Here’s a post I wrote up about my Spanish journey that touches on some of this! It was in response to some advice shared about studying two languages at once.
It definitely can be hard, and you will of course have to make some sacrifices (time spent on one language is time not spent on the other, basically), but Spanish is just so important for my job, I really should be trying to work on it at least a little. The good news is that my Spanish is good enough that I can practice it by immersing without really having to do dedicated vocab/grammar study (which can get tiring). Because reading in Spanish is so much easier for me than reading in Japanese, that also really helps motivate me.
I haven’t participated in the previous ones because I am always a little late to the party, so I am very much looking forward to joining this time :33
When I reached the Hell levels, I finally felt the urge to start applying my knowledge - but I am a lazy and inconsistent boi… I’m hoping that joining others on a lil adventure here and attempting for a streak will get me reading more~
Sounds like a challenge for me.
I’ve been reading at the snail’s pace of one (1!) page a day Higashino Keigo’s 探偵ガリレオ as well as trying to translate it to make sure I actually think about what I’ve read. So far, so good - I think.
Thank you! My german is good enough that I should be able to keep it up by immersing but it’s mostly vocabulary that’s slipped away over the last few years so it’s a bit tiresome looking up so many words. Maybe I should try reading on a kindle instead so I can look up words more easily. There are also definitely too few hours in the day and work takes up a disproportionate amount of them! I keep making myself promises of when my Japanese gets to this level or that level then I’ll pick up german again but my japanese aways still feels like a fragile baby bird that won’t survive if I don’t devote so much time to it.
These threads always look so fun so I’m excited to join in! I’m really bad at building habits so my goal is to try and build a consistent reading habit that will hopefully help me still find some time to read when I get more busy around the end of May. I’ll mostly read manga and visual novels but I’m trying to start reading some books as well.
It’s back! I was looking forward to this, it’ll be my third challenge, and every time it has helped me with motivation to read. Part of that is the challenge itself, but the best part for me is reading other people’s updates and seeing everyone’s progress.
My goals for this round are:
-Read a whole lot of バリアブルバリケード, hopefully finish the common route and a couple of individual routes
-Keep up with the かがみの孤城 bookclub
-Keep up with the 夜カフェ bookclub
-Finish the オレンジ manga series (3 volumes left)
-Maybe: Keep up with the 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん bookclub
It might be a lot for the amount of free time I usually have but I have a break coming up so that should make it a little easier…hopefully.
In previous challenges I’ve updated my home thread almost daily but haven’t posted much, this time I might try to do at least weekly progress posts. Let’s do this!
Day 3: Read some バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 4: Read バリアブルバリケード ~1h
Day 5: Read バリアブルバリケード ~1h
Day 6: Read some かがみの孤城 + read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 7: Read バリアブルバリケード ~15 min
Day 8: Read バリアブルバリケード ~15 min
Day 9: Read an NHK easy article
Day 10: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 11: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 12: Played a little Girl’s Mode in Japanese
Day 13: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 14: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 15: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 16: (Missed)
Day 17: Read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 18: Read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 19: Read バリアブルバリケード ~45 min
Day 20: Finished かがみの孤城’s Week 19 reading + read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 21: Finished かがみの孤城’s Week 20 reading + read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 22: Read a little 夜カフェ
Day 23: Finished chapter 2 of 夜カフェ (Weeks 2 + 3)
Day 24: Read バリアブルバリケード ~15 min
Day 25: Read chapter 3 of 夜カフェ without a dictionary, went well but will re-read tomorrow.
Day 26: Re-read chapter 3 of 夜カフェ and read chapter 4 (caught up!)
Day 27: Read free sample of 差がのがばいばあちゃん + read バリアブルバリケード ~1h
Day 28: Read バリアブルバリケード ~30 min
Day 29: Read バリアブルバリケード ~1.5 h
Day 30: Read バリアブルバリケード ~45 min
May summary
Day 1: Read some かがみの孤城 + read バリアブルバリケード ~15 min
Day 2: Finished かがみの孤城 Week 21 + read バリバリ ~30 min
Day 3: Read 1 chapter of オレンジ + read バリバリ ~20 min
Day 4: Read 夜カフェ chapter 5 + finished reading 差がのがばいばあちゃん chapter 1 + read 1 chapter of オレンジ + played バリバリ ~1,5h (wow, productive day! It shows I had some free time)
Day 5: Read 差がのがばいばあちゃん chapter 2 + read 1 chapter of オレンジ + read バリバリ ~1h (another productive day! Having free time is the key I guess)
Day 6: Read some 差がのがばいばあちゃん + read some オレンジ
Day 7: Read a chapter of オレンジ and finished Vol.4 + finished chapter 3 of 差がのがばいばあちゃん + played バリバリ ~30 min
Day 8: Played バリバリ ~1h
Day 9: Read 夜カフェ chapter 6 + read 差がのがばいばあちゃん chapter 4 (finished Week 3) + played バリバリ ~15 min
Day 10: Read some かがみの孤城 + played バリバリ ~ 45 min
Day 11: Read 3 weeks worth of かがみの孤城 (!!!) + played バリバリ ~1h
Day 12: Read 1 差がのがばいばあちゃん + read one オレンジ chapter + played バリバリ ~ 30 min
Day 13: Played a little バリバリ but ran out of battery and forgot my charger D:
Day 14: I was sick so only managed 1 NHK ease article to check the box
Day 15: Still sick, so NHK easy article again
Day 16: Randomly started DQXI in Japanese and played about 1h + read a chapter of 差がのがばいばあちゃん (Done with Week 4) + played バリバリ ~ 30 min
Day 17: Read this week’s かがみの孤城 + read 1 chapter of オレンジ + read some 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん + read バリバリ ~1h
Day 18: Read 2 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん chapters + played バリバリ ~ 30 min
Day 19: Fever came back so I couldn’t do anything
Day 20: Still sick
Day 21: Tried to read some バリバリ but I wasn’t understanding much as I was still sick
Day 22: Nothing again
Day 23: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 24: Read some かがみの孤城
Day 25: Finished かがみの孤城 !!
Day 26: Played Dragon Quest XI in Japanese for ~1h
Day 27: Read 夜カフェ chapter 7
Day 28: Played Dragon Quest XI for ~1h
Day 29: Played Dragon Quest XI for ~1.5h
Day 30: Read 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん chapter 9
Day 31: Checked out the JP sites of a couple of games
I’ve only been in the community for a couple of weeks so I hope I’m doing this right!
Discovering the book clubs here started my entire reading journey. Reading has never really been a hobby of mine but somehow I’m extra motivated when it’s reading in Japanese (it’s probably the learning and challenge that comes with it). This challenge will be such a fun way to track my progress along with everyone else!
I have a couple of Aoitori Bunko books and the collection of HoneyWorks light novels. I’d likely be reading Aoitori Bunko books for the most part as the HoneyWorks light novels are still too difficult for me atm.
I don’t think there is a way of doing this “wrong” honestly Just post in here whenever and however you like and tell us about your progress - looking forward to it!
Claiming a home post here! These calendars are super neat; being able to just click on a day to fill it is wild.
As for what I’ll be focusing on during the challenge… I’m currently reading 薬屋のひとりごと with the Advanced Book Club, so that’ll almost certainly fill up my weekends. I think I’d like to really focus on my stacks of manga I have lying around as well, finally get through a few of those series.
Books/Series I'd like to start/finish during this challenge
(Probably going to list more than I can realistically achieve, but I can at least use this as a reminder of the things I’d like to focus on.)
Last time I tried this, I was very bad about posting my own updates although I read almost if not everyday. So I’ll probably only check off the days most of the time.
Goals
The spirit of multilingual reading going on here has me inspired to make this challenge about my non Japanese reading instead!
I’m currently making my way through Le Petit Nicolas, so it’ll probably be mostly about that. I’m about half way through right now. I’ve been taking it very slow and not reading more days than I do, so maybe this thread can change that.
Should I actually manage to finish this book in these 2 months I guess I’ll challenge l’étranger, which is sitting on my bookshelf as well.
I also have a Spanish graded reader, but I haven’t felt motivated to work on my Spanish at all this year, so I probably won’t touch that one.
4月
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5月
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Reading: Le petite Nicolas (73→169/148p) 14.04.22/20.04.22
A1 Graded Reader: PONS 5 Minuten-Lektüren: Où est le thym? (0→37/127p)
La quête d’ewilan: d’un monde à l’autre (0→252/334m) (0→80%)
I think I’ll update a list of books I’d like to read this challenge throughout today (thereby ensuring I never get to them, of course). Probably my biggest hurdle will be dragging myself away from binging on translated webnovels; if I can successfully redirect my focus to reading Japanese ones, that’ll be a victory. (Most of the ones I’ve been reading have been Chinese, so no luck switching over there…)
I might also try and use the challenge to build consistency with my other languages! I have a graded reader I’m using to practice my Mandarin, some French webtoons I’ve reading, and a few novels in Spanish that I’m less than 20 pages into, so I’ll probably try and pick up one of those as well. After the Winter Challenge my Japanese reading is (mostly) consistent, but everything else is a bit so-so, haha.
I’m not going to pretend that I’ll keep up with a home post or update every day, but I’ll be challenging along with everyone in spirit and maybe even in comments sometimes! My reading list is a little nuts right now…
夜カフェ with BBC will probably be mostly a weekend thing
霧のむこうのふしぎな町 … I’m already more than halfway through, so I want to keep reading just a little bit on days that I don’t read 夜カフェ (which feels a lot easier)
よつばと！ (vol 8) but only on days that I feel in the mood
それでも歩は寄せてくる … this one is really exciting because it’s the first thing I can read that actually feels like a leisure activity! So I really want to read more, but I have to wait for the next two volumes to arrive and they haven’t even shipped yet!
Then after that, like @Magillou I have a bunch of books already that I’d like to work on, in order to make more space on my “unread” shelf, which is currently full. (So that I can buy more books.)
replies
What is this minimersion of which you speak? I want to read this book (someday), too!
Ooh, yes pls.
@fustian_garb I’ve been putting off brushing up on my Spanish conversation skills for the exact same reason! But now it seems like I’m going to need it for summer vacation this year, and it would make me so happy to be able to converse with people (at least a little) in Spanish … At least I will be practicing different skillsets for each language, I guess.
I also have made a resolution to start reading some articles from the Dutch newsletter Onze Taal whenever it reaches my inbox, in an attempt to slow the rusting process a little. It only takes a few minutes a week, and makes me feel a lot more at ease that I won’t lose the language I worked so hard for in my twenties, and which holds memories of some of my favorite people in the world …
on
Books 
Manga 
Visual Novels/乙女ゲーム 
Are there other language-practicioners lurking in the shadows?
ハピナス (with ABBC)
夜カフェ（１）(with BBC)
５分後に以外な結末 ①赤い悪夢
探偵チームＫＺ事件ノート 消えた自転車は知っている
Just post in here whenever and however you like and tell us about your progress - looking forward to it! 
Le petite Nicolas (73→169/148p) 14.04.22/20.04.22
(0→252/334m) 
(0→80%)
]
I’m hoping to get better at reading quickly so I appreciate the structure this challenge provides.
(So that I can buy more books.)
I want to read this book (someday), too!