8月3日(月)
Ticked off my 12 (non-manga) books for 2026 back in May, and now can tick off my 12 audiobooks.
Time for a mid year review! Mixed results.
Speaking: my most consistent aspect. I have weekly sessions with a Japanese teacher.
Reading: I finished the 1st volume of Dino and Gal with the beginner bookclub. I read afterwards the whole series. I joined the book club afterwards, but did not stick with it. I think I prefer reading physical copies.
Listening: I included it for a long time in my gym routine until it became too difficult to multitask.
Kanji: I was not able to maintain a daily 5 new words streak. Sometimes life became too busy and stressful. Catching up on a reviews was always tough.
Vocabulary: very inconsistent. Anki does not stick for me as routine. It’s probably the standard settings. I would need it more like Wanikani instead of the typical 1/6/10mins setting.
I have taken the JPLT N5, nut honestly no idea if I passed it. It was more difficult than I expected, notably a grammar section (with the 4 blanks) and the listening.
Let’s see what happens. My study pace went down progressively after my study trip on Japan. I have bought a bunch of beginner level mangas. And I have bought the full series of MyHeroAcademia, so I have something fun to look forward to.
It’s interesting looking back at what I wrote last year, some of these goals I ddn’t even remembered 
Time to do a little pass to see where I stand.
WK: I ended up not prioritizing other parts (at least in the first half of the year) so I got to 30 quite fast (currently lvl 44 on Sept 1). I did slow down a bit after level 40, and I’m thinking of slowing down a little bit more once I get to lvl 50, because the words are starting to become fairly specialized.
Anki: I finished Kaishi, but I haven’t really done a lot of mining, mostly because I haven’t read a lot, so I haven’t added a lot of words. I want to change this trimester by increasing my reading.
Bunpro: At some point I realized that 3-4 grammar points per day is a little too much so I slowed down a little on this front. Still, I already did a first pass through all of the N4 grammar, and I’m now tackling N3. While I don’t think I’ll finish N3 by the end of the year, I want to at least season the N4 points and get ot around half of N3.
Reading: I think this is the one thing I decreased the most. I’ve only read 1 series in Satori, and I’m still 2 chapters off from finishing the Gal and Dino ABBC (this post actually reminded me of that). I recently joined the yotsubato ABBC, so that a point in favor. I think I’ll go back and finish the first volume of GnD, and start Ruri dragon around November.
Listening: I think this is the part I focused the most after the first trimester, because I really want to improve my comprehension. I put 20 chapters of nihongo con teppei, but I ended up switching to Japanese with Shun, and I’m currently on chapter 157 I can’t say I understand 90% of each podcast, but at least I think my comprehension is around 60-70%.
I need to go back to the yuyu podcast, I listened to the first 2 parts but haven’t listened to it since.
In the anime deparment, I ended up picking Shikimori-san is not just a cutie. Currently, I’d say I understand around 30-40% of the first 2 chapters, I really have troubles when people start speaking at a faster pace. There’s still some time before the end of the year, so I’ll keep the pace for now.
Also, I tried to watch a chapter of Spy X Family, and it was horrible 
And that’s it (no writing or speaking, I’m probably leaving them for 2027)
I’m really glad people are still posting regularly here because it’s reminded me of my goals. With my irl schedule, I think I can still get to Level 60 and I’ll definitely finish reading my third book for 2026, thanks to the IBC offshoot of 変な家２. For the rest…I better get to it. 
Good luck to everyone !
I did indeed reach level 60 in early September! I’m approaching 1/3 of the way through よう実3巻!
On a whim I started listening to NHK news podcasts, mostly when I’m at the gym so far, although they’re so short (the off-hours ones are mostly 5 minutes) I could probably weave one in during my commute. There’s a lot I don’t catch, but I did get enough of the gist of some bits and pieces to share out to friends!
I’m not a big listener of the news otherwise, so it’s still quite funny to me that they’ll whiplash from “hey, big typhoon coming” to “wow, maybe there are more rooms behind King Tut’s tomb?” to “スポーツです”.
So, next goals: meet all the bunpro JLPT grammar cards (I have 155 N1 cards left), keep reading, keep listening. Also pass N1 in December, but I hafta still take my practice test to see what needs doing.
Reach at least level 25 to be able to read more complex mangas and maybe start enjoying reading books, for now I spend too much time looking for the meaning of words
Going pretty well so far!
I finished all five levels of Pimsleur last week!
I’m going to my first Japanese meetup this Sunday, pretty excited for that! As for Genki, I just switched that out to Bunpro- my goal is to finish the N5 and N4 Grammar decks.
WaniKani is going fairly well- I might get to level 31 or 32 by the end of the year at this rate, but 35 is a steep ask.
I’ve also started reading stories on Satori Reader, which wasn’t an initial goal, but I’m finding it super helpful. I’m also immersing more on Youtube and Satori Reader now.