📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

[softlyraining]

softlyraining’s snowy book stack

January 9th

ラストで君は「まさか！」と言う 冬の物語 (60% → 69%)

As soon as I started reading, I didn’t feel like continuing. I thought maybe it was because the first story didn’t grab me right away, so I pushed through and read a second one. That went a little bit better, and the ending for it was kind of cute.

The first story for today was 8 pages and took 19 minutes and 35 seconds to read. The second story I read was 10 pages long and took 22 minutes and 56 seconds to read. Though I want to finish this book before moving on to the next, I might switch it up tomorrow just to give me a break and maybe renew my desire to continue reading this.

[midnightblue]

January 9th

Home post

Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 – progress report
Yesterday: Continued up to page 38, finished chapter 21.
Today: Continued up to page 53

Mostly smooth sailing due to the chapter not having that much dialogue or rather only small explanations as of yet. I’ll read through this chapter and maybe the next one before switching to Card Captor Sakura again.

Reply

@sddsdd

Thank you for the support!! After I catch up on the series I’ll probably go back to スローループ and ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! which I had been enjoying a lot but couldn’t really keep up with because of the additional reading load. After that… I’m thinking of a change of pace and reading a visual novel like Monkeys!¡ I’m starting to realize that early in my reading practice I should probably opt for something with more visuals and sound because keeping myself stimulated is definitely way more important than I had thought…

It’s great that you have material ready – the first two look pretty relaxing and wholesome while the monkeys one, according to the description at least, seems on the comedic side. I hope that you’ll enjoy your next pick whichever one it will be.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Word or expression of the day:
初期 - (しょき) - early (days), initial stage​

Honourable mention(s):
廃線 - (はいせん) - abandoned railway line, closed railway line, discontinued line​

[Reyam]

January 9th progress update
Home Post

Reading よつばと！ Vol. 1

Yesterday finished off at 53 pages which was the end of the first chapter, I read the whole 2nd chapter today so I’m currently on page 89. Gaining momentum in reading already, awesome to see how fast I can get used to using japanese again after such a long break. This time I would have understood the meaning of the sentences perfectly without looking up those few words I didn’t know. (I must admit I’m spending some time with the memrise course for Yotsubato so that definitely helps) All in all, I’m satisfied with today’s progress and also starting to worry on what I’m going to read once I finish this

Replies

@pm215

At the moment what I’m doing is that I look words up in my electronic dictionary while reading, but only when I feel I really need to.

Oh yes! I’m using mine too here and there. Which one you got? I got a Casio Ex-word and I’m pretty satisfied with it but I should probably use a lot more of its functions.

@pm215

Then later on I use the dictionary’s history function to list the words I looked up, and I add them to a deck in jpdb.io.

That’s why I like it a lot too, don’t need to have loads of pages open in my browser. I’ll have a look for those SRS systems and choose one that fits my needs the most. Thanks for the tips!

@polv

In longer past, I didn’t take note of vocabularies in reading at all. I simply looked up in a dictionary. I trusted Wanikani and Core 10k for necessary memory. For those decks, I took notes and mnemonics in Anki (AnkiDroid, Anki on Android), while SRS’ing. I also copied texts from websites (via in-Anki hyperlinks) to AnkiDroid. So, Anki is like a portable personal database. Tae Kim and textbooks are simple enough to try to remember most things, so I didn’t really actively try to remember and SRS everything. (Though I tried very hard to remember Kana at the very beginning, but no SRS.)

Back when I first started studying I didn’t really do anything other than wanikani and textbooks until reaching an N3 level (I unfortunately took a long break so now im trying to regain it bonks themselves on the head) so I suppose it should be doable even without those SRS tools, but currently I’m just trying to get to know as many tools as possible, try them out and see what works for me and whether I find them more effective than my current methods. So thank you for those recommendations, notes taken!

@Zakarius

I write any new words I encounter down on my daily posts and then hope for the best. Going through the effort of writing each down does help me remember it better, and most of the time, the word will be popping up again in whatever it is I’m reading so if it’s a common enough word I’ll eventually remember it that way. Some words are just too obscure to really remember effectively.

That’s what I’m doing with the words that I find important right now, usually just write them down on paper or try to create a sentence with them to also have output. I completely agree with the obscure words, it’s probably not even worth really trying to remember them as they wont pop up that often so might as well focus on the more important ones. Do you post those words here on the forum or somewhere private? Would have a look to see how much I know if it’s on the forum.
Thanks for your answer ^^

A few fun vocab I learned today

• 二度寝 = going back to sleep after waking up

• 心を込めて = wholeheartedly

[Natsuha]

Day 7
I read some more of Your Life in April Vol.3 and got back to reading Monobeno visual novel but only had time to read some lines.
825 pages read 19175 to go

@Reyam

By SRS you mean Anki or are there other tools? I’m not really familiar with the ones where you input the words into the SRS.

I’m living in the stone age and literally writing down words onto paper; kanji, reading, meaning then reading it out loud several times. 笑笑

Sorry for my late answer. I’m using the Kitsun website/app for my SRS it’s a little pricey but at least it has a computer voice which can pronounce and it’s easy too make your own cards. There is even a thread for it in this forum.

Of course you make your own SRS without a computer although it would be super inconvenient with a big amount of cards.

[pm215]

@Reyam

@pm215

At the moment what I’m doing is that I look words up in my electronic dictionary while reading, but only when I feel I really need to.

Oh yes! I’m using mine too here and there. Which one you got? I got a Casio Ex-word and I’m pretty satisfied with it but I should probably use a lot more of its functions.

Mine is a Casio EX-word XD-GP9700, which I bought new in 2009. Cost me $500 at the time but averaged over 14 years I think it’s pretty good value…

[pm215]

@Natsuha

Of course you make your own SRS without a computer although it would be super inconvenient with a big amount of cards.

I actually tried this once, 20 years ago, with a load of index cards in a box with some dividers, the first time I had a go at RTK. I really don’t recommend it

[Reyam]

Wow this site looks neat, for now I’ll check out some other apps and sites before spending on it. However, I might reconsider it in the future. Thank you

[Reyam]

Oh a bit older than mine then, you got ラジオ体操 on it too? (probably the most important aspect of an electronic dictionary )

[Memoria]

Home Post

➳ January 9th.

What: NHK Easy news
Pages: 1?
Time: 5 minutes.

Suuuper short read for me today. It’s been a busy sort of day, but I expect tomorrow to be a little better.

[Greti33]

January 9th (Day 9)

Home post

I read chapters 3 and 4 of チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 and oh boi. I really wish I had the mental capacity and reading speed to get through another one today. So frustrating that I can’t just sit down and read to my heart’s content. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to do that with Japanese… Anyways, really enjoying the book so far :333

I’ve also managed to get through another small bit of Морфий - just for the sake of it. But reading it in such small increments really isn’t it… I’ll try to make more time tomorrow and actually get through the first part.

[Redglare]

Home post // Jan 9

・ 本好きの下克上 16 (44% → 47%)

Another busy day nyooms by. But hey, I somehow got my reviews on jpdb down to zero

[pm215]

@Reyam

Oh a bit older than mine then, you got ラジオ体操 on it too?

Sadly not

[lucylavelle]

January 9th!

Today I read chapter 46 of Shadows House. A lot of interesting stuff happened so I really want to read the next chapter too but its midnight and I’m tired so it will have to wait until tomorrow!

(Home Post)

[iterimpius]

January 6-9
Home Post

• 6/1: 教養366, 33min.
• 7/1: 10分で読める伝記, 33min. Finished the first biography of Heinrich Schliemann
  That was such an interesting story!

That was such an interesting story!

In case you don’t know, Schliemann was a very important figure in archaeology, he did a lot of excavation work that helped uncover the ancient ruins of Mycenae and ofc, the ancient citadel of Troy, which before then was believed to only be a product of mythological recounting. Here in Greece, every kid, including myself, learns about him since an early age, right when we are first introduced to the subject of history at school. But we just know about his contribution to archaeology, so for me, it was very nice to learn something more, like how he came from a poor background and yet managed to make it big and become a successful business and trade man! But what stroke my fancy the most is how the guy was apparently a polyglot! And he was self-taught at that. I’m so glad I picked this books to begin this challenge, it was kinda encouraging it said Schliemann managed to teach himself Dutch and English by keeping a c o n s i s t e n t habit of reading about an hour every day, and out loud at that.
He is my new inspiration now

📷

On top of those two languages, the book states he also learnt French, Portuguese and Greek!!! Google search and this has him speaking well over 12 or so!

• 8/1: 私の幸せな結婚, only a few pages before bed, ~15min.
• 9/1: 私の幸せな結婚, 1:30 h

[windupbird]

Summary post

Day 9: January 9th
What did I read?: マグメル深海水族館 Vol 1
How much did I read?: 47 pages
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 2 min

Finished the first chapter proper today - the chapters in this one seem pretty long, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep doing a whole chapter every day if they continue to take me this long But I really enjoyed this introduction to the main character, Koutarou. His sincere love of deep sea life is very endearing And the founder of the aquarium is quite the personality - honestly I died when he dropped a bunch of stuffed ダイオウグソクムシ on Koutarou Poor Koutarou - but also why were there so many stuffed ダイオウグソクムシ, like what is this gift shop Also why is the director of the whole entire aquarium in charge of stocking it? I have so many questions about this situation But I love the idea of a gift shop with shelves full of ダイオウグソクムシ plushies instead of like…dolphin or whale plushies, I really want to visit that gift shop

[catbus]

I finished SPYxFAMILY volume 1 yesterday. It was a fun read and I also got volume 2 for free, so I’ll probably read that at some point. I doubt I’ll read the whole series since it seems like it will end up being a lot of the same thing eventually. I saw someone mention クールドジ男子 on the forum somewhere and the first volume is free to read on Amazon, so I figured I’d start on that next.
(Edit: it was recommended by enbyboiwonder in the “Top 5 best things you read in Japanese in 2022” thread)

I’ve been making sure to read every day, even if it’s only two pages of manga. At least I know I can do it even if I don’t feel like I have enough time. Two pages is nothing, right?

[alygator]

Home post

1 月 10 日
コナの大冒険 第22話

And so the adventure begins! Just sneaking this in my lunch break cause I have a long night of work today.

Words of interest

比べものにならない [くらべものにならない] cannot be compared with, no match for
景色 [けしき] scenery, scene, landscape
緊張 [きんちう]tension, mental strain

Favorite one is this to tell my future cat off : 爪を立てないで [つめをたてない] don’t dig your claws in!

[Greya]

January 9th
Only did my speaking practice on the Aomi Japanese app today… First day back at work and unfortunately I was too tired to do any reading. Maybe I could have pushed myself to do some, but I really like the story I’m reading at the moment and want to give it the attention it deserves–reading just a page or two would feel unsatisfying to me. Hope to have a nice reading session tomorrow, though!

[pocketcat]

I did the 半落ち reading today and that’s all I have time/energy for. ユージニア and more チュベローズ will have to wait until tomorrow.

[fallynleaf]

Summary post

Finished translating Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling’s イッテンヨン show, which is their former biggest show of the year! It is now perhaps a distant fourth in the rankings, though it still has quite a bit of charm.

Here’s a photo from the show. This was from the annual Shoko Nakajima vs Hyper Misao match, which is between two people who are regular tag partners, and which always has some sort of wild stipulation, haha, and frequently involves all kinds of nonsense, including ladders and kaiju toys.

This year, they suspended three stuffed bunnies from a rope, which the wrestlers had to retrieve in order to win the match, but the catch was that only one of them granted the win, and the other two added rule changes to the match that took place immediately. This photo illustrates one of the rule changes, which added an army of rabbits with plastic mallets who would run up and attack the wrestlers whenever they went outside the ring.

Here’s a video clip of it. It’s one of the funniest things I think I’ve ever seen in wrestling, haha.

Here’s a bonus photo from the show just because I thought this submission was so dang cool (despite what it may seem from the photos I share here, TJPW actually does have, like, actual wrestling on their shows ). Trish Adora just challenged current International champ Miu Watanabe for her belt:

I was proud of myself for doing pretty well on this show translation! I only made a few mistakes. One highlight from the post-match comments was Miu trying to demonstrate that she was working hard on her English by saying “my fight”, but when she was asked to repeat it, she said “my ganbaru” instead, and when the interviewer pointed out that 頑張る isn’t English, her excuse was that she was “ジャパニーズを広げて”, haha.

TJPW is gearing up for Yuka Sakazaki vs Mizuki next (well, the match isn’t until March haha), which is my favorite feud the company has ever done, so I’m really looking forward to translating all the stuff for that, going forward. I love it when wrestlers who love each other have to fight each other…

I have a pretty big translation workload on my plate right now, though, because just a few days after イッテンヨン, they did two VOD shows right in a row (which are just about to be uploaded to the streaming site), which I am going to try my best to translate as soon as possible, though I doubt I’m finishing both by the next live show .