Because I’ve taken an interest in Pitch Accent and how Japanese sounds differ from English or German ones, I want to use some time practicing this. I found the Mimicmethod’s course for this.
SuperNative sounds like a neat concept that I can definitely see the benefits of. (thank you omk3 for mentioning it!)
Something fun from this thread that sounds interesting! I’m excited to see what everyone else does.
Count me in!
I’m going to be taking it easy with this challenge, it’ll probably mostly be Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners, learning-focused podcasts/youtube videos and some anime (mostly with english subs)
So I did the summer challenge for a few days and then completely forgot about it. Whoops. I'm going to try again though! Listening comprehension is going to be my new primary focus in 2023 (as reading has been in 2022), so I want to get started with a good routine now
Unlike in the reading challenge / the summer listening challenge, I’m not going to keep track of progress. This is just a list of what I’m listening to.
I feel like I am not a qualified listener in any case, but still a beginner learner. However, I cannot forget the goal of being able to listen to anything, even when travelling or passing by. Though, if I am able to untiringly listen to knowledgeable stuff, that would be meaningful.
It might be in grand scheme of vocal communication, but not really – vocal chatting is even farther than chatting at all itself.
Real progress and thoughts, as a sum of listening, reading, and other skills, would be in my personal Q4 home post .
Nonetheless, daily calendar will be made here link to my listening progress (max 1 per day). Progress about mainly listening will be put in this thread.
Unlike the planned reading one, I count on-days for listening and don’t count off-days. Not going to punish myself or anything, only about awareness. Also, listening is going to be the focus for this season.
= listened today
= read today
= read and listened today
= missed day
When you see the thread for the Fall Listen Every Day Challenge and realize you disappeared from the Summer one halfway through August with zero explanation
Uh…whoops. Reset?
Honestly I think the reason I disappeared was a) because I started feeling like reading more again and b) I have this…block against watching things that are longer, on Youtube specifically? I literally- it’s a very weird and specific block lmao. I watch plenty of 45 min TV shows but internet videos over 10 min feel like too much, even if I want the content (this is not a problem exclusive to Japanese-language videos either). Anyway, what happened was that the videos I wanted to watch next were like 20+ min long and I never felt like I had ““enough time”” to watch them. So I watched nothing. I don’t know what I can do to combat this problem. Open to suggestions I do realize that I could pause them and watch in smaller chunks but that idea doesn’t really seem to help me get started. Also feel like I’d forget where I left off
I have no plans for what I’ll be listening to at the moment. I still haven’t listened to a lot of the things I listed in my previous challenge post, so there’s a place to start Similar to last challenge, I will not be listening every day, but rather looking to achieve a mixture of reading and listening days.
I can’t offer any advice unfortunately, but I am exactly the same way. I can easily watch 2, even 3-hour movies no problem, and several hours of any series I’m into, but a 2-minute youtube video feels like a waste of my time, even when I am very interested in the content. So weird. I think I’ve been conditioned to think of any free web content, videos especially, as not professionally made and therefore not worth my full concentration? Even when there’s evidence to the contrary.
Last challenge, I also found “I didn’t have time” for listening. At the same time I mysteriously found endless hours to dedicate to reading.
I tried to use the same title from the summer one, but…“leaf pile listens” aren’t as much of a thing as “beach listens” (and I’m not sure if that’s much of a thing, either). But that doesn’t mean it can’t become one, right? Right…?
Anyway, I’m going into this with no set plan for what I want to listen to. I found that to be part of the fun with the last challenge, and that seems like reason enough to keep things that way. That being said, I’ve been listening to/reading a series on Satori Reader pretty consistently, so that will likely be my main source during this challenge.
Glad to know I’m not alone in my weird problem I do feel like it’s somehow an artifact of my age and how internet videos were when I was growing up, like Youtube videos have evolved so much and gotten so much closer to like…professionally made long-form content (I mean, some people do Youtube as their profession now, so…I guess some things on Youtube are technically “professionally made content” lol). I feel like when I was first introduced to the concept of internet videos, it was very much just like…people screwing around for a few minutes It’s hard to shake that expectation or perception.
I used this challenge as an opportunity to listen to new things. So this is my first time listening to Comprehensible Japanese. I started with the complete beginner playlist, and the first video was about parts of the face.
What I think helped much more than other listening material I use is that you also get to see what is talked about. Additionally, transcripts were provided in video, so when a familiar Kanji appeared it was a great a-ha moment! Unfortunately there where also a lot of new Kanji…
I also really like SuperNative. Having to really concentrate while listening is quite exhausting, but fun. Unfortunately, at my level even the slightest noise can distract from or overlap with the speech fragment that they want you to listen to. Especially when it’s a clip from a show with background music or a lot of people are talking at once.
I love this, I recently passed the N4 exam and at the time I thought I did so well on the listening portion but then my score was… less than desirable haha. I really need the accountability to keep myself motivated (especially to get myself ready for the summer N3 exam).
I’m struggling to choose 1 or two simple things to work with, but probably some JLPT practicing and then some easy youtubers to listen to like Onomappu
I can’t believe its October already, this year has gone by so quickly!
But hey, at least that means its time for a new challenge! I really slipped in the month since the Summer challenge and hardly did any listening practise at all
I’m glad to be back to having some accountability to motivate me to get back to it!
Today I listened to 2 episodes of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners. One was about whether you go to bed early or wake up early - the other was about friends.
I found both fairly easy to understand, other than when my mind wandered off and I stopped listening properly.
I really need to just practise focusing I think! I have the attention span of a goldfish
I really ought to listen to more Japanese, so here we are.
Oct
月
火
水
木
金
土
日
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Nov
月
火
水
木
金
土
日
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
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What I ideally need is to find some podcasts I like, because I go for a walk and listen to a podcast most days, so I just need to shift that habit from English-language podcasts to Japanese ones…
Aaaand I almost forgot about this challenge again, and on day one no less but I remembered at like 6:30 this evening. I listened to a Comprehensible Japanese video, understood basically all of it which was a nice surprise.
I listened to 2+ hours of the audiobook for 変な家 today while traveling. It’s got to be the second easiest audiobook I’ve ever listened to, with コーヒーが冷めないうちに being the only one easier. The story is mildly interesting but honestly the writing is kind of on the junk side. I do enjoy a mindless read/listen though, so it’s all good.
I need to see if I had energy left tonight to read. Such a long day
I listened for several hours yesterday (wasn’t counting), with the TV on in the background while I took care of some chores. For the longest time I couldn’t find anything that satisfied me, even without paying it my full attention. Mysteriously all anime on Netflix got on my nerves after a few minutes, and watching a movie was too frustrating with comprehension being so low. In the end I rewatched a few episodes of Erased (easier because I’ve already watched it before with subtitles on), but soon got bored with it too.
In the end I got out some old dvds I had forgotten I had and had somehow never watched: Tatami Galaxy (四畳半神話大系). The art was amazing, and it somehow held my interest for several episodes, even though the narration was so incredibly fast that I could only catch a word here and there. For some reason, watching something that I knew I had no hope of following properly (while still enjoying the visuals) felt better than watching something where they spoke shorter and slower sentences. I guess it took away the pressure of feeling I had to understand more?
Anyway, here’s a sample I found online so you can enjoy the super-fast narration too: