. I couldn’t find a way to achieve it. I put a question out to Community but nobody came back with a method. So I finally decided to go back to back on reviews this morning instead, and I liked it! It speeded me up and took some of the pressure off. The closeness in time between the meaning and the reading might help cement the meaning/reading as pair, which is what I want when I’m reading. There were still failures —there’s no magic involved — I don’t think the failure list for the day is much longer or shorter than the norm. Today is a Sunday and it’s when I get to a weekday that will tell if it will make much difference. I’m hopeful and wish I’d tried it earlier. 3/5

I noticed a negative: I’m flagging in my katakana reading, blanking on several of the symbols. It’s been 4 months since I learned katakana over the course of an evening, and frankly I’m surprised it’s held up as long as it has, especially since I dropped Duolingo. I wonder if seeing it during anime has helped at all. That’s certainly not been an active process. Time for a reboot. Hiragana is holding up okay at the moment, but maybe a quick review wouldn’t hurt.

Next month

I think next month has to be different. My original plan was to max out on kanji and vocab for months 4-6 and I had in mind Wanikani for that. I also had a totally unrealistic level 15 in the back of my mind. If I keep going I could probably get close to completing level 12, but I don’t think that’s the right way to go. I still think going more quickly rather than more surely in order to reach the point where I can bootstrap into reading something was the right idea, but I may have been going too quickly and this might be a good time to consolidate what I have and to put a bit more emphasis into grammar.

I also want to review verbs and adverbs. I was inspired by Nuit’s diagram, and I’m aware how flaky my grasp on meanings of these are, relative to nouns. The isolated learning in WK isn’t giving be enough hooks to always remember the meanings. With verbs I have a rule of thumb for transitive versus intransitive which has no logic behind it at all. Then there are those third meanings like “to add” from kanji enough or “to guess” from kanji success. Trying to distinguish which two of a pair is hard enough, but those extras which aren’t quite the same…

So after I’ve finished level 10 vocabulary, I’m going to stop WK lessons for the rest of the month. Hopefully that will give me the time to move on grammar and also look at some of the kana vocabulary I’ve come across elsewhere, before that fades completely.

It’s going to be annoying to see WK stall for a month, but it should make me more eager in month 7. I’m also considering an alternative when it comes to getting into reading. I’m not motivated enough by Satori Reader or Natively at the moment. Children’s fables aren’t doing it for me. I think I’m going to try starting playing Final Fantasy when the Beginners Final Fantasy Club launches in September/October. So I need a new plan, which will include more grammar and more basic vocabulary. Two and a half months to reach JPLT N5 grammar is a doable, but I might have to slow down on WK even when I do get back to it. I might see myself dropping to 10 lessons a day. I’m loathe to do that, but I need to think about it. I also need to learn how to create a Anki deck for extra words.

Month 6 Goals

Goal 1: Finish level 10 WaniKani and stop doing lessons for the rest of the month (around three weeks), while keeping the reviews going.

Goal 2: Review vocabulary for level 1-10. Go back to Nuit’s diagram and see if it’s the right format for me to learn from.

Goal 3: Work out what vocabulary and what grammar I’ll need for JLPT N5. Set up a learning mechanism, probably Anki.

Goal 4: Plot a route to N5 grammar and vocab by the end of September.

Goal 5: Keep on watching Anime for immersion in the sound of Japanese. If I move to playing Final Fantasy, I expect I’ll have to ditch most of my anime watching for a while. However, someone was saying that FF could be 2-4 hours a week. That could be a weekend activity. Have another look at Satori Reader in the light of FF1. Can I get cross boosting of the two activities?

Goal 6: Revise Katakana

[hrudey]

[quote=“Jon001, post:6, topic:70124”]
I’m wondering about so many words disappearing into Enlightened not to be seen again for another 4 months. Words/kanji I still feel a little uncertain of. Will I stand a chance of remembering them when burn time comes? [/quote]

I have found myself at times intentionally deciding to fail a review that would put something into enlightened if I don’t really know it - I use one of the redo type scripts for typos and so I’ll often give myself a couple of attempts if I think I know something (or if I type in an answer and right when I’m hitting enter I remember what it actually is), but I don’t want to get things to enlightened and then fail the next review on them.

[Jon001]

The annoying one of those is when the meaning comes after the reading and it thinks you probably got it right, but you didn’t. I had one of those with a verb recently. Luckily it was still in Apprentice and there’s no harm done. Master to Enlightened would have been worse. When it tells you that you were were close and to check, what are you supposed to do if it was really wrong? The SRS level is already promoted and you can’t demote it.

I start burning in about seven weeks and I’ll figure it out then.

[Jon001]

I thought I’d do a mid-month update, because this really is the break I was trying to achieve two weeks ago. I finally finished the level 10 vocabulary lessons and that’s a load off my mind. It should have taken me 11 days from the last report but it took a full two weeks. I’ve really struggled with this last level. I don’t know if that’s because I was running out of steam anyway or because work ramped up a couple of weeks ago or pressures at home. Probably a combo.

I don’t intend to stop concentrating on kanji and vocab this month, but I want to pause to admire the viewpoint of level ten. A period of consolidation won’t hurt. WK has been too consuming and I need to spend more time on basic grammar before moving forward.

I think I might take a longer break from new lessons than I’d planned, possibly taking it as far as the end of August, when I’ll start burning level 1. I don’t need to decide now. I’ll have another think in two weeks at the end of month 6.

I have managed to do some grammar. I’ve been watching Tokini Andy’s Genki 1 [N5] grammar made clear videos, watching 7 out of 12 so far, but I don’t think one viewing is going to do it. It puts me in a bit of a dilemma. My goal is to listen and read, not to write or speak just yet. However, do I apply this to learning grammar? In theory I don’t need to know how to form the past negative of a verb, or to construct the Te form. I just need to be able to recognize them when I see/hear them and know what they mean. How well will I know them though if I don’t even try to learn to construct them?

I was immediately knocked off course after I wrote my last month’s plan. I thought we were starting Final Fantasy at the end of September, but we are starting on the first. This means less WK next month and more solidification. The fact than I don’t need to know grammar points well enough to be able to construct them, just to recognize and understand them is cheery when I think about wading neck-deep into a Japanese video game, with weird vocabulary. So I think I’ll be doing more grammar points, but more superficially than I would otherwise.

So where have I got to in the last four and a half months of WK? Around 1100 vocabulary lessons done, with only 50 still at apprentice, and only a handful of those being leeches. I have a lot more words bouncing between Guru and Master than the really bad leeches where I can’t remember the readings or whether it’s rendaku and then there are those odd verbs whose meaning doesn’t have a lot to do with the kanji meaning: like to guess and to add, which I keep answering to be right and to be enough. I have a rule of thumb that’s helping a bit with remembering which transitive vs intransitive pairings, so long as I can remember the pair. I’m still far from 100%, especially on -eru verbs. (I need to check if that’s an ichidan/godan thing.)

I wonder if I’d be doing better if I could control the SRS system better. I’m conscious of Hrudey’s comment above about failing things on purpose, but I previously tended to only decide I wished I’d failed it after the word had already been promoted. It’s definitely better now I’m doing back-to-back. By the time I’ve done the first one I know better if I should fail it on the second and it’s a more immediate action.

Looking at the 1100 words I wonder how far WK has led me from frequently used words. No matter how cooperative the culture, nobody needs five separate words for the neighbourhood in their top 1100 words. I can certainly see the reason for a lot of school and education phrases in what is a learning experience, but I doubt the average Japanese adult’s conversation rotates quite so much about schooling. I suppose that depends on the adult. I knew all this going in, but I think it’s time to look at the difference between the WK10, the 1000 most common words and N5 vocabulary.

I’m not too sure why I’m even thinking about it given that I’m going to be reading Final Fantasy 1 soon and most adults won’t be talking about magic crystals and adamantine broadswords. “Hello, honey, I’m home, and I brought you some high-healing potions from the combini. I’ll just put my adamantine broadsword in the umbrella stand by the shoes. Remind me to take it when I’m out battling Leviathan this evening.”

Anyway, that’s enough rambling. I’ll do a proper monthly in a couple more weeks.

[YandrosTheSane]

@Jon001

My goal is to listen and read, not to write or speak just yet. However, do I apply this to learning grammar?

My own answer has been to try reading more sentences until the grammar learning became an obvious answer. Discovering a grammar point before feeling the need for it is unnecessary in my experience. I was lacking a few dozen sentences where the grammar point would have been useful. It’s up to you to see how you feel. Acquiring about 1500 more words to really feel that the lack of grammar was problematic was my personal “sweet spot” to decide that now the thing that was really frustrating me was falling to understand a “simple” sentence due to its syntax rather than its contents.

Also… nice progress ! Good job !

[Nuit]

How am I only seeing it now… I’m used to everyone’s study log being their first top topic and figured you didn’t have one! Silly me. Well, better late than never; I thought today that I haven’t heard from you in quite a while, and read now that you’re on a break until the end of August. How are things?

[Jon001]

I’m well thank you for asking. I know I’m overdue another status report. I’m torn between doing a write up today, or a quick run though the start of Final Fantasy 1 in both English and Japanese.

[hrudey]

@Jon001

I’m well thank you for asking. I know I’m overdue another status report. I’m torn between doing a write up today, or a quick run though the start of Final Fantasy 1 in both English and Japanese.

While we’d never discourage you from updating here or just checking in to say hi, I know which sounds like it’d be more fun.

[Jon001]

Yeah. A “tough” choice. Not so quick a run-through.Barely touched the Japanese at all. I’m not really supposed to start that until next week, but I got engrossed in the English play and lost track of time.

[Jon001]

Yay. I’ve started Burning.

[trunklayer]

@Jon001

Yay. I’ve started Burning.

[hrudey]

@Jon001

Yay. I’ve started Burning.