📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

Home Post :slight_smile:

皆さんこんにちは、久しぶりですね
I’m glad to say that I’m on Chapter 3 of また、同じ夢を見てた and realised a very weird thing about myself: I’m more likely to stick with a book that I randomly selected than one that I actually want to read :thinking::thinking::thinking: Thus, I selected 夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口 :blush: Has anyone read that book before?

I’ve decided to stick with weekly updates due to the surprising amount of work from school!

Thanks for reading :slight_smile:

23 Likes

Summary Post

Day 23: Today I read 4 pages of よつば&!

24 Likes

Weekly check in for January 23rd:

Read this week:

魔女の宅急便 - Chapter 3

Thoughts:
I haven’t actually read anything since Thursday because life got in the way (in the best way possible) and I was away for a long weekend celebrating my best friend’s 30th birthday. Back on it this week and will probably try to get the last couple of graded readers for this level thrown in to break up some of the hard work of reading Kiki. I’m also revising the previous chapter of Kiki before moving on just to make sure I’m taking the time to understand more complex grammar/unfamiliar vocab. As always, the best thing is learning new Japanese onomatopoeia!

25 Likes

Today I read eight pages of Death Note. The neatest looking kanji I’ve seen so far is 魔 (witch, demon, evil spirit). Here are some words I learnt, (including the new kanji):

魔力-----まりょく------magical powers; supernatural powers; spell; charm

警視庁------けいしちょう------Metropolitan Police Department (esp. Tokyo)

追い詰める-------おいつめる------to corner; to drive to the wall; to run down

23 Likes

Home post

I finished the first chapter (88 p) of 旅猫リポート a few days ago and think I need a break. It’s harder than I expected and I’ve been sick and don’t have the brainpower to push through something challenging right now. (a previous reader on Natively decided this should be level 27 so in theory this should not be so hard for me, even if I’m sick, and it was honestly really discouraging.)

I started reading the third volume of 七夜物語 instead. It’s easier and I’m used to the style.

I also picked up ゆっくりおやすみ、樹の下で again, which I read a few months ago. The narrator has such a kind, friendly tone. I thought after I finished it that I’d like to read it again sometime, and I was happy to have found a book in Japanese I enjoyed that much because I think there’s a lot of value in re-reading books. This is sooner than I expected, but I think I read books again this quickly when I was a kid. I’m picking up details and hints that I missed the first time, and a few sentences I didn’t get before are clear now. It’s relaxing after fighting with 旅猫リポート。

24 Likes

Tan-chan got her 4 month shots this week, so on top of teething and another growth spurt, she’s been really sensitive lately, so I haven’t had any real down time to sit down to read Pokemon Special, but thankfully there were other things I could do while feeding her. (It’s very helpful that Kanji Drill books can be laid down flat while reading and writing so I can multitask with them when manga are impossible to read.)

1月18日~19日 ~ Days 18~19 / Back to Home

Kanji Drill 1年生 (20 kanji per day/includes list of sample vocab under kanji writing practice, then one of each page for kanji reading practice and kanji recognizing practice - 24 pages total)

This is my first kanji drill book practice for this year and the third for this grade. I was happy to find a new copy I didn’t already have from Seria (the other two were from Daiso). I remember when doing the drills last year, there were a lot more words I looked up and wrote down, some of which were verbs that had multiple meanings and it was hard to guess from the few details in the sentence which meaning it was. This time, I felt more confident about what many of the words meant. I still looked up words if I didn’t feel 100% sure, but at least this time, I could guess what I thought it meant based on the surrounding kanji (if any were given). Most of the time, I was right or fairly close.

Kanji Drill Vocab for more practice

二重瞼・ふたえまぶたて・
三つおり・みつおり・
四苦八苦・よくはっく・
四つ角・よつかど・
一番星・いちばんぼし・
八百屋・やおや・
枝・えだ・
元日・がんじつ・
火花・ひばな・
木刀・ぼくとう・
材木・ざいもく・
並木・なみき・
木の葉・きのは・
汲む・くむ・
水泳大会・すいえいたいかい・
与える・あたえる・
用心・ようじん・
水車・すいしゃ・
大木・たいぼく・
見上げる・みあげる・
黄金・おうごん・
金物・かなもの・
土足・どそく・
土地・とち・
赤土・あかつち・
円形・えんけい・
円周・えんしゅう・
上着・うわぎ・
地上・ちじょう・
風上・かざかみ・
下方・かほう・
川下・かわしも・
下り坂・くだりざか・
金槌・かなづち・
下ろす・おろす・
上り・のぼり・
下り・くだり・
粘土・ねんど・
救う・すく・
逆さま・さかさま・
水中・すいちゅう・
的中・てきちゅう・
中休み・なかやすみ・
大小・だいしょう・
寄る・よる・
中流・ちゅうりゅう・
人物・じんぶつ・
人手・ひとで・
子孫・しそん・
天女・てんにょ・
百科事典・ひゃっかじてん・
呼ばれる・よばれる・
口笛・くちぶえ・
耳鼻科・じびか・
空耳・そらみみ・
手段・しゅだん・
目玉焼き・めだやき・
二口で食べる・eating for two・
中耳炎・ちゅうじえん・
一目散・ひとめさん・
禁止・きんし・
減る・へる・
澄ます・すます・
耳鼻科・じびか・
水田・すいでん・
田園・でんえん・
田畑・たはた・
河川・かせん・
川上・かわかみ・
百万石・ひゃくまんごく・
石材・せきざい・
松竹梅・しょうちくばい・
竹馬・たけうま・
竹林・ちくりん・
籠・かご・
工事・こうじ・
地帯・ちたい・
山頂・さんちょう・
潜る・くぐる・
山門・さんもん・
竹やぶ・たけやぶ・

1月20日 ~ Day 20

はらぺこあおむし (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

I usually read this book in English to Tan-chan (I translate the Japanese version we have on the spot since it’s pretty simple) and her father or grandfather reads it to her in Japanese, but Tan-chan wouldn’t give me much time today so I decided to just read it in Japanese. She usually stares at the book and follows along, but this time she stared at me like she realized there was something different (or she could have been staring because of my not so smooth reading lol).

Everything is in hiragana to make it accessible for any age, but that’s what makes it harder to read smoothly. It’s a great book for learning counting and the days of the week, so it’s good practice for kids and second language learners alike. There wasn’t really any new words I struggled with except I learned the word for pupa (蛹).

1月21日 ~ Day 21

JLPT Mock Exam (N4)

I found a really useful website in the JLPT 2022 thread that allows you to take a mock JLPT exam (only up to N4 unfortunately) that times you and everything. I was surprised by how much kanji and vocab I recognized even without the addition of kanji (in the first section). I was also really surprised by how quickly I could read through the readings and get not only the gist of the information but also be able to decipher nearly every detail.

I think there was only one question I kind of gave up on (but planned to go back to) because it was costing more time than I was taking on the other questions. Otherwise, I think I may have missed no more than 3 in the first section and maybe no more than 3 or 4 in the second. The only reason I don’t know exactly was… I accidentally held my finger down too long and refreshed the page so it sent me back to the start just before I got to the third section :smiling_face_with_tear: Next time I try it, I’ll definitely do it on my computer. But I did manage to write down this word I didn’t know from the first section: 熱心に・ねっしんに・eagerly; earnestly

1月22日~24日 ~ Days 22~24

Kanji Drill 1年生 (20 kanji per day plus final kanji test - 28 pages total - FINISHED)

The test part was easier to complete compared to my last two experiences. I think I had to keep looking up the kanji because I forgot the strokes. I only missed 文字 (one of my leeches) and second guessed the first kanji for 草原 and looked it up but I was pretty sure it was 草 not 早.

Kanji Drill Vocab

天文台 てんもんだい
恋文 こいぶみ
大字 おおあざ
根本 ねもと
大元 おおもと
大名 だいみょう
名人 めいじん
正門 せいもん
正夢 まさゆめ
姿勢 しせい
正義 せいぎ
本文 ほんぶん
写す うつす
学び取る まなびとる
先日 せんじつ
先発 せんぱつ
店先 みせさき
一生 いっしょう
校庭 こうてい
新記録 しんきろく
花壇 かだん
花瓶 かびん
草原 そうげん
海草 かいそう
若草 わかくさ
昆虫 こんちゅう
幼虫 よんちゅう
名犬 めいけん
犬小屋 いぬごや
千本 せんぼん
千鳥 ちどり
千代がみ ちよがみ
害虫 がいちゅう
雑草 ざつそう
番犬 ばんけん
赤道 せきどう
白夜 びゃくや
白身 しろみ
白波 しろなみ
一朝一夕 いっちょういっせき
夕日 ゆうひ
夕焼け ゆうやけ
貝殻 かいがら
貝柱 かいばしら
白線 はくせん
炊く たく
沈む しずむ
赤道直下 せきどうちょっか

圧力 あつりょく
力作 りきさく
早朝 そうちょう
早足 はやあし
王国 おうこく
宝玉 ほうぎょく
水玉 みずたま
玉手箱 たまてばこ
綿糸 めんし
生糸 きいと
糸口 いとぐち
込める こめる
巻く まく
揃う そろう
王冠 おうかん
製糸工場 せいしこうじょう
縫う ぬう
豪華な ごうかな
記入 きにゅう
出場 しゅつじょう
遠出 とおで
見学 けんがく
立春 りっしゅん
直立 ちょくりつ
建立 こんりゅう
夕立 ゆうだち
休息 きゅうそく
連休 れんきゅう
外出 がいしゅつ
独立する どくりつする
出席する しゅっせきする
創立記念日 そうりつきねんび
祝う いわう
林道 りんどう
林業 りんぎょう
雑木林 ぞうきばやし
山林 さんりん
森林 しんりん
森林浴 しんりんよく
村長 そんちょう
農村 のうそん
村里 むらざと
市町村 しちょうそん
町人 ちょうにん
車輪 しゃりん
水車 すいしゃ
風車 かざぐるま
町立 ちょうりつ
駐車場 ちゅうしゃじょう
地帯 ちたい
天体 てんたい
天井 てんじょう
天の川 あまのがわ
気候 きこう
空き地 あきち
雨天 うてん
風雨 ふうう
雨傘 あまがす
母音 ぼいん
物音 ものおと
音色 ねいろ
含む ふくむ
本音 ほんね
話し合う はなしあう
雨天決行 うてんけっこう
耕す たがやす

I intend to go back and edit in the English translations of the vocab later, but I’ve written them out in my kanji drill book so it’s not a dire need at the moment. I just really want to post this before I lose another draft, haha.

24 Likes

I have and thought the plot was interesting but didn’t really vibe with the characters. Huge caveat on that though - the style of character writing that didn’t resonate with me which happens to be quite similar to how the author of また、同じ夢を見ていた writes (I haven’t read that book, but I’ve read two of his other works). Which is to say you might like it so don’t weigh my opinion of his character writing too heavily.
Looking at Natively though the book you’re currently reading is leveled at 25 and 夏へのトンネル is 32 - if you find the plot exciting and really want to read it and get through that bump in difficulty could be no big deal, but it could also be frustrating so just keep that in mind I suppose. :slight_smile:

8 Likes

:house:

Day 24. Read like… half of page 195, and the Tobira Chapter 1 reading section if that counts. I spent one hour doing useless stuff again when I was supposed to read, why am I like this…

Okay. I’ll start reading in the morning instead from tomorrow onwards, maybe that’ll prevent me from continuing this cycle :sweat_smile:

22 Likes

:tiger2: :books: Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220124 :books: :raccoon:


Tanuki Scroll XXIV: 石合戦 :rock:

Read today’s Hyakumonogatari historic tale (dunno why I wrote Hyakumonogatari) from Shizuoka Prefecture!

A story about Tokugawa Ieyasu [徳川家康]. Two groups of kids are set against each other in a stone-throwing battle (sounds kinda painful), Red vs. White. The Red team has twice as many competitors, so they are in favour of winning, but Ieyasu states that White will win because they are putting in more effort to compensate for the number difference, whereas only half the Red team seem to be putting in any effort.

Book Haul! (okay it's only two books)

Traditional colours of Japan!

With all the colour-talk having me intrigued I thought I’d get myself a book. Each colour has a description of how it was traditionally used and if it has any meanings behind it, it’s all in Japanese but the colour names have English translations, for reasons I’m not sure of since everything else is in Japanese? There’s HEX codes too, so that’ll be helpful. I won’t be using it as daily reading for this challenge as it’s mostly an aid for my art but I practically do that every day anyway so it’ll be like daily reading.

Musashi!

It’s all in English, there’s some Japanese but it’s all translated. But I saw this and just had to get it. I mean, the complete works of Musashi! Most accurate translation yet! Some of his works that have never been translated before! Bonus ukiyo-e pictures!! YES

☆ Learnings ☆

New Words

石合戦「いしがっせん」ー Stone-throwing fight
見定める「みさだめる」ー To make sure of; to confirm
のんびり ー At leisure; Carefree; Relaxed
バラバラ ー Scattered; Dispersed; Disconnected (onomatopoeia)

Names
松平竹千代「まつだいらたけちよ」ー Tokugawa Ieyasu’s birth name ( Matsudaira Takechiyo)

Places
駿府「すんぷ」ー Sunpu, Shizuoka
安倍川 「あべかわ」ー Abe River

Forgotten Readings

家来けらい」(Retainer; Servant)

Forgotten Meanings

果敢かかん」(Resolute; Determined)


I came across this word in the wild the other day and wondered the same thing! It’s a really nice word.

23 Likes

I thought it looked familiar, but didn’t remember that reading. Looking up the reading, I then remembered that it appears in spy x family. :male_detective:

7 Likes

Summary Post

January 24
君の名は , 17 pages.


Okay I don’t even know how it happened, but apparently I read that much today in around the same time span. Holy. I guess I was super into that part:

Heavy spoilers

It’s when they finally meet each other on top of the mountain, and well the moment before that when Taki remembers Mitsuha went to Tokyo to meet him, and she meets the 3-years-younger him and he’s like: あんた誰?, then she gives him her plaited cord that he uses as a bracelet. As well as the moment right after she disappears when the night comes when they’re writing each other’s names on their hands.

I kinda lost track of time, I think this is the first time this happened. In fact it’s the first time I’ve read this much. Such a nice feeling. And I’ve also noticed that I’m starting to actually feel emotionally moved through this language at times (finally!!!). I guess I’m starting to interiorise the emotional weight of some words, it’s not always just mechanical and rote language learning. I’ve been a bit worried for a long while that I wasn’t able to feel emotion through reading Japanese, but I guess it’s just a matter of time until you’re able to grasp and interiorise the language and the cultural background and implications. To know the definition of a word is one thing, but to comprehend the actual weight that word carries is a much different beast, I think, and I feel that that takes quite some time. It’s a nice surprise and a welcome one :slight_smile: .

29 Likes

Ohh that’s sounds so nice! I feel like while I laugh at times at what I read, the contrary is not something that’s yet really in my grasp yet. So being emotionally moved by something sad or some other more intricate feelings is kind of more difficult? Though the children’s books I’ve touched so far were rather light hearted anyway. I really hope I’ll get to that point eventually as well :heart:

7 Likes

Well, I got my copy of Harry Potter and Philosopher Stone. I knew I won’t be able to understand it now, but it still hurts. Now I have a great kick to improve my grammar.
By the way, surprisinly, kanji were not an issue (I believe high school kanjis are not included), the vocab and grammar on other hand are quite difficult.
Will try to read it again in a month. For now, I’ll stick with easy news.

16 Likes

Summary post

January 24 update:
Read 5 pages of 時をかける少女 (chapter 17). This chapter seems to be meant to provide a load of background information in a concise manner, and thus it was probably the hardest part of the book for me so far in terms of vocabulary (vocabulary being what I’m struggling with the most, in general). At first I tried to revert to looking up everything, and with the amount of unknown words it was going slowly and painfully. Then I tried to do strategic lookups – something I’ve been experimenting with for most of this book. The result was still a lot more lookups than I’d been doing lately, so I almost gave up. But then suddenly came a point where the words I just looked up started coming up again and again – I guess by this point we’d got introduced to most of the common concepts of year 2660’s recent history, so the last two pages were less of a struggle. But the conversation started three chapters ago is not over yet :rofl:

20 Likes

Home post

Day 23:

日本語: I read a fair amount of 伯爵と妖精 31.

中国語

中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean, one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学, and a bit of 孩子最爱读的中国民间故事.

21 Likes

Summary post

I’m bouncing back, and today was a nice, easy read all around. I believe today was about an hour and 15 minutes – the easier the text is, the easier and quicker I get a ton of words mined, and while I should probably just continue reading without mining, up to this point I’ve had one thing I’m reading kind of reserved as a sentence mining source and somewhat dictated my time with it based on that. I just have so many other things I want to read/listen to that that works out fine for me, gives me more time to shift to something else… but as I get into this VN more, I might start making changes because I do want to see more of it!

Chupacabra

I almost wish I didn’t find this little captain outfit as cute as I do. More importantly, this choice! For context, she’s going out and the protagonist told her to be careful. Here you choose what she should watch out for. I of course chose チュパカブラに

Continues to be a nice piece of media to just have a cup of coffee or something and relax with, despite the added strain of learning.

Today’s new words are the rock, paper, and scissors of じゃんけん . While I know the name of the game; I’ve somehow made it this far without learning those, which are, in order (well, the expected English RPS order): ぐう, ぱあ, and ちょき.

21 Likes

Summary post :bookmark:

January 24

笑わない数学者
Progress: 41% → 42%

I got stuck on a descriptive part :durtle_durtverted_lvl1: Maybe I can make sense of it tomorrow, when not so tired.


New person in the thread, @Cruciarius Hello! :durtle_hello: Good luck with reading adventures~

22 Likes

Summary Post

I took a break from 時をかける少女 today and read the first weeks assignment of the デスノート Book Club instead. Honestly I was a bit intimidated beforehand but it went a lot better than expected. It seems like I remember more Japanese than I thought overall? I’m still very glad we have furigana, even though sometimes they are hardly readable… or my eyes are just too bad :sob:

Speaking of being intimidated… the reason I even went for デスノート was because I know from BadWeather’s post that there’s a long explanatory dialog coming up in 時をかける少女. :eyes: I guess I thought this was a good point to take a short break from the story :rofl:

23 Likes

Yesterday I didn’t even have time to post in this thread. But I started reading なんでここに先生が!? volume 1 30 pages and after that I read some more Demonbane and added the words into the SRS I use. Just a little more and I’m done with the prologue in Demonbane.

It’s really hard to find 15 words I don’t know every day.

Today I continued reading なんでここに先生が!? 60 pages and after that I played Melty Blood in japanese of course adding the words I don’t know into a SRS.

23 Likes

I haven’t read that one in particular, but I’d put money on the problem not being you. Besides just being too tiny, so much furigana (particularly in digital versions, if you’re using that?) is blurred, and occasionally practically unreadable. I’ve had that issue many, many times.

Also, great job! Proof that you’re learning :slight_smile:

8 Likes