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Second attempt at Kiki-Mimi Radio on Satori, ‘easy’ version. Compared to last month, the first episode feels more approachable, but it’s still a steep jump from Sakura and Suzuki. I’m using all available options to make the experience more enjoyable, including adding spaces… for now.
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Five episodes in, and I’m slowly being drawn into the story. I was surprised to hear another actor voice one of the characters, besides the narrator. Word of the day 周り, the 5th synonym that I have learned for neighbourhood! Apparently there’s a 6th one waiting for me in level 40 
.
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Reached episode 9 and it’s getting weird 
. I wasn’t expecting anything surreal from the few comments people have posted about this series. Looking forward to the next development. The word of the day was one of my leeches from a recent level: 思わず == unintentionally . Let’s see if it sticks after seeing it in the wild!
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Read a couple more episodes. Episode 10 contains several sentences with no unknown vocabulary, so I can focus entirely on the grammar. Grammatical structure of the day: the “suffering passive”!
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The same sentence structures are repeated over the next 3 episodes. I managed to read once through episode 13 and got the gist of it, before I listened to the audio. Some words I recognized from an earlier Tadoku book, like カエル 
. Word of the day: 見回す I couldn’t find it in WK, but for once, it’s not too difficult to guess that it means to look around!
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Episode 14 had a few tricky sentences. I should spend a bit more time on Bunpro 
!
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A few more episodes in, and the story went from cheerful to unsettling. The suspense is growing 
. I’m bumping into more words that I understand because I recognise individual kanjis… but it turns out are not taught by WK, like this one: 予感 premonition
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I feel like shaking up the narrator for reacting so slowly and being so passive… beggars belief. I would have skipped the rest if I were reading in more familiar languages, but I’m enjoying the challenge of deciphering Japanese sentences and discovering common expressions. Word of the day 調子 state/condition/groove！
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Finally the narrator is taking action. Kudos to the voice actors, it really adds to the experience… and how nice to realise that my long struggle with 役場 is finally paying off 
. One aspect of Satori reader that I particularly enjoy are the insights it gives into Japanese culture, and how that translates into the language. Word of the day: 防災無線 wireless disaster prevention system!
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Kiki Mimi Radio 
. First time seeing one of my most persistent leeches in the wild: 勝手. What a curse that the most “irregular” words are the most commonly used . I’ll take it as an incentive to read more!
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Back on Tadoku, level 3 book all about onsen. Lots of facts that put me in a nice lull…ready to sleep 
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4th (?) attempt at reading “Hole in the wall” on Satori. Being more familiar with the kanji should have made it easier to get through the first 2 episodes 
. Well, not so much after all! There’s an awful lot of kana that leaves me scratching my head. Some of it makes sense in hindsight あっという間 == a blink of time; the time it takes to say “Ah!” .
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Busy day, but managed one more episode. The story is great for learning about Japanese houses. Searched for 廊下 and got back delightful images.
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One more episode, this time I read through the whole page and got a few whole sentences right 
. It helps that the easy edition is quite repetitive. Kanji is now less of a hurdle than the kana vocabulary and grammar.
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Reached episode 7. Some good examples where knowing individual kanjis still leaves me clueless 目覚まし “eye memorize”?! Aha, 目覚める should pop up in my lessons in the next few days, hopefully I will remember to associate it with 
!
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Forced myself to go through one more episode. Is that really yet another term for ‘skillfull’? Nope, the notes say うまく is the adverbial form of うまい which I learned as 上手い, but totally failed to recognize from the hiragana spelling. 
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Read 5 pages of Dr Slump on bilingualmanga and that’s way more fun than anything I’ve read before… completely zany 
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Read this little gem on Tadoku: 蛙:frog:. Even in its very simplified form (lvl 3), I felt this must be the work of an established writer. Sure enough, the story is by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the author of Rashōmon! I only knew of the eponymous film directed by Akira Kurozawa, but manga fans will recognize Ryūnosuke Akutawaga as the main character of Bungo Stray Dogs. The real person lived such a short life, it seems fitting that someone decided he should continue to live on in people’s imagination .
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Back to Hole in the wall on Satori, episode 10. The action is picking up, but it’s tricky to keep the suspense going when explanations for the term « to be sandwiched » is longer than the actual episode 
. Read a few pages of Dr Slump vol 1. Very few kanjis, but the entertainment factor is so much higher.
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Two more episodes on Satori. Even with all the crutches, it’s a time consuming exercise to go through each sentence several times. Kanjis from the current WK level are popping up, which is always satisfying… plus I get a free refresher for my next review!
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Managed a few sentences on Satori without the translator. First time seeing 初めてin the wild 
. Dr. スランプ is hilarious. Most words are written in hiragana or katakana; it’s often after reading the (very loose) translation that I can guess what the kanji would have been. One exception today: 野球！
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Lots of reading today, and first encounter with 相変わらず , one of my nemesis on WK! Besides Hole in the wall on Satori and a new episode of Dr. Slump, I did a set of reading practice sessions on Bunpro. The short dialogues are very helpful to me; they focus on a few grammar points and provide more natural examples than the lessons.
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The recall sessions on KW have become a drag, leaving little to no time to read. Drastic choices are needed. One episode on Satori had barely any unknown kanjis, and yet I got stumped on almost every sentence . Time to bid KW goodbye and spend more time on bunpro grammar, simply reading and studying the examples.
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Busy day, managed a couple of episodes on Satori and finished one episode of Dr Slump.
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Lots of reading today, reached episode 22 of Hole in the wall. Managed to read a few of the Japanese subtitles on a craftsman’s video and that made my day !
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Another episode of Dr Slump, I’m slowly starting to recognise words I learned on WK in their hiragana and katakana spelling. This is good practice, especially for reading katakana. Hole in the wall is getting easier to read, the last couple of episodes contained only a few Kanjis I didn’t know. Stumbled on a Sōseki short story on Tadoku (lvl 5), this looks amazing, keeping it for later. Even in its simplified version it seems daunting. A link is provided to the original text 
… something to tackle maybe in 10 years time?!
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Finished volume 1 of Dr Slump.
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Read through episode 26 on Satori. Slow and steady, learning tons of grammar. Started Vol 2 of Dr. Slump, the interface is a bit buggy on my device, which sometimes means no translation… can’t say I understand what I read, but it’s easy enough to figure out what’s going on with the pictures alone.
Home Post | 
Study Log | 05月01日
Tadoku L3 Stories
NHK Articles
Shirokuma Cafe
老女的少女ひなたちゃん１巻
DoBJG
チーズスイートホーム１巻
. Daily logging has filled my home post, but keeping a single list has made it easier for me to check at a glance how the challenge has been going so far. This will be my home for 
daily updates during May. Onwards!
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2024年5月2日 
