🎙 📝 Speak/Write Every Day Challenge (Winter 2023) 🏂 ❄

Welcome to the “Speak/Write Every Single Day” Challenge! :snowboarder: :snowflake:

Speaking is probably my weakest skill when it comes to Japanese. This is a combination of not using it nearly as much as my other skills plus the fact that, for whatever reason, it is extremely intimidating for me to practice. I suspect I’m not alone in feeling this way.

As requested, this challenge will be taking place alongside the community’s other wonderful challenges: reading and listening (started/continued by @Redglare, @windupbird [reading] and @KJules [listening]) We’re going to see how two months of output goes. I’m hoping for fairly well. :sweat_smile:

The goal of this challenge is to get you out of your comfort zone in a positive and encouraging environment and put all of the vocab and grammar you’ve learned to use. There’s all sorts of ways you can go about participating:

:star2: Wanna try speaking for both months? Go for it!
:star2: Itching to improve your writing skills? Awesome!
:star2: Dying to practice both skills at the same time or interchangeably? You do you!
:star2: Take a class/meet with a tutor and want that to count towards your goal? Excellent!
:star2: Just want to use this challenge to practice your pronunciation or handwriting? Cool!

You can talk or write about anything you like: your day, a book you’re reading, a show you’re watching, your cat, your neighbor’s cat, a story about a tanuki that you made up, or simply practice using new vocabulary. The sky’s the limit!

You can speak or write as much or as little as you desire (though maybe don’t go too overboard with it). Most of the recording tools listed below also have upper limits (5-10 minutes, depending), so there’s zero pressure to speak for any longer than that. You’re also free to adjust the challenge to your own needs: if you want to try speaking on-the-spot, that’s fantastic, but even if you’d prefer writing out what you want to say and then recording it, that’s great, too.

To quote KJules quoting windupbird quoting Redglare (that’s a lot of quoting):

This is a thread for people who:

:bookmark: want to spend more time speaking/writing
:bookmark: want to improve their output abilities
:bookmark: want to hold themselves accountable and have a place to document their progress
:bookmark: simply want to join in on the challenge!

Time Frame: January 1st to February 28th

Late comers are always welcome! :smile:

Click for windupbird's amazing calendar template for tracking your progress!

To use, reply to this post, click the “quote whole post” button (little speech bubble), and copy/paste the part below into your post:

1月
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
2月
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
Click here for a link to a prompt generator, courtesy of potatonaught!

Recording Tools (for those who want to share their speaking practice):
:studio_microphone: Vocaroo (can share via link / download recording)
:studio_microphone: Reverb (can share via link)
:studio_microphone: Voice Spice (can share via link)
:studio_microphone: Online Voice Recorder (can download recording)
:studio_microphone: TwistedWave (can download recording)
:star: For download-only tools, you can upload your recordings to a file sharing service and link to them using that, if you so wish. If there are other tools you’d like to share with everyone, let me know and I’ll add them to the list!

:star: There is no pressure to share your writings/recordings. Do so only if you feel comfortable. If all you want to do is post a calendar to track your private practice, that’s 100% okay. What matters most is that you try your best at whatever goal you set for yourself during this challenge.

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

This is a wiki, I copied the format from the read every day thread

Participants

Feel free to add your username to the list!
Note: please try to keep this alphabetical

Username Date Joined Days Completed
alygator 1 Jan 2023 44/59 (74.5%!!!)
BeyondSleepy 1 Jan 2023 26
kanjiduck 1 Jan 2023 0
Lucylavelle 1 Jan 2023 All so far!
polv 1 Jan 2023 all-13 = 46
softlyraining 1 Jan 2023 23
Zyavaranah 1 Jan 2023 0
6 Likes

:house_with_garden: Home Post :house:

Jan
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
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

After having participated in the Kanji in order of Ascending Stroke Count advent calendar for a week or so I decided I’d start a diary in Japanese and finally start practicing output. I bought a Midori 10-year diary which I’m starting today, so my challenge is “write every day for 10 years” :stuck_out_tongue:


13 Likes

Count me in! Starting from today gacha topic:
お酒のシーンで1番やらかしたことは何ですか?
大学生の時飲みすぎちゃって友達とキスをした。
Didn’t know やらかした, so learned at least that :smiley:

1.01
同性とキスできる?
もちろんできるよ。女とキスの方が好きです。男と期すことも大丈夫ですよ。

6 Likes

:snowflake: polv’s Speaking/Writing Every Day Challenge of Winter Q1 2023 Home Post

.

Maybe really just calendar, or even perhaps day count (or days missed) only.

I would probably focus on answering prompts and filling in the blanks, as in textbooks. Perhaps also shadowing (trying to do more properly), but I might not count that part as a checked-in day. (I share my audio too, but probably in my Home thread.)

一月
第1週目 01 ・
第2週目 02 :pencil2: 03 ・ 04 ・ 05 :pencil2: 06 ・ 07 :pencil2: 08 ・
第3週目 09 ・ 10 :pencil2: 11 ・ 12 ・ 13 :pencil2: 14 ・ 15 :pencil2:
第4週目 16 ・ 17 ・ 18 :pencil2: 19 :pencil2: 20 :pencil2: 21 ・ 22 :pencil2:
第5週目 23 :pencil2: 24 :pencil2: 25 :pencil2: 26 :pencil2: 27 :pencil2: 28 ・ 29 :pencil2:
第6週目 30 :pencil2: 31 :pencil2:
二月
第6週目 01 :pencil2: 02 :pencil2: 03 :pencil2: 04 :pencil2: 05 :pencil2:
第7週目 06 :pencil2: 07 :pencil2: 08 :pencil2: 09 :pencil2: 10 :pencil2: 11 :pencil2: 12 :pencil2:
第8週目 13 :pencil2: 14 :pencil2: 15 :pencil2: 16 :pencil2: 17 :pencil2: 18 :pencil2: 19 :pencil2:
第9週目 20 :pencil2: 21 :pencil2: 22 :pencil2: 23 :pencil2: 24 :pencil2: 25 :pencil2: 26 :pencil2:
第10週目 27 :pencil2: 28 :pencil2:
三月
第10週目 01 :pencil2: 02 :pencil2: 03 :pencil2: 04 :pencil2: 05 :pencil2:
第11週目 06 :pencil2: 07 :pencil2: 08 :pencil2: 09 :pencil2: 10 :pencil2: 11 :pencil2: 12 :pencil2:
第12週目 13 :pencil2: 14 :pencil2: 15 :pencil2: 16 :pencil2: 17 :pencil2: 18 :pencil2: 19 :pencil2:
第13週目 20 :pencil2: 21 22 23 24 25 26
春の初 27 28 29 30 31
5 Likes

Nice to see this challenge continuing :slight_smile:
I’ll be carrying on with writing my daily diary, and having 1-2 lessons a week to practise speaking.

Jan
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
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
Progress Report
一月
二月
5 Likes

Alygator’s first speak/write every day challenge! :snowboarder:

Yayyy! Glad I caught this before it started this time. I always find I do better with challenges that I’ve started from the start rather than midway through (outside of WK at least).

1月
01 :writing_hand: 02 :writing_hand: 03 :writing_hand: 04 :speaking_head: 05 :writing_hand: 06 :speaking_head: 07 :writing_hand:
08 :writing_hand: 09 :speaking_head: 10 :writing_hand: 11 :speaking_head: 12 :writing_hand: 13 :x: 14 :x:
15 :writing_hand: 16 :speaking_head: 17 :writing_hand: 18 :speaking_head: 19 :writing_hand: 20 :writing_hand: 21 :writing_hand:
22 :writing_hand: 23 :speaking_head: 24 :writing_hand: 25 :speaking_head: 26 :writing_hand: 27 :writing_hand: 28 :writing_hand:
29 :speaking_head: 30 :writing_hand: 31 :speaking_head:

Final count: 29 out of 31

2月
01 :writing_hand: 02 :writing_hand: 03 :writing_hand: 04 :writing_hand:
05 :speaking_head: 06 :writing_hand: 07 :speaking_head: 08 :writing_hand: 09 :writing_hand: 10 :x: 11 :x:
12 :x: 13 :writing_hand: 14 :writing_hand: 15 :writing_hand: 16 :writing_hand: 17 :x: 18 :x:
19 :x: 20 :x: 21 :x: 22 :writing_hand: 23 :writing_hand: 24 :x: 25 :x:
26 :x: 27 :x: 28 :x:

Final count: 15 out of 28

Total: 44 out of 59 which is 74.5%, not even a passing grade…

I will be doing a mix of both speaking and writing, speaking on the days I’m not writing and writing on the days I’m not speaking. Not exactly sure how i’ll update my progress yet. Maybe a weekly progress report and also pasting some of my diary entries?


Edited my calendar to show on which days I did what and clicking on emojis now lead to the specific post if any.

6 Likes

:studio_microphone: :snowboarder: softlyraining’s snowy mountain of output :memo: :mountain_snow:

December turned out to be busier than I thought it’d be, and I defaulted to doing diary-esque writing practice, which was perfectly fine. For this challenge, though, I’d like to be more purposeful with my output practice: if I’m going to practice speaking or writing, I want it to be focused (even if it’s only for five minutes), rather than rushed at the end of my day. Once again, I’d like to do more speaking practice, but we’ll see how the next two months go!

一月
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
二月
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
6 Likes

Day 1

So today’s diary entry is “ 私は昨日一杯のワインを飲んだのだけで二日酔いです。頭が痛いです 。30歳になるということこうですね?好きじゃないです” :sweat_smile: I’m betting I’ve made some mistakes but that’s alright, I’ll hopefully spot them when I return to the January 1st page next year:

🖼️

Btw, is this how one would express “is this what it means to turn 30?”

I also practiced writing the kanji and the sentences a few times before writing them in the diary. I wonder how quickly I’ll build the confidence to just write without any preparations🤔

🖼️

8 Likes

Great handwriting practice! I see the advent calendar practice stuck with you. I may consider doing the same if I have time!

I had to use deepl to translate your diary entry cause I’m not quite at the level yet but just to say in reply that, 気持ちが知っています。私も今日は頭が痛いです。 :sweat:

6 Likes

1月1日

あけましたおめでとう!
Happy new year everyone!

みんなさん、新年の抱負がありますか?
Everybody, do you have any New Years Resolutions?

日記

今日は正月だ。
今年、新年の抱負がないけどまだ色々なことをしたい。
日本語の上達のために毎日、本を読み続けたり、日記を書き続けたり、もっと聴解の練習したい。
他の目的はもっと運動をして、痩せたい。

今日、友達の赤ちゃんを初めて会った。
彼は本当にちっちゃくてかわいい。
ほとんど寝たけどちょっとミルクを飲んだ。
今日彼を彼を起こしたくなかったけどすぐに抱っこできるといいね。

(Home Post)

5 Likes

:studio_microphone: :snowboarder: softlyraining’s snowy mountain of output :memo: :mountain_snow:

January 1st

明けましておめでとう!Despite my goal of not rushing through practice, I’m already starting off doing just that. :sweat_smile: Things should settle down later in the week, though.

単語練習

取り掛かるto set about, start, begin

  1. 仕事に取り掛かるたびに、同僚に邪魔をされます。
  2. 片付けに取り掛かってから、テレビで映画を観た。
  3. 宿題に取り掛かる代わりに、友達と遊びに行っちゃった。
  4. 上司に依頼人の連絡に取り掛かるのを聞かれました。
Replies

I feel like I’ve seen something like what you’re trying to say written in Japanese before on Satori Reader, but I haven’t found it yet. I’ll keep skimming through what I’ve read on there, but I guess if I was going to take a crack at writing that in Japanese, I’d go with: これは30歳になるということだろうか?I’m not the most confident, however. Also, I, too, love that you’re doing handwriting practice!

一般的にきちんと整理したいと思っています。先週新しい手帳を買って、一月に身につけたい習慣を書きました。運動したり、読んだり、書きたりします。明日か明後日、もっと目的を考えたいです。
Translation: In general, I want to get organized. Last week I bought a planner, and I wrote down the habits I want to acquire in January. Things like exercise, read, and write. I want to think about my goals some more either tomorrow or the day after.

5 Likes

Initially, posted this on my study log but will post here instead.

1月1日
大晦日に、ラーポッキを作りました。ラーポッキは辛い韓国料理です。そして、深夜まで兄弟たちと話しました。いろいろな話題を話しました。今朝は遅く起きました。

1月2日
今日は日本語のレッスンがあると思いましたがちがいました。だからこの文章を速く書きました。

I have been trying to read everyone’s posts here but they’re way beyond my level so I have to use google translate most of the time! Just to say that I hope I can write as good as all of you one day and I wonder if this can actually count as my reading practice for the read everyday challenge… :sweat_smile: Or is that cheating?

I also like the 単語練習 idea! My last two days are diary entries but this got me thinking I could do the same and some 文法練習 too!

5 Likes

一月二日

日記

ランチは夫とティールームに行った。
私はハムサンド、 スコーンとロッキー・ロードを食べた。
夫は卵マヨサンド、フルーツスコーンとクルミのケーキを食べた。
本当に美味しかった。
そのティールームにはよく行ったけど最近いかなかったので行くのが嬉しかった。
店員さんは私たちに会うことが喜んでいた。

午後に折り紙をしようとした。
蝶々と三角ボックスを作った。
結果はまあまあと思う。
完璧じゃないでも作るのが楽しんだ。

For lunch my husband and I went to a tea room.
I had a ham sandwich, a scone and Rocky Road.
My husband had an egg mayo sandwich, a fruit scone and a walnut cake.
It was really good.
We used to go to that tea room a lot, but we haven’t been recently, so I was happy to go there.
The waitress was pleased to see us.

In the afternoon, I tried to do origami.
I made a butterfly and a triangle box.
I think the results were ok.
It wasn’t perfect, but I enjoyed making it.

Replies

@alygator
ラーポッキを食べたことがない。美味しそうですよ!

I have never eaten Rabokki. It looks delicious!

I’ll try to remember to include english translations to save you from having to google translate! :grin:
Your writing looks really good so far! This will be my third year of keeping a daily diary, and I still find it tough sometimes and I know I make a lot of mistakes.
Every week I read one of my diary entries with my tutor and she corrects my mistakes, and that has been a really good way for me to improve :slight_smile:

それはいい抱負と思います。整理は大切ですが、難しいですね。

(Home Post)

4 Likes

:studio_microphone: :snowboarder: softlyraining’s snowy mountain of output :memo: :mountain_snow:

January 2nd

Another day where I don’t have a ton of time, but that’s okay. Tomorrow should be a bit better. I liked the simplicity of yesterday’s practice, so I figured I’d do the same thing for today.

単語練習

聞き取るto catch, follow, (be able to) hear

  1. 来週の試験の内容は聞き取れましたか。
  2. 母が電話をかけている人の声が聞き取れた
  3. すみません、お客様のお名前は聞き取れなかったんですが。
  4. いよいよ先生の講義が簡単に聞き取れるようになった!
5 Likes

Home post

1月3日
Following softlyraining’s lead and making up 例文 consisting of 単語 and 文法 I need to review!

  1. 寝たいけど、事務所でウトウトてはいけない
  2. 猫が欲しいだけど、アパとで養ってはいけない
Replies

ahhh that’s so nice of you to translate when you can. Please don’t feel any pressure to though. :sweat_smile: Third year of keeping a daily diary - 素晴らしいですね!

ロッキーロードはアイスですか。 I haven’t seen or had that in so long. なつかしい思い出を覚えています。(of my childhood). 一番好きなアイスでしたよ。 :sweat_smile:

5 Likes

1月3日

日記

今日は本当に忙しかった。

まず、トイレを治すために水道屋さんが来た。
幸いなことに、漏れを止まれて、思ったより値段が安かったので私は喜んだ。

その後で義理の親が来て、クリスマスのプレゼントを持って来た。
犬のスージーも来た。
スージーは本当に可愛くて、毛が柔らかった。

最後、毎年の保守点検のために車が修理屋にいかないといけなかった。
点検済みの後で、修理は必要がなかった。
それはラッキだよね

Today was really busy.

First, a plumber came to fix the toilet.
Fortunately, he was able to stop the leak and the price was cheaper than I expected so I was pleased.

Then my in-laws came and brought Christmas presents.
Their dog Susie came too.
Susie was really cute and her fur was soft.

Finally, the car had to go to a repair shop for its annual maintenance check.
After it had been inspected, no repairs were needed.
That was lucky!

Replies

そのロッキーロードはアイスじゃないけどアイスのロッキーロードが大好きです!
昨日の食べたロッキーロードはこれみたいでした。

That rocky road was not ice cream, but I love rocky road ice cream!
The rocky road I ate yesterday was like this.

(Home Post)

5 Likes

I was looking for this challenge but I didn’t find it until just now! Well, great, I’m simply yearning to have a slight boost in motivation in order start a daily diary or write out small scripts to practice speaking. I was once in a Japanese speech competition in my neck of the woods and it was incredibly embarrassing. So, in order to improve my presentation skills, I want to improve both my writing and speaking! Not to mention actually being able to write kanji not just visually recognize them. So, count me in! If I don’t get anything done for a few days, it’s because I’m in the reading challenge and the listening challenge and I’ve overloaded myself :joy:

6 Likes

let’s do this

Jan
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
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
5 Likes

:studio_microphone: :snowboarder: softlyraining’s snowy mountain of output :memo: :mountain_snow:

January 3rd

I’m going to be honest: today sucked. Part of me wanted to do something simple for my output practice, but then I thought writing about my feelings could be good practice as well as cathartic.

悪い日

今日は義理の母がうちを出て、他の親戚を訪ねた。義理の母がシャワーを浴びる間に、私は朝ごはんを作って、ヨーグルトとシリアルが入った茶碗を叩き落として壊しちゃった。 :fearful:(私の)母が結婚のためのプレゼントに対してくれた茶碗だから、すっごく悲しくなっちゃった。ふたつがあったから他の茶碗はまだ持っているけど、セットみたいなものだし、特別にもらったから本当に泣きたかった。でも、義理の母はまだここにいるから、「泣かないでね」と思った。出た時に、すっごく泣きちゃった。 :disappointed_relieved:母に茶碗についてのメッセージを送れて、返事は母が同じの茶碗を探してみるということだった。できるかどうか分からなくて、まだちょっと悲しい。壊れた茶碗を直したいけど、果たしてできるだろうか?こういうことを考える。

残っている茶碗の写真

4 Likes