📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

April 23 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

I played some more ZTD! I’m definitely enjoying it so far; it’s been really doable which is nice. I’ve mostly been able to follow along at normal speed so yay! I’m still pretty early on so no real idea what’s going on yet but I’m curious to see :eyes:

25 Likes

April 23th (Calendar Post)

Was a busy day but I managed to get some reading done.

ゆるキャン△ => 26 pages (82 minutes)
夜カフェ => 10 pages (41 minutes)

Nice panel from today:

猫だ

I am not sure if this is a word I want to add to my SRS…

image

27 Likes

That indeed looks very impressive, thanks for sharing! Reminds me of some parts of Père Lachaise in Paris, one of my favorite cemeteries :wink:


Oooh, nice! A Japanese person once recommended that book to me, and I have it on my 積読 pile ever since :sweat_smile:
If you like it, I will see about reading it as well in the near future.

5 Likes

April 24, Sun :cherry_blossom: home post

Week 4 of Spring 2022’s update

Following up from yesterday, and as the last day of the week, I read Yuru Camp Ch.70-71 (which is actually a re-reading). Focusing on the vocabularies, and getting pronunciations without Furigana, I have too look up, at least a lot for place names. (And, one of which is unresolved - 清水、淸水(しみず、きよみず、せいすい、しょうず)) I need to look up a surname as well (各務原(かがみはら)なでしこ).

I really want to go to the current chapter in Yuru Camp Discussion (Ch. 74). But while I can with enough stamina in a reasonable time (if I focus on vocabularies, as talked yesterday); I don’t really have time this evening, at least not much laptop access, or full learning setup.

I read through Happiness Ch.4 whole chapter really fast. Not really zero vocabularies’ lookup, but very few. (Like 6 or something.) It’s good, so that I can focus on comprehension.

I have taken a small Kanji test (and got a valuation number, but I feel it doesn’t matter much). I feel I should take Kanji separately and seriously; probably in WaniKani style on Anki, which I have done before plus level 1-60; but with my vocabulary list instead (from Yomichan / Akebi / Takoboto).

28 Likes
On 晴美

She always struck me as very spirited and independent actually, and I’ve only read this one book. (Although I too somehow knew she would reappear in later books so I never worried about her). I think because we’re mostly seeing the story from Katayama’s point of view, she’s presented as just the innocent little sister we don’t know much else about, but there are hints that she’s got a whole other life - and probably personality- than her big brother is ready to realize. After her experience at the end of the book, it’s no wonder she came out stronger than ever - it was either that or it would break her, and we couldn’t have that.

On 片山's character traits

The discrepancy between his description and his actions is harder for me to explain than 晴美’s. I guess much of that might be because of his own low self-esteem (“what am I doing being a policeman, I’m horrible with blood”, for example). 雪子 took the lead at all times, so he was never put in the position to have to initiate anything himself, but he still never seemed especially nervous or clumsy around her after he got to know her. I guess his anxiety might stem from the fact that as a young man he was expected to be a certain way around beautiful young ladies, and he couldn’t cope with that expectation. Once those ladies became actual human beings he got to know, instead of a general idea and perceived social pressure, he was more or less back to normal. At least that’s the way I explain it to myself. Similarly with blood, thinking about seeing a random crime scene can be anxiety inducing, and something to shy away from, but running towards an injured or dead person to see how you can help is another story. There will still be blood, but you’re already involved (by knowing the person, being nearby or just working on a related case), so it’s not an abstract, scary crime scene anymore.

6 Likes

:tulip: Day 22 and 23 :tulip: :house:
Read: マグメル深海水族館 (3)
Time: 3 minutes, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 18 minutes, 19 minutes, 19 minutes
Finished: Extra, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14
Was super tired for some reason yesterday so I just read the extra. Got to learn about these little guys who’re aptly called オオグチボヤ (big mouth sea squirt) in Japanese.
funny little guys
Then reading today I got super interested in what was going on and ended up finishing the volume. (the temptation to binge is strong). This one had more background on some of the characters and some progression in things that have been hinted at before. Like what’s going on with Koutarou’s dad, although there’s still some mystery there that I can’t wait to find out. Also learning that a lot of sea creature names aren’t in Jisho so I’ve been doing a lot of googling. Through this I’ve learned there’s an aquarium with a deep sea exhibit with a lot of these creatures in my state. Might just have to go on a road trip there this summer.

Frames I liked

The ten-ten became fish.

Really like this cover page.

Turns out there’s an omake beneath the cover, have to go back and read them all


(sorry they’re all a little blurry, can’t take a good photo to save my life lol)

New Vocab

A lot of biological words again
オオタルマワシ Phronima sedentaria, common name barrel shrimp (apparently these guys eat their host and then live in the remainder of their body)
フジクジラ Blackbelly lanternshark
クロカムリクラゲ helmet jellyfish
オオグチボヤ predatory tunicate
オウムガイ chambered nautilus
生態 (せいたい)mode of life; ecology
生物発光 (せいぶつはっこう)bioluminescence
捕食者 (ほしょくしゃ)predator
清聴 (せいちょう)attention; kind attention; courteous attention
発光器 (はっこうき)bioluminescent organ; photophore
更ける (ふける)to get late; to advance; to wear on
宿直 (しゅくちょく)night watch; night guard; night shift
来日 (らいにち)arrival in Japan; coming to Japan; visit to Japan (read this as らいじつ at first didn’t know this word)
写生 (しゃせい)sketching; drawing from nature; portrayal; description
白亜紀 (はくあき)Cretaceous Period
優位 (ゆうい)predominance; superiority; ascendancy; advantage; supremacy
縦長 (たてなが)oblong; vertical writing style (e.g. on envelopes); portrait orientation

28 Likes

Day 24 / Calendar

Today I’ve read 8(!) pages of 夜カフェ. I could do this, because 1.) my sleep schedule tends to be broken beyond repair, and I’ve read the first 3 or 4 pages a bit past midnight 2.) I’m a lazy git who had next to nothing to do the entire day besides reading and watching youtube.

A lot of words that come up quite often started sticking really well, so I can oftentimes just go through a sentence without having to look up words and that makes things a lot quicker.

27 Likes

㋃24 – Day 24

  • ジョジョの奇妙な冒険

161-195

Whoot! Vol 3 complete! Next up, vol 4!

29 Likes

:tiger2: :books: Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220424 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

Tanuki Scroll XXIV: 娘ギツネの恩返し :fox_face:

Read today’s folktale, from Yamagata Prefecture!

About a man who helps out the daughter of a fox.


:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

New Things

菩提樹「ぼうだいじゅ」ー Tilia miqueliana (a type of Linden tree)
常緑高木「じょうりょくこうぼく」ー tall, evergreen tree
貴族「きぞく」ー Aristocrat
新巻「あらまき」ー Salted salmon (also: 荒巻 or 苞苴)

26 Likes

I just finished Book 12 from Level 0, Set 2. It tells all about different data about people in Japan. It says Japanese women live the longest in the world at 86 years old. Men get married at age 30 and women at age 29. Men work a total of 18 minutes at home, while women work 3 hours and 41 minutes. Japanese people have 1.37 children.

I will begin Level 0, Set 3 tomorrow.

New vocabulary:

けっこん
結婚 marriage

いそが
忙しい busy, occupied, hectic

29 Likes

April 24th!

I read Chapter 17 of Mitsuboshi Colors today. I struggled a bit as it was one of the more random, zany chapters where it can be hard to tell whether I read something wrong, or whether its just the characters being eccentric :sweat_smile:
I think I got the gist of what was going on though!

(Home Post)


Those are interesting stats @dunlewy ! Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

25 Likes

I thought some of the stats were weird, like men only helping out at home for 18 minutes. Also, I didn’t know that Japanese women had the longest lifespans in the world. I learned a lot about Japan in this book. But it was harder reading!

6 Likes

Summary post :bookmark:

April 24th :seedling:

・薬屋のひとりごと (53% → 58%)

Finished chapter 20. I definitely started reading way too late tonight. Let’s try to avoid that, starting two days from now. (I know tomorrow most likely will be busy busy)

28 Likes

And another complete reading week down. One more week until halftime: 24/61 Homepost

This week went slightly better than the last and I got all my reading done in time. Even though I started late because of easter.

What I read/did in the last week:

  • The chapters of Saga (3/4)
  • This weeks Yoru (ch 4)
  • 3 Ch of Slam Dunk
  • Exercises of Tobira ch8.
  • 8 Articles on Todai.
  • Some re-reading of Solanin (6-7Ch)

So the Solanin re-read is an interesting story. I had one Anki card which I did not understand so I was looking for the context in the book again. But while searching I kinda started reading it again. It was fascinating how much easier it was this time around since I had just read it in the last challenge in Winter. Before I knew It I head reread 6 chapters and even could remove nearly all question marks I left while reading last time. Time ran away though so I just suspended the card and moved on with what I was supposed to do.

Most of it is surely that I srsed the vocabulary from the book but it also felt markedably easier to parse the sentences and it took way less effort compared to last time. I also found a grammar point 固いっちゃ固いけど which last time I just didn’t understand but since then came to learn this usage of といえば and that contraction. It felt soo good to actually see my progress which seemed quite substantial.

Other than that nothing more to report.
My next update will be late again because next week is the chaos weekend where I’m not sure I can even keep the streak going.

See you then.

28 Likes

Day 24

Read a short tadoku story about おでん. I’ve been busy last several days due to moving. Things should settle down soon.

25 Likes

Summary Post

April 24
Final Fantasy VII

Vocabulary
  • 指導 = しどう guidance, leading.
  • 軍服 = ぐんぷく military uniform.
  • 昇進 = しょうしん promotion.

26 Likes

April 23
Continued chapter one of 坊ちゃん and in the very next sentence I got a bit of context for my trouble sentences the day before. (@Belerith Turns out Kiyo thinks the protagonist has a good personality and is a cute kid, or however to phrase that. Also probably doesn’t like that his dad neglects him.) And this is just the set up of the story.

This story is making me dig into grammar points I know generally to understand them deeper. Good I guess, but makes the reading a bit annoying because I feel so uncertain over my understanding.

On to the more complex sentences from the rest of chapter 1.

Looking up grammar myself, but also needing some help. Thanks!

おれは泣かなかった。しかし、もう少しで泣きそうだった。I didn’t cry. However… ? I’m honestly not sure at all.

Oh, apparently もう少しで is a phrase meaning almost/nearly.
そうだ apparently can be applied to oneself, meaning one thinks one might do something (non-volitionally).
So almost/nearly, plus about to cry/feel like he will cry. Makes it SUPER close that he cried. Maybe he even did cry, but not confirming the matter? (That last part is my conjecture.)


For the next one, it is only the second sentence that I don’t have a grip on, but I think the first sentence is needed for context, so here goes:

汽車が動き出してから、もういないだろうと思って窓から首を出して後ろを見たら、清はまだ同じ場所に立っていた。何だか大変小さく見えた。

Like I know all the words in that sentence, so in the roughest of roughest of senses, I think I understand what it is getting at. But also like not at all, if that makes sense. Is it something along the lines of: Somehow she looks so very small. ?

Perhaps I am missing some grammar here.

So yeah, this booklet in this Graded reader have me busting out my A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar for the first time (or like actually using it anyway). I’m so glad I bought that many moons (*cough* years *cough*) ago.


April 24
Well, the first two pages of chapter 2 and I’ve already looked up several grammar points. This story is making me double check that I do in fact know a certain grammar point to mean X, because so many of sentences feel like it could mean either X or Y. (aka opposites)

One fun word at least:
役割 = role, or as I thought of it when I saw it: division/separation of duties, aka your role/your share of duties.

And now on to everything I had trouble with…

Feel like I'm drowning... More me looking up new grammar things to understand what sentences mean

そんなことができたら、こんな田舎に月四十円の給料でくるものか!(The そんなこと is referring to behaving appropriately as a teacher, as in 正しい行動する) So, I get what the sentence is saying: If protagonist/he could do such a thing, he would not have gone to the countryside for a 40 yen per month teacher job. (Also I’m assuming 40 yen went a lot further back then :joy: even if it is still portrayed as a small salary.)

However, たら is typically not used for contrasting, or if it is, what are the markers in this sentence (if there are any)? And looking up ものか (that did not exist in my basic grammar book), apparently that is exactly what it does. ものか = speaker believes the opposite of what he said, a kind of a “like hell I will” kinda vibe according to Safarikai.


そんなによくわかっているなら、始めから言わなければいいのに。(始めから is referring to starting the job, he almost quit before he began) So I’m pretty sure I understand what the sentence mean, but I was trying to look up

I was wrong. I searched for ばいいのに and found the grammar point I knew existed about it. It has two meanings according to a blog: 1) reality is different and speaker is disappointed about it (not our case), 2) You/speaker criticizing someone’s behavior. And this second definition made me realize I didn’t understand the sentence at all.

I thought the first half (before なら) meant the principal was understanding about the protagonist not being able to live up to the high behavior standard, but no no no—or, not exactly.

I think this sentence means something more like this: If you (principal) understand so well that fulfilling that standard of behavior is so hard, then why didn’t you start by saying that?!?!?! (I liberally added in context from previous sentence(s) and wrote more colloquial English rather than a more direct translation.)

Well, learning new things and choring up old knowledge (or reminding myself of old knowledge) are good things, but also means a serious snail pace.

Normally I just kinda read and don’t worry so much about the details, but (1) I am getting some of these sentences entirely wrong and (2) most of them feel +1-ish—as in if I just look up the grammar point I’m kinda missing/not remembering clearly, I get the meaning of the sentence instantly kinda way.

Well, maybe someone else gets some joy out of my struggle too.

Edit: Also just remembered I’ve been forgotten to wish a happy birthday to @daikirai. A very belated but happy birthday to you! :green_heart:

24 Likes

Summary post

Today I read… 12,000 characters! In total that took 3 hours but there was definitely downtime so let’s call it 2 and a half or something, who knows. I’m still in that beginner (to this sort of task) reading speed zone I think, but I’m also being somewhat thorough at times, and mining and all alongside it, so it’s all good. I’m happy to have pushed the numbers this much today, and I think I’m making huge progress through this route right now. Very hard to gauge how long it’s going to go, but hopefully I’m pushing my average limit over time a little more, at the least. Might try to bump my soft daily goal to 6000 or something (it’s usually 5000), just to make myself push a little harder. It’s not like it matters on the days I just can’t do it.

線路

I’ve been rather enjoying this route as the biggest straight up adventure of any of them. Not a lot to say about the actual reading today; despite the sort of difficulties you’d expect in several places, it overall went smoothly enough relative to what I can hope for right now. I guess my only observation is there’s a young child character who is pretending to be a ninja and she ends every single sentence with なり. Don’t know if that exact speech pattern is a wholly individual quirk or possibly something children do sometimes when in that kind of phase.

This time you get a whole proverb of sorts! 備えあれば憂い無し (そなえあればうれいなし), “if you are prepared you don’t have to worry/ it’s good to have a shelter against every storm”

30 Likes

After over two years and three months learning japanese I finally finished my first book in japanese. The first book of the Wan Wan Detective series, which I bought for a book club. It’s a book aimed at children but it’s still a book. But this is just the beginning I will read much more books in japanese.

33 Likes

Home Post

Day 24
Apr 24
My reading speed was slow this week. Sometimes, I only read a couple pages of 黒猫亭事件 (~5mins), because I was in the middle of something else or there was something I don’t understand. But I made some progress today, and finished Chapter 7, in which 金田一 was introduced and connected to the case.
There was a lot of words and weird expression that I didn’t know.

  • When I used the internal dictionary, it looks like words like 小紫, 雲助, 権八 have classic allusions. I don’t fully understand their meanings, so I decided to skip this part.
  • Another weird expression is “感謝キュー”. I can’t find the word on Google, and I’m guessing it’s 感謝+Thank you. But why does 金田一 say like that.
  • 金田一 used rare カタカナ expressions like キッキュージョ(鞠躬如), 静シュク(静粛). Then he himeself said “漢字制限のおりから”, these expressions will trouble the note-taker. From my understanding, 漢字制限 eliminates the rare 漢字 in Japan. Some Japanese also had trouble understand what he was talking about (「キッキュージョとしてレイジョーを極めた」とは何ぞや?).

Words of the day:
呼吸を弾ませる:いきをはずませる。out of breath. はげしい息づかいをする
中国へ高跳びした: たかとび。 Criminals escape to a distant land.
はさにあらず: そうではない
懇意:こんい。仲良し

28 Likes