Polishing off 2 years of rust (Study log)

Japanese
#13

Grammar: N3 - 127/217 (57%)
Vocab: よつばと - 452/761 (59%)
Kanji: 181/2300 (7%)

Reading: One graded reader, finished chapter 3 and half of chapter 4 of よつばと

Listening: Not much of anything. I really just wanted to listen to something in English during my commute this week.

Output: 3 posts to the Japanese Sentence thread

I had a stressful week at work and a busy weekend, so about half of the days this past week, all I could manage was to keep up with my reviews and not study anything new, and even then I missed my kanji reviews on two days. I was able to get my ghosts back under 10 again, so it’s not all bad.
Based on my average progress, though, I’ve got just over a month before I’ve gone through all the N3 grammar points, so I’ve been thinking about my plan going forward. I’m not sure how realistic this would be as things get more difficult, but if I can maintain an average of 2 new grammar points per day, I can go through all of the remaining grammar points by the end of the year. Right now I think I want to aim for that and see how long I can keep up the pace. Then I can spend 2025 focusing on JLPT prep for the N3 and tackling some more complicated reading.

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#14

It’s update time again

Grammar: N3 - 146/217 (66%)
Vocab: よつばと - 512/761 (67%)
Kanji: 199/2300 (8%)

Reading: Finished Chapter 4 of よつばと and got 6 pages into chapter 5. Also did 2 Level 2 tadoku graded readers.

Listening: Just a few podcasts on the walk from the train to the office.

Output: Nothing this week.

Another busy week, as it was the end of the current sprint at work, so I was busy prepping for the deployment on Wednesday.
I’ve got 4 more free level 2 tadoku books to do before level 3. 8 of them have audio/youtube videos available, so I think that once I’ve had a chance to read them all, I’m going to download the audio to add to my listening rotation. I’m also thinking that once I finish up the N3 content here, I’m going to go back over Tobira again with the online exercises.

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#15

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#16

Sorry I missed last week, things have been crazy here lately.

Grammar: N3 - 166/217 (75%)
Vocab: よつばと - 574/761 (75%)
Kanji: 209/2300 (9%)

Reading: About 12 pages into chapter 6 of よつばと

Listening: Nothing

Output: Nothing.

Things have got busy at work over the past few weeks, so while I was still able to study some grammar last week, this week I ended up just trying to keep up with reviews and not adding anything new. It’s the Victoria Day weekend this weekend, so I’ll try to use some of my free time to get back to adding new items. I’ve been trying to force myself to slow down on grammar cards and not just glance at the translation/hint before typing my answer. I’ve been writing out the sentence before I answer, looking up unfamiliar words(and adding them as vocab cards, even if they’re not in the Yotsuba deck) and that’s helped with my accuracy. My rocketbook has really come in handy so I can do this without wasting paper.

2 Likes
#17

It’s update time again

Grammar: N3 - 178/217 (82%)
Vocab: よつばと - 574/761 (79%)
Kanji: 214/2300 (9%)

Reading: No progress in よつばと, but finished the last 2 Level 2 graded readers.

Listening: 2 podcast episodes

Output: 1 post to HelloTalk

I’m starting to get more time again, although I still didn’t get as much done as I’d like.

As I get close to covering all the N3 content here, I’ve been starting to think about the plan after that.

I think I’m going to dial back my pace on grammar after that and shift focus more to vocab and Kanji. I feel that I’m lagging in those areas, and that it’s holding back my reading and listening abilities. To that end, I’ve started experimenting with jpdb to see if I prefer that over Bunpro’s vocab. On the one hand, jpdb is focused on recognition and not recall, but I love all their media-specific decks and their system to filter out words you’ve already learned in another deck, and that they’ve also got example sentences. On the other hand, I like that Bunpro is focused on recall, but I’m struggling with so many synonyms without much in the way of disambiguation in place yet.

For grammar, I’ll keep up with Bunpro, at maybe a pace of 1 new grammar point per day, but I want to spend more time making sure I’ve got N3 really dialled in for the December 2025 JLPT. I’m going to revisit Tobira, try and get my hands on 新完全マスター N3 set and whatever online quizzes I can find.

3 Likes
#18

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N3 - 194/217 (88%)
Vocab: よつばと - 644/761 (84%)
Kanji: 219/2300 (9%)

Reading: About 5 pages from よつばと.

Listening: I listened to the audio for the level 2 graded readers

Output: Nothing

I’m starting to get more time again, although I still didn’t get as much done as I’d like.

No too much to update on this week, except that I’m starting to get really excited about covering all of N3.

Also, I finally got my N4 JLPT certificate! I originally wrote it in December 2019, but because of Covid, I never actually got a physical certificate. I finally got around to requesting a ‘new’ copy earlier this month, and it arrived today! Maybe once I finish the N3 grammar points I can try out an N4 practice test to see how I compare. I’m a little worried that I’ll do worse, though.

My results, in case anyone is curious:

Language Knowlege: 70/120
Listening: 31/60
Total: 101/180

So, not a very solid pass, but still a pass.

3 Likes
#19

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N3 - 217/217 (100%)
Vocab: よつばと - 714/761 (93%)
Kanji: 232/2300 (10%)

Reading: None

Listening: None

Output: Nothing

This week I felt I would really rather spend my limited free time crocheting. I kept up my streak on Bunpro but that was it. Still finished the N3 grammar deck, though.

At the moment, I think that vocab is probably the biggest bottleneck to being able to read more without it feeling like a slog or reading stuff that’s dirt simple, so for now I’m going to put my primary focus there. My plan is to give it a week or so to let the most recent grammar points settle in, and then start N2 at one card per day. I’m also thinking about setting ghosts to full and marking myself as ‘fail’ to anything except a typo to really drill things in.

In the meantime I’ll keep going with vocab at 10 words per day. Once I finish the よつばと vol 1 deck I’m going to switch back to the JLPT decks rather than keep going with the beginner book club decks. I can add individual words from that deck if I need to.

2 Likes
#20

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N3 - 217/217 (100%)
Vocab: N5 - 502/1100 (45%)
Kanji: 252/2300 (11%)

Reading: Pokémon Special chapter 1, up to page 16, Yotsubato chapter 8 and 9, 1 NHK Easy News article

Listening: Tadoku graded reader audiobook on YouTube

Output: Nothing

I finished the Yotsubato vocab deck, gone back to my vocab refresher plan, and got a bunch more kanji studied. I took this week off new grammar. I’m probably going to start on N2 at one card per day on Monday.

Also, been really motivated to do my reading in the evenings this week. I think it helps that I’m a decent pokémon fan - I’ve played at least one game from each generation since they first came out in Canada. I start up doing about 3 pages of pokémon per day, since I don’t want to get too far ahead of the book club. That leaves me wanting to read more, so then I crack open Yotsubato.

Maybe I should use that trick to get more listening practice in. I wonder if I can track down the Pokémon animé in Japanese?

3 Likes
#21

I’ve been trying and trying to find the anime in Japanese in the US, but no luck. I guess it’s not available outside of Japan since the international versions are so different than the original. DVDs are out of the question because of region lock. :slightly_frowning_face: As much as I want to watch the anime in the original language, this is one series that I just have to let go of.

More thoughts

I know you can find anything while “sailing” but I am not a fan of that and prefer to stay on land, if you catch my meaning.

#22

Thanks for the heads up. I was hoping I’d be able to source blurays on Amazon or something.

The Japanese cultural centre here has a library. Maybe I’ll try and make it out there to see what they have.

#23

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N2 7/213 (3%)
Vocab: N5 - 553/1100 (50%)
Kanji: 278/2300 (12%)

Reading: Pokémon Special chapter 2, 3 pages of Yotubato chapter 10, about 5 NHK Easy articles

Listening: TTS for 3 NHK Easy articles, about an hour’s worth of podcasts

Output: Nothing

I turned ghosts up to full and started on N2 at 1 new grammar point per weekday. I immediately got swamped with ghosts because I keep making stupid little mistakes.(38 at the moment). The idea is to help drill things into my head so I don’t have to think about it anymore.

Not a heck of a lot to say today. I have the day off for my Birthday, but I’ve spent the whole day making chocolate chip cookies and getting my son’s laundry ready so I can pack for the big family Canada Day party tomorrow. I’ve wanted to do some writing practice with a little blurb ranting about people talking on the quiet area of my train home yesterday, but that might have to wait until Sunday.

4 Likes
#24

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N2 - 11/213 (100%)
Vocab: N5 - 592/1100 (45%)
Kanji: 278/2300 (11%)

Reading: Pokémon Special chapters 3 & 4,

Listening: Podcasts

Output: Posted 2 moments on HelloTalk

Ghosts have been at a consistent 59 for most of this week, but since I’m only adding 1 grammar point a day it hasn’t caused my reviews to balloon up, thankfully.

I’m on vacation next week; heading up to take the little dude to visit his grandparents, so I’ve set myself on vacation mode until I get back.

2 Likes
#25

Grammar: N2 - 20/213 (9%)
Vocab: N5 - 687/1100 (62%)
Kanji: 326/2300 (14%)

Reading: started on Pokémon Special Chapter 5, haven’t finished.

Listening: Podcasts

Output: Nothing

I know it’s not friday, but I got back from my vacation 2 weeks ago and I keep getting distracted on Friday and end up not updating. Yesterday was the Monday of a long weekend, so I thought that today would be a good day to catch up on my study log.

I set myself in vacation mode while I was off and did not to any studying. I got a good bit of crochet done, though. I finished the triceratops for my son, and started the one for my nephew, and I’ve got a baby blanket going for a friend of mine who’s expecting. The triceratops’s horns didn’t quite end up where I wanted them, but little dude doesn’t seem to care; it’s soft and squishy and that’s all that matters.

I decided to try the new setting to drop your review level in half when you get a review wrong instead of setting ghosts to max, and I think it’s working a lot better. I’m back to about 11 ghosts.
I’ve fallen behind on reading, but I don’t have much free time in the evenings anymore. My husband’s contract at work ended a number of months ago and he’s having a hard time finding something new. Our savings are dwindling to the point where we may have to sell our house. We both agreed that if it comes to it, we’d rather sell and get something smaller while we have time than try to hold on to the house and end up foreclosing. I’ve been working on tackling our list of little things to do to get the place spruced up to sell, so my reading time has been restricted to two days a week, on the train home from work.

1 Like
#26

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N2 - 23/213 (10%)
Vocab: N5 - 721/1100 (65%)
Kanji: 342/2300 (15%)

Not a huge amount to update today, just wanted to update the weekly stats. As we’re getting closer to the fall, I thought it’d be fun to do some end-of-year projections. At my current pace, I should be 60% through N2 grammar, have finished both the N5 and N4 vocab decks, and be at 835 in KKLC. I’m not sure I’ll hit these number exactly with all the fall/winter holidays, but it’ll be interesting to see how close I can get. Check back here in January to see how I did. :yum:

2 Likes
#27

I know it’s not Friday, but it’s been a while.

Grammar: N2 - 26/213 (12%)
Vocab: N5 - 763/1100 (69%)
Kanji: 342/2300 (15%)

Things have gotten busy again, with getting the house ready for sale. I got behind last week and finally managed to get caught up again with use of the vacation function to keep new stuff from piling up on me even further.

I’ve also found out that a cousin of mine is expecting, so I had to start spending most of my free time working on a baby blanket so I can get it done in time for the shower.

This is definitely going to kill my end-of-year projections, but I knew I wasn’t going to hit them, anyway. The point is to give myself that dangling carrot so that I keep doing what I can rather than blowing it off.

4 Likes
#28

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N2 - 29/213 (13%)
Vocab: N5 - 808/1100 (73%)
Kanji: 342/2300 (15%)

So same story as usual lately, fall a bit behind, get caught up enough to make a little bit of progress, repeat. I’m caught up with Bunpro again, finally, but still have a backlog of 155 reviews on KanjiStudy. No reading or listening outside of Bunpro audio since I really just want to read/watch something in English in the little time I have left.

Finished the baby blanket and had enough left over yarn to do a cat-ear toque. Current crochet gift backlog is now 1 more baby blanket, 2 plushies, and a bottle holder. Also making slow progress on the house, but I’m hoping to be able to call the agent by the end of the month.

5 Likes
#29

Great job catching up! I fell behind in some of my studies personally and am closing in on being back on pace in about a week or so.

Some days I end up having to just tell myself to take the day off instead of worrying about keeping on track, otherwise the added stress will slow my pace more than if I just took that time to rest, or enjoy some other hobbies.

Also, don’t worry about not immersing as much as you may think you need to! Sometimes I’m just in the mood to watch some video essays on YouTube and not worry about reading Japanese news, playing a game in Japanese, or listening to various Japanese content creators on my feed.

I wish you luck in finishing up your reviews!
皆と一緒に頑張ろうね！

1 Like
#30

Happy Friday!

Grammar: N2 - 34/213 (15%)
Vocab: N5 - 918/1100 (83%)
Kanji: 358/2300 (15%)

I was able to work through my KanjiStudy backlog and start adding in new Kanji again this week.

I finally managed to find time to get some input in this week: I listened to Nihongo con Teppei while painting the bathroom last weekend, and that got me back into listening on my way from the train to the office and back. I’ve also started watching Comprehensible Japanese videos while brushing my teeth. Still no reading, but better than nothing.

Baby blanket #2 is more complicated than #1 and is done in panels which are assembled at the end. When I first started, one panel took me a week of evenings to do, but I was able to get one done in half that time this week! 4 panels done, 5 more to go.

3 Likes
#31

Grammar: N2 - 38/213 (17%)
Vocab: N5 - 996/1100 (90%)
Kanji: 382/2300 (16%)

Reading: I read 3 NHK Easy articles, and I downloaded a level 3 tadoku graded reader that I’m halfway through.

Listening: Podcasts, Comprehensible Japanese videos

I finally managed to get a bit of reading in. I’m also on track to finish up N5 vocab next week, so there’s that to look forward to.

I’ve been thinking lately: Since I’m not going to be able to take the JLPT this year, maybe I should try an online test at around JLPT time in December and July to track my progress. TTBJ or an online JLPT practice test or something. I used to do the same thing with J-CAT in the Before Times, but that’s obviously not an option anymore. If anyone has experience with this kind of thing, I’d love to hear from you.

3 Likes
#32

Does anyone have any other podcast recs? I’d like to get used to more than just Teppei-sensei’s voice.

If you’re still taking recs, I can recommend Japanese with Shun. His Oyasumi Japanese podcast is just at the perfect N+1 comprehensible input point for me as a low N4. He also has some more advanced stuff on his Youtube channel, I think.

1 Like