Tip's Notes & Plans

[tip]

WK 41 still has 25 vocabulary; WK 42 unlocked 4/4 R, 30/34 K, 29/108 V.

Rumor has it that these are the fast levels. Is that still true with all the shuffling and content additions done recently? WK 42 is a milestone for me as it marks the spot where I dropped out of Japanese learning due to loss of interest after visiting Japan and changing priorities in 2019. This time, I feel like I want to at least get to WK 60. Totally do-able since I have seen a lot of the vocabulary in Duolingo and now in my reading material.

Reading-
Particles-

Novel- 生きてるだけで,愛

Lookups

This week there were a lot of kana only words and expressions.

	たまたま	[adv] by chance; once in a while
	ちゃった	[exp] note finished doing; did completely
	見れば見るほど	[exp] the more one looks (at it) the more …
	ただの	[adj-no,n] ordinary; common; usual
偶然	ぐうぜん	[n,adj-na,adj-no] coincidence;
片付ける	かたづける	[v1,vt] to put in order; to tidy up [v1,vt] to settle (a matter); to solve;
	あまりにも	[adv] too (much); overly; excessively
	とりあえず	[adv] first of all; at once; right away, tentatively, anyway, at least
偶然の一致	ぐうぜんのいっち	[exp] coincidence
	ずにはいられない	I can’t help but verb….It expresses that the speaker has a strong desire to do something and cannot suppress it.
	ザッパーン／ざっぱーん	The sound of water. The sound of waves. （moment）Sound of water.
瞬間	しゅ ん か ん	instant, moment, second
脳細胞	のうさいぼう	[n] brain cell
	しびれる	[v1,vi] to become numb [v1,vi] to tingle (from an electric shock)[vi,v1] to be titillated; to be enthralled
鮮烈	せんれつ	[n,adj-na] vivid; striking

たまたま奇跡的な確率で現実が思想に追いたいちゃったて。It was a miraculous chance that reality happened to have caught up with his thoughts.

でもその並べんだ二枚の富士山景を見れば見るほど、ただの偶然って言葉で片付けてしまうにはあまりにも一致しすぎていて、とりあえずあたしはそこに説明できない何かがあったんだと思わずにはいられない。

But the more I look at the two side-by-side pictures of Mt. Fuji,
they match too much to be summed up in words, as just a coincidence
Anyway, I cant help but think that there is something there that I can’t explain.

だからこう考える。So I am pondering it like this.

きっと「ザッパーン！」の瞬間は北斎にとっての脳細胞がしびれるくらい強烈で鮮烈な刺激だったのだ。Surely, the moment of [ ] for Hokusai, was such an intense and vivid stimulus that it felt like his brain cells became numb.

Listening-
Failed to plan my long commute… listened to the Little Prince two and a half times. Good thing it’s a classic that I enjoy. IIRC the queen of England paraphrased a line from it during her address after the events of September 11, 2001 “Grief is the price we pay for love.”
my attempt to translate at my level:「悲しみは愛のために払う代償です。」

Actual text “When you love, you carry both joy and the risk of grief.”
my attempt to translate at my level「愛するとき、喜びと悲しみの危険の両方を担うのです。」

Currently listening to:

Yoshio Toyoshima collected works of short stories.
At 33 hours long on 0.75x speed, I will not finish in 21 days. Note to self: consider reading this one with your eyeballs.

Saw this and expected some comedy… did not deliver.

Teaching language through laughterーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS

[firmamentFray]

congrats on lvl 42!

[hrudey]

@tip

Saw this and expected some comedy… did not deliver.

I have not watched this yet (and given the time I suspect I mayn’t ever), but it made me think that a WaniComedy site would be interesting, until Mrs. ちょう got angry about the attention じょう、けん and こういち were getting and decided to start hate posting.

[Lisaveeta]

@tip

This time, I feel like I want to at least get to WK 60.

You’ll get there!

[tip]

Week of 2-23-26

level up expected in 2 days. Fast levels are only fast if you skip vocabulary.
Lately, reviews have not been shuffled which makes it too easy. Reported it as a bug.
The new streak durtles have distracted the complainers from their dislike of the new UI. Slick move devs, slick move.

Reading-

Japanese Onomatopoeia: The Guide scroll to the bottom for grammar and a plethora of examples

*Particles

*Bento graded readers in the love and romance section.

*Novel 生きてるだけで,愛
commentary-
There is an actual amusement park called Fuji-Q Highland in Japan.

There is not much of a flow from one sentence to another. She just jumps from thinking about an amusement park ride and Mt. Fuji to being depressed about a loser asking her out on a date after she lost her job.

Vocabulary- assuming I know the meaning of words when I recognize the components works well for extensive reading but close inspection of the actual definitions introduces interesting nuance that I would have otherwise missed.

Lookups

溢れる	あふれる	[vi,v1] to overflow; to brim over; to flood
焼き付く	やきつく	[v5k,vi] to be scorched into; to be seared into[vi,v5k] to make a strong impression; to be etched in (one’s memory)
脳裏	のうり	[n] one’s mind
本当なら		if truth be told ；if in reality
	ビガーッと	mimetic word?
	富士急ハイランド	Fuji-Q Highland
眺める	ながめる	[vt,v1] to look on (from the sidelines); to stand by and watch; to observe
残念ながら	ざんねんながら	[adv,exp] unfortunately; regrettably
脳髄	のうずい	[n] {med} brain; encephalon
未知	みち	[n,adj-no] not yet known; unknown; strange
少なくとも	すくなくとも	[adv] at least
	ヅェッと コースター	rollercoaster
	ドドンパ	[n] {music} dodompa;
時速	じそく	[n] speed (per hour)
方	usu. べ or pronounced as え	Archaic suffix used as a rough indicator of location, direction, time, etc.
	よっぽど	[adv,adj-no,adj-na] note very; greatly; much; considerably; to a large extent; quite
気安い	きやすい	[adj-i] relaxed; familiar; easy to access; friendly
冴えない	さえない	[exp,adj-i] unattractive; unappealing
	すら	[prt] even
	なんとかなる	[v5r,exp] to be able to manage somehow or other
鬱	うつ	[n] depression; low spirits

ドーパミンがドバドバあふれてきちゃって、本当なら見えるはずのない光源がビガーッと脳裏に焼き付いたに違いない。His dopamine must have been flooding him, and the light source that shouldn’t have been visible in reality was {?}burned into his mind.

何年か前に富士急ハイーンドへ遊びに行った時、レンタカーの窓から実物の富士山を眺 めたことがある。Years ago, when I went on a trip to Fuji-Q Highland, I got a view of the real Mount Fuji from the window of my rental car.

しかし残念ながらその景色はあたしの脳髄を直撃し、未知なる感賞を引き出してくれたりはしなかった。Unfortunately, however, the scenery did not strike me directly or elicit any strange sensations in me.

少なくとも自分にとってはその後に乗ったヅェッとコースター「ドドンパ」の時速一七二キロの方がよっぽど刺激的。At least for me, the roller coaster, I got on after that, ‘Dodompa’ which went at 172 km/h, was quite exciting.

でもきっとあたしにはあたしの別の富士山がどこかにあるってことなんだろう。

But surely, there is a Mount Fuji somewhere for me (I hope).

あたしは一か月前、バイト失のスーパーで一緒に働いていた男に気安くデートに誘われて、「こんな冴えないやつにすらなんとかなるかもと思われてるんだ」と思った瞬間から、鬱に入った。

A month ago, a man who worked with me at the supermarket where I had just lost my part-time job easily asked me out on a date. The moment I considered, “He thinks even a dull guy might be able to manage (shoot his shot),” I fell into a depression.

Listening- Yoshio Toyoshima collected works of short stories. Should get a lot of listening in during long commute tomorrow.

[tip]

Midweek level up and update. Halfway through the 40 level 42 vocabulary. WK 43 is uncharted territory for me. Unlocked 3/3 R, 30/35 K, 14/106 V.
Had a couple of ah-ha moments with the context sentences.

Context

Context Sentences

左の括弧を読む時は単に「括弧」と言いますが、右の括弧を読む時は「括弧閉じる」と言います。

When people read the left bracket, they just say “kakko,” but when they read the right bracket, they say “kakko-tojiru,” which means “close bracket.”

Context

Context Sentences

おにぎりは、ご飯を握って作るので「お握り」と呼ばれています。

Since you make rice balls by pressing rice, it’s called “onigiri.”

[hrudey]

@tip

4/106 V.

Congratulations on the shiny new level! May it serve you well until you outgrow it.

[firmamentFray]

Wanna say congrats too!! Wish I was in the 40s levels (motivation!)

[tip]

Thanks. You are 20 % further along than those who have not started yet.

[tip]

Week of 3-9-26 to present

I spent this week watching Timberborn and Resident Evil play throughs instead of focusing on Japanese reading. Speaking of video games, I have also been watching a murder mystery series on Hoopla. The main character sounds exactly like the voice actor for Agent 47’s handler in the Hitman series of games. I get chills when she breaks the fourth wall to make a snarky comment to us the viewers. Coincidentally, her driver appears to be the actor who played the main investigator in the early seasons of Midsomer Murders. Speaking of murder mysteries, I’m currently enjoying a Peter Wimsey series starring an actor who reminds me of the actor from Dangerous Liaisons, RED and Space Force. Is there a Japanese word for “unconventionally attractive”? Speaking of Japanese…

Level 43 has a whopping 56 vocabulary lessons to do AND 3 kanji still in apprentice. This means an additional 11 vocabulary lessons to unlock.

Level 44 unlocked 2/2 R, 29/31 K, 34/98 vocabulary. For this level, I will do the kanji in two batches sized to avoid having some left behind at level up. I’m also going to do the 34 vocabulary before starting the radicals. They seem to be reaching back levels.

Reading
Particles

I remember learning about い from Mango Language. This batch of particles has a lot of meanings that are considered “not translatable”. か has more uses than expected.

Novel 生きてるだけで,愛
Notes- I’m still going sentence by sentence and doing lookups… finally understanding what all that talk about waves was about (metaphorically). If I were reading at a pace, it would have clicked sooner for me.

Lookups

目		め after a counter makes an ordinal number, like 2人目の店員 'the second clerk
何度目		which instance
曖昧	あいまい	[adj-na,n] vague; ambiguous; unclear
	っちゃ	(informal) synonym of といえば (speaking of …, regarding..)
	まあ	[adv] note well …; I think …; it would seem …; you might say …; Hmmm, I guess so …
	それなりに	[adv] reasonably; to some extent;
手応え	てごたえ	[n] response (to one’s efforts); reaction; (having an) effect (on)
	からし色	n] mustard (color)
	コーデュロイ	[n] corduroy
平気で	へいきで	[adv] without compunction; coolly;
飲み込む	のみこむ	v5m,vt] to engulf; to swallow up
言い聞かせる	いいきかせる	[vt,v1] to tell; to (try to) persuade; to advise; to warn; to admonish; to reason
時給	じきゅう	[n] hourly pay
続ける	つづける	[aux-v,v1 after the -masu stem of a verb] to continue …; to keep on
	なのに	conjunction ；and yet, despite this
	ずっと	[adv] note continuously; the whole time; all the way; throughout
総菜	そうざい	side dish ；prepared food
獅子唐	ししとう	usually written using kana alone ；[n] shishito pepper
素揚げ	すあげ	food deep-fried without breading or batter
	みたいな	colloquial expression；something like that
勘違い	かんちがい	[vi,vs,n] misunderstanding; mistaken idea; wrong guess
恨み	うらみ	[n] resentment; grudge; malice; bitterness
所為	せい	[n] note consequence; outcome; result; blame; fault
折角	せっかく	[adv,n] with trouble; at great pains
穏便	おんびん	[adj-na,n] gentle; peaceable; amicable; quiet[n,adj-na] without fuss; simply
済ませよう	すませよう	[v5s,vt] to finish; to get it over with; to conclude
	ややこしい	complicated,difficult, troublesome

Listening
I’m shifting from classic Japanese to modern slang.

My favorites:
面食い (face eater) being attracted by physical looks only
まったりする (to do full body flavor) to chill out

Least favorite: バツ１ (one x mark ) divorced once

BINGO stuff

Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL

How the strawberries are made. No one seemed to have been bothered by the recent cold snap. The season lasts from Thanksgiving to Easter.

It’s been 15 years since I went to a county fair. All the usual stuff was to be had including pig races, crafting competitions and deep fried everything, plus some odd things made with strawberries such as egg rolls and spaghetti.

Meanwhile…
23,774 unread emails, 74,289 steps in February, roughly 50g of added sugar per day (down from >75g). Putting the candy in the freezer creates a delay in eating which I sometimes fill with eating a lean protein meal with some veggies.
Tai Chi movements outdoors at work rather than before breakfast.

[Lisaveeta]

@tip

It’s been 15 years since I went to a county fair. All the usual stuff was to be had including pig races, crafting competitions and deep fried everything, plus some odd things made with strawberries such as egg rolls and spaghetti.

Sounds pretty similar to our “agricultural shows” - especially the deep fried everything”. The Sydney show does have the most amazing crafting though - probably the only thing I’d be interested in seeing…

[tip]

I also enjoy a good craft fair especially paper and miniatures. This one mostly attracted pre- teens and younger so the results were a bit rudimentary. Did you know that 3d printing is a craft?

[Lisaveeta]

I hadn’t known, but now you mention it I’m not surprised.

[hrudey]

@tip

23,774 unread emails, 74,289 steps in February, roughly 50g of added sugar per day (down from >75g). Putting the candy in the freezer creates a delay in eating which I sometimes fill with eating a lean protein meal with some veggies.

I’m not suggesting that this would, you know, actually work, but the first thing that came to mind was when you’re ready to take steps, take some candy out of the freezer, and every 100 steps delete an email and every 1000 steps have a bit of candy. Though the lean protein (machine! keen!) meal with veggies is probably the better solution.

[tip]

I have been afflicted with Spring Fever. Looking back, the signs have been there for a while. I want to do a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing all at once.
Meanwhile the WK have rolled out another set of new content: 1 radical, 6 kanji and 16 vocabulary. I’ll get to the lower level ones whenever.

Level up was a few days ago. There were only 15 vocabulary remaining from the previous level.
Level 45 unlocked 2/2 R, 32/34 K, 22/103 V.

A group of leeches is called a swarm

Reading- The protaganist in my novel is being harassed at work.
Listening- Finished this on a long walk.

[Lisaveeta]

Wow! You’re reading Ranpo Edogawa. I’m hoping to read some on his books eventually.

[tip]

WK 45 霊園 (れいえん) Ghost garden = cemetery

Reached the next level with 27 vocabulary outstanding from level 45.

Level 46 has 1/1 R, 35/36 K, 14/100 V unlocked. 33 K to guru required for next level.

Reading-
生きてるだけで,愛

The protagonist lost her job.

My English comp teachers would have deducted major points for this run-on sentence. I had to break it into 3 sentences in order to make sense of it. Sentence #2 is still awkward to say even though I “know” what it means.
Style-wise, I think the writing does give the reader a feel for being in her head.

その変なくしゃみにまぎれて「死ね」という言葉が微妙に発されているのを知った時、あまりのくだらなさにあたしの心はとうとう折れ,主任にバッジを家に忘れてきましたと言い逃れなきゃいけないことやストッキング男と隣のレジになりないように気をつけたりするとことの何もかもが嫌れになって、「お前らの安い恋のトラアングルに勝手に巻き込むんじゃなえよ」と怒鳴って怒られて、あたしはバイトをクビになった。

まぎれてhttps://www.wanikani.com/vocabulary/紛れる and クビになった https://www.wanikani.com/vocabulary/首になる would have been easier to read with the kanji instead of kana. Not sure why the author made this choice.

My translation

When I realized that the word “die” was subtly said, slipped into that strange sneeze, the extreme foolishness of it finally broke my spirit.
I came to hate everything, from telling my supervisor I forgot my badge at home, to having to be careful to escape being at the register next to the stocking guy.
I was fired from my part-time job for getting mad and yelling “Don’t drag me into your cheap love triangle!”.

Listening to-

Just background noise while getting my car fixed… no idea what it is about.

[tip]

I was listening to an audiobook. The only one I read was a short story last year. One of the book clubs is finishing up reading the whole novel. They seemed to enjoy it. I found it to be a bit campy (ala Adam West’s Batman) for my tastes.

It does make for good listening practice at 0.7x speed.

@tip

started reading 江戸川乱歩’s story 怪人二十面相 and got excited to see that the Intermediate Book Club will be reading it in January 2026. I considered waiting for then but noticed that they are reading a different version. There are in fact three or four versions listed on aozora’s index.

1. かいじん二十めんそう （新字新仮名、作品ID：57227）
2. 怪人二十面相 （新字新仮名、作品ID：57228）
3. かいじん二十めんそう （新字新仮名、作品ID：57226）
   and possibly は二十面相だ （新字新仮名、作品ID：56690）

I’m reading the first one which has a lot of hiragana where kanji would be useful.

Despite that obstacle, I have read the first three of six installments of The Golden Mask.

@tip

Finished the いじん二十めんそう Golden Mask story. Apparently it was written as a magazine serial and the author had no real strategy for the plot. It shows…too much like a Scooby Doo meets campy Batman mystery. I did not hate it but will not be reading more of this series.

[tip]

Spring Fever was cured by a solid week of rain and the reality of life admin stuff.

WK level up 4-13-26
33 level 46 vocab
level 47 unlocked 2/2 R, 35/37 K, 21/102 V. 34 K needed for next level up.

Reading-
Particles

から is another heavy lifter. Some of the use cases seem intuitive. Others carry a bit of nuance I will have to study more in depth.

生きてるだけで,愛

• 夢じゃなかったんじゃないの
• 手の打ちようがない
  Phrases like this make me shake my head for people who get so bogged down in WK that it becomes their only resource for learning. Knowing those three kanji is not much help in a translation.

仰向けに寝る子供だったらⅮカップも夢じゃなかったんじゃないの、なんてたまに思うけどこればっかりは今さら手の打ちようがない。

my interpretation

I occasionally wonder if having a D-cup wouldn’t have been all a dream if I had slept on my back (face up) as a child, but there’s nothing I can do about that now.

Comments- The protagonist is old enough to have gone to design school, but she still has these immature thoughts.

[tip]

37 vocabulary remaining in level 47

level 48 has 2/2 R, 35/37 K, 11/105 V unlocked
34 Kanji needed for next level

Reading-
Particles

Adversative conjunctions are words used to express or indicate the difference between two statements. They are also used to join two independent clauses to form compound sentences (but, still, however…)

KASHIRA
KE
KEREDOMO (KEREDO,KEDO,KEDOMO)

I’m still going sentence by sentence and doing lookups.

Sashiko vocabulary that appears regularly.

Kanji	Kana	WK	Meaning
刺し子	さしこ	20	Sashiko (embroidery)
糸	いと	4	Thread
針	はり	26	Needle
布	ぬの	19	Fabric
指貫	ゆびぬき	11, 52	Thimble
模様	もよう	25	Pattern
縫う	ぬう	56	Sewing
図案	ずあん	5, 22	Design
補強	ほきょう	25, 7	Reinforcement
修繕	しゅうぜん	28, 0	Repair
藍染め	あいぞめ	60, 32	Indigo dyeing
伝統	でんとう	22	Tradition
幾何学	きかがく	31	Geometry

Listening-

I supplemented my listening by translating the table of contents. I recognize the words when I see them but they still sound “new” to my ears.
There is a version on You Tube with a transcript (modernized) which I may read-along.