📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2021 🏖🏖

Welcome to the “Read Japanese Every Single Day For A Whole Summer” Challenge!

I want to challenge myself by reading every day this summer and want to write a bit about it, so this will be like a journal or study log of sorts. I’m inspired by senpais like @Naphthalene, @Vanilla, @Ditto20 and @Valkow, who seem to consume Japanese books in just a few days or less, and that sounds awesome. I want to be able to do that too, and reading a bunch for two whole months will surely bring me one step closer to that. And I’d love for people to join in on the challenge! :books: :sparkles: :grin:

This is a thread for people who:

:bookmark: want to spend time reading a bunch this summer
:bookmark: want to improve their reading speed and comprehension,
:bookmark: want to hold themselves accountable and have a place to document their progress,
:bookmark: simply wants to join in on the challenge of reading every day for two or so months :books: :books:

Time frame: June 1 - July 31 (or whenever summer vacation starts/ends for you)

Your reading materials can be whatever you want, be it manga, light novels, books, visual novels, magazines, graded readers, satori reader, or Japanese games, you name it, anything goes as long as it is something in Japanese :jp: :durtle_the_explorer:


Threads worth checking out

I recommend checking out The News Reading Challenge thread if you’d like to read news articles every day, but you are of course welcome to post about it in this thread too if you’d like to.
The "news reading" challenge 🗞


If you don’t know where to find reading material I recommend checking out the Immersion/Reading section of the following thread:
The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!


There’s also quite a few book clubs here on the forum, some of them have vocab lists which can make for an easier reading experience. A list of book clubs can be found here:
Master List of Book Clubs


Would you like to participate?
  • Yes
  • Yes, but I might start late
  • Not sure
  • No

0 voters

43 Likes

Participants

Username Date Joined Days Completed
Aislin 26 Jun 2021 67 / 67
axazel 1 Jun 2021 61 / 61
barelyfragile 1 Jun 2021 47 / 59
beari 1 Jun 2021 11
Bethie5 1 Jun 2021 24
beari 3 Jun 2021 1
Catherine670 1 Jun 2021 2
cephaus 6 Jun 2021 6
Chrisosaurus 4 Jun 2021 61
cineebon 1 Jun 2021 13
d-hermit 1 Jun 2021 34/34
eoame 5 Jun 2021 1
FlamySerpent 4 Jun 2021 54/61
InHokkaido 2 Jun 2021 2
kimera 11 Jul 2021 1
kusuri 2 Jun 2021 3
mintrunning 7 Jun 2021 4
MissDagger 1 Jun 2021 14
momoni 1 Jun 2021 45 / 48
Naevyah 1 Jun 2021 28/30
Naphthalene 1 Jun 2021 24
neoemonk 4 Jun 2021 1
NicoleRauch 1 Jun 2021 8
Nishi790 1 Jun 2021 61
OikawaTooru 8 Jun 2021 1
Raionus 2 Jun 2021 4
Redglare 1 Jun 2021 61
rikaiwisdom 1 Jun 2021 75
rokon 3 Jun 2021 1
sansarret 1 Jun 2021 25
shin666 1 Jun 2021 59/61
slowopoke 1 Jun 2021 2
softly_raining 15 Jun 2021 7
sycamore 1 Jun 2021 30
Thud 2 Jun 2021 92
Toyger 1 Jun 2021 61
trunklayer 1 Jun 2021 26
Vanessa-san 1 Jun 2021 47
Vonne 8 Jun 2021 4
windupbird 1 Jun 2021 76/76
Zakarius 12 Jun 2021 63
rikkoevan 10 Oct 2021 1

Note: sorted alphabetically
Note 2: linked to progress summary posts

21 Likes

Sounds like a fun idea!
Whenever summer vacation starts? Well… I’m on an eternal one, so… =P
I want to get better at reading daily in general, not just over a set period =)

June
01 02 03 04 05 06
07 08 09 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
July
01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

Times Read: * = 1, # = 5

Will try to read a full chapter, but a page will count as sufficient.
A page is better than nothing, and more likely to become a full chapter once you first get started.
My status looks so good! But, most days it was literally just the one page XD


Reading List:


Yotsuba 14 #
FukaBoku 2**
FukaBoku 3*
A Japanese Reader V1 #*
Makoto*
Rabbit Press Mobile App #*
とつくにの少女**
ポケモンをつくった男 ####*
Graded Readers ###**


12 Likes

Sounds awesome! I would love to join.
I am a beginner, somewhere between N5 and N4.
I think I will start with graded readers.

Also, here’s an interesting book
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WNZH2yoRs9XHTp2GbA232wsQTWz3VCCo/view?usp=sharing
I haven’t completed it yet but so far it has been amazing. :star_struck:

10 Likes

December 8th - February 14th? :slightly_smiling_face:

27 Likes

You’re gonna be so prepared.

18 Likes

I want to join! Will be finishing 氷菓 first and then I have 3 volumes of 蜘蛛ですが、なにか?

The plan is to read everyday from Jun 1 to Aug 31 to develop a habit. Even if it’s just 1 page it’s better than not reading at all.

10 Likes

i’m working so no summer vacation for me but I will still try to participate as I want to make it a habit to read a little bit everyday. Even if I have no time, I’m sure I can manage to squeeze in an article of Satori Reader.


June
01 02 03 04 05 06
07 08 09 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
July
01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

June Details

Day 1
Satori Reader - 恋人 20, 21

Day 2
Satori Reader - 恋人 22, 23

Day 3
Satori Reader - 恋人 24
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル1 - 舌切り雀

Day 4
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - 日本のお風呂 (p.1-6)

Day 5
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - 日本のお風呂 (p.7-21)

Day 6
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - 色々な国の昔話ー中国ー ホウイと千ヤンア

Day 7
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - ごん狐

Day 8
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - ソーピーの冬の家

Day 9
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル2 - ジョンさんの夏休み

Day 10
Satori Reader - 恋人 25

Day 11
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル3 - むじな

Day 12
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル3 - 幽霊滝

Day 13
Satori Reader - 恋人 25

Day 14
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル3 - 注文の多い料理店

Day 15
Satori Reader - 恋人 26

Day 16
Satori Reader - 恋人 27

Day 17
レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー - レベル3 - かぐや姫

Day 18
Satori Reader - 恋人 28

Day 19
Satori Reader - 恋人 29

Day 20
Satori Reader - 恋人 30

Day 21
Satori Reader - 恋人 31-35

Day 22
Satori Reader - 恋人 36-40

Day 23
Satori Reader - 恋人 41-46

Day 24
Satori Reader - 恋人 47-52 (finished)

Day 25
Satori Reader - My Sweetie is Japanese 1

Day 26
Satori Reader - My Sweetie is Japanese 2

Day 27
Satori Reader - My Sweetie is Japanese 3

Day 28
Satori Reader - My Sweetie is Japanese 4-5

11 Likes

| June | 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|
|Week 22| | | | | | | |
|Week 23| | | | | | | |
|Week 24| | | | | | |
|Week 25| | | | | | | |
|Week 26| | | | | | | |

Huge thanks for this thread!

I’m inspired by their examples (and yours) too!

So far, today I’ve read today’s 4 NHK Easy News; I will update this post if I (hopefully) read something else today (which I plan to do).

Update: It took me most of the day, but I’ve finally finished taking notes on the third chapter of はたらく細胞 and reread that chapter.

Update: Started reading the fourth chapter; reached page 150; I think I’ll call it a day :sweat_smile:

皆さん、一緒に頑張りましょう!

14 Likes

I have been trying to read every day the last few weeks - going well so far, even if some days it’s a super short bit of reading (a few pages of a manga) - excited to read with some other people. I too am an working human, no summer vacation here, but I do stay up a little later in the summer when there’s more light, so a smidge more time available.

Just ordered a whole bunch of manga to have some paper books and try to cut down the time I spend looking at a screen for reading (usually I do ebooks on my iPad) - very excited for those to come in. In the mean time, I have the second half of Magic Treehouse to finish first, then we’ll see what’s next.

6 Likes

What good timing! I’m not only getting back into studying Japanese, but I’ve finally gotten far enough in settling in my new home (moved mid-April) that I started to get into boxes with manga. Lets gooooooo!

7 Likes

I’ve been think about reading NHK easy news articles every day for a while now to improve my ability to read in Japanese without translating everything in my head, but I haven’t had the motivation for it. That changes today! :smile: This is a great challenge. Thanks for posting it!

9 Likes

I’m very glad to hear you are going to join us!

7 Likes

So far so good! Got a chapter done of Yotsuba today! The challenge inspired me to bring it to the dentist’s office! =D

7 Likes

Right now I’m totally in reading mood, having read 4 Japanese books (about 1000 pages) in the past 2 weeks which is probably a new record for me.

I hope I’ll be able to keep the momentum going for a while longer, but even reading just 20 pages a day for an extended period would be a win.

So yup, count me in!

13 Likes

I’m currently reading everyday already so joining this will hopefully help me keep doing that :smiley: I’m currently reading Dragon Ball. I read the books as a child so reading them now is awesome. Lots of funny moments that don’t really translate. Also in Japan they have the entire series in full color. So I’m currently reading the full color edition. It was stupidly expensive but I’m stupid. I’m currently at the Buu ark so I’ll be done soon :cry: After that I’m going to start reading something harder and I’m kinda nervous.

8 Likes

Great idea! My summer vacation starts in the week of July 26, but I will see if I can start doing this from next sunday onwards! I’ve bought 5 volumes of ひげを剃る。そして女子高生を拾う。and the novel すべてがFになる THE PERFECT INSIDER so I have enough material to get me started! This will be the first time I really try to read something in Japanese other than beginner lessons, so we will see how it goes.

My goals for the coming three months:
  • Read (at least) one volume of ひげを剃る。. I will be focusing on breaking up the sentences, really understanding the meaning of the sentences and adding the words I do not know to my language journal
  • Understand what the different particles mean in sentences
  • Understand the basic verb conjugations (negative, polite etc.)
9 Likes

Haha, as happy as I am to be inspiration to someone who wants to read more, I may not be setting the best example this summer. I’m back at my 100pg/day pace for now, but starting monday I’ll be working ~11 hours a day for 6 days a week so the amount of time I’ll put towards reading may suffer a bit. Either way, I’ll be getting at least some reading done, and I hope to see you all do the same no matter how busy or chillax as heck your summer is~

11 Likes

Woops, I joined the news-specific challenge! I must have missed it when it was posted, thanks for the link! :slight_smile:

4 Likes

I’m going to jump in on this! I don’t have a goal of what I want to finish beyond reading a little bit every day. I’m moving at the end of July so I’ll cut it off early, but this seems like a good time to start a tiny habit. I’m wondering if I could include visual novels or more story-based video games… :thinking:

Goals
  • Get through Hatoful Boyfriend. I’ve played it in English, but the birds + school + murder mystery vocabulary are interesting to me. It’s also not terribly terribly long like most other things I like.
  • next ???
Log

June:
1st: :heavy_check_mark:
2nd: ok I technically did this after midnight and read for all of two minutes but we count that.
3rd: :heavy_check_mark: hatoful boyfriend continues
4th: :heavy_check_mark: another “i did this past midnight for about five minutes” i’m almost through the hatoful boyfriend prologue
5th: :heavy_check_mark: ok started before midnight and went till midnight thirty. the reading is very slow going because though i know like… all but one or two words per sentence, putting all of the grammar together in my head takes a while. and usually the one or two words I don’t know provide all the context for the sentence.
6th: :heavy_check_mark: I started at 10 PM instead of midnight, praise be. Got through two whole character introductions, so just one more and then I’m done with the prologue… good lord this takes forever.
7th: :heavy_check_mark: FINALLY FINISHED THE CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS PRAISE BE… okosan I will fight you at dawn, you complicated kanji user you.
8th: :heavy_check_mark: I got to join a school club today. I’m not sure if I’m understanding more because I know school vocabulary or because I took my sweet sweet time translating.
9th: :heavy_check_mark: I did it… I think I am getting a bit faster? I’m going to try to do one-two scenes at least a day until I get to the fun twist.
10th: :heavy_check_mark: I sure picked the library bird first huh… Anyway, I got through the school trip and the first half of the sports festival so we are moving. I think my first run through of this game in English took me under an hour and that comparison is pretty funny lol
11th: :heavy_check_mark: I got through the sports festival, tanabata, getting a test back, two math classes, and halfway through a bird swimming lesson that has me baffled beyond the normal level of bafflement (they’re like… pigeons dude how are they supposed to swim…)
12th: :heavy_check_mark: I went to a secondhand bookstore today and picked up an easy book and a hard one. I also spent a good hour just walking around and reading summaries or looking through books. Did more hatoful! Got through the first term!!! I also started Buddy Mission Bond which isn’t like, entirely in-line with this challenge but oh my god I’m in love. The high drama buddy cop movie like… beautiful.
13th: :heavy_check_mark: Today was a bit of a hatoful slog, started the summer vacation content which like… isn’t entirely necessary for the story and knowing that made it hard to push through. I also was packing boxes of stuff all Sunday and trying to navigate the Japanese postal system for shipping stuff abroad, so my brain just did not want to do it.
14th: :heavy_check_mark: Some days you work hard, and some days you read for thirty minutes just to not kill your reading streak! I got through summer vacation because I stayed home all summer, didn’t get a job, and I’m going for the ghost bird so no festival date for me. Honestly, how depressing this route looks from the outside lol, poor human girl all alone.
15th: :heavy_check_mark: I am so tired… I’ve been writing or working all day, took a thirty minute break for birds. Started the second term and will hopefully get my sad library bird soon. I really like being able to break down different patterns of speech
16th: :heavy_check_mark: I did about five minutes today and that’s it. I’m exhausted again today for some reason, but at least I did it.
17th: :heavy_check_mark: here
18th: :heavy_check_mark: FINISHED NAGEKI ROUTE
19th: :heavy_check_mark: here
20th: :heavy_check_mark: here
21st: :heavy_check_mark: I went to a doctor in a far-away town and ended up driving for like four hours today… Ended up reading a book in English instead, but found five minutes for another ten pages of 夜は猫といっしょ. it’s very cute… also dang learning Japanese is going to be so much harder when I don’t have constant immersion
22: cute cat manga
23: cute cat manga
24: cute cat manga
25: cute cat manga finish!!
26 :frowning: do kumon worksheets count… no. Not particularly.
27 :frowning: I finished an English book but sure didn’t read any Japanese today
28 :frowning: tests all day and long logistic discussions in Japanese tired me ouuuuut. does reading koto music count? no? Alas
29 :frowning: but dude I taught multiple whole lessons in Japanese and had to do a ton of research for this so like, it kind of counts
30: :heavy_check_mark: イカキング my beloved you are too funny to me and got me back to reading at least short news articles

JULY
1:

7 Likes