I listened to Nihongo Con Teppei episodes 135-139. After going through them once I figured that I didn’t focus enough so I listened to them again.
Recently it’s been getting harder to stay motivated and continue listening actively every day. It’s tempting to just skip a day and relax instead. But I want to improve so I’m doing my best!
Even though it has only been 11 days so far, I already feel a little bit more confident than before. I don’t think there are any noticable changes in my comprehension level yet but listening feels a little less intimidating now.
歴史 [7-8/90] - 弥生時代. Talking of world history, maybe Chinese’s might be a priority. The readings are gonna be weird in both Japanese and English, anyway. (Compared to Thai / Teochew / Mandarin Chinese.)
Places and names
奴国 = Country of Na, a state which has located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City during the Yayoi period
邪馬台国 = Yamatai, an ancient country in Japan during the late Yayoi period. Not sure where exactly it was, though. Also not sure if it is related to 大和 = Yamato.
Being a tributary state of 魏, The queen of Japan, 卑弥呼 = Himiko got entitled 親魏倭王.
After the fall of Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms being 魏 (Wei), 呉 (Wu) and 蜀 (Shu)
I did only 8 mins of listening today - 2 eps from Nihongo con Teppei!
It was my favourite topic this time - books and manga. The books episode was easy to understand and I didn’t have to look up anything. The manga one was a bit of a struggle though. It had a lot of different words, so I might’ve have to look them up tomorrow when I have more energy.
I listened to the first part of the second chapter reading in Tobira. Alltogether there are five parts, all talking about 日本語のスピーチスタイル. This first part was about levels of politeness.
No new 月曜の朝ミオ as expected, so guess I did actually understand that announcement correctly
Listened:
マリオ６４ (犬神ころね ライブ) ~30 minutes - not a lot of real listening, but lots of falling into the void and screaming. I don’t think i’ve ever actually watched non-speedrunners play this game, so watching people really truly struggle with movement/controls was kinda fun for a bit
Nihongo con Teppei Z #345 - Really enjoying this! The beginner one might be a bit too beginner for me, but i’ll definitely save it as a recommendation for people. Z is just about right for mostly automatic comprehension + a few new words here and there, so I’ll probably start working this into my routine
Word(s) of the Day:
振り子（ふりこ）ー pendulum
焙煎（ばいせん）ー roasting (eg. of coffee)
精神（せいしん）ー mind; spirit; soul; heart; ethos
Yesterday I listened to some more かがみの孤城 while reading along, then had a long walk that was a good opportunity for listening, so I tried 推し、燃ゆ from the beginning, without reading of course. The part I had already read went smoothly enough, and I was very proud of my listening comprehension, then I got to the unfamiliar part and I completely lost the plot. My “listening comprehension” was basically just memory…
Today I listened again to both audiobooks while reading along, and watched another episode of 逃げるは恥だが役に立つ. I guess it’s time to admit to myself that I actually quite like it. It may be romance, but it’s a rather offbeat one, and it’s more than that. And the characters are all ridiculously likeable.
I had a super busy day at work and ended up working a bit later than I should have, and then I had plans with friends this evening so I didn’t get home until 11:30pm.
But I still managed to squeeze in a tiny listen!
One episode of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners. It was about people who are not good at speaking.
4月11日
Went to the cinema with @NicoleIsEnough and watched すずめの戸締まり (Japanese with German subtitles). It was beautiful.
And the Japanese was quite simple. You also had several different dialects in there, which was really cool to see, and I guess that was something the non-Japanese-speaking crowd missed out on
Watched: 傑作と評された青春歌劇ゲーム 『JACKJEANNE (ジャックジャンヌ)』【初見実況：ネタバレ注意】
Today I watched this let’s play of JackJeanne that showed up randomly on my twitter recommended page. I love this game so I really like watching other people’s impressions as they play for the first time. This guy’s reaction when Fumi first showed up was so perfect. It’s also interesting seeing how much more I understand and how different the pacing of the game feels than when I first played it two years ago.
Tonight I watched WIlly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) JP Dub. Too much of this movie is musical with English vocals. The subtitles for the songs interest me but I mostly skipped them this time around.
歴史 [9-10/90] - 古墳時代. Totally forgotten about Korean, with Kanji as fierce as Japanese.
Also relistened to 聞くだけで一気にわかる日本史 on 縄文・弥生・古墳. Listening only, escaping from Kanji, understood much better than the first run-through, or maybe it’s just memory? Anyway, rephrasing.
Listened to Japanese with Shun today. It was a 10-minute video so bare minimum T_T Might have to slowly increase the duration a little bit. I’m aiming for atleast 30mins of listening a day by the end of this challenge.
The ep was fun, it was about friends this time! I think I’m just a tiny bit relaxed about listening right now? very little and very unnoticable progress, but it’s still something so I’ll take it! I wont say that I can understand everything with one listen - but I can definitely understand a little more than what I did before this challenge.
I listened to Japanese with Shun episodes 1-3. I didn’t have any problems with them because they covered very basic every day topics.
Later I watched Akane’s Nagoya vlog. When she was at a restaurant there was background music and the other customers were talking over her which made it harder to understand what she was saying.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed because she mostly talked about her hotel and the food that she ate. I like learning about japanese food but I was hoping to learn more about Nagoya and maybe see some cool places there. But I don’t really know her channel well. Maybe her vlogs are always centered around food? Maybe I will watch another vlog sometime to find out.
I finished 逃げるは恥だが役に立つ today (a couple of episodes plus the last -and huge- special one). I really liked it, and especially the 2-hour special was really good. I didn’t expect it to touch on so many current issues, even the recently discussed (in the culture thread) obligatory name change was there! Very heartwarming and life-affirming overall.
Tobira chp. 2
I listened to parts 1 through 3 of the main text. Because the topic (speech styles) is a bit more difficult than the first chapter’s, I have taken it really slowly. And obviously I’m relistening often and also trying to read along. I think without the text I would be even more lost.
Been mostly on Netflix these past few days and weeks, as there are a lot of new anime seasonals so it is a great way to practice listening with Japanese subtitles on.
I’ve been following shows like ヴィンランド・サガ and 鬼滅の刃 from before, but I will probably check out something like スキップとローファー and 山田くんとLv999の恋をする as well, as it seams they don’t contain a very difficult dialogue.
Speaking of Netflix, I finally finished watching MIU404 drama the other day. Since it is a police detective drama, it was quite challenging and it took some time to finish everything
Also discovered a new YouTube channel that might be interesting called Speak Japanese Naturally.
４月１１日 
My “listening comprehension” was basically just memory…
It’s also interesting seeing how much more I understand and how different the pacing of the game feels than when I first played it two years ago.
April 11
Tobira chp. 2