Pollincowbell's studylog - 櫻坂46 Containment Cell

[pollincowbell]

Hi! My name is Collin.

About Me:
Languages:

• English (native)
• German (fluent)
• Greek (intermediate)
• Japanese (beginner)

I decided to stop lurking, reading other people’s study logs and to finally make my own. This should help me continue to commit to the Wanikani journey, and hopefully become a cozy overview of my progress and what I’ve been working on.

I havent decided how to format this going forward, so I’m going to keep this pretty free form for now!

The main reason I feel inspired to start a study log is that I have finally passed level 10. That doesn’t sound all that impressive, but for me it was a great feeling. I’d started about a year ago with Wanikani, and made it up to level 10, but then took several months off, due to busy work schedule and summer. I lost steam, and really dreaded getting back into it. Finally, I pulled up my britches and logged back on, was confronted with hundreds of reviews and felt my stomach plummet. I tried to work though the review pile for a few days, but I felt so discouraged, being immediately confronted with items I used to know but couldn’t remember now for the life of me. So… I reset my progress to level 4, and began almost from scratch!

Now, officially in Level 11 (ironically one of my lucky numbers!) I felt like it was an auspicious time to start this study log!

Some of my motivations for getting back into Japanese was a second trip to Japan this spring, and feeling empowered to use basic phrases and words. It reminded me of that ecstatic feeling I had when I started using my first two foreign language (German). Its really addictive!! I have also been learning Greek for the past 4ish years, currently at an Intermediate/B1+ level.

Additionally, I really got into the idol group SAKURAZAKA46. I was introduced to this group through my friend Zach’s podcast IM SO POPULAR (please give him 5 dollars). Originally, I wasnt very into the group, but at some point things just clicked and I became obsessed. Just one problem, its all in japanese! So, that became another motivation for learning. I was lucky enough to see the girls perform for the 5th Year anniversary at Tokyo dome this year. So, expect some idol content here as well in this Study log from time to time!

Anyways, thanks for listening to me ramble, and I’m happy to hear from you!

[pollincowbell]

Study Log 31.06.26

Wanikani mistakes:

• 進める - to advance something
  • I wrote “to advance”, which is closer to 進む
• 伝 - transmit
  • Meaning correct, but reading wrong. New kanji as of 30.06
• 交わる - to intersect
  • Both meaning/reading incorrect, forgot the meaning, and messed up the まじわる portion
• 年上 - older
  • a little ashamed of this one, probably a leech
  • I always get the meaning correct, but for some reason としうえ will not stick in my mind.
• 用事 - Task
  • said “use”
• 道具 - tool
  • gave “method” instead, but my gut had told me tool. Should have listened!
• 売り上げ - amount sold
  • reading wrong, うりあげ
• 直前 - just before
  • meaning wrong - “just now”, which i suppose colloquially is how I use “just before”. “Just now”, this happened to me, implying shortly before…
• 別 - separate
  • reading wrong, new kanji as of 31.06
• 本物 - real thing
  • reading wrong, used onyomi, forgot that 本 is onyomi and 物 is kunyomi (もの)

Airlearn:

• Did my 5 free lessons on Airlearn today. Struggling a bit with forming the past tense and remembering the verb meanings.
• (buddycode: MZXBUL3186) if you want to add me!

[Kami_Neko]

Congratulations on Getting back to lvl 11 ! I am barely lvl 9 and thinking of resetting even a level give me mini heart attacks…you have some courage !

@pollincowbell

thanks for listening to me ramble

I love when people ramble so ramble your way to lvl 60 !

[pollincowbell]

Thank you so much! Let’s make our way to Level 60 together!!

The reset wasn’t fun, but it did put my brain on hyperdrive, and re-learning the words came much faster than expected.

[Kami_Neko]

I barely remember what i learned this morning so hearing your hyperdrive makes me envious…truly envious…

[pollincowbell]

01.06.26-

Wanikani:

• No mistakes made today!
• Completed 109 reviews
• Did my 15 new lessons

Bunpro Mistakes:

• Could not formulate かえる correctly, was trying to use 行きます
• Similar issue with 話す, was confusing it with another verb
• 土曜日 + 日曜日 were new words for me
• 

Airlearn

• Completed 5 free Airlearn lessons
• Joined the Legendary League, apparently!

Lesson with Tutor

• Had my recurring lesson with my tutor. This is my 4th lesson with her, and we are quickly working our way through まるごと A1 (りかい)
• Today’s lesson we covered the remainder of Lesson 5 (食べ物) and we began Lesson 6 where we discussed particles a bit more in depth, something I am eager to learn
  • は - topic marker
  • が - contrasts + draws attention
  • に - can be time, location, etc
  • へ - also denotes travel, movement towards a destination
• Additionally, I added some new vocabulary
  • 好きなりょうりはなんですか。
    • what is your *favorite (**好きな) food (りょうり)
      • I think りょうり can mean cooking as well
  • きらいなたべものは魚です
    • My least favorite food/ I dislike fish
  • おそい // おそいです
    • its slow/ late

We move a little slow in my lessons, but I hope this way I can better start to put the building blocks together of simple grammar.

Finally, I started watching the latest Sakurazaka46 4th gen member vlog, Rabbit Island - Katsumata Haru = Meguro Hiiro, although I didnt get very far. I want to use their videos as listening practice, even if I cannot understand everything.

Thats its for today!

[Kami_Neko]

@pollincowbell

I want to use their videos as listening practice, even if I cannot understand everything.

That is the spirit ! Good luck in picking up some grammar and vocabs in your listening

and you have a tutor ?! dayuuuuum

[pollincowbell]

It will be while before I can understand it, but hoping some brute force osmosis/exposure might just train my ear a bit!!

Im trying out a tutor! May or may not be something I continue with! It helped me a lot during my (ongoing!) Greek learning

[pollincowbell]

02.06.26-

It wasn’t a big day for studying today, felt a bit tired, so we kept it lowkey!

Wanikani Mistakes:

• 拾 - “pick up”, got reading incorrect ひろ

• 近道 - wrong reading, its kunyomi

• 算数 - messed up and thought す was rendaku’ed, さんすう

• 小学校 - read too fast, and auto-piloted to 小学生 … oops

• Completed 110 reviews

• Did my 15 new lessons

Airlearn:

• Completed my 5 free Airlearn lessons

Other:

I did continue my playthrough of Higurashi (Currently Chapter 5), and realized I can switch languages to Japanese by hitting the L key. I dont want to post whole spoilers, but I was excited to see even a few kanji I recognized here like:

• 考える
• 失っている
• 自分
• 思

And then watching today’s state of play for Playstation, hearing the Japanese devs talk, I can pick out some dates!

Overall a very lowkey day, but I enjoyed it!

As my idols had their 4th Gen live performance today, I will sign off with a lovely photo of the 4th gen members! がんばってね!

[Kami_Neko]

@pollincowbell

It will be while before I can understand it, but hoping some brute force osmosis/exposure might just train my ear a bit!!

I am with you

I started con teppie and shun podcast but wasn’t even able to understand the vocabs and grammar that i had in my brain…its like native speakers smooth out the endings of kana which to my ears is a recipe for disaster…its like a native english speaker eating the g in doing

@pollincowbell

T-too c-cute

[pollincowbell]

03.06.26-

Checking in! Almost didnt post today, but figured consistency is key!

Wanikani Mistakes:

• 乗り場 - messed up the reading, wasn’t paying enough attention! Autopiloted to “vehicle”, but its clearly “boarding area”

• Completed 65 reviews

• Did my 15 new lessons

Airlearn:

• Completed my 5 free Airlearn lessons

Other:

• I worked on some Marugoto listening exercises during my break at work today.
• Was able to reconigze several words in the JP Voice Acting for Trails from Zero, even a few words that I learned today like:
  • 受付 / うけつけ / receptionist
  • 路地 / ろじ / alley

More to come tomorrow!

[pollincowbell]

@Kami_Neko

I started con teppie and shun podcast but wasn’t even able to understand the vocabs and grammar that i had in my brain…its like native speakers smooth out the endings of kana which to my ears is a recipe for disaster…its like a native english speaker eating the g in doing

Ahh thats a good idea, I should try a podcast for some listening too! Even if we dont catch everything, its great training.

And congratulations on level 10!! Go you!

[Kami_Neko]

@pollincowbell

And congratulations on level 10!! Go you!

Can’t delay our climb to lvl 60 right ?

@pollincowbell

Checking in! Almost didnt post today, but figured consistency is key!

This is the only thing that i believe in nowadays. and showing up for even a single review or lesson update is better than no update…keep it up

[icetray]

@pollincowbell

Other:

I did continue my playthrough of Higurashi (Currently Chapter 5), and realized I can switch languages to Japanese by hitting the L key. I dont want to post whole spoilers, but I was excited to see even a few kanji I recognized here like:

Ooh, this is super useful to know! I’m also reading Higurashi right now, I’m on Chapter 7. I’ve just had the text in English because it’s well above my level. But, being able to compare directly like that without any delay is nice. Ty for sharing!

Chapter 5 was maybe my favorite so far. I need to get back to my playthrough, I lost some momentum recently…

[pollincowbell]

@icetray

Ooh, this is super useful to know! I’m also reading Higurashi right now, I’m on Chapter 7.f

Ahh, you are most welcome!! Is it still as tense in chapter 7? I hope so! You are close to solving the mystery!

I had also thought that the JP dialogue would be super complex, but after I installed the voice mod patch, I started hearing a few words I recognized! Which, of course, translates only into a few kanji or simple phrases I can understand, but it is certainly encouraging… One day, a JP only playthrough of Higurashi, perhaps?

It took me quite a while to get into the flow of the VN, both because Ive only played some standard romance-like ones before and that it is very complex/repetitive in the first few chapters. But now, Im into it!!

[icetray]

@pollincowbell

Is it still as tense in chapter 7? I hope so! You are close to solving the mystery!

I’m pretty early on in Chapter 7 - Chapter 5/6 were amongst my favorites, but also some of the most emotionally difficult chapters so far. I don’t want to say anything potentially spoiler-y, but I found Chapter 6 to be so climactic that I needed some time to reset emotionally after, haha.

I feel like I have a pretty good idea of where the story is going by now, but Ryukishi is good at creating that feeling and then subverting you, so we’ll see how right I am.

@pollincowbell

I had also thought that the JP dialogue would be super complex, but after I installed the voice mod patch, I started hearing a few words I recognized!

Yes, I’ve had a similar experience! I’m using the voice mods as well and was surprised at how many words I recognized. I’ve been doing an Anki deck with common words (Kaishi 1.5k) and, unsurprisingly, the most common words are used a lot.

@pollincowbell

It took me quite a while to get into the flow of the VN, both because Ive only played some standard romance-like ones before and that it is very complex/repetitive in the first few chapters.

I also was pretty slow to start and get into it. I had Onikakushi for a while - checked it out once and didn’t have any of the mods or updated backgrounds, etc. It was when Silent Hill F came out and I saw that Ryukishi wrote the scenario for it, that I was prompted to go back to Higurashi. I’m glad I did, because by the end of Chapter 2, I was on board!

@pollincowbell

One day, a JP only playthrough of Higurashi, perhaps?

It’s one of my long-term goals for Japanese! Umineko as well. I’ll probably read Umineko in English first too, don’t think I can wait that long lol.

[pollincowbell]

@icetray

I also was pretty slow to start and get into it. I had Onikakushi for a while - checked it out once and didn’t have any of the mods or updated backgrounds, etc. It was when Silent Hill F came out and I saw that Ryukishi wrote the scenario for it, that I was prompted to go back to Higurashi. I’m glad I did, because by the end of Chapter 2, I was on board!

Yes Onikakushi and Watanagashi were both a bit slow at the beginning! So many SoL moments that are cute, yet very tiring I also saw that Ryukishi wrote the new Silent Hill! I actually am not that much into “horror” games, usually, but after trying out Higurashi, I would be willing to test out Ryukishi’s Silent Hill!

@icetray

It’s one of my long-term goals for Japanese! Umineko as well. I’ll probably read Umineko in English first too, don’t think I can wait that long lol.

A bunch of my friends are reading Umineko right now, but I told myself I have to finish Higurashi first!!

[pollincowbell]

04.06.26

Hello hello! I am back with another update! I had a free day today so I got to enjoy hanging around the house, going into the city fora yummy lunch, followed by an iced vietnamesed coffee, yummm.

I also made some progress in the book I am currently reading, Tanizaki’s “The Makioka Sisters”. Of course, I am reading this in English translation! I am nearing the end, and am very invested in the story. I can recommend this to you if you like a classic manners and customs novel, it has a lof of plot threads that lovers of Jane Austen or classic English lit might enjoy, mostly to do with family custom, polite society, expectations, etc. It is quite a robust tale!

Excitingly, I had some items that BURNED today, so that felt good as hell.

BURNED

Wanikani Mistakes:

• 競- New Kanji today, couldnt remember the meaning “compete” in first review

• 級 - Also new, meaning right (level) but reading きゅう forgotten

• 伝える - new, didnt get the reading つたえる

  • btw I think the “two tacos” that WK routinely uses as a mnemonic device for つた is a rough trigger, it never works for me.

• 決心 - differentiating between 決 (けつ) and 対 (たい) has been plaguing me for some reason. Messed up this reading: けっしん

• 大事 - you again…my old foe. Its important, but not enough for you to wear a tie, rather its so important, your DYES!..or…you might die? This is another mnemonic that doesnt work for me, especially with 大, WK loves to just flip between tie/dye for them For my own peace of mind, this word is IMPORTANT and is read like だいじ

• 私大 - see above grumblings, this is しだい, private university

• 負ける - To lose! confused with 欠かす (to do without)

• Completed 153 reviews

• Did my 15 new lessons

Bunpro:

• Did all my lessons and 40ish reviews
• Made a few mistakes
  • 経済 - economics/economy ! けいざい
  • あまり - didnt know this could also be used for “more than” as in “more than 20 people live here”
    • ここには２０人余りが住んでいます。

Airlearn:

• Completed my 5 free Airlearn lessons

Other:

• I listened to a short podcast episode from “Japanese with Shun” (ft. このみん as my lockscreen)

  
  • Im afraid I only got a few nouns and simple verbs, but I did understand the gist of the episode. I was hoping for a bit more of a conversation, but listening to a simple story also has its benefits!

Thanks for checking in!

[Kami_Neko]

@pollincowbell

Excitingly, I had some items that BURNED today, so that felt good as hell.

BURNED

You have taken another step toward ascension !

Congratulations on burning the items I am having trouble remembering

@pollincowbell

May i ask if that’s your picture or of an idol/singer ?

[pollincowbell]

Certainly! This is not me. Its my favorite member of the 4th generation of Sakurazaka46, 浅井 恋乃未, Asai Konomi, or Konomin for short!

@Kami_Neko

May i ask if that’s your picture or of an idol/singer ?

I need to do an oshi ranking so everybody can get more familiar with the girls!