October 22
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Name | Progress |
|---|---|---|
 |
Nihongo con Teppei | 729 → 796 |
7 Likes
Prev
Home| Date | Name | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-22 |  葬送のフリーレン１ |
 Anime |
 Episode 24-26 |
 1h15m |
More watching today, as I got 3 episodes of Frieren in - I might finish the season tomorrow.
10 Likes
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10月23日 | Amount |
|---|---|---|
 |
NHKやさしいことばニュース | 3 articles |
Did the bare minimum today because I’m overtired 
10 Likes
10月23日(水)
Found this grammar channel today - looks very promising for listening, reading handwriting practice and also as a grammar tutorial
Also listened to 4989 American Life Podcast #27
Summary
Intro: she wants to talk about the summer holidays that have almost finished
Part 1: The holidays have passed quickly. Her husband is a school teacher so his holidays are the same as the school kids’ - around 2 months. Her college class summer holidays started a little earlier than her husband’s but her new term and his will start around the same time. They made lots of plans and wrote lists of what they wanted to do but she feels now there’s a lot more they could’ve done. Recently her memory isn’t good so she’s going to review her holidays with her notebook in one hand. The first weekend of the holidays they went to the coastal hippy hangout of Santa Cruz and participated in a Japanese Cultural Fair. For Utaco it was a great start to the holidays. In the 3rd week of June they went on a camping trip to Oregon and the north of the state where she lots of greenery and an unbelievably blue lake. Returning from Oregon they took the coast road back. She went to Redwood National Park which she’d always wanted to visit & followed the coastal drive to San Francisco. Along the way, they tried out their fill of breweries. When they got back from the camping trip she was busy organising the farewell party for a friend who was moving away as well hosting a friend who lives far away who came to visit for that farewell. Together with that friend, she went to Big Sur to a favourite beach and hoped to go there again before the end of the holidays but hasn’t , but during the hot month of September she’s hoping to get there. Then she spent sometime lounging round the house, not doing much - reading novels in Japanese she’d got from a friend, watching YouTube, cooking, eating, drinking beer. From the middle of July she got busy again - went to free craft class at the library with her husband - this was something on her to do list and she’s happy to have crossed it off. She also worked as a volunteer at a Buddhist O-bon festival. She’s not one to usually go to temples but a call went out for people to help with the ハチマキ booth - the ハチマキ were simple white cloth ones on which words such as 愛 ( a list was provided) could be written using a felt pen [マジック]. Utaco wondered if these simple cloths would sell but they did (to kids, to young people with an interest in Japan, middle aged couples who’d lived in Japan). She then asks her listeners to guess what the most popular word was? (Hint: from the distant past) Turns out it was 忍者🥷. Amused, she observes that Ninja = Japan. At the festival she got to eats lots of Japanese food - karaage, tempura, yakitori and for the first in a while Ichiban Shibori beer. Towards the end of July she met up with friends, went out to lunch, had some tap dancing lessons and went with her good friend Martha and her family to the beach. She also went to help a couple who always helps her with a clean-up. Once August begun, everything began to speed up. She would’ve liked to have read more - Japanese books are okay to read in bed but if she tries to read English books then, she soon falls asleep so maybe she should make another time to read? If it’s the morning, she’ll read non-fiction but novels are for the nighttime. When they return to their normal lives, she’s worried they won’t be able to get up early.
Part 2: she worried that the title she’s chosen for this section “what I miss about Japan” is too difficult for her to say…Anyway, she misses hot Japanese baths. She’s got a bathtub in her apartment but it’s not as deep as a Japanese one and it has the feel of a hotel one with an overhead shower. On days when you’re tired, have sore shoulders or it’s cold, you really want to have a bath. In Japan there’s also large public baths and onsen - actually it’s these she misses more than household baths. There are onsen in America and she has been to one in the south (2 & 1/2 hours away)at Paso Robles but it was more like a outdoors heated pool than an onsen & a bit suspicious, smelled like an onsen but was disappointingly tepid. Near where she lives, in Carmel, there’s a spa with different shaped pools/spas outside which she’d like to visit. She’d also like to try a mountain onsen she’s heard about in Big Sur but you can’t drive there - instead you have to walk along a trail for around 30kms. Sounds hard but maybe one time on a backpacking trip… in Japan onsen are so close by. When she goes back, she wants to visit Hakone and Atami which are close to both her and her husband’s hometowns. She’d also like to do spa-crawl in Japan and has a wish of staying in a slightly high-end onsen when she’s older…she’s suddenly remembers she wanted to say she went to an onsen in Oregon on her earlier camping trip - at Pawlina Lake, there is walking trail to a set of onsen pools with different temperatures. She would’ve have liked them to be a deeper but she did enjoy them. Anyway, she’s like to try some more American ones.
Part 3: Today she wants to talk about some doubts she has - as most of the people around her are Hispanic and these are the people she speaks with in English she sometimes wonders if the English they use is standard American English or Hispanic English. Apparently she’s sometimes learned non-standard English from the people around her. For example Mexicans add “my friend” to everything as in “ Good morning my friend” whether people are actual friends or not. At first Utaco thought that this was just the friendliness of Americans she’d heard about but then after a few years she noticed that Americans and people who’d come from elsewhere didn’t seem to use this phrase, only Mexicans and she thinks it might be a translation from Spanish. Her next question is about the use of “And you?” after having replied to the question “How are you?”. Hispanic people seem to use it a lot but she doesn’t think other Americans generally do. They respond (she thinks) “how about you” or “how are you”. She remembers that when she was in school in Japan she was taught to answer “I’m fine. And you” . She thinks this too is wrong as most Americans would say “good” not “fine”
Part 4: she’s into Old Navy flip flops (people with more refined tastes might prefer Havaianas but they’re too expensive for Utaco). Ever since she came to America she started wearing flip flops when she goes out, even inside instead of slippers, in gym showers. You can get Old Navy flip flops in Japan too. What does she like about them - firstly the range of colours and their cheapness. She only buys them on sale ($2!) so she can’t tell her listeners their regular price. She recommends not buying them from the 1 dollar shop as she did that once and they were uncomfortable to wear.
6 Likes
聴者の皆さん、頑張ってください！
4 Likes
| Date | Name | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-23 | 葬送のフリーレン１ |
Anime |
 Episode 27-28 |
0h50m |
And with that, season 1 of the Frieren anime is done. I’m also at the end of the volumes I have physically, so I’ll probably give Frieren a break to avoid Frieren overload after this.
As for what’s next, I have a decision to make. The options are to (finally) get back to gaming like I’d originally intended for this season. That’s option 1.
I’ve also been thinking about watching Oshi no Ko one way or the other. Everything I’ve heard about it indicates it’s something I would like. But I might try watch it in Japanese. Until now, everything I’ve watched in Japanese has been stuff that I’ve either already experienced in some other fashion, or stuff I watched on a whim and didn’t really worry about if I missed a bunch of the context due to lacking listening ability. So it will be a change for my first experience with something I’m pretty sure I’m going to like to be in Japanese. So that’s option 2.
8 Likes
7 Likes
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１０月２３日 | Material | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
コーヒーが冷めないうちに | audiobook | 35 min |
I’ve done listening on some days but not others. Going to try and finish this audiobook soon! About 3 and a half hours left.
8 Likes
I’m joining for accountability! I often listen to Yuyu or Nihongo con Teppei, but I have a tendency to zone out while doing so. I’m super late to the party, but I hope this will help me build a better habit 
| Oct | ||||||
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| 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 |
8 Likes
10月24日(木)
Really enjoying this grammar series - she’s an excellent teacher!
Also listened to YUYUの日本語Podcast #309
自然な日本語って何！？
28 September 2024
約36分
8 Likes
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10月24日 | Amount |
|---|---|---|
|
NHKやさしいことばニュース | 3 articles |
I’m looking forward to when I have the time and energy to do more, but for now, this will do
10 Likes
6 Likes
October 24
|
Name | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
葬送のフリーレン１ | 1 → 2 |
Seeing it animated is so cool, it makes me wanna cry more than the manga 
7 Likes
| Date | Name | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-24 |  Girls Und Panzer |
Anime |
Episode 1 |
0h25m |
So today I sort of hit pause on picking the actual next project as I was kind of tired, and just went with something that I knew. I may not continue this as I do want to try something a bit different.
Girls Und Panzer is one of my favourite anime. I’ve definitely seen it both subbed and dubbed, but the most recent time was definitely dubbed. It was interesting watching it this time, since I was paying way more attention to the JP audio and…
I actually kind of prefer the EN dub. Maybe it’s just those are the character voices that have imprinted on me, but I do think the JP dub is trying to be a bit too “girly girl” for too many characters. Hana sounds basically the same in both dubs, and the student council prez is the next closest in tone but others like Miho, Saori and the vice prez really sound weird to me this time.
Language was obviously quite hard for the tank battles, even with the amount of tank name loan words, but this episode had a lot of school life stuff too.
7 Likes
10月25日(金)
Watched the second part of her AうちにB grammar lesson. Am in awe of her ability to quickly sketch manga-like pictures to enhance her explanations.
Also listened to her podcast (YouTube only). In it she talks about why she started the podcast and reveals that she’s pregnant and talks about things like maternity leave.
6 Likes
10月25日
Resource  |
Content  |
Time  |
|---|---|---|
| Nihong Con Teppei | Podcast | ~30min |
| Netflix | Drama | ~55min |
I began Houses of ninja on Netflix! My Japanese friend told me it was good/nice, so I’m giving it a try
6 Likes
| Date | Name | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-25 | Girls Und Panzer |
Anime |
Episode 2 |
0h25m |
As it turns out, I did watch a second episode of Girls Und Panzer.
I always enjoy the sort of realistic designs for WW2 tanks mixed with the absolute fridge logic the show’s universe operates on.
For example, here is the volleyball club abseiling down a mountain to look in a cave for a tank.
And they do find one:
And let’s not get started about where that mountain is.
6 Likes