📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

Japanese Language Reading
#79

Another year, a new season of reading and a fresh start. I’ll be trying to give regular updates on what I read just like in previous threads. This post will be used to keep track of my goals, progress and serve as a collection of all the updates I did throughout the challenge. For those that care, you can also follow me on bookmeter, where I also track what I read. I still haven’t quite figured out how everything works, but you’ll have to forgive me for that…

Goals :dart:

  • Read a chapter per day
  • Read Spy x Family vol 4-5
  • Read Look Back (one-shot)
  • Read My Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today vol 1

Progress :paw_prints:

January :fireworks:

週 月 火 水 木 金 土 日
52
1
2
3
4
5

Days completed (17/31)

Reading List :books:

SPY x FAMILY

SPY x FAMILY 4
SPY x FAMILY 5

ルックバック

ルックバック

デキる猫は今日も憂鬱

デキる猫は今日も憂鬱 1

Updates :speech_balloon:

Jan 17 - Read My Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today ch2
Jan 16 - Read My Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today ch1 (started volume 1)
Jan 15 - Read Look Back (one shot)
Jan 14 - Read Spy x Family Short Mission 3 (finished volume 5)
Jan 13 - Read Spy x Family ch30
Jan 12 - Read Spy x Family ch29
Jan 11 - Read Spy x Family ch28
Jan 10 - Read Spy x Family ch27
Jan 9 - Read Spy x Family ch26
Jan 8 - Read Spy x Family ch25
Jan 7 - Read Spy x Family ch24 (started volume 5)
Jan 6 - Read Spy x Family ch23 + Short Mission 1 & 2 (finished volume 4)
Jan 5 - Read Spy x Family ch22
Jan 4 - Read Spy x Family ch21
Jan 3 - Read Spy x Family ch20
Jan 2 - Read Spy x Family ch19
Jan 1 - Read Spy x Family ch18 (started volume 4)

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#80

1st January:
Finished Chapter 1 of 地球星人 in an attempt to catch up with the Intermediate Book Club.

Notable phrases:
家族水入らず family only, no outsider
逆鱗に触れる to incur the imperial wrath (or simply to anger your superior)

13 Likes
#81

1280×720 291 KB

Happy new year from Onion Island! :fireworks:
Got a nice start today, completing the New Years countdown in Japanese at midnight, and learning 流星群 (meteor shower) from Isabelle when logging in this morning to check on everyone. Had a few quick chats with my islanders, and I’ll be logging back in later to go and view my meteor shower and speak to Celeste.

Started Vol.2 of レンタルおにいちゃん and despite saying I wanted to just read a page a day I ended up reading all 42 pages of chapter one. I’d forgotten how quickly this story pulls you in because you’re hoping for a happy ending. Word of note from this chapter was 凸凹 （でこぼこ）, to indicate uneven shape on some homemade hamburgers - won’t be learning that one until level 59!

16 Likes
#82

Natively.com - Shenmue
I began reading よつばと! :four_leaf_clover: over the past few days, and it’s my first manga ever! I’d be very appreciative of any kind soul that wants to stop by and join the fun in my Journal / Study “Lounge”. I always need guidance as I post what I’ve been attempting to read and accomplish each day. :slight_smile:

Jan
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
01 :four_leaf_clover: 02 :four_leaf_clover:
03 :four_leaf_clover: 04 :four_leaf_clover: 05 :four_leaf_clover: 06 :four_leaf_clover: 07 :four_leaf_clover: 08 :four_leaf_clover: 09 :four_leaf_clover:
10 :four_leaf_clover: 11 :four_leaf_clover: 12 :four_leaf_clover: 13 :four_leaf_clover: 14 :four_leaf_clover: 15 :four_leaf_clover: 16 :four_leaf_clover:
17 :four_leaf_clover: 18 :four_leaf_clover: 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Feb
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
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
14 Likes
#83

:tiger2: :books: Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220101 :books: :raccoon:

Tanuki Scroll I: 2022年は寅年！ :tiger2:

Since today’s the first day of the new year I thought I’d read about the year of the tiger.

And right off the bat, new kanji! 寅 (とら), the same as 虎 but only used for the Zodiac.

This was quite a bit more difficult than what I’m used to so it took me awhile.

☆ Learnings ☆

New Words

寅 「とら」ーTiger (Zodiac only)
干支 「えと」ー Sexagenary cycle; 60-term cycle of 12 zodiac animals combined with 5 elements in the traditional Chinese calendar. [Shamelessly copied from Jisho because that is a rather specific meaning]
壬寅 「みずのえとら」ー Water Tiger (Zodiac). [Was not expecting that reading at all]
古代中国 「こだいちゅうごく」 ー Ancient China
五行 「ごぎょう」 ー The Avatar five elements (in Chinese philosophy: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water)
十干 「じっかん」 ー The 10 calendar signs
十二支 「じゅうにし」 ー 12 signs of the Zodiac
言及 「げんきゅう」 ー Reference / Allusion
結び 「むすび」 ー Ending, Conclusion / Join, union, connecting. [I don’t think the むす reading for 結 is on WaniKani]
イラスト ー Illustration, picture, sketch
キャラクター ー Character, personality
丑寅 「うしとら」 ー Northeast [Archaic Word]. [Also new kanji: 丑 (うし) - sign of the ox, which looks like it is only used in Japanese for Zodiac related words]

New Readings

陰陽 「いんよう」ー Cosmic Dual Forces or Yin and Yang. [I only knew of the おんみょう reading]

Forgotten Meanings

もともと 「元々」 ー Originally / from the start
発生 「はっせい」 ー Outbreak / Occurrence / Incidence
本来 「ほんらい」 ー Originally / Primarily. [Woops I forgot what this meant, this is a lv. 5 word]

Bonus Zodiac Names!

Because I think the Zodiac is really cool here’s a list of them:

子 「ね」 ー Rat :rat:
丑 「うし」 ー Ox :ox:
寅 「とら」 ー Tiger :tiger2:
卯 「う」 ー Rabbit :rabbit2:
辰 「たつ」 ー Dragon :dragon:
巳 「み」 ー Snake :snake:
午 「うま」 ー Horse :horse:
未 「ひつじ」 ー Goat :goat:
申 「さる」 ー Monkey :monkey:
酉 「とり」 ー Rooster :rooster:
戌 「いぬ」 ー Dog :dog2:
亥 「い」 ー Boar :boar:

I’m sorry that they’re not all in line perfectly

16 Likes
#84
Jan 月 火 水 木 金 土 日
Week 00
Week 01
Week 02
Week 03
Week 04
Week 05
Feb 月 火 水 木 金 土 日
Week 05
Week 06
Week 07
Week 08
Week 09
Reading plans

Most important for me just get into habit of reading each day, at least 30 minutes.

First I’ll finish the current peak of BBC which is the first volume of manga 極主夫道, and I’m ha;f way thru.
After that, we’ll see.

13 Likes
#85

Happy New Year, everybody! And big thanks for organizing this challenge!

I’m done for today, took about an hour to finish Chapter 5 of 極主夫道 manga. I post translations on the book club threads, like this, and usually someone from the group takes their time to read thru and comment/correct. Right now I’m two chapters behind the club schedule, and will try to catch up.

14 Likes
#86

I ended my autumn challenge early to go off on a vocabulary quest, and I’m happy to report that I have now reached over 900 of the 1000 words that I wanted to collect. Manga has been a particularly useful way to find and flashcardify new words, so I’m focusing mostly on that for the moment.

So for now I am reading 極主夫道 with the book club and よつばと! volume 5 on my own while I await the arrival of a box full of first volumes, one second volume, one Haruta magazine, and some very fancy Doraemon notebooks. I’ll try to post a picture when they get here!

17 Likes
#87

The goal is to translate through Chapter 5 of よつばと! Vol 1.
Currently on page 70 or so, halfway through Chapter 2. Trying to set realistic expectations.
My method for translation is to scan pages, drop them into a Google Sheets slide deck and translate each page next to the page image.

Jan
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
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
Feb
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
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
15 Likes
#88

First day complete for me! I read 2021年度 国内ミステリーベスト10選定会議 第1位は特殊設定ミステリーのびっくり作？ - it’s a two page article so if you want to skip all the discussion and just see their rankings it’s at the bottom of the second page.

As I suspected, I am comfortable with reading books, but severely lacking the vocabulary/grammatical finesse to talk about books so this was an informative article for me to read.

Some of the words I looked up

杜撰 - sloppy or faulty. Often regarding information in writing
断トツ - cream of the crop; the best; top of the top
力作 - a great piece of work; a masterpiece
注力 - to pour energy into

I added a couple of the books that sounded interesting to my 読みたい本 list in Bookmeter, though I’m trying not to buy any more until my 積読本 list is smaller :joy:

17 Likes
#89

Day 1 complete :slight_smile:
I read Chapter 8 of 極主夫道, and the second half of Chapter 4 of 三ツ星カラーズ.

I’m so glad the Beginner Book Club picked 極主夫道, because it’s not something I would have chosen to read myself, but I’m really enjoying it!

(Home Post)

15 Likes
#90

Summary Post

January 1
君の名は , 8 pages.

Random words
  • 視界 = しかい field of vision, visibility.
  • 深刻 = しんこく serious, severe, grave.
  • 凶暴 = きょうぼう ferocious, brutal.
  • まどろむ = to doze off.
  • 紐 = ひも string, cord.
  • 端緒 = たんしょ beginning, start.

First day done! I wasn’t feeling great by the end of the year but I’m surprised that my mood has improved greatly these last few days and I’m pretty happy with my start. I would like to save time to actually sit and read, which is what I did today, and honestly I like it. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it everyday but I hope so, at least when it comes to reading novels. In previous challenges I normally just found a moment whenever (very frequently at night because I kept putting it off), but I’ve decided that I would like to actually make time for this. Firstly because I would like to put in effort and properly learn new words and grammar, and secondly because reading at night when you’re sleepy sucks.

Also, sigh, the pages are so frail I’m afraid I’ll end up making a mess of the book by the end D:

20 Likes
#91

January 1 :snowflake: Home Post

Day 1 started! (or maybe finished, we’ll see how my brain does)

All my mandarake books got here yesterday which is super great timing honestly. I actually ended up finishing the first volume of ラストゲーム a couple days ago, so I’m working on the second one. BUT in another impulsive move I also started reading 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ which is… an adventure to say the least (side-eyes natively telling me it’s like N1, look at me making rational desicions for my skill level :joy:). It has furigana on most of the unfamiliar kanji though, which makes it feel way more approachable while still getting me to actually read kanji sometimes.

So today so far I read one whole page of 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ and now my brain hurts, but I am intrigued to see where it goes! I really need to read more actual prose so it’s a start. I’ll probably read some ラストゲーム later today once I’ve mentally recovered, but either way, progress!

Some fun words

Happened across both 経由(けいゆ) and 経路(けいろ) which I’ve been battling in my reviews lately so hopefully that helps me out; always good to see WK stuff in the wild!

滲(にじ)む - to run (like liquid), to blur or blot; it was talking about sweat getting in someone’s eyes and blurring their vision
馴染(なじ)み - familiarity, intimacy

17 Likes
#92

:+1: Got you! I added your name and a link to your calendar “home” post to the participants list - if you want, you can update the participants list post daily with the number of days you’ve read (you should be able to edit the participants list post with the “Edit” button at the bottom right corner of the post).

6 Likes
#93

Okay great! Thank you! :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#94

I just read a little bit from the ものべの visual novel today.

騙す だます to trick; to cheat; to deceive N2
手口 てぐち modus operandi; criminal technique; trick
油断も隙もない ゆだんもすきもない one must constantly be on one’s guard with …; one cannot be too careful of …
端ない はしたない improper; immodest; disgraceful

15 Likes
#95

Summary post :bookmark:

January 1
・Starting off the winter challenge by reading 笑(わら)わない数学者(すうがくしゃ), which is the third book in the Saikawa & Moe series. I somehow read the whole bulk of week 2 of the schedule we’re following in the book club in just one day. :durtle_durtverted_lvl1:

Progress: (13% → 22%)

But hey, that means I have the rest of the week I can spend on catching up on the かがみの孤城(こじょう) book club. I’m on week 1 at around 5%.

note to self: edit days completed in the table in the second post of the thread
edit: haha, I’ve gotten so used to my tiny daily updates it looks so big now that it’s not written in tiny anymore

Thank you @windupbird for setting up the thread! :durtle_love: I really like how the opening post turned out :durtle_noice:

18 Likes
#96

Pro tip for those who link back to their daily updates in their summary posts:

By editing the part of the url that is the “title of the thread” into just an “x”, the url becomes much shorter and the summary post will be a bit easier to edit later.

image

13 Likes
#97

I really fell off the band wagon during the autumn challenge and desperately need to get my reading back on track!

Jan
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
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
Feb
月 火 水 木 金 土 日
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
Reading log
  1. 五兵衛と津波 (Taishukan Graded Reader - Level 3) 100%
  2. 海幸山幸 (Taishukan Graded Reader - Level 3) 100%
  3. よだかの星 (Taishukan Graded Reader - Level 3) 100%
  4. 梨とり兄弟 (Taishukan Graded Reader - Level 3) 100%
  5. 天狗の鼻 (Taishukan Graded Reader - Level 3) 100%
  6. 魔女の多急便 - Chapter 3
16 Likes
#98

Thanks @Redglare and @windupbird for sharing your experience! You convinced me to try doing daily updates (or at least as regular as I have time/energy for). I’ll try to keep them concise, at least until I figure out what format I enjoy the most. I just realized that I spent about 30 minutes writing this post :expressionless:

Summary post

January 1 update:
Today was a bit hectic, so I only managed to read half of chapter 4 of よつばと！ I must say, Jumbo is using quite some dense vocab when he gets emotional. One of his speech bubbles was 9 straight kanji with no okurigana or whatever grammar points – I didn’t even realize such phrases are possible :joy:

BTW, @chamellow, I think it’s quite likely that I continue with よつばと！ after vol.1, so looking forward to reading along with you!

And thanks @vonnutje for your advice, it applies to me perfectly :sweat_smile: I’ve been SRSing a lot of words I was finding while reading, which made the process extra tedious as well as possibly inefficient (since I’m likely running into the same words repeatedly). So I’ve been leaning towards the approach you described, and now I decided that I’ll give it a try. I’ll read for maybe a week or so without SRSing any new words, but still saving the words I look up (that I would otherwise SRS), and then will see how many of them I still remember. If I end up with a reasonable amount, I guess I’ll continue like this. Thanks again for helping flesh out my vague intention!

16 Likes