Hello everyone. Yesterday, I leveled up after being stuck at level 4 for well over a year! WOOOOO HOOOO! Took my time whittling down my review pile before I started 10-15 new lessons a day. I think I spent about a week just reviewing? I didn’t want huge piles to come back at me so I kept my review sessions short.
Life has been unbelievably rough the past few years and my Japanese studies had taken a backseat. Happy to say that I’m now back! I’ve been keeping up with daily reviews all month and now that I’ve leveled up, I feel confident in announcing my return and starting this study log.
I have been reading everyone’s study logs and wow, you guys are so inspirational! I will probably update this post to be all organized and beautiful. I aim to report weekly on my goals and progress.
Finish reading vol 1 of からかい上手の高木さん. Only 2 chapters left! This will be my first manga read cover to cover
read chapter 2 of それでも歩は寄せてくる vol 1
Bunpro is new this week! We’ll see how it goes. I really need to study grammar more. Reading からかい上手の高木さん (the first manga I’ve read past page 3!) has really given me a boost in confidence! I still have so so much to learn of course, but omg reading is possible and even enjoyable! I’ve been having so much fun reading vol 1 and I’m excited to read the next vol along with the book club. Yay for progress!
Itching to add more goals for the week but keeping it casual. I have a problem with getting super excited and hyperfocused and then speeding full speed ahead and hitting burn out wall after a couple weeks. Keeping the brakes on for now so that doesn’t happen So far so good.
Oops, forgot to check in. I finished vol 1 of からかい上手の高木さん and started vol 2 with the bookclub. Also keeping current with ABBCs それでも歩は寄せてくる.
WK reviews/lessons have been going well, though some days I skipped doing lessons. Been noticing vocab/kanji from WK appearing in my readings! Its super exciting whenever I come across one
Bunpro I forgot about lol. Will attempt again.
My goal for the coming weeks is to develop a morning reading habit. Ive already gotten in the habit of morning reviews so Id like to add reading to that time as well. Hopefully scheduling butt in chair time for reading will equal more reading overall. Sometimes without a schedule I end up procrastinating and will go days without reading anything
Would like to venture into reading NANA, though the walls of text and heavy dialogue is kinda intimidating. Hmmmmmmm. With my daily reading goal, I should be able to finish my bookclub readings earlier in the week. Then I will be free to read NANA. Lets see if I can start!
A great way to go about Bunpro is to look up grammar that you encounter in your book club reading, and do the lessons for those specifically. Much of the grammar will come up again later in the volume or series, so Bunpro can help you keep it in mind until you see it again.
Ding! Level 6! Level 5 took me 18 days and 21 hours. Slow and steady. Part of me is wanting to go faster but nah. I’m enjoying this pace because it allows time and energy for other things, like grammar study and sketching/decorating in my language journal.
Japanese Study/Art Journal Pages Aug 1-6th
Man, photographing my journal so it looks good is so hard. (Instagramers what are your secrets??) Please excuse the washout-ness and shiny bits. I will have to figure out the best way to photo.
I’ve been an avid art journaler for years but have been really struggling with consistency since well the start of the pandemic. My family and I are still working from home and avoiding travel and so there hasnt been much to journal about… So my journal has been transformed into a study journal! And it’s been so much fun!
Butt in chair time has paid off! All this week, I set time aside in the early morning (before kids wake up) and in the evening before bed (after kids go to bed) to study, to read and work in my journal. Sketching and coloring panels from manga I’m reading has been really fun and relaxing. Normally I strive for 100% original-ness but lately that pressure to create create CREATE has been paralyzing. So doing studies of another artist work is so refreshing and chill. I get to practice my brush work skills without pressure, it’s so nice.
I finished my bookclub readings early in the week and then started NANA. WOW there’s so many words per page! Slowly grinding my way through. I’m filling out my own vocab sheet and just taking it one page at a time I’m on page 14! NANA is a series very dear to me so I’m enjoying the grind.
Also happy to say that I didn’t ignore Bunpro this week and I’m on a 6 day streak! I will admit, my recognition is much much stronger than my recall, so bunpro was much needed. I’m taking physical notes as well and copying breakdowns and example sentences is really helping to sink things in.
Aiming for more of the same for the next week. Daily butt in chair time. Slow and steady!
Took my time whittling down my review pile before I started 10-15 new lessons a day. I think I spent about a week just reviewing? I didn’t want huge piles to come back at me so I kept my review sessions short.
So far so good.
Level 5 took me 18 days and 21 hours. Slow and steady. Part of me is wanting to go faster but nah. I’m enjoying this pace because it allows time and energy for other things, like grammar study and sketching/decorating in my language journal.
