🔉 🎙 Listen Every Day Challenge (Summer Edition) 🏖

Using Japanese Pod 101 listening comprehension, I know I am definitely at an N5 listening level (I only got 2 wrong, 1 for lack of attention and 1 because I really didnt know the vocabulary), which makes sense since I am almost finished with N5 grammar with my tutor and I have only been immersing for about 3 months now (although I started studying Japanese almost 9 months ago). I tried the N4 listening comprehension and after 5 questions incorrect I realize that I need a few more months of studying and immersion to get there.

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:headphones: Main Station :beach_umbrella:

The past few days have been a mix of Satori Reader and things that other challenge-goers have been using. I listened to a few of the first podcast episodes from Sayuri Saying (thanks to @pocketcat for the link in one of their updates!), but I was a little underwhelmed when two of the episodes simply consisted of her playing word games. I bailed on the しりとり one after a while and tried to get through all of マジカルバナナ. Might have to forgo my need to listen to things from the beginning and simply pick whatever sounds interesting to me in the moment.

Today I gave that Kurzgesagt video @Sailnir posted a try. HOLY CRUD. Having anything the narrator was saying compute truly did feel like an accomplishment. I also watched a short film for my translation homework this week, but I felt like I didn’t really understand everything as well as I should’ve after the first watch through, so I’m going to watch it again a little later.

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Yeah, she has a mix of upper intermediate stuff (some interviews of other people), more general bridge level (talking about her life and explaining things) and very very basic stuff (word games). It would probably help if they were labeled more clearly.

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August 8th!

I watched an episode of Shirokuma Cafe (with English subs), and also listened to an episode of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners. I’ll probably listen to that episode again though because I’ve had a long (but pleasant!) day and I’m tired so I struggled to follow what was being said in a way that I dont usually.

(Home Post)

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Home post

LEDC
Week 7

8月8日
ゲームなんとか


Went for the whole first episode about Monster Hunter, I had started it a couple times before but wanted to finish it so just listened to the whole thing. I’m tired and my brain zoned out probably like 10 or 15 minutes of it but oh well.

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Summary Post

August 8th
What did I listen to?: Obey Me! Boys in the House Ep 5
How much time did I spend listening?: 20 min

Omg, this was the best episode - in a continuation of last episode, Ayme-san, Beel’s VA, and Satan’s VA go to the special cafe to sample some foods and drinks there are a lot of Obey Me! special cafes apparently lmao. But this time, there’s a twist - they have a little competition on who can give the best report on the food (Ayme-san judges and just gets to eat his parfait without commentary :joy:). Satan’s VA is so extra, like why is he so funny :joy: I love him. And then Beel’s VA becomes the actual embodiment of his character and starts inhaling his pasta during his report :joy:

Also, breaking news, but I inadvertently discovered that apparently Ayme-san is…doing v-tube? V-tubing? Whatever the verb form of that is. I was looking for this video and noticed it in the recommended videos on the side. There’s one titled “Debut Video” that was put up 7 days ago so…I literally don’t know what’s happening??? But I’m going to have to check it out at some point?? I didn’t have time to watch today, but it’s on my list :eyes: :eyes: His v-tube character is so cute :3 it looks like him with a little bit of asmo/demon flair tbh, which I’m guessing is sort of what he was going for

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I mentioned in the Natively forums today how I love historical nonfiction like Devil in the White City and such. Gimme historical scandal and I’m all about it. So, I tried to find something :sparkles: scandalous :sparkles: on youtube today and was not disappointed:

I learned a lot of new words from this! I usually find Japanese history a bit of chore to learn vocab for, but when it’s something like this, hell yeah I’ll learn 奥女中!
Other words of note:
密通 - adultery. I usually hear 不倫 for this, this has more of a sneaky sneaky feeling to it, but less casual than 浮気.
艶書 - love letters. seems to be a more formal/fancy way of saying 恋文 (which is read こいぶみ of all things)

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August 8 :blossom: Home Post

I watched part of a let’s play again today; this one was of an English conversation quiz app thing so it was interesting to see! The sentences were absolutely absurd lmao but it was fun to judge the translations :joy:

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This weeks update:

3rd - 1 hour of Gackt music

4th - LingQ lesson 1 (intensively), Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone chapter 13

5th - LingQ lesson 1 & 2 (intensively)

6th - 1 hour of Yukka music from YouTube

7th - Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone chapter 14

8th - Japanese with Shun podcast 1, 2 & 3.

9th - Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone chapter 15, Japanese with Shun podcast 4.

Kinda feeling the strain of this now since I’m spending most of my time reading or listening it’s no longer dead time I’m using but trying to actively listen to stuff which I’m finding straining when doing so for long periods of time and also finding I’ve less time for studying other things or doing other things (I can’t actively listen and focus intensively while doing something else). I’m also struggling to find different things to listen to to try to keep myself engaged in the subject because right now doing this is actually putting me off learning Japanese and I’m not actually enjoying it at all now even when listening to music. Tried using things like my short story books to listen while reading or LingQ for a similar thing but nothing is helping me.

That’s not to say that I’m having trouble with understanding the stuff I’m listening to. Only Harry Potter and Yukka’s music has been incomprehensible at times. Everything else is comprehensible input, I’m just not enjoying forcing myself to listen to stuff when I’m not in the mood to (I tend not to listen to a lot of stuff in English unless I’m actively playing a game or watching a film, unless it’s passive listening to music while driving.

Decided that even though I’ve been doing this for 40 days straight, I’m done. It’s a decent challenge but if I’m not enjoying it and it’s messing with how I feel about my study of Japanese language then I’m done.
Going back to my own studying methods and I’ll go back to listening at my own pace.

Good luck to everyone else and hope you enjoy your language learning journey however you study :slightly_smiling_face:

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Aug 9, Tue of Week 7 of Summer :beach_umbrella: 2022

I didn’t watch much, as I am getting busy for my assignments, research and document submission. Not exactly no time, but my attention just don’t want to be taken away. Counting that listening does take more stress and mind power. I started and continued to read manga, though.

Nonetheless, I watched Dr. Stone EP.2 (JP sub), and 獅子王 (Lion King?) is getting more absurd than the scientist guy.

Just now, Netflix on Edge crashed my Windows twice now.

Perhaps I would continue focusing on listening by Thursday, and then find something to speak/read-aloud (and perhaps production, that is written first).

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:sound: Listening Room: Date 20220809 :loud_sound:

Day XLIX: ドーナツ :doughnut:

ワンちゃん!

Today the police station has some donuts, but how do divide 13 donuts equally?? And of course, crazy leotard math wizard is here to cause mayhem

I like to imagine that the leotard wizard used to be a respectable maths teacher but after trying to teach the ‘forbidden math’ he was fired and became a delinquent, one day he was in an accident involving forbidden math books and leotards and transformed into the crazy wizard he is today. And this is why the police are called to handle seemingly innocent school disagreements, in fear that the leotard wizard is trying to convert children to the way of forbidden math. :thinking:

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August 9th!

I re-listened to the episode of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginner’s that I struggled with yesterday (E.41). I managed to understand it today, but I still found it unusually difficult. It took a few listens for me to fully grasp it.

I also listened to 2 Core Words videos from JapanesePod101, and watched Bubble on Netflix (With English subs).

(Home Post)

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If you got any remaining questions, please feel free to ask!


Home Post

Last week I went to a music festival which totally broke my listening streak… Mainly because I listened to a lot of music, but also because my cellphone batteries were empty :sweat_smile:
Anyways, to make up for that, I talked to two Japanese friends on Sunday and Monday, respectively, and I had a conversation lesson today. I also watched/listened to another episode of Flying Witch (without subtitles). It is pretty much manageable - I think I get about 70-80% comprehension which I’m super happy with.

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Home post

LEDC
Week 7

8月9日
ゲームなんとか 「ハードを買う決め手の1本をなんとか」


About 30 mins of the episode, they talk about games that made them buy different consoles.

I’ve decided I want to be much more carefree with podcasts, they’re virtually endless and there’s no point in trying to catch up on them from start to finish, there’s absolutely no way I can do that. I’ll listen to whatever episode has an interesting enough title and leave it at that (which is probably what normal people do but my brain insists on going through things in order).

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Continuing yesterday’s travels through unusual history videos, today I watched a video on the history of periods and period products in Japan:

It was interesting but not shocking, and highlighted my need to practice reading/listening to more formal explanatory content. Can’t just be novels and crime shows all the time!

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August 9 :blossom: Home Post

Just watched the rest of that English conversation quiz video today; I was mostly preoccupied with playing バディミッションBOND which did actually have a few cutscenes without subtitles so hey that counts! :laughing:

Thank you, best of luck to you as well! Recognizing when something isn’t working for you is as important a skill as anything, you got this :muscle:

Oof very relatable, maybe that’s part of why I’m so bad at podcasts :joy: but if I don’t listen in order how will I follow the over-arching plot of this conversation podcast!! :stuck_out_tongue:

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I think you can count 40 straight days of listening as a roaring success, tbh. Not to get too philosophical, but I think a challenge like this is good for pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone, and then once you’re there you can take a look around, see your study from a new perspective, and then choose your path going forward. It seems to me like that’s exactly what you’ve done, and I hope it’s been a useful experience for you even if you aren’t continuing.

I personally have failed at the “every day” part of the challenge, but I’ve found some great listening resources and I’ve been having a lot of fun listening to the stuff I’ve been listening to, so I count that as a win too!

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:sound: Listening Room: Date 20220810 :loud_sound:

Day L: ライス :rice:

NHK school vid.

How to make rice, without needing no stinking rice cooker!

Brought to you by an extremely excitable presenter dressed as a luminous squid :sparkles: :squid: :sparkles:
Who also has a special dance when the rice is ESPECIALLY おいしい :sparkles: :mirror_ball: :sparkles:

Additionals
Pokemon :durtle_yellow_rodent:

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Thanks, that actually puts it into a better perspective. I was kinda feeling like I’d failed due to not completing it but the positive side is that I’ve found some new material, tried something different and found a way that works for me.

Thank you :blush:
Glad you’ve found some great new stuff to listen to and you’re enjoying the process.

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August 10th!

Today I watched 4 episodes of Old Enough. I’ve been watching with english subs on, but I’m gradually finding that I can follow a lot of what is going on without reading them that often.
My comprehension falls apart when the narrator is speaking, so I still need the subs at the moment. but the simple way that most people talk to the children is generally fine for me to understand. :slight_smile:

(Home Post)

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