Starting from this one, I'll be doing weekly mini challenges instead of an ongoing, two-month challenge. The goal is to read the exact same but to approach it differently, just to make things a bit fresher for me.
I haven’t decided what I’ll be reading/playing this challenge but I’m sure I’ll come up with something very soon, I already have several ideas. I still have a bit of Final Fantasy 7 left so will finish that first.
For Android, which I use nowadays (mobile, tablet), I might recommend Aedict; but as I send to AnkiDroid as well, I’d rather use Akebi. I used to use Takoboto in the past.
It was a while since I use iOS, but I used to used Japanese with the red icon – there was one for Android too, but it looked bad compared to iOS counterpart. I never really used AnkiMobile, so I can’t tell about Anki integration.
In any case, there are many mobile apps available, if you are looking for simply JE. The only option I know / is using, offline JJ is Yomichan on PC / laptop. [1]
I also use Kotobank app for Android, but it needs to be online.
I also tried reading on mobile Android by switching apps between Bookwalker and Akebi, so it is indeed doable.
Summer challenge! I’m actually working on (of all things) not obsessing over reading Japanese every single day right now. But I still want to have a daily habit, where unless something is somewhat sideways then I do read every day.
I will be reading Orange with the Orange book club! I’m excited about that, and also excited about turning my reading attention towards my “backlist” so to speak. Finishing books and series that I already started, working my way through the books I have in order from easiest to hardest, etc.
And as in the last challenge, I’d like to try to balance my reading somewhat. In English, I’m currently reading Woman Running in the Mountains (translation of 山を走る女), Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, and The Subplot: What China is Reading and Why it Matters. In Spanish, El Principito. In Dutch, nothing yet, but I want to work on that.
softlyraining’s Summer Bungalow (in other words, Main Hub)
Ah, the reading challenge has come full circle, both in general and for me! I started late the first time around, and each successive one has had its ups and downs. Since it’s an anniversary challenge for me, I have decided to take things back to basics and make this season’s a tiny reading challenge (inspired by @Redglare). July, in particular, is looking to be busy for me, and I want to simply get back in the habit of reading and participating in the community: no grand designs to finish a certain number of books, no crazy scheduling to play catch-up on all of the novels I’ve put on hold. Just. Read. If I can get in a page or short article for the day, then I’m all good. If I end up doing more, then those are like extra scoops of ice cream: a welcome treat.
Yay, it’s that time again! These challenges have been so fun and so rewarding, I’m excited to read with you all again
Background
I’m not really sure what my goal is this challenge; I’ve somehow ended up with a lot of ongoing/about to start projects Unless I magically finish in the next few days (impossible) I’ll still be playing バディミッションBOND, plus 海辺のカフカ for the book club, and then the VN club will be starting up soon, and I’m trying to do the listening challenge concurrently as well We’re out here!
I’ll almost certainly keep playing VNs and the like; I think my next one will probably be Stein’s Gate? I’m in chaos mode constantly so who really knows, but I’ve been meaning to watch the anime forever so VN instead! I think I’d also like to work on my manga pile I have lmao, I have so many that I just have not touched at all so working through that’d be good. Plus they’re definitely faster to finish than any of the other nonsense I’m up to, and we love a sense of progress More than anything I just want to keep having fun reading stuff in Japanese, I’m excited to see how it all goes!
I’d like to join in again, but this time I won’t use a calendar for my reading. I started “read something in Japanese every day” as a personal challenge in February 2021 and after a year and a half the habit is firmly established even if I miss a day sometimes.
Aside from continuing to read, my big goal is to finish all the lessons in the So-Matome N1 grammar book by the end of July. It’s hard to make myself do it, but whenever I do push through and study, I see immediate payoffs in my reading comprehension. I’m currently somewhere in the “intermediate plateau” where it’s hard to see perceptible differences, so seeing the instant impact of a few grammar lessons is really rewarding and motivating. There isn’t much left in the book, I just gotta get it done.
暁のヨナ manga (up to vol 29 lol)
SPY x FAMILY manga (vol 2 and 3)
彩雲国物語 light novel (up to vol 14)
plus assorted other, but this is what I’m most interested in now
I’ve really wanted to read the Saiunkoku Monogatari books for a long time, because the light novels continue on after the anime series ended. But every time I tried reading a sample, the difficulty level (kanji, grammar) was above my “nope” threshold. I think I’ve finally reached the point where I have enough of a grasp of general Japanese to try this. There’s still clearly a lot in these books that I don’t know, but I feel like what’s left is story-specific enough that using other material as graded reading won’t help, and it’s time to just dive in. I already know the parts of the story covered in these first two volumes so no matter how hard it is I won’t be totally lost. But I bet I’ll want to take a break after volume 1.
I’ve been reading very little over the past month 'cause I’ve been trying to focus more on listening so it’ll be nice to get back into things At least a little - not gonna do the calendar thing since I have exams coming up and knowing me that wouldn’t work out that well anyway
Oooh I like the idea of rolling this into a challenge. I also have some JLPT prep books for grammar that are collecting dust because I hate actual studying, but likewise see the payoffs when I do. Probably not summer for me, but fall/winter when social activities calm down I can devote time to something like that.
= read today = listened today = read and listened today = missed day
Approach for this challenge
So, I am going to try to do the Listen Every Day challenge simultaneously with this challenge, because my listening is bad and I would like to work on that. BUT I don’t have enough time or stamina to do both every day (based on past experiences, I think that’s a recipe for burnout) so what I’m going to do is try to alternate - one day I will read something, the next day I will listen to something. I might not follow this pattern exactly, but my aim is to do something every day, and end up with a roughly equal number of days spent on reading and listening. We’ll see how that goes!
Unfortunately, I feel like I might be rather busy/low-energy during this challenge period because of work stuff that will be happening for most of it, but I will do my best Because it is the summer, I would love to finish the Free! light novel (finally), but I may end up just reading a bunch of the cute manga I bought instead A couple of book clubs (Orange and Flying Witch) will also be starting soon, and I’m going to try and follow along with those as well.
I checked out some book from my library called ミラクルちゅーんず! which is some like… nickelodeon-esque kid idol popstar group trying to save the world??? Don’t judge me my library’s Japanese book section is severely lacking in the everything-besides-children’s-books department
However I’m probably gonna try to get more Japanese manga this summer
Jul 13
Today I played a demo of Dai Gyakuten Saiban (大逆転裁判) on my 3DS for about an hour, give or take; I understood a little bit but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw 記事 in there, I learned that today!
Whoops I forgot about this 😅😬
I feel very bad about my participation in this challenge, I know it wasn’t mandatory or anything but I’m still upset at myself, I definitely think I could’ve done better.
(In my defense though, reading books aimed for young kids is not a great way to stay interested )
This is my fourth challenge and I am running out of things to write here. See previous challenges for my methods. Oh, I just remembered something! After this challenge is over, it will be my birthday- 2nd September. I’ll be 31! This year, I wouldn’t have to go to work on my birthday because I’ve got the whole July/August vacation off this year. Due to the pandemic, vacation leave has accumulated beyond the amount allowed, so workers in my organisation were asked to take their vacation days or lose it by the end of the year.
I’ll be travelling back to my hometown in the US for the first time in 3 years. This means I have a lot of plane time = reading time!
The challenge will be to leave time before falling asleep, or to wake up early enough to read, and not just get lost in time spent with family and friends.
I’m halfway through two proper novels.
It would be such an amazing feeling to finish them both during this challenge.
@windupbird Thank you for organising this challenge again!! Also, I hope you don’t mind that I quoted your calendar/layout as I find it to be gorgeous
I too wanna read manga! (I feel like it’ll be a nice break from novels ) Do you already have some titles in mind?
I will also be doing something like this from end of summer in prep for the N2 in December Never thought of combining it with this challenge, which would be so nice! Especially the reading textbooks.
You really do have so much!! I’m impressed and a little intimidated
Soooo satisfying!!! I’m like you, where my goal is to just read~ I think doing challenges like this makes reading into a fun habit (at least my success rate is higher )
:0 I’m so curious how this will do for you, compared to the two month. I hope it gives you the refresh you need!
Aspirational! I have missed a couple of days here and there each time… but I always make them up after it would be nice to get everyday once
I read my first novel because of this challenge last summer, and still feel the exact same as you guys today. This feeling is actually what gets me through those hard-to-read pages haha.
5 years later and still the same? I wonder if reading like this will ever become mundane
Welcome back!!
I can’t believe it’s already been one year. Time really does fly.
First time doing this challenge, thanks to those who organized this! I am a relatively new learner, just reached level 2. I can read hiragana and katakana, however my kanji is severely lacking, is it recommended to find something that is only written in those two scripts or should I find something that includes kanji as well?
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I am currently reading よつばと! I am not very good at updating this post but I am reading every day!
As long as it has furigana (that’s the kana reading over the kanji) you’ll be fine. Kanji make reading easier actually, because you can clearly see which word out of the several homonyms is intended. How is your grammar knowledge though? It’s grammar that will be your main obstacle in understanding what you read.
Thank you! And no, my grammer is extremely limited. I was thinking I would just improve my reading and my grammer would just continually increase as I keep learning japanese.