Isnt the whole point of immersion getting comprehensible input?
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ćŖćć”ć³ is giving me trouble. The dialogue uses longer sentence structures which I have trouble parsing because it involves monologues and soliloquies so the pictures donāt really give a sense of plot. So I am finding myself lost on the plot. I did read a translation of ćŖćć”ć³ years ago but I donāt really remember all the plot points. Also, shoujo manga seems to use quite a lot of fancy fonts and decorations which distorts the words a bit so I canāt understand the writing sometimes. For example, the highlighted panel in the picture below. I canāt figure out what is written there.
So next month, I will switch to another manga. I wanted to do a shoujo because 天ä½æćŖå°ēęę° was a shounen manga.
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I believe that says ćć£ ććć¼ć”ćć¼ć. Is there a character named ććć¼?
Thereās a userscript called Jitai that lets you do your WK reviews in a variety of fonts (with the ability to see the plain font by mousing over). Iāve found it super helpful for learning to read unusual fonts!
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Thanks for that. Yes, there is a character called Ryou.
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Iām still reading every day just less than during the challenge. Either way I am super busy the whole month so there wonāt be much time for reading. Right now Iām reading [čå¾ć«åćć¦ē°äøēć§8äøęć®éč²Øćč²Æćć¾ć and playing the newest mystery horror game in japanese.
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Getting pretty close to my goal of 100 days, lately Iāve mostly been reading Demon Slayer the manga and dabbling in the game and anime when Iāve unlocked enough of them by reading ahead in the manga.
- Nov 22nd - Demon slayer 2.5 pages
- Nov 23rd - Demon slayer 6 pages
- Nov 24th - Demon slayer 1.5 - 2 pages
- Nov 25th - Demon slayer 8 pages finishing chapter 8 (in 3 days)
- Nov 26th - Demon slayer 7 pages (start ch. 9)
- Nov 27th - Demon slayer 10 pages (fin ch. 9 in 2 days?)
- Nov 28th - Demon slayer 7 pages (start ch. 10)
- Nov 29th - Demon slayer 12 pages (fin ch. 10 in 2 days)
- Nov 30th - Demon slayer 23 pages (start ch. 11, fin ch. 11, start ch. 12) + demon slayer game
- Dec 01st - Demon slayer 1 page + old sentences + lots of demon slayer game
- Dec 02nd - Demon slayer 31 pages (fin ch. 12, start ch. 13, fin ch. 13) + demon slayer game
- Dec 03rd - Demon slayer 8 pages (start ch. 14) + lots of demon slayer game
This puts me at 94 days, so only 6 to go including today (havenāt counted yet as I havenāt finished reading).
Itās been really fun tracking the number of pages Iāve read as I can see a very clear growth, and the number of grammar points I encounter which I have no idea about has decreased a lot (many of them I wonāt be 100% on, but any improvement above 0% is really big).
Sometimes I can go entire days without having to crank open the grammar dictionary, whereas I used to be using it multiple times a page. Still lots and lots of vocab to look up, but still counting this a huge win.
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This will be my final update post in this thread as I finished reading through Spy x Family volume 3 today. Itās been just as good as the other two volumes. I read all I wanted to read and met my goals. So itās time to end the challenge for me and relax the constraints for the rest of the month. Iāll probably still be reading and ordering new stuff, but likely not everyday. The month rest will give me some space to look at my digital collection a bit more and maybe do some more stuff on bookmeter.
This year already far exceeded my expectations when it comes to reading and Iāll be back next year swinging for more.
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This manga is more dialogue-heavy than ćŖćć”ć³(ä¹ē·). Iāve spent more days reading it but I read less pages. Perhaps, I shouldnāt have complained about not understanding the story. However, even though ä¼é·ćÆć”ć¤ćę§ļ¼is harder to read, I can follow the story much easier. It helps that I am currently watching the anime on Blu-ray and I read the English translation of volume 1 recently.
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A Long-Delayed Reflection Post
Only a month late, but whoās counting 
First, I will start with accomplishments!
- With someā¦bending of the rules (
) I did keep my streak and read every day! - I didnāt finish High Speed, but I did read 162.5/228 pages, soā¦71% of the way there xD I donāt mind that I didnāt finish it, though - despite the name, I think this novel is one to savor, rather than rush through. Once I started reading it, I realized that I wanted to take my time and fully enjoy the book, which sometimes meant setting it aside for a bit when I knew I wasnāt in the mindset to enjoy it. I really have enjoyed finding these characters again <3 I love them just as much as I did 8+ years ago when I first met them through the anime :3 I was going to make myself a goal of finishing the book before the start of the next challenge, but then work exploded sooo I donāt think I will make that goal after all. Iāll come back to it for sure
- Aside from reading High Speed, I also read 685 pages of manga and finished 5 manga volumes (6 if you count the one I started prior to the challenge)
- Overall, I read for a whopping 55 hours over the course of the challenge - not quite as much as I read in the summer challenge, but still 55 hours I wouldnāt have spent reading otherwise
- Bonus: I got to enjoy a lot of really cute things
I love our Tanuki Cuteness Brigade - I had so much fun sharing cute things and hearing about even more cute things to enjoy 
Also, PS, I bought that big fluffy bird plushie - 10/10 would buy again (so round 
big fluffy ball of birb)
One thing that continues to elude me is actually building a habit without the āthreatā of the challenge hanging over my head 
I have read exactly nothing since the end of the challenge, which is not entirely my own fault (thanks, work, love you 
), but I justā¦canāt help but feel a little annoyed by how readily I let it drop.
Some more thoughts related to that
So, something that made me feel a bit guilty - when the challenge was done, I felt a littleā¦relieved? And I donāt really know how to take that? Like, what am I relieved about?
That I donāt have to read every day? (Why are you like this, me, donāt you like reading? 
)
That I can ālet goā of a routine? (Why are none of the changes I try to make ever sustained/sustainable)
That I donāt have to post every day? (Not that there was even an obligation to do that anyway, but I definitely feel pressure from myself to do that sometimes - I do feel like it keeps me on track, so I feel I should, but I, likeā¦donāt want to be kept on track, sometimes, if that even makes sense. I feel like it also might have helped if Iād made my posts a bit shorter/simpler 
But if Iām posting I want toā¦you know, say something. ā¦Itās a complex issue lol)
And maybe itās none of the above, maybe itās just life (aka work) overwhelming me like freaking always and making me eager to drop everything I can, but even thinking that doesnāt stop me from being annoyed about how easy it is for me to get overwhelmed by stuff. It happens, likeā¦not infrequently. Where I have to let stuff drop, because something has to give and that thing canāt ever be work. I hate that I feel like Iām the only one at work who has this problem to such a degree.
Aaaanywayā¦enough on that xD
Iām happy I had the opportunity to run this challenge thread :3 You all made this such a fun experience And it was awesome getting to introduce this challenge to more people ^^
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thank you for this, this makes me feel better! I think I managed to read the first few days of November and then it just gradually petered out. My Christmas holidays start in 10 days time and I had been hoping to finish the novel that I had started by then, so I could read a new one over Christmasā¦but as it is Iāve still got 100 pages to go. Can I do 10 per day between now and then? erm, probably not.
As you say, something always has to give and sadly it tends to be reading. For me, I think thatās almost because I do enjoy it - unlike SRS - and also because itās not going to come back and bite me later (unlike SRS).
One nice update from me though: I tweeted (in japanese) to one of the manga-ka whose works I really love, and they re-tweeted it and replied, and it might have actually been the happiest moment of 2021 for me? Even more so because loads of people replied underneath and no-one said jouzudesune.
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Late reply, but:
Yeah, I feel you. I would think that perhaps because of the nature of these things, a āchallengeā being something, well, challenging, takes effort. It comes with a certain mental pressure to keep oneself up to par. This is work, after all, at least I know it is for me. Weāre going from something we didnāt do before to something new that is mentally taxing, which is reading everyday. Itās only natural that after two months of work the brain is happy that suddenly the commitment is lifted.
Makes 200% sense. I didnāt feel like posting some days, and I also felt the pressure of writing things for the sake of having something to say, but I just concluded that I just simply had nothing to say many times, so I just made a very short post with what I did and thatās it. And it worked quite well for me ^^ .
Another thing that I understand completely. In my case itās from having a currently-not-so-healthy brain, and I want to drop everything frequently and retreat to the safe bubble. I think thatās inevitable, but I also think that none of what weāve already done will be taken from us. Even if you didnāt read anything since the challenge finished, that wonāt take away the two full months that you did read. So donāt beat yourself up, you did indeed work a lot (55 hours of just reading alone? Thatās impressive). I think itās also good to chill for a bit 
.
I think in my case in particular, perhaps itās the limitation to āreadingā that feels just a tiny bit suffocating sometimes. Iām not a particularly avid reader in my day to day life, though I really like reading, especially if itās something that I have a lot of interest in. Reading everday, for two months, in a foreign language that I donāt have a very solid grasp on yetā¦ yeah thatās work on top of work. Iāve struggled a bit to find something that I would love to read every single day, so many days were just a filler to keep the streak going. But on the other hand, I would absolutely have no issue at all, and I know this for a fact because I do it already, to do anything in Japanese everyday. And what I mean by that is: I could read one day, then listen to podcasts the next, then back to reading the other, then watching a couple episodes of a TV show, then a couple videos on YouTube, then back to reading. And so on.
Now, I donāt want to change the soul of the challenge, especially when most people here are fine with it being exclusively for reading (and I am as well, for the most part!). But Iām wondering, could we make it work somehowā¦ if we made it broader to other media, something like a āJapanese every day challenge - [season] 2022ā sort of thing? Where people who wanted to read read, people who wanted to listen to podcasts listened to them, people who wanted to watch anime/TV shows/whatever (always being mindful of not publicly sharing piracy), and so on? So everyone would still make updates like we already do, but they would be of any sorts. I think it would attract more people, more interactions, and more discoveries and sharing.
Itās just a thought though! Iām getting ready for the Winter challenge. Iām interested in knowing whatās you allās opinion on this though. I would like it myself, but I can definitely see how some wouldnāt like it. Also itās worth mentioning that it wouldnāt mean to change the focus from reading, everybody would still have their own personal goals which can still focus entirely on reading 
. It would drift away a bit from being some sort of book club, though.
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I like that idea. That way on days that I watch anime, I donāt have to scramble to read something especially if Iām not in the mood and just want to go to bed. It would also mean that I will have more reason to watch some of my anime backlog.
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Iām also up for this.
Iāve been flexible some days in my interpretation of reading to include things like reading subtitles, menus, and dialogue in a Japanese video game.
I think in most cases Iād then scramble to try read a token amount of something proper.
Lately Itās just so happened that Ive primarily been reading manga, but eventually I want to do a similar deep dive into a video game and was planning on probably just counting that if it aligned with a challenge window.
Iāve often enjoyed other people (like you!) posting in here about video games and such just as much as posts about books proper.
Great framing.
I often run into this where I judge myself negatively (also bad brain) because Iāve seemingly failed to create and stick with a habit say after the challenge ends.
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Its a difficult one. Last challenge I read and posted everyday, but this challenge I was too busy/tired so while I read pretty much everyday I only found the energy to post sporadically. I think I enjoyed and felt like a part of a little community more in the first challenge so posting and interacting in the thread daily does seem like an important part but sometimes when you are tired ćććććŖ暤·
Iād also be fine with this! Might help me stop slacking with listening hahaā¦
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Also very fine with this! I think everyone set their own parameters for the reading challenge anyway and decided what counted for them to be able to tick that box. There was some discussion at the beginning of the thread about what made it different to Tadoku - maybe the difference is that everyone defines their own content but weāre all still trying to stick to it for 2 months.
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@rikaiwisdom Username checks out! I wasnāt able to put it into words myself, but I agree with all your comments about habits and challenge aftermath. And @windupbird, just want to express my appreciation for all the wonderful, illustrated comments you posted, and the effort you put into them! Thank you. 
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Today I finished ćććć° volume my 25th manga volume this year.
The manga is about a dad and his three daughters one day noticing that all other people disappeared. It shows their everyday life in a world without other humans.
But this is just the beginning there is still so much more I want to read in japanese. In the future I want to read not only manga but also lots of books and visual novels, especially the super hard ones. I showed some of the harder books I have to my teacher and she was totally shocked.
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Ha, this is a good point xD A challenge isā¦a challenge. I guess I feel like this āchallengeā shouldnāt really be a challenge for me but thatās just my stupid brain. Iām sort of known in my family as āthe bookwormā (because I did nothing but read as a child), and the fact that I now have to make myself pick up a book makes me feel guiltyā¦just reminds me again that Iām living a lie 
Another true thing that is hard for me to accept. (All or nothing strikes again)
Soā¦I guess I am uncertain about this idea xD My feelings are mixed. (I hate that I feel that way >< I feel like Iām always the party pooper because Iām bad with change)
Rambling thoughts
Iām not sure Iād really want the official/core challenge to be a more general āJapanese every dayā challenge, but at the same time I wouldnāt have a problem at all if some people in the challenge wanted to make it into a more general challenge for themselves and post about other things theyāre doing in Japanese? If that makes sense? (it probably doesnāt lmao) I definitely wouldnāt mind if people wanted to choose to count other types of media for their streak - I think if that fits your personal goals, thatās totally valid and Iām all for it. But I like having a specific base (ie, reading) for the challenge because it feels moreā¦focused, I guess? I like having a more defined ācoreā/required action (that people can then adjust for themselves, if they would like), vs. having to come up with my own core from scratch (because I never do anything when I set my own goals - I do better with a liiittle more preset/external structure/requirements).
Reading is pretty much the only thing I ever do in Japanese (as much as I fail at reading consistently, I have way more trouble getting myself to do anything else lol), so I feel like making the challenge more general wouldnāt really help me personally, and I feel like itās more motivating for me in a way if weāre (mainly) doing a similar activity together. But I also fully realized that this challenge is not āfor meā exclusively, it is for everyone, and I do see how a broadened challenge could be helpful for people who maybe have more interest in other types of media (I just donāt personally have a lot of interest in those things, it seems ). It seems like a few other people would like it to be broader, and like you mentioned, if it was a broader ādo something in Japanese every dayā challenge, I could always just do my 2 months as a pure reading challenge. I do worry that it would lose a bit of the āweāre all in this togetherā feeling though, if it starts to get really varied as to what everyone is doing.
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Thank you, Iām glad you enjoyed them :3
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It absolutely makes sense to me, and my thoughts are along the same lines.
Yep, exactly that.
At the same time, Iām wondering just like you 
Do I want everybody to stick to reading because I want to stick to reading? But should this really force everybody to stick to reading? and so on. In the end, I think that for most people, watching something in Japanese is fun while reading something is tough, and if this is to remain a challenge, it should be about the tough thingsā¦
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