📚📚 Read every day challenge - Fall/Autumn 2021 🍁🍂🦝

Fair enough! I‘m not really into manga so that might indeed explain the difference in numbers. I picked up a few free ones here and there, and bought some, but the larger part (I think :sweat_smile:) is books…
might need to count them actually, those manga series add up quickly…

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Makes sense! If I subtract the number of manga (easy to do since they’re categorized on the library and check screen) the numbers are right alongside yours :slight_smile: manga really does add up…

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Most things I read are manga which I can finish pretty fast. But I admit I have already started too many videogames and visual novels in japanese. I will finish reading everything one day but it will take years…

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:house_with_garden: home post

:heavy_check_mark: Day 1 (9月 9日) :sparkles:

What did I read:
暁のヨナ, chapter 33, for the bookclub. Approximately 29 pages. This is one of my ‘intensive’ reads, and I actually had to fill up the vocab spreadsheet… wow, that took me 2 hours :sweat_smile:

What I learnt:

  • 勇気ゆうきを振絞る ふ しぼ = to muster all of (one’s strength, courage, etc.)

  • 募集 ぼしゅう = recruitment; taking applications

  • はまぐり = clam

  • たらたらこ = cod roe
    food vocab always useful, you know it

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hi, hi~ Thank you! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Main post

Day 8 :heavy_check_mark:
I read three chapters of Barakamon volume 3 (one of them is only 2 pages long haha). :open_book:

Orientation day

I was very stressed out because I thought uni started today and I couldn’t focus on anything. Turns out my master’s degree starts on Monday and I attended the wrong orientation today :laughing:

Day 9 :heavy_check_mark:
I read two chapters of Barakamon volume 3.

Card captor sakura 誤解

At the beginning of the chapter I thought I spotted a reference to Card Captor Sakura because Naru talks about ケルベロス and I was like!! just like “Kerobero” from CCS (French name of Kero). Then I googled it and realised for the first time that Kero was a ‘reference’ to Cerberus :joy: I’ve been a fan of Sakura for YEARS and I never realised it.

Vocabulary
  • 幼虫 (ようちゅう) : larva
  • 晒し (さらし) : public humiliation, doxxing
  • ほじくり返す : to disclose
  • 高飛車 (たかびしゃ) : high-handed
  • 画商 (がしょう) : picture dealer (makes sense)
  • 嘸や (さぞや) : surely
  • 一睡 (いっすい) : wink of sleep
  • 竿 (さお) : rod; pole
  • 愚民 (ぐみん) : ignorant people
  • 陥る (おちいる) : to fall; to surrender
  • 具現化 (ぐげんか) : embodiment
  • 撤収 (てっしゅう) : withdrawal (of troops)
  • 残骸 (ざんがい) : ruins

Welcome @fengduoyin and @iterimpius :cherry_blossom:

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I’m glad it was useful, and of course, thank you for the follow in the first place :smiley:

Welcome aboard, very glad to have you with us on this adventure!

I think there is a teeny tiny typo in your calendar for Sept 2nd, an extra ] has snuck in, so you may want to change 2][] to 2[]

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Short answer: Am not.

I was doing a pretty good job at first. My entire study pattern was literally just to understand everything in a book, so it felt more like fun study materials rather than just like some piece of entertainment. From that viewpoint, there wasn’t much drive to switch to something else partway through since the main point was just to learn stuff and that was a majority of the fun. As the scales have turned (less stuff to learn), I’ve actually started switching between stuff more and have a bit of a to read pile.

I happen to currently be working through that pile, however. I think, in total I have like 10 or so books I need to get through which definitely isn’t a lot compared to some other people lol. 6 of them are imouto sae ireba ii volumes and I’ve been able to knock out those books in one sitting so I’m not too worried. On the other hand…one of them is shin sekai yori and that knocks me out in one sitting.

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Summary Post

Day 9: September 9th
Satori Reader: Secret, episode 35.

Random words
  • 弱気 = よわき faint-hearted (ness).
  • 一方 = いっぽう various meanings but in today’s context: “on the other hand”.
  • 足場 = あしば foothold, footing (apparently it’s also scaffolding).
  • 確実 = かくじつ certainty, reliability.
  • 振り返る = ふりかえる to turn one’s head, to look back.
  • 山火事 = やまかじ mountain fire, wildfire.
  • もくもく(と) = rising, billowing up (smoke, etc).
  • 立ち上る = たちのぼる to rise up, to go up (again smoke, etc).
  • 咳き込む = せきこむ to cough violently, to have a coughing fit.

Today’s episode was a nice one, I enjoyed it a lot. It had me almost skipping words to see what was happening next. Looking forward to tomorrow’s. Which is awesome, considering how this series in particular has had me a bit bored at times; but then it has episodes like this and my interest goes up again. What a roller-coaster. :eyes:

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Summary post

Day 9: September 9
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 8.5 pages - finished chapter 2!
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 54 min

Oh we’re back in serious mode today. Haru, maybe the day you’re not feeling well isn’t the day to take up running. :woman_facepalming: :woman_facepalming: Poor sweet Makoto needs a hug again after Haru scared him half to death by falling in the river. Makoto clearly has a habit of holding onto the hem of Haru’s clothes when he’s scared and it hurts me every time. Honestly Rin probably needs a hug, too. Hugs for all my boys, it was a hard day :heart:

I’m actually really surprised (and pleased) with how fast I’m able to read this right now?? Like idk, in the past when I’ve tried to read books it’s felt like a lot more of an effort, but this doesn’t feel nearly as burdensome. There are moments when it almost feels…dare I say…breezy?? I think the fact that the sentences are frequently short or broken up helps a lot. The fact that I adore it probably also helps a lot xD But it’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe I built it up too much in my head, from that time years ago when I looked at it and barely knew any Japanese xD

Some good words, in a summary because this post turned into a monster
  • 息が弾む (いきがはずむ) - to breathe hard; to pant; to be out of breath
  • へばる - to be exhausted; to be worn out (is it weird that I think this looks like its meaning? like, the へ is lying down in exhaustion)
  • 封じ込める (ふうじこめる) - to shut in; to confine; to contain
  • さり気ない (さりげない) - nonchalant; unconcerned; in a casual manner​
  • 悴む (かじかむ) - to grow numb with cold​ (I really like that this is a word)
  • 言いよどむ (いいよどむ) - to hesitate to say
  • 狼狽える (うろたえる) - to be flustered; to lose one’s presence of mind​ (look at those flustered-looking kanji)
  • 裾 (すそ) - hem (:pleading_face:)

Well I’m super late on the welcome wagon but heck yes, glad to have you join us! :blush:

My two cents on what worked for me last time

What worked really well for me in terms of keeping my streak in the first challenge was to just go with my gut on what I felt like reading that day. When I was tired, I didn’t force myself to read any more than I wanted to. Like others have said, one page? Still counts. I also had a few options for things to read at any given time, things of varying difficulty levels - I had some super easy things that I could go to when I was exhausted, and some more challenging things for days when I had more energy. I think that really helped me keep the habit in the first challenge. No matter what my mood, I always had something that I could look at and go, well, that wouldn’t be so bad to read, or eh, ok, I can read a page of that. Just look at your options and see what feels best that day and do that.

Yesssss

Never forget

chara_shumoku

For those of you who were not present for the summer reading club, I highly recommend this shark manga if you are looking for something on the lighter side to read. The sharks are cute and fun and I love them. xD sharks

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<.< Oops, sorry for long scattered post >.<

Ohhhh exciting! I remember only recently coming across your thread about you considering switching degrees to prioritize Japanese, congrats on finding a path that excites you!

I look forward to hearing how you find the program =D

Context thread for others reading

It does, and ば sounds like the exclamation the person would make, so it both looks and sounds like its meaning.

I initially read this as “ahem (:pleading_face:)” and looked up this word in Jisho expecting it to be much worse :sweat_smile:

@iterimpius some thoughts of mine, +1 to this windupbird’s whole post,I just wanted to highlight & add to two pieces:

During the summer thread there were days where I did a single (non-trivial) panel of manga, just to keep the rhythm going. Other days I would sit down thinking I would only do a single panel, and then I’d get in the groove and keep going.

In consulting it is often said “under promise and over deliver”, I think this also applies to reading goals, set a very low goal and if you happen to do more - great - consider if a bonus and congratulate yourself.

But also, don’t beat yourself up for the missed days. The real goal is more reading, you don’t have to be 100% perfect at it.

This was also a helpful strategy for me, in particular I was reading からかい上手の高木さん as my main read, and on days when that was a bit much I would turn to チーズスイートホーム which is a much lighter read (I could often get a chapter done in a sitting).

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:ballot_box_with_check: Day 10

Finished reading early today :sparkles: Read all of Chapter 4 in 手紙! (Though I realized that I need to read a little faster, if I want to give the book back to my mother-in-law before we move away. Either that, or just buy it when we leave. Hmm.)

This chapter had more reality sinking in for the younger brother, Naoki. How is he going to finish high school? Pay rent? Eat? With no family to stay with, no inheritance, and now with a stigma hanging above him… intense stuff!

Today's Words:
  • 目をつぶる = to shut one’s eyes, to ignore, pretend not to know
  • 滞納 (たいのう) = falling behind (with a payment)
  • 煩わしい (わずらわしい) = annoyed
  • 旧式 (きゅうしき) = old style/fashioned
  • 返答に窮する (へんとうにきゅうする) = to be as a loss for words, be embarrassed to answer

Main Post

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I understand how you feel (why are there so many good books, but so little time? :sob:).
You won’t be disappointed, at least I can say for sure with 手紙! Also, his writing approach is really language-learner friendly. Some use of phrases, but nothing too abstract or flowery.
Even if you read it in English lemme know what you think, whenever you get around to his writing!

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Ahh, 手紙 is actually one of the not-translated ones, as far as I checked… Btw, it’s not a title that is easy to check in general :stuck_out_tongue:
I was thinking about starting with the ABC pick, The Devotion of Suspect X.

And as for your recommendations, I still have カラフル to finish :sweat_smile: Since I’m doing the listening-and-reading-at-the-same-time thing I started to postpone it and postpone it because the environment was never calm enough… but this Sunday! I’m planning to finally go back to it! :crossed_fingers:

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This also works for me. I’m generally pretty good about only have one thing on the go at a time in all my hobbies - I only ever have one knitting or sewing project on the go at a time which is quite unusual in crafting communities! - possibly because my job requires me to juggle a hundred things at once so actually just doing one thing is a treat.

However I do have different reading projects to dip in and out of. For this challenge I’m treating to read one mini-chapter of それいけズッコケ三人組 per day but I also have a couple of magazines that I read the odd page of here and there, and I try to read a couple of pages of こぐまのケーキ屋さん before bed because it’s so damn cute that it’s a nice way to end the day. Oh and I’m playing the Crayon Shinchan game on my Switch.

I definitely do more reading, and studying in general on the weekends, but this challenge for me is about how can I make reading as much a part of my daily routine as doing my SRS is and so keeping ti small and achievable is key.

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Thank you !! it was quite a hard decision to make so I’m very excited (and a bit worried) to see the consequences of my choice :star2:

I was planning on talking about it because I want to keep track of what I’m thinking/feeling, I’m glad to see you’re looking forward to it :pray:

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oooh, thank you for pointing it out, I must have missed that! Fixing it now!

Thank you so much! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

what a perfect mnemonic, i shall never forget the meaning to this now :innocent:

thank you both windupbird and chrisosaurus for your input, and I will definitely keep all that in mind! maybe I need to find that one extra light read for myself too heheh

i think you put it so eloquently, this is precisely what I’m hoping to achieve through all of this!

sorry this whole reply turned so long, wow

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aaaah, this really looks so cute indeed!!! :pleading_face:

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Home post

September 10th 大海原と大海原 I read 6 pages (containing text) to finish up chapter 2 (the 3rd chapter) =O
A chapter in 2 days is unbelievable, although I was very very very heavily helped by a bunch of pages being very simple to translate.

Absolutely loving the story and difficulty, 5 of those 6 pages flew by, and the other was filled with a character making very complex sentences I still don’t fully understand. You win some you lose some.

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Isn’t it just?? There’s also animated versions on YouTube, which is how I came across it. The characters speak all in ます/です form (because it’s a workplace) so it was one of the first bit of native content I was able to really engage with, as I’m studying via traditional textbooks (Minna No Nihongo). I wish it was better known because it’s perfect for learners.

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