🔉 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge (Summer Edition) 🏖

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LEDC
Week 4
:confetti_ball: 1 0 0 % :confetti_ball:

July 24
Japanese with Teppei and Noriko: episodes 8 to 14.


Again went with this podcast today. Looks like I did a lot but these are super short, in total it was like half an hour or so. It’s actually quite nice, I find their dynamic quite amusing. It’s also quite lax in terms of difficulty so it’s nice for busy or tiring days.

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July 24 :blossom: Home Post

In an unusual turn of events, most of what I did today was listening! (mostly because I didn’t start reading until pretty late and then I was tired but whatever lmao) I watched another of those バカゲー RPG videos, maybe my favorite so far :joy: It’s pretty succinct and very silly, so if you’re looking for something fun to watch I’d certainly recommend it:

And then I checked out a new anime because I have no self control ever :laughing: I’ve been hearing about how fun Tiger & Bunny is lately and truly had no idea what to expect from it so I gave it a go and yeah, it’s a lot of fun so far! I’m intrigued by the whole setup of heroes being marketed as like celebrity reality stars, pretty interesting :eyes: It was a pretty comfortable watch too (with Japanese subtitles) so I’ll probably watch it again!

Oh that’s fun! I only have a vague awareness of 寿限無 from seeing it referenced in stuff a lot, like that fullmetal alchemist scene, and it’s in ace attorney at some point, so it’d be cool to listen to the actual story sometime :eyes:

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Jul 25, Mon of Week 5 of Summer :beach_umbrella: 2022

Today’s story is 亡者道 (:studio_microphone:).

Same old ばあさん from the other day.

Story impression

A no no yes no story.

生首 is the key vocabulary here.

Places

  • 乗鞍岳・千町 – such a beautiful place
  • So far I can’t find 平金.
  • I am not sure about 桜が岡. There are multiple search results for this one.

YouTube suggested this another one just now, and I heard almost everything without subs. (I missed POS part, which is already written on the screen, and the very end before 登録 part, after 役に立つ.)

Note that, there are two Japanese subs here. First one is auto-generated and goes to the end; and the second one is official Japanese/English but stops before please share.

A while ago, I used ~と申します. I felt that, if simply ~です, would people know that’s a name?


About かがみの孤城 audiobook, I can’t go so fast, as I can’t listen well; and by reading, there are a few words that I need to pick up while reading first, so reading isn’t so fast, too. Then, even if vocabularies and sentence structures are known, the vocab (and meaning) is sometimes hard to pick out by hearing. There are even times that reading along and it sounded different from the text. – So it’s going to be slow for now, so that I can listen more properly.

I took a look at documentaries or MOOC, on the ekg’s posted 汐見台団地, which has a JP subtitle, but affixed to the video. (I wouldn’t want to watch unsubbed for now.) So, now I have a new channel to subscribe to. (神奈川県 officials, I think.)

After that, there are couples of keywords to search for in that topic; but then Japan Foundation’s playlists are already an easy target. (Which there are already subs.)

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Finished 仮面病院! I enjoyed it quite a bit and it was quite nice to be able to listen to a solid novel in Japanese, without any text for reference. I have listened to others before but they were quite a bit easier or I struggled much more to follow along. Just a few months ago keeping up with this narration would have been a struggle so I’m enjoying my victory. I still have a ways to go before all the books I want are accessible to me in audio form, but the hours I’m putting in are paying off, so I’m happy.

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July 25 :green_square:

I had zero interest in watching anything or listening to anything today. I spent some time browsing YouTube and Netflix to no avail, then I found the solution I was looking for: Origami videos!

It took a while to find videos with actual oral instructions instead of just music or text, but when I did they were surprisingly easy to follow (I mean, sure, they show you what to do, but the oral instructions themselves were easy to follow. Most of the time) . I won’t show you my pitiful origami results, but here are the videos:

And this, but I didn’t make it, because I’m not folding thirty sheets of paper, thank you. It would look cool though, if I had the patience.

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:sound: Listening Room: Date 20220725 :loud_sound:

Day XXXIV: :mount_fuji:

NHK school video. A folktale story, it said it was aimed at kindergarten level but I did not find it easy one bit.

Also love the woman’s Yama-uba voice, she sounds like a proper hardcore yakuza :rofl:

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Today I listened to some news about the most recent Sakurajima eruption:

and also

but only the first three minutes :sweat_smile: as it then switches to other news.

(and there are lots of other news videos available if you google search for 桜島)

I also watched some more 博多豚骨ラメンズ (I started watching each episode twice, on two different days, and that improves my understanding quite a bit.)

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Home Post

My recap of last week! :blush:

Turns out watering the garden is really conducive to lots of listening, haha.

This week I finished listening to the audiobook for 魔女の宅急便 vol. 1. :partying_face: I think that’s my first, completed Japanese audio book?!
Also a lot of podcast episodes, and quite a bit of youtube. I also took up Terrace House, once again. I always have fun watching, yet I never manage to finish. We’ll see.:joy:

18 :broom: 19 :broom: 20 :fast_forward: 21 :fast_forward::broom: 22 :tv: 23 :fast_forward: 24 :broom: :studio_microphone:
Listening Logs

18: Listened to chapter 7 and about half of chapter 8 of Kiki, about 50 minutes.
19: listened to Kiki while watering the garden. ~ 50 minutes again, I think I’m halfway through chapter 10 now
20: I clicked on this let’s play shared by natarin and before I knew it 20 minutes had passed. So much fun, haha. 『 速すぎるRPG 』が本当に速すぎて笑う - YouTube … I’d actually been following this gamer already but it’s been ages since I watched any let’s plays.
21: Watched 2 videos shared here: A book review shared by omk3 and a book summary about how to lose weight shared by pocketcat.
And then in the evening, watering in the garden green house, I listened to some more kiki. Halfway through chapter 11 now. So close to the end!
22: Watched 2 eps of Terrace House Boys and Girls in the City. Fun. :3
23: Watched a youtube video about a ‘recommended top 10 older 東野圭吾 works’. I own one, so I’ll be reading that one next I guess. Or after ガリレオの苦悩, after which there’s a book missing in my Detective Galileo collection anyway. So, soon-ish. :slight_smile:
… This channel has a lot of videos on 東野圭吾 books~ … let’s watch another, haha. This one’s a book shelf introduction. Half of it is taken up by 東野圭吾. Also Unread Books. I like this guy. :joy:
24: Today, while watering the garden, I listened to the last bit of Kiki, as well as another 2 episodes of The Real Japanese Podcast.

I’ve noticed a bit of a reluctance to listen to something else so I don’t need another icon. That is not an intended result. :joy: It also doesn’t look pretty when they take up a different amount of space so some of the columns are wider… Maybe I’ll stick to an icon for ‘most minutes listened to’ on a given day or something. I’ll think on it.

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July 25th!

I listened to Episode 30 of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners, and also watched an episode of Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens.
Also spent a little bit of time listening to KANA-BOON, if music counts as proper listening practise?

(Home Post)

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Summary Post

July 25th
What did I listen to?: Super Bunny Man Let’s Play Part 7
How much time did I spend listening?: 27 min

Finished this series off today. Guess I’ll have to find something else to listen to next :joy: These videos felt low effort, even though I definitely did not understand a good portion of what was said. I wasn’t really trying that hard to understand, I guess lmao - or I didn’t really feel a need to understand everything, so it didn’t bother me when I didn’t.

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Jul 26, Tue of Week 5 of Summer :beach_umbrella: 2022

Today’s story is 娘の寿命 (:studio_microphone:).

Story impression

「あんたは、何才まで生きたいんじゃ?」 – Just choose your age to be written in a notebook! Then, there is no proof that age was lengthen either. (Other than she died at exactly 88 years old.)

「白酒と杯を三つ、 – Yeah, 杯 is just written without a reading guide. It is read さか-ずき〔「さか(酒)つき(坏)」の意〕


Yesterday, I watched YouTube on Being Japanese documentary with the second Japanese subtitle. [1] I picked out Japanese spoken lines, here (with git diff). [2]

Then, I took a look at NHK for School, which is sorted by school grades too. (Thanks, Jona-さん) It appears to have Furigana and full transcript, but sometimes it drops Kanji, and not using Furigana. [3]

Also, it has only two modes – small (about 1/3 of screen width) and fullscreen. Fixed with VMware. (My actual screen is a large Ultra-Wide HD screen, so I should use make use of the space wisely.)

On Language Reactor, there is already vocabulary lookup (dictionary), but I altered settings a little - no audio, and add external link to https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/WORD/m1u/ (Goo exact match).

Extra:

I have seen the phrase before; but this is the first time I have heard it being pronounced, also a little longer than I think. This is the first time I searched and found the origin as well. The anime in the search result is distracting.


  1. Zulu”, for spoken Japanese with Japanese written sub, lol. (and “Japanese” for English and omit Japanese speech.)

    Mostly spoken in English, and Japanese speech is minimal. :smile: ↩︎

  2. So, I learnt that 帰国子女 isn’t necessary female. ↩︎

  3. ひょうたんからコトバ appears to be interesting (and meaningful) for me.

    • I think this ひょうたん is exactly 瓢箪.
    ↩︎
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Home post

LEDC
Week 5

July 25
Nihongo con Teppei Z, episode 33.

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July 25 :blossom: Home Post

I accidentally did mostly listening again today? I don’t know what’s happening to me :joy: I watched some more let’s play stuff, and then a couple more episodes of Tiger & Bunny for funsies. I’m having a lot of fun with it; it’s exactly the kind of chaotic nonsense I’m all about :laughing: There’s cool language stuff too, lots of distinct ways of speaking, there’s a samurai speech guy, go figure. So yeah, going pretty well!

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July 26 :orange_square:

Today I watched the NHK news video on the Sakurajima volcano eruption that @NicoleIsEnough linked to yesterday, and I understood next to nothing. :sweat_smile:
Then I followed with the first video from the Japan Foundation’s playlist on manga, and I understood a few things at least, or, more likely, had the illusion that I did. :roll_eyes:

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This weeks update:

20th - Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone chapter 8 & 9, 80 minutes Gackt music.

21st - Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone chapter 10 & 11, 80 minutes Gackt, Rainych and over the moon music.

22nd - Howl’s moving castle

23rd - 1 episode of a Japanese cooking podcast

24th - Over the moon, Hiromi Kawakami’s 神様

25th - Hiromi Kawakami’s 神様, episodes 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16 of Old Enough.

I seem to have taken a step back atm and found that I’m struggling to hear stuff I’ve listened to previously. Like I can’t focus on it correctly or such but I’m still leaving it playing so I can try to listen.

I’ve not done any today yet, think I’ll save that for the last few episodes of Old Enough which is a series on Netflix about Japanese children going on their first errand alone, found this quite interesting as in the UK mist kids are not let out on their own at such a young age never mind allowed to head to the local convenience store equivalent to pick up a few random things or allowed to travel on buses alone or cross busy streets alone. I know the series has people following the child (you see the cameras hidden in carryalls or such) so the kids are still being closely watched even though they think they’re doing it all themselves, but it’s just unheard of here now to see anything like that (kids can barely be trusted not to eat the washing liquid tabs here :woman_facepalming:) and it’s interesting to see the difference in the culture and the trust that’s given at such a young age.

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Off topic on Old Enough

Thank you for this comment, so far I’ve only seen people comment on how cute and pleasant the show is., when in fact I always feel somewhat uncomfortable when I watch Old Enough. Not because those little kids are made to do all these things, but because I hate how we’re not trusting them to do all that here, even when they’re way older. But it’s not the trust in young children (toddlers even) that surprises me so much - it’s rather the trust in adult strangers to not (intentionally or not) harm the children. I wouldn’t trust people to stop for a child to cross the road (I’ve been nearly run over by a motorbike on the pavement, where it had no business to be, and that was as an adult), or not steal the child’s money, or not see an opportunity to grab the child even (well, only very few specific adults, but do you know who you’ll happen to meet?). And I don’t think any adult in a supermarket would interact normally with a child shopper instead of either ignoring them or calling the police on them. I guess I’m just jealous of a society where children can be free and independent that early. :eyes:

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:sound: Listening Room: Date 20220726 :loud_sound:

Day XXXV: :volcano: & :volcano:


whoa I did not know that you can copypaste the youtube creator logo as a link to their homepage

Watched two news videos about the Sakurajima eruptions recently, thanks @NicoleIsEnough for letting me know!

Seems the volcano is still pretty active (these vids are only about an hour or two old) and the alert level has been raised to its highest.

The 0テレ one had subtitles (in JP) to follow along, but it was very hard to keep up with.

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Off topic reply

Yeah, I agree with that. I know when my grandparents were younger (so I’m talking about 80 odd years ago) this sort of thing did happen but without cameras or the safety net of people looking out for the child. Both sets of my grandparents have stories of experiences where they used to go on buses or walk long distances on their own from about age 3 onwards, not for shopping usually but to go to a family member’s house or to go wait on their parent/s coming out of work or pick something up or such.
I’m a little jealous of the fact that in our current society compared to what I’ve seen of Japanese society, we seem to live in a society which is a lot less honourable, less considerate and less has far less respect for our fellow human beings than we used to. A generalisation to be sure, because there are considerate, respectful and honest people in modern UK society, but overall there’s a down trend in those characteristics throughout the general population.

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I did 1 hour and 20 minutes of Bite Sized Japanese. I was getting bored (and as I am getting closer and closer to moving to Japan) I figured I should look up things less and less and try for something more fun and harder and so restarted yuyu podcast. Wow he speaks really fast doesn’t he?! I understood the GIST of the first 2 podcasts but then less than 5% of the third.

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July 26th

I listened to Episode 31 of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners today, and also listened to a JapanesePod101 Core Words vocab building video while I was writing my diary.
I might watch a bit of anime before I head to bed too, but I’m not sure yet.

(Home Post)

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