WonderWitch’s Study Log

[wonderwitch]

1月6日ー1月12日

I did all my goals! I did this week’s two ドラえもん book club chapters, did wanikani lessons everyday, kept up with anki, finished another graded reader, watched Cowboy Bebop, did a jpod101 lesson and studied several of my tabs that had grammar points I said I’ll read later.

I am really happy that I’m studying as much as I have been, because I’m currently obsessed with preparing for my art market stall and when I get passionate about things, other things tend to take the backseat. So the fact that I’m currently not neglecting my daily japanese studies is really cool! I have passed 3 months of daily japanese studying now, (since I’ve restarted learning the language) which is pretty cool!

I’m exactly 2/3 my way into level 9 in wanikani! 24/36 kanji has been guru’d. It might seem silly, but I’m going to buy myself an animal crossing lego set when I reach level 10 Based on how slowly I am getting through my lessons, it will still be a while until I reach level 10, but I’m still excited!

Ever since talking about the レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー graded readers last week, I’ve been doing more with them. Firstly, I read a new graded reader, which was one of my goals, and I have been listening to the recordings of the three I have read over and over while I have been painting the piece of furniture for my market. Not so many times that I get sick of them though - I’ve also listened to music, cowboy bebop episodes in japanese and two jpod101 lessons on repeat too.

I like reading along to the recordings too. After reading them so many times, I’ve finally let myself look up the words I don’t know and now I easily understand every single character of the first story. I’m currently looking up any unknown words in the second story. I’ve also been reading my partner to sleep with these graded readers haha

The book club has been great as usual! We are now reading two chapters a week rather than one, so that’s been good and a bit of a challenge. Each page I go from “this seems harder than last week,” to “this seems easier than last week.” I still can’t get over that I’m reading native content!

So overall I am happy with how much I’ve studied this week, especially since I’ve been mainly focused on other things

My goals for next week:

• Same as usual:
  ~ ドラえもん book club, wanikani, anki
• At least one jpod101 lesson
• Read a new graded reader
• Other graded reader stuff:
  ~ Look up all the words of the second graded reader, listen to the recordings
• Study the grammar in at least three open tabs
• Consume media (eg: Cowboy Bebop)

One day I want to get back into textfugu too, but that doesn’t have to be this week. I feel like that’s too many goals even though they’re basically the same as last week’s.

That’s all for now!

[mitrac]

I looked up words in the graded readers, too. I would just read the first time (or at most 2) and try to guess unknown words, then after that I would look them up. I think the important part is the engagement pre lookup, don’t worry about looking things up! I think they’re just making this suggestion so strong since some learners get stuck trying to understand 100% before moving on and they want people to train a natural amount of comfort with ambiguity

@wonderwitch

The book club has been great as usual! We are now reading two chapters a week rather than one, so that’s been good and a bit of a challenge. Each page I go from “this seems harder than last week,” to “this seems easier than last week.” I still can’t get over that I’m reading native content!

That is a great turning point, congrats!!

[wonderwitch]

Sorry for the late reply! I think I sometimes take “rules” a bit too seriously, so thank you for the advice! Now that I think about it, it would be important to find out the meaning of things at some point, because there’s only so much you can work out on your own! And then if you don’t, you are missing out on a great opportunity to learn thanks again!

[wonderwitch]

Just a short message saying that I will do last week’s study log post soon! Right now I’ll just say I didn’t achieve all my goals since last time because life happened and I needed to recover emotionally and mentally. My daily learning streak is still going strong though! (But I did way less.) All is well, and bumps in the road are bound to happen

[wonderwitch]

1月13日ー1月22日

Hey, I’m back! Like I said in my last message, I didn’t achieve all my goals because some personal stuff happened. Rather than beat myself up over that, I’m just going to continue on and try again, but maybe with some more achievable goals as to get back up.

My goals for the next few days:

• Read the response to my question on week 5 of my ドラえもん bookclub
• Do week 6 of the bookclub
• Get back to anki again

I’ll leave it there, because I’d rather celebrate a win than expect me to do all the things when I’m still recovering. I also should be leveling up to level 10 in wanikani very soon (!!!) so that’s really exciting!

I did read another tadoku library graded reader which was interesting! I wonder if it was based on another story or even real life - just based on the way it was written. I’ll look into that another time.

That’s all for now

[wonderwitch]

I’m now level 10 on wanikani!!!

I want to celebrate by sharing some things, I’m sorry if it’s sharing too much.

CW: mental illness, s*icide attempt

I started wanikani about a decade ago on a different account, when I first started learning japanese. A huge goal of mine was to reach level 10, to start with, and then one day, complete wanikani. I stopped wanikani while I was an exchange student in japan in 2016, because I got very mentally unwell while I was over there due to experiencing some trauma. I came home after the 9 month exchange, stopped all my japanese studies and stopped doing anything to do with japan, dropped out of school and made an attempt on my life which led to a psych ward admission. I forgot almost everything about the language, and even just doing anything that I used to enjoy that had anything to do with japan, like read manga and watch anime, I could no longer do without getting upset. It wasn’t japan’s fault I got traumatised, it sadly just coincided with my exchange. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to learn japanese again because of how much it upset me to even think about it.

Over the years, I healed a lot and started reconnecting with japanese things until I finally felt I could face learning the beautiful language from the beginning again. There was a brief time a couple of years ago that I started wanikani again, but I ended up going on hiatus again. In october 2024 I made the conscious decision to learn japanese from the start again and to face the massive review pile of my current wanikani. It’s a bit embarrassing that I spent 9 months in japan and I am only at this current place in the language, but I’m more proud of myself that I am doing this at all despite how hard it was to even face in 2017.

For some reason level 10 in wanikani was a major goal and I have finally reached it! I’m so proud of myself for getting further than I have ever gone, in all the times I’ve restarted wanikani in the last decade. I hope to never quit again, and to continue all the way to level 60. My next major goal is level 20! I can do it!

Thank you for reading if you got this far. Hopefully it’s okay to share such personal matters. Thank you all for your help in keeping me motivated! This forum is so great and I wish I utilized it more in the past.

Woo, level 10!

[yasashiku]

Great work reaching level 10 . Don’t be sorry; it’s good to know that you overcame your past and are doing better now. Now onward to level 11. Things might get a little difficult, but, 頑張って！ みんな応援しています！

[mitrac]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing. It takes a lot of courage. There’s a trap of only sharing successes and people feel alone with their struggles. I think your story is incredibly inspiring that it is possible to recover from such a set back and move forward again on your terms.

[wonderwitch]

Thank you so much for your kind comment! This is the last level in the “pleasant” group, so I’ll work hard as things get harder!

[wonderwitch]

Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me. I didn’t think of it in that way, and that resonated with me - I know it would help me to see people’s learning journeys not always being a string of successes. I see all the time people saying they got to a certain level in a year or something like that, and it makes me feel like I’m failing, but really, everyone’s learning journey and situation is different and it’s not a race. No shame in coming back after quitting, in fact, it’s great!

[GolyBidoof]

A while back I saw a PSA from somebody who only got their shit together in their 30s, and he had the calmest voice talking about everything, mentioning how everyone’s dealt a completely different deck of cards and things that would be silly for some people, absolutely aren’t for the others. That’s why comparing yourself to the others can be so hurtful, because you see all those accomplished people and ask yourself, “what’s wrong with me”, while in fact… there’s nothing.

You’re fighting your own battles, they take time and effort, and effort is a very valuable currency. It is very tempting to belittle yourself by saying things like “good that I’ve finally started studying Japanese, because I’ve wasted 9 months and I’m only here”, but if you retrospectively look back at what you’ve had to go through to get where you are right now, coping with dropping the school, processing of your emotions, setting the groundwork for your future improvements in Japanese, this reeeeally takes GARGANTUAN EFFORT to get through that.

And even if you feel like it didn’t lead to a substantial improvement in the language abilities… it was enough to get you here, to write this post and to come back to WaniKani, right?

All this effort, just to this moment ^^

Give yourself a round of applause, and don’t beat yourself down, even if you skip a day or two. We’re all human, and it’s the nastiness and unpredictability of the human experience that might make the life worth living!

It is more than okay to share personal matters: it is not okay to suffer alone ^^
お大事に！頑張ってください！！！

[wonderwitch]

That is so encouraging, thank you so much! And you’re saying such true things too about how everyone has a different situation in life and there’s no need to compare or bring yourself down based on where you are when, versus where others are. And I do think that despite having to start from the start again, I definitely see improvement in doing things for the second time. Even with wanikani, a decade ago I didn’t really utilise the “Context” part of lessons because they were really hard back then, and this time I find that section invaluable and great study material! I was definitely missing out by skipping past them. And this time I’m able to understand grammar points on a deeper level, because I can focus on things I used to think wasn’t important for “right now.” I don’t regret having to start again in the slightest.

Thank you for your encouragement once again, and for putting in the time to write me a reply

[wonderwitch]

1月23日ー1月26日

It’s only been a few days since my last study log, but I still want to try to post on sunday evenings. I had three goals:

• Read the response to my question on week 5 of my ドラえもん bookclub
• Do week 6 of the bookclub
• Get back to anki again

and I did it! Not much to say other than I had some sleeping issues which always messes up my productivity a bit, but I had a few small goals and I did it, so I’ll call that a win. I’m going to do small goals again for this week since I am still recovering and I’ve got commissions and market stuff to work on.

• Do this week’s bookclub!
• Read through some of my grammar tabs
• Keep up with anki

Just that for this week. Bonus points if I do jpod101. I hope everyone has a good week!

[wonderwitch]

1月27日ー2月2日

I did all my goals! Though I just caught up with anki today. I really need to find a way to make me want to do my anki reviews, I keep slacking. I’m happiest that I went through and even took notes on several chrome tabs that had grammar points on them, because my amount of tabs seems to just grow each week Or maybe I am happier that I did the bookclub (on the last day ) That stressed me out a bit honestly, even though I love the stories.

Anyway, despite my focus being on other things in my life right now, I still became level 10 recently and I promised myself animal crossing lego, and so here it is! Able Sisters Clothing shop!

So cute.

Still the same small amount of goals because I REALLY need to work on my commission. I will do more japanese study than I have been very soon, I just want to feel in control of this commission first

• Do week 8 of the bookclub
• Keep up with anki
• Read through some of my grammar tabs

And of course, the usual wanikani reviews and lessons. I hope everyone has a good week!

[wonderwitch]

2月3日ー2月9日

Other than wanikani, I haven’t been doing much japanese learning… I make sure I do wanikani reviews and lessons everyday, but I’ve been a bit distracted by everything else in my life. I’m sure many people would relate to certain things being more or less of a priority, and having that fluctuate over time. I know japanese learning will become a priority again in the future, but for now I make sure I do something for my japanese learning everyday so I don’t lose my streak, (4 months now!) and that I do my bookclub’s two chapters every week. I did this past week’s bookclub on the last day again

Anyway, I made great progress on my commission this week, so I won’t need to focus on that soon! Exciting stuff and not so great stuff has happened as well and I’m trying to reassure myself that it’s okay that japanese learning is not my focus right now.

I hope everyone has a good week, whether that involves productivity or rest. Certain people in my life really need to rest right now, so I want to remind others to please recognise it and listen if you need to rest too! Please make your happiness and wellness your number one priority!

[wonderwitch]

2月10日ー2月16日

Life’s been hectic and starting tomorrow it’s going to be even more hectic for a little while! But then things will settle down I think. I finished my commission I’ve been putting a lot of focus into recently, and I know this is (also) not related to japanese learning, but I’m going to be doing my very first art market stall in one week!!! I’m so excited, this has been a dream of mine since I was little and I am so happy that I was accepted. Hopefully the first out of many! I’m also traveling for a couple of days tomorrow so that will make studying a bit harder too.

Just been doing wanikani everyday and (being late with) bookclub. It’s the bare minimum but hopefully when things settle down a bit, I can finally focus on japanese learning again. Nearly finished with my first japanese bookclub too, which is really cool!

I probably will be late with my next study log because of the market, but who knows. Reminding myself that I am not superhuman and I can’t focus on everything at once, so it’s okay that I haven’t done much japanese learning. I will do more soon though - I refuse to go into hiatus again!

[wonderwitch]

“I refuse to go into hiatus again!” Famous last words! So I had a hiatus this past month and I plan to get myself out of it very soon! The week after my last update I traveled and then had my very first market, so I felt very distracted and somehow stopped doing wanikani and other japanese study. My market went great, (yay!) and this past month I’ve been intensely focused on my art business. It’s been so wonderful focusing on my dreams, but I want japanese study to be a part of my routine too.

In a few days I’m going to have my second market stall, so that’s exciting, but I’m hoping I can include study amongst it all. It’s late now, but I plan to tackle wanikani again tomorrow (hopefully) and once I am back on top of that, I will introduce other learning resources again. My goal is just to do at least one review every day from now on.

Fingers crossed I can maintain a better balance this time and that I can get out of hiatus again! My daily learning streak record was 4 months (and a bit) so let’s try to beat that this time! I also haven’t finished the bookclub yet, so I hope to do that soon.

[wonderwitch]

Okay, I’m back! (Again!) I unfortunately took a hiatus and now I have over 1000 reviews on wanikani and months of unused japanese learning subscriptions but that’s okay! Rather than being hard on myself, I think the only way I can learn this language in the long term are realistic goals and compassion that life happens. Actually, in a day or two I will be preoccupied with a massive life event (the birth of my first niece or nephew!) so right now might not be the best time to write this post, but I’ve been saying that for months now.

Currently my only japanese learning exposure is watching Attack on Titan, and my partner and I have watched the first season! The second season is not available for free on crunchyroll so I don’t really know a free/affordable way to keep watching. Any recommendations would be wonderful!

My goals:

• Do my 1000+ wanikani reviews
  → Let’s make this more achievable/smaller:
• Attempt my reviews at least once by the end of the week

Wanikani is a bit overwhelming right now so I’ll start small.

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• Finish the ドラえもん book club
  → More achievable/smaller:
• Look at the chapter I haven’t done yet

Very gentle goal because I don’t think I have the time/motivation to finish the book this week.

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• Be up to date with anki
  → More achievable/smaller:
• Attempt my reviews at least once by the end of the week

Same goal as wanikani

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• Watch japanese shows if I can
  → I’m thinking the “My Melody & Kuromi” show!

Those are my goals for this week! There’s a chance that I will have to travel as soon as today or tomorrow, and won’t be home for much of the week. Quite a terrible time to try to get out of a hiatus to be honest. But you got to strike when you have the slightest bit of motivation!

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My Future Goals:

• Go through all my saved tabs (mainly japanese grammar points)
• Do at least one more jpod 101 lesson before my subscription runs out
• Complete:
  → TextFugu
  → Genki 1
  → Genki 2
• Read and study my graded readers
• Wanikani:
  → Up to date with reviews
  → Do level 10 lessons
  → Reach level 11!
• Complete the ドラえもん book club!
• Up to date with Anki
• Consume japanese media

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I’m probably forgetting something but I do these little lists because I always work better and am more motivated when I have large goals to aim for, with small goals for the immediate future.

I hope everyone is well! Let’s get out of this hiatus!

[wonderwitch]

It hasn’t been a week just yet, but here’s a little update so I can talk about something while it’s still fresh. I’ve been watching the Pokémon anime very casually for a few years now, and I realised I wanted to watch the movies at points in the anime when they were released, so I had a few things to catch up on!

When trying to find Mewtwo Returns, I realised it was in “Specials,” where I also found “Clip Shows.” I saw a few Clip Shows were released for the first season of the anime, so I decided I’d give them a watch too! It’s probably a wasted opportunity but I watch the Pokémon series with the english dubbed, because I like to do art and clean while I watch. But the Clip Shows were not aired internationally I don’t think, so there weren’t even subs.

The first one was over an hour long and seemed to be a direct taping of the original broadcast because there were even ads! (And a full episode afterwards). I really enjoyed watching it because the ads were delightful and I still understood it because it was basically just a montage or recap of the first part of the first season. I think it was great casual watching for some japanese exposure. I watched the next one, which I realised was the same video except no ads. Not sure why it was posted twice, but watching it twice was probably good reinforcement! And then I watched three more, each about 45 minutes.

I’m saying all this because it was cool that I accidentally got some japanese exposure. I think casual exposure like this is really good for me while I try to get back into studying japanese. Makes me think I might like to watch some more japanese ads, because they’re so interesting to me haha

[wonderwitch]

8月5日ー8月12日

I did all my goals for the past week!

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• Attempt my wanikani reviews at least once by the end of the week.

I spent a whopping 10 minutes doing reviews! That might not seem like much, but my 1000+ reviews on wanikani has been too hard to face for months, and starting is so much better than nothing. Progress!

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• Look at the chapters from the ドラえもん book club I haven’t done yet.

Very gentle goal because once again, the task seemed so daunting. I looked through the whole book, refreshed my memory on what we’ve read and dipped my toes into the last two chapters I’ve got to complete.

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• Attempt my anki reviews at least once by the end of the week.

I got up to date with a topic that I had 49 reviews on. It was the one with the smallest amount of reviews due, and I did it!

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• Watch japanese shows if I can
  → The new “My Melody & Kuromi” show on netflix!

I talked about watching some Pokémon in japanese with no subtitles in my last post, and my partner and I also enjoyed watching the My Melody & Kuromi show this week as well! With subtitles.

I really enjoyed it, because even if it is meant for kids, my autistic self LOVES textured things. For example, one of my core childhood memories was playing kirby’s epic yarn on the wii, mainly because the textures were so incredibly satisfying. It reminded me a bit of that. It’s such a sweet and very pretty show, and I have come to really adore Kuromi.

I think we might even watch it again, and at some point, just in japanese with no subtitles. If you like sanrio, or even just cute stop-motion, I recommend it.

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Okay, what are my japanese goals for this week? This week I’m traveling to meet my baby nephew, so that’ll take a chunk of my time, I’m sure. I also need to do the usual work and life stuff, so this week’s goals will be gentle again. I’m hoping the week after this one, when I come back home, I can get into japanese study for real.

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This week’s goals:

• Try to get under 1000 reviews in wanikani
• Attempt anki reviews at least once
• Translate one page of the next ドラえもん comic
• If I have time: watch some japanese media

The translating a page one is more sit-down study than I have done in a long time, so I’m wondering if I’ll actually do it. I experience difficulties with my mental health and motivation - the trick is to make it a part of my routine, gradually. So these tiny goals may seem too tiny in the scheme of things, but I need to find a way to trick my mind to have japanese study be a part of my life again somehow.

Wishing everyone the best for their week.