みなさん, bonjour!
It’s been precisely 112 days since I started learning Japanese, beginning with kana, and 50 days since I started using Bunpro. Creating a study log has been on my mind for a week or two. I’m still in the honeymoon phase of learning Japanese, and keeping track of my progress seems interesting, so that (hopefully) one year from now, I can look back and see how much work I’ve done.
About me
Not sure there’s much to say, I’m a French engineer in my twenties, tatamized a long time ago. I’ve originally studied Chinese for a few years, but made the switch after feeling burned out. After a trip to Japan, I’ve been enjoying diving deep into the culture (especially the food, despite the lack of baguette) and the beauty of the Japanese language itself. It looks like Lego, of course an engineer would enjoy it…
What am I expecting from learning Japanese? Mostly, I hope to enjoy the journey. I’m not really sure where it will lead. Ideally, I’d love to spend a few months immersed in Japan’s countryside, traveling around by bike, seeing Cape Sōya (and the monkeys in their onsen!), and discovering more about this timeless culture. Reading haiku would also be a huge achievement someday, but for now, I hope I’ll be able to go through NHK Easy News one day.
How am I learning
I’m lucky enough to have the time and motivation to come back to Anki, Bunpro, and WaniKani several times a day.
- Vocab: 10 words a day at least (but rarely more) → 5 from Anki ( with Kaishi 1.5k), 5 from Bunpro (I like that the words come with more context).
- Grammar: Bunpro, along with YouTube for certain grammar points.
- Kanji: WaniKami, so far I’m at level 4. Not sure I’ll stick with it though, I’ll try to switch to an Iphone app and will check the famous “Remembering the kanji” by James Heisig. I really enjoy studying kanji, so I’m looking forward to improving this skill.
- Listening: not much so far, but mostly following Japanese interview on Instagram and listening to Japanese with Shun - Podcast - Apple Podcasts.
- Writing: I’m trying to write a small story (2 or 3 lines) each day on my computer, though I haven’t been very consistent with it.
I’m a math guy, so I’ll occasionally dive into some stats, along with any new discoveries or fancy stuff I pick up each day. This will be a simple daily log, but hopefully still an interesting one!
, but I can’t lie that Japanese bread and cheese doesn’t hold a candle to stuff in France (or cheddar in UK)
