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

Japanese Language Reading
#958

some days I feel like this about japanese, and some days I have to remind myself that 4 years ago I didn’t know hiragana. I generally do this by showing instagram posts to my husband and having him say ‘I can’t read japanese’ so I can feel superior.

1000 word challenge sounds good! That’s how many unknown words I encountered from reading one novel this summer (800 of which are still in the backlog on my flashcards…), so it will make a massive difference.

I read at a cafe this morning while my husband was having physio (don’t wear muji slippers all day every day for 18 months, or your achilles tendon will hate you) and finished a chapter - and then started the next one because I wanted to know what was going to happen! This is the first time I’ve read from a series and it’s definitely got easier as I’ve got used to the author’s style and word choices. There was also a long passage this morning about a character putting on his glasses first thing in the morning that spoke to me in a big way.

And the barista said the illustrations in the book looked like Ponyo.

I’ve had this several times when I’ve been reading lately, WK definitely gets you off the starting line but there’s nothing like seeing it in context to really distinguish between the different meanings.

12 Likes
#959

All right…!! So this story was about these wandering medicine merchants back in Edo era, where they would go around from village to village to sell medicine. This story tells how this one 薬売りguy had a late start from one village and while crossing the mountains, it got late and he was gonna camp out, he takes his 手ぬぐい and puts it around his neck and then there’s this guy around the corner, who tells him oh no, no there’s wild beasts around here, you shouldn’t sleep out, come over my place for the night! So they go, and the other guy’s family is all there, wife, grandparents and two kiddos. Surprisingly, they all have 手ぬぐいs around their necks, and when the merchant asks he gets the reply that they’ve all got sore throats/sick, that’s why. Out guy even offers to give them throat medicine as thanks for letting him stay.

cont.

Fast forward thru the night, our guy wakes up and hears everyone talk- complaining about how bitter the medicine was. He looks through the thin opening of the sliding door and what does he see??? Heads, severed at the neck, flying around!!! He realises he’s in a pinch. There is a big chase to catch him, but thankfully our 薬売りgets away, dawn breaks, and he is safe. Story closes with him nearing a tea house at the foot of the mountain, enters, sees the store lady… and just bolts! Because she also has a 手ぬぐい around her neck!! The lady is taken aback and offended actually… she was just sick and was looking forward to his visit in order to buy some medicine….

A 手ぬぐい is a Japanese cotton towel btw！they come in many shapes and sizes nowadays, and are actually a great choice for a souvenir! So many nice designs! And they have a multitude of uses too! From wrapping your 弁当、to wrapping them around your head, and to using them for actual cleaning etc

10 Likes
#960

:fallen_leaf: :raccoon: :waning_gibbous_moon: :: TANUKIDATE 20211026 :: :waning_gibbous_moon: :raccoon: :fallen_leaf:

Day LVI: この音とまれ！ pg.117-123 & 滋賀県 :maple_leaf:

6 pages today! Again, not much dialogue this time, I think I may be getting used to some of the casual language though… at least, a bit.

Thought I’d read about the prefecture from yesterday’s story: Shiga Prefecture.

The prefectorial tree is モミジ(紅葉), maple, I remembered this word from one of my earlier reads, yes! Learning!
Though in saying that, the prefectorial flower is シャクナゲ (石南花), Rhododendron, and I can’t remember if I have seen this before or not.

~ New Words ~
盆地 (ぼんち) - Basin (the geography one, not a sink)
シャクナゲ (石南花) - Rhododendron
カイツブリ (鸊鷉) - Little Grebe (Bird) - I don’t think there’s much chance I’m gonna remember these kanji.
水鳥 (すいちょう) - Waterfowl / Water bird
カモ (鴨) - Duck
アビ (阿比) - Red-Throated Loon (Bird)
類縁関係 (るいえんかんけい) - Having a close relationship with. The usage here is that grebes are similar to ducks.
水かき (みずかき) - Webbing (between toes/fingers)
鰭 (ひれ) - Fin or flipper
羽毛 (うもう) - Feathers / Plumage
斑紋 (はんもん) - Speckles; Mottled Pattern

Places:
近畿地方 (きんきちほう) - Kinki Region
近江盆地 (おうみぼんち) - Omi Basin
四川省 (しせんしょう) - Sichuan (China)
チベット - Tibet

Replies!

This happens to me all the time, weird how some days you just get it and others everything is alien. But yeh, I feel that I’m really lacking in the recreation department, I can usually understand the context and language patterns from reading but that’s mostly just recognising words and working out the rest from that. Putting sentences together myself is just… very messy.

Listening and reading have a lot of ways to practice, but writing and talking are really difficult, I haven’t even moved on to trying to speak it yet (well, unless you don’t count the shouting along to movies and whatnot).

It’s hard to try and balance all your learning.

頑張って！！

Welcome back!! :wave:

[Basically, your entire post]

That was one wild story!

I’ve seen those towels quite a few times and always wondered what they were, so thanks! I now know that they’re 手ぬぐい.

14 Likes
#961

Home post

Day 55:

日本語: I read a fair amount of 伯爵と妖精 21.

中国語

中国語: I read 小狗和小猫.

13 Likes
#962

:jack_o_lantern: My tiny summary post :ghost:

October 26 Maybe I can finish the book within this week.
・Honzuki 6. (82% → 87%).

The answer is yes because commute is longTM and things are getting interesting.

15 Likes
#963

Summary Post

October 26th
Final Fantasy XIV

Random words
  • 接近 = せっきん getting closer, drawing nearer.
  • 甲冑 = かっちゅう helmet and armour.
  • 革細工 = かわざいく leathercraft, leatherwork.
  • 彫金 = ちょうきん chasing, metal carving or engraving.

Yuuuuuup. My schedule is a big mess of random things that I hope will end up paying off in the end somehow. I will keep looking forward to the day when I no longer encounter hundreds of new words per resource and I can just casually enjoy things while learning passively, and no longer call it study :sob: . Until then, we keep rowing.

13 Likes
#964

Summary post

Day 52: October 26
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 3 pages
How long did it take me?: 1 hr 18 min

No, I did not forget to update the page/time count, it was actually dead same xD Weeeird.

Time to gush about Rin because I love him

I know very little about swimming technique/form but honestly, I would listen to Rin talk/think about it forever. I love it. The dedication of this kid <3 The way his thought process is written, the way he tries to analyze his form and his swimming and find those possible weak points, just oozes passion and dedication to me. I can just imagine him thinking like this as he gets older too, studying up on all the swim theory books so he can perfect his swimming technique, and I just <3 I’m living for swim nerd Rin.

He’s alone at the pool this time, and he’s not practicing his butterfly for the relay :o No, what he’s doing is swimming freestyle and trying to beat Haru’s time from the last time they matched up at a tournament xD It bugs him so much, that he can’t seem to catch up to Haru - whenever he gets faster, Haru gets faster too. And he’s trying so hard to figure out why. And you can just see, that he’s going to practice and practice until he can finally beat Haru in the 100m free. That obsessiveness, which (sort of anime spoiler) turns a bit toxic and destructive later on…I feel like you can see it taking root here.

Also I stopped before getting too much into this next scene because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish it right at this moment but Gou is here this is not a drillllll
Gou = Rin’s little sister and she is heeeeerrrrreee, what new Matsuoka sibling moments await ahhhh

Good words
  • 弾く (はじく) - to flip; to snap; to flick​ (as in, the thing Rin does with his goggle strap)
  • 顔を合わせる (かおをあわせる) - to be matched; to face against; to meet; to face someone
  • どころか - far from; anything but; not at all
  • 焦燥感 (しょうそうかん) - irritability; feeling of impatience; sense of uneasiness
  • 消耗 (しょうもう) - exhaustion; consumption; using up; dissipation; waste
  • わだかまる - to lurk; to hover in the background​
  • 心置きなく (こころおきなく) - freely; frankly; without reserve
  • 箇所 (かしょ) - place; point; part; spot; area; passage; portion
  • しなり - bending; warping; flexibility; pliability​
  • 手に入れる (てにいれる) - to obtain; to procure
  • こみ上げる (こみあげる) - to well up (of tears, anger, joy, etc.); to surge up (within oneself); to rise; to fill one’s heart; to overcome one
12 Likes
#965

Summary post

Day 56: Today I read 6 pages of よつば＆！

14 Likes
#966

Read in the park again this morning, slightly raining but not enough that I feared for my book (although enough to make seeing through my glasses a bit blotchy).

Favourite new word was だだっ広い だだっぴろい - excessively spacious, unduly wide, sprawling.

12 Likes
#967

:fallen_leaf: :raccoon: :last_quarter_moon: :: TANUKIDATE 20211027 :: :last_quarter_moon: :raccoon: :fallen_leaf:

Day LVII: この音とまれ！ pg.123-129 & 洪水から村をすくった若者 :snake:

6 pages today!

Read today’s Japanese folktale from Miyazaki prefecture, about snakes protecting ponds again!

Today is also テディベアの日, teddy bear day! :teddy_bear:

~ New Words ~
あふれ (溢れ) - Overflow
土手 (どて) - Bank; Embankment - i.e. River bank.
占い師 (うらなし) - Fortune Teller
薄緑[色] (うすみどり[いろ]) - Light green
いけにえ (生贄) - Living Sacrifice
夜明け (よあけ) - Dawn, daybreak

14 Likes
#968

Yesterday I read 40 pages and finished the second volume of エデンの檻. Today I started the third volume of エデンの檻 and read 15 pages. But it’s pretty boring, I think I will rather read something else tomorrow.

Anyhow I finished my 20th manga this year all thanks to this challenge. :tada:
形状 けいじょう shape, form
化石 かせき fossil N1
止まる とどまる to remain; to abide; to stay (in the one place) N2
女房 にょうぼう wife (esp. one’s own wife) N2
方角 ほうがく direction; way N2
蜃気楼 しんきろう mirage

11 Likes
#969

Home post

Day 56:

日本語: I read some of 伯爵と妖精 21.

中国語

中国語: I read 爱玩的学生.

11 Likes
#970

Summary post

Day 57: Today I read 6 pages of よつば＆！which got me to the end of chapter 5. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

12 Likes
#971

:jack_o_lantern: My tiny summary post :ghost:

October 27 I’ve reached the epilogue. That means there will be side stories soon :eyes:
・Honzuki 6. (87% → 89%).

12 Likes
#972

Summary Post

October 27th
Stardew Valley

Random words
  • 快晴 = かいせい clear weather, cloudless weather.
  • 見逃す = みのがす to miss, to overlook, to let pass, to let go by.
  • タンポポ = dandelion.
12 Likes
#973

Summary post

Day 53: October 27
What did I read?: コウペンちゃん :penguin:
How much did I read?: 28 pages - finished the book
How long did it take me?: 14 min

Late shift = penguins!

So comfy :3

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Cutest ending to the Little Match Girl ever

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Good words:

  • 成分 (せいぶん) - ingredient; component; composition
  • おまじない - uttered when using magic; abracadabra; presto
  • 凍てつく (いてつく) - to freeze
  • ガビーン - oh no!​ (Manga slang, Onomatopoeic or mimetic word, indicates shock and disappointment)
  • ダース - dozen
  • とんでもない - unthinkable; unexpected; absurd; outrageous; preposterous; terrible
13 Likes
#974

Main Post

Been reading more of tanuki lately, about halfway through volume 2. Still a comfy read. Looked at my bookmeter and reached a new milestone: 150 days of continuous reading.

14 Likes
#975

:fallen_leaf: :raccoon: :last_quarter_moon: :: TANUKIDATE 20211028 :: :last_quarter_moon: :raccoon: :fallen_leaf:

Day LVIII: この音とまれ！ pg.129-135 & たのきゅう :snake:

6 pages today!

Today’s Japanese folk tale is also about snakes! Snaketober :snake:
This one is a pretty amusing little story, even more so with the narrator’s old man impression :laughing:
There’s a link on this one on how to make your own origami snake: snake 1 / snake 2

If your name is たのきゅう you may get confused for たぬき and then have to pretend that you are in fact a tanuki to trick a snake :raccoon:

~ New Words ~
色っぽい (いろっぽい) - Erotic, amorous
ヤニ (脂) - On WK, but the sole meaning (for the kanji) on here is just fat… Jisho states it’s fat; grease; lard, this makes the words it’s used in make so much more sense. On this story it’s used to mean tobacco tar “タバコのヤニ”
痺れる (しびれる) - to become numb, also new kanji! Which means numb/paralysed.

13 Likes
#976

:blush:

Sure you did :joy_cat: But that’s totally ok - I have this bad habit of just sticking a bunch of words into my deck without completing the cards, so this was a welcome nudge towards cleaning up my deck a little bit.

Would you mind sharing them? I’m a dev myself (so no need to clean up the code or anything :sweat_smile:) but I never looked into Anki plugins - this might be useful for my deck cleanups, I could imagine…

For the challenge:

Oct 24th: Finished the week’s assignment of ヨコハマ.

Oct 25th: Re-read Demon Slayer chapter 8.

Oct 26th: Re-read Demon Slayer chapter 9.

Oct 27th: Did not get around to any reading (was very busy and need. to. make. sure. I finish my Anki decks at least)

Oct 28th: Had a very intense (in a good way) work morning and slacked off in the afternoon by reading Demon Slayer chapter 10-11.

12 Likes
#977

I decided, in pursuit of words, to pull up the vocabulary list the book club made for Yotsuba 4, and read a few pages with the list right in front of me, figuring that would make it semi-easy … Have I regressed, or is chapter 23 just a beast? Half the time I could not figure out why the characters were saying what they were saying, and some of the time it was a struggle to figure out what they were saying even though I knew every word! I hadn’t had that problem in quite a while. :confused:

:rofl:

Ahaha, thank you so much! I enjoyed this bizarre story, and learned something too. :grin:

8 Likes