Another lesson today.
We talked above moving, as my tutor moved into a new apartment last week.
We also talked about other topics like our plans for the weekend and I learned some new Japanese idioms.
I also told him that I’ve been getting mixed up between ~にしては and ~にしても so we went over that together.
May 27th
What did I listen to?: Akane goes to a cake store
How much time did I spend listening?: ~12 min
This video was good except for the massive random product placement/ad in the middle Not really a fan of the “commercial” vibe. Those cakes and donuts look delicious though and I want to eat them all especially the kuma cake
I did 30 minutes with a new tutor yesterday as I want to focus on conversation. It was just daily life things so my understanding was about 95% but speaking was like 20%. “They” say if you consistently practice you will get better (which has been the case with reading and listening) so hopefully “they” are on to something with speaking as well.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen udon, ramen etc. in refrigerated bags before And it looks like you can just, like…eat it straight up from the bag?? …It’s probably a good thing that doesn’t exist here, I would eat it so much
Today I listened to two episodes of JapanesePod101’s Lower Intermediate Series.
It was the end of the story arc about a some old friend sending postcards to each other.
Comprehensible Japanese - スマホを使っていろんな動作をしよう!
Another long video, this time acting out words for interacting with the smartphone. Maybe I should have done something shorter while I’m still sick? Eh, whatever.
I was walking alone today so I listened to 3 episodes from Japanese with Shun. The first two episodes went great in terms of comprehension, but I completely zoned out in the 3rd one and my focus went
May 29th
What did I listen to?: Akane in Tokyo
How much time did I spend listening?: ~13 min
More random hotel/restaurant staff conversations - going on the theory/hope that maybe if I watch a billion of them my brain will eventually be able to do them lol. But my hopes have been slightly crushed by the hotel conversation because why so fast ;_; I couldn’t even hear the words, much less understand what they all meant. Ngl I’m a little worried that I simply don’t have the ability to process words fast enough to competently understand Japanese Like I think I read somewhere that Japanese is just generally a “faster” language syllabically than English and I’m wondering whether the speed is just…going to exceed my auditory processing capacity, like I don’t know if I can operate at that speed
Today I listened to one episode of JapanesePod101’s Lower Intermediate series.
I also listened to an episode of Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners, which was about intonation.
I listened to one episode from Kona’s Big Adventure (from Satori Reader) today, instead of reading it. Ironically, listening to the episode was much easier because I was seeing the kanji and guessing the context even when I didn’t know the word hdjdj. This was a fun change though!
May 30th
What did I listen to?: Akane in Akihabara
How much time did I spend listening?: ~16 min
TIL that LingQ is pronounced like “link” instead of “Ling-Q” The maid cafe they went to seemed quite cute, I was deeply amused by Akane’s English teacher trying and absolutely failing to make anything remotely resembling a heart with his hands He kind of reminds me of my dad for some reason lmao xD
I watched the first episode of Shadows House today, with no subs. There was a lot of stuff I didn’t really understand, but knowing the story from reading the manga made that manageable. I think I’m going to carry on watching this series with no subs since hopefully knowing the story will stop it from becoming as frustrating to try to watch.
End of the Challenge!?
How did that happen so fast?
I managed to listen every day during this challenge - and I reached my goal of doing more listening than I did during the winter challenge. There were still a few days where I only managed to squeeze in an episode of Nihongo con Teppei, but far less than in January and February.
A few highlights from this challenge -
I watched Ponyo with only Japanese Subtitles without looking anything up, or checking english subs and still managed to get the gist of the story even though I didn’t understand everything.
I took lots of lessons and attended 2 Language Exchange meetups, so I got lots of conversation practise.
As always, thanks to everyone who participated for your support and recommendations and companionship, and of course big thanks to @omk3 for organizing.
I’m still planning to listen every say throughout June - but I’m going to take a break from doing daily posts. I’ll still be hanging around in the thread though, and enjoying the posts from anybody who is planning to keep posting in June!
Comprehensible Japanese - 間違い探し④ 川で釣り
It’s another spot the difference game! I love those. Honestly, the whole channel (of what I have seen) is so much fun, I’m glad I decided to switch over from Teppei. And soon I’ll be trough the complete beginner playlist! I’m excited for what’s to come.
The last challenge day. This time it didn’t feel like such a chore and I had much more fun. However, I have not been as diligent as I would like in doing listening every day. I will definitely join further challenges, but maybe also try and continue listening as much as I can during this one month break.
For now, I’m going to focus and art/writing during the coming month, so I won’t continue to post my listening experiences in this thread.