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

chrisosaurus · December 9, 2021, 5:57am

I’m also up for this.
I’ve 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 I’d then scramble to try read a token amount of something proper.
Lately It’s 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.

I’ve 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 I’ve seemingly failed to create and stick with a habit say after the challenge ends.

sycamore · December 9, 2021, 12:26pm

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 しかたがない🤷

I’d also be fine with this! Might help me stop slacking with listening haha…

fustian_garb · December 9, 2021, 2:38pm

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 we’re all still trying to stick to it for 2 months.

MaraVos · December 9, 2021, 2:42pm

@rikaiwisdom Username checks out! I wasn’t 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.

Natsuha · December 9, 2021, 9:49pm

Today I finished ゆるさば 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.

windupbird · December 12, 2021, 4:34am

Ha, this is a good point xD A challenge is…a challenge. I guess I feel like this “challenge” shouldn’t really be a challenge for me but that’s just my stupid brain. I’m sort of known in my family as “the bookworm” (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 guilty…just reminds me again that I’m living a lie

Another true thing that is hard for me to accept. (All or nothing strikes again)

So…I guess I am uncertain about this idea xD My feelings are mixed. (I hate that I feel that way >< I feel like I’m always the party pooper because I’m bad with change)

Rambling thoughts

I’m not sure I’d really want the official/core challenge to be a more general “Japanese every day” challenge, but at the same time I wouldn’t 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 they’re doing in Japanese? If that makes sense? (it probably doesn’t lmao) I definitely wouldn’t mind if people wanted to choose to count other types of media for their streak - I think if that fits your personal goals, that’s totally valid and I’m all for it. But I like having a specific base (ie, reading) for the challenge because it feels more…focused, I guess? I like having a more defined “core”/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 wouldn’t really help me personally, and I feel like it’s more motivating for me in a way if we’re (mainly) doing a similar activity together. But I also fully realized that this challenge is not “for me” 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 don’t 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 “do something in Japanese every day” 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 “we’re all in this together” feeling though, if it starts to get really varied as to what everyone is doing.

windupbird · December 12, 2021, 4:37am

Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed them :3

NicoleRauch · December 12, 2021, 7:59am

It absolutely makes sense to me, and my thoughts are along the same lines.

Yep, exactly that.

At the same time, I‘m 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 things…

Redglare · December 12, 2021, 1:18pm

Just a short post from me. Sorry if I come across as blunt! I should be studying for my exam

On the topic of staying consistent: Remember that by “signing up” for this challenge, you only signed up for two months or so of reading every day. Not “every day from here on out” And like other’s have said, the “challenge” in the title is there for a reason. It’s okay to be relieved after doing something you otherwise wouldn’t be doing for two months straight.

Re: Japanese practice other than reading.

I like the idea of grinding other skills too, though my opinion is that it doesn’t really fit this thread. I think it’d be better to start a separate thread if people want to do that.

MaraVos · December 12, 2021, 2:04pm

I also prefer for the reading challenge to continue to be about reading. I agree that it’s totally okay for people to interpret that in creative ways, but at its core what drew me to this group was the fact that it was a sort of book club. Seeing screenshots of cute manga, reading other people’s thoughts on books I someday might like to read, talking about weird scary stories and learning fun facts about the prefectures were the most fun parts for me. I feel like broadening the challenge would make things too general. But having a sister “listen to Japanese” challenge could be interesting!

sycamore · December 12, 2021, 4:02pm

lol, given the very uneven way I’ve approached my Japanese studies (ie most of it being reading) I feel the exact opposite to this haha. I’ve recently been trying to do more watching of things in Japanese (without just relying on the subs) and it’s haaard.

That said, I totally understand the views of those who would prefer the challenge to stay as it is. I honestly don’t really care either way - it wouldn’t bother me if it was widened, but I’m also very happy with it as it is. I think (as others have mentioned) it’s already all done in a pretty forgiving spirit, so if someone wants to count games etc etc etc I don’t think anyone is going to get mad about that even within the framing of the current challenge. I’m wondering if that might even be a middle ground that could be taken, something like just adding another line to the description of the next challenge along the lines of ‘This is primarily a reading challenge, but if you want to build a habit of something else Japanese related and want to join in for the community spirit then feel free!’

chrisosaurus · December 13, 2021, 10:20am

Home post

TL;DR:

I hit my 100 day reading goal, still going? oops.
I can barely read, I can’t do anything else.
+1 to a bunch of recent posts on reading direction
just a huge thank you to everyone in this challenge

Longer:

My reading update

Phraw, still going, hit my goal of 100 days. Not sure what this means yet, but I haven’t felt a huge urge to stop although I definitely have less in the tank than I did when I started.
Finished Demon Slayer volume 2 in ~ 21 days (2021-11-22 to 2021-12-14) _{compared to volume 1 (2021-10-12 to 2021-11-11)}.

Dec 04 - 9 pages
Dec 05 - 4 pages (finished ch. 14, started ch. 15)
Dec 06 - 2 pages
Dec 07 - 1 page
Dec 08 - 1 page
Dec 09 - 10 pages - day 100 of reading \o/
Dec 10 - 4 pages (finished ch. 15, started ch. 16)
Dec 11 - revisiting 2 pages (168, 169)
Dec 12 - 22 pages (finished ch. 16 and volume 2) + 10 pages (started volume 3)

I’m feeling progressively more guilty about continuing to post my updates in this thread >.>

@NicoleRauch I’ve finished Demon Slayer volume 2 and ‘sneakily’ started volume 3 <.<

Hehe I wanted to say the same thing, but without it being seen as me debating the point, as I mostly found it kind of mind blowing that some people would find listening easier =O

reading is hard, but everything else is way harder (for me)

Reading is by far my strongest skill, given that I’m really only 1 ish years in, it is all I really can do.
Playing a video game only works if its a very simple game, likely one which I could 99% play without reading anything. Watching anime without subs is effectively impossible.
I want to eventually improve and extend to wider video games and listening, but in the meantime I am seeing so much growth from reading manga that I don’t really want to drag myself away from it.

more thoughts on this challenge

I 100% understand the sentiment of us all being in it together and I too wouldn’t want to lose that.
_{I also love being able to call this a book club as that sounds adorable, but that isn’t very important.}

I do have a slight preference for keeping this challenge focused on reading or at least reading-adjacent things, but it isn’t very strong.

Eventually in the far off distance future I do want to take more of a whack at video games, but I expect that to be text heavy so that the primary task is still reading. This is how I’ve been playing the Demon Slayer video game for example, trying to read every sentence and understand it as much as I can before progressing (and taking lots of screenshots to save text for later) - despite it nominally being a fighting game.

I’ve been somewhat/quite/very uncomfortable counting that as reading for this challenge, but I think in the past there might have been some days I was too tired and counted (maybe Professor Layton / Ace Attorney), but in general my discomfort meant I tried to make up by adding in a token amount of “proper reading” .

I really can’t thank you all enough, it has been so lovely to be part of such a lovely and supportive community, combined with reading being such a huge boon to my Japanese - even more so with the “nudges” to read things I actually enjoy =D

Infinite <3

NicoleRauch · December 13, 2021, 5:27pm

I noticed on Bookmeter - very sneaky indeed!
This week I need to finish another book I‘m currently reading, but from Monday or so I will come and get you

windupbird · December 14, 2021, 1:03am

Nooo, never feel guilty!! It’s awesome that you’re still going ^^

I’ve been ostensibly learning Japanese for much longer than a year and reading is still pretty much all I can do I think some of my reading ability is starting to seep over and become listening ability, but uhhh not very much lol

MaraVos · December 14, 2021, 3:09pm

I just had a random thought and I figured I’d throw it out here … What if we had a “habit building” book club? @windupbird felt disappointed that the every day challenge didn’t translate into a sustainable habit after it ended, so what if instead we did a “develop a sustainable reading habit” challenge/club?

Pros

less likely to trigger everyone’s perfectionism as missing a day (or a few days, even) doesn’t “break” a habit the way it breaks a streak
less pressure to post every single day
the whole point is sustainability so you never have to stop! and new folks could jump in whenever

Again, just food for thought.

Thud · December 14, 2021, 4:25pm

Some more books arrived yesterday.

vonnutje · December 14, 2021, 6:54pm

Doing what you enjoy doing is the way to progress! A lot of people on insta and youtube say that you have to come out of your comfort zone to learn something, but recently I read a book that suggested otherwise. By expanding your comfort zone (what you are doing right now with reading), you could expand it even further when you are more comfortable reading by listening with subtitles for example. And when you get comfortable doing that, you can start listening without reading along.

It is not really the same topic as you were talking about but it reminded me of this. I don’t think you need to worry about improving in all directions at once. If you feel that you are growing reading manga and have fun with it, just do it. Having fun is the best way to improve

rikaiwisdom · December 16, 2021, 3:30pm

You make good points in favour of not changing the nature of the challenge, and I´m fine with it being focused just in reading.

My personal little issue with the challenge (or any) in general, and somehow why I had the thought of broadening it, is that I get very complacent as long as I´m checking days. What I mean by this is that I will read something one day that lets me check that day, and call it done until the next, stopping my Japanese study almost completely. Which is not bad per se because I’m still doing something, but I feel like I´m stagnating in other important areas of the language, i.e., listening, writing and the forever-forsaken speaking.

So I asked myself if this challenge is helping me achieve my goals faster (proficiency in all four areas of the language), or if it’s “procrastination in disguise”. Now, I do think it’s positively affecting my reading skills overall, and I’ve managed to increase the amount I was reading before by a lot. But at the same time I think I need to reconsider how I want to frame my study going forward. I think reading is a very important aspect of any language and I want to keep doing it, but I’m not sure if I want to put the entirety of my study time into reading.

Perhaps I could make it work nicely if I reduced the amount of reading that I do for this challenge (which, to be honest, wasn’t a lot to begin with, compared to what some of you beasts do :D) while adding other resources in the mix. I’m just worried about not being able to keep up with the challenge every single day, and become progressively demotivated as I see myself skipping days.

I’m so lost ;-; I’m not sure what would work best for myself. Ultimately I want things to work and push me to keep improving, but regardless I think I will join the next challenge. It actually feels selfish of me to try to mold it into what would work for me; I thought it was worth a discussion nonetheless!

One thing is clear though and it’s that I had a lot of fun with video games. It’s probably one of the most important drives for my interest in Japanese currently. Some can be very text-heavy and it’s awesome when they’re also voice acted.

Redglare · December 16, 2021, 6:39pm

If you know you can’t read every day, set aside days where it is okay not to read. Weekends for example. Then you can spend time doing the other things you want to focus on instead.

This challenge really isn’t about keeping a streak, but accumulating days where you’ve done something rather than not doing the something. In this thread we just happen to focus on reading. I personally don’t feel like I have to practice writing and speaking, so I just focus on reading. But that’s not to say you have to do the same. You do you

I try to take vitamin and omega-3 supplements every day, but sometimes I forget or just skip even if I know I should take them. And that’s okay. It’s better to take them some days than stopping altogether.

sycamore · December 17, 2021, 12:04am

Yeah, I totally think that text heavy games count as reading for things like this challenge (I say as someone several days into a ときめきメモリアルGirls side 4 addiction hahaha). It is so nice having the voice acting as well