Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

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Aozora
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Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:19 pm

I'm starting a new log for the new year.

A little history: I've been studying Japanese for many years and I'm somewhere between N2 and N1 in passive skills. I'm more or less content to just develop passive skills in my languages. For French, I've been studying it off and on, and I'd say I'm a late beginner.

Goals: I want to reach a solid N1 in Japanese this year and at least B1 for French. I want to keep things simple, and just focus on reading daily with some vocab study when I can. I also plan to get a fair bit listening in while I'm at work.

I have a huge pile of old Japanese flashcards that I'd like to review from the beginning. For French I have Memrise and (if I decide to subscribe again) Lingq.

I've signed up for the January Tadoku for Japanese and have a bunch of books available to read.
5 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:59 pm

Japanese:
Since my last update I read 42 pages from volume 1 of the Boogiepop series. I went through 32 flashcards for my vocab reviews. I meant to do another 32 cards yesterday but ran out of time. I'd like to make up for it today, but we'll see.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:36 pm

Japanese
I finished reading Boogiepop volume 1 and I'm going right on with volume 2 today. The last portion of the book was easier to read, but I think it's because the pace was speeding up and there were more action scenes. I also listened to a few hours of Let's Plays last week. I've reviewed 128 words so far. With the word reviews, when I first look at the card, I usually can't remember the word, but by the second time I see it, it's no problem. I'm using my old Leitner box which I made last year.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:12 pm

Japanese
I read for at about an hour each night this week and I'm almost half way through Boogiepop vol 2 now. I didn't manage to do any vocab, however. The Tadoku website seems to be down so I haven't been able to upload my pages. I watched about 12 episodes of anime since last Saturday.


My previous log dropped off in July 2017, and I pretty much stopped studying languages in that time. The reason for that was, I realized I want to change careers and become an artist, and in order to do that I need to work on my art skills. So I poured my time into studying art and had no time/little motivation for languages. I do still want to work on my languages though, so I'm trying to fit them into my schedule again this year. So far I'm not finding time to get French in. Maybe after Tadoku is done, I can alternate reading French and Japanese each day?
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:43 pm

Japanese
I've kept up with reading every day. Sometimes just 10 pages, sometimes 20 or 30. I finished Boogiepop vol 2 and I'm 70 pages into vol 3. I'm finding the books getting more comfortable to read, partly because I've been reading everyday and partly because the author is spending less time on long descriptive passages. I made 32 new cards from my reading, but I haven't been doing my reviews.

French
Sometimes I listen to a French news radio station in the morning. Today I decided to see if they had an online radio I could listen to from my computer, and I found the local news site that it's associated with (http://ici.radio-canada.ca/). Somehow I never thought to look for Canadian news in French. I usually find news too boring to spend much time on, but I ended up reading a few articles. Somehow the fact that these events are local and sometimes directly relevant to my life made them more engaging to read. I also noticed while reading that the articles didn't use too many unknown words. There were a a number of words I've studied in the past but couldn't remember well, but my overall impression is that this site could be good for beginner/intermediate reading.
I also found the site steams tv as well. Still haven't found the radio, but I'll keep looking. Found it :D
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Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:55 pm

Japanese
I've been keeping up with my reading except for yesterday. I forgot to mention I watched two anime, Devilman Crybaby and Houseki no Kuni. Devilman was... something (lol), but I really enjoyed Houseki no Kuni where I didn't expect to.


French
I read a few more articles, things are feeling pretty good.
1 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Mon Apr 30, 2018 3:39 pm

Long time no post! In Japanese I finished Boogiepop vol 3 and I'm half way into volume 4. So far Volume 4 might be my favorite, it's more character driven and I'm finding it more interesting. I mean, all the books are pretty character driven, but I feel more engaged and interested in the new characters in this one.

I signed up for the Super Challenge, a full challenge for Japanese and a half challenge for French. I also signed up for Tadoku. I'll have to learn how to juggle both my art and language studies, because they are both important to me.
2 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sun May 06, 2018 3:00 pm

Japanese
I finished Boogiepop volume 4! I hope to get some good reading in today. During the week I watched this silly let's play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YE-1Uv ... 6JLkQDhC3H
Back on May 2nd, I tried to read モロー博士の島, which is a translated H.G. Wells story. I had thought if I read along with the audiobook, I could get a decent amount read... however the text was rather difficult and I wanted to look up several words. So I decided to read, then listen... it took so long just to read the preface, which only counted for 2 and a half pages. Not a good text for Tadoku at all.


French
I subscribed to LingQ (again) and I've been reading various easy texts. I signed up for the LingQ language challenge, because why not work on several challenges at once, eh? At least they all contribute towards each other.
2 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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zjones
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby zjones » Mon May 07, 2018 3:40 pm

Aozora wrote:I subscribed to LingQ (again) and I've been reading various easy texts. I signed up for the LingQ language challenge, because why not work on several challenges at once, eh? At least they all contribute towards each other.


Hello! Nice to see another French beginner here! :D

How do you like LingQ for French? Are there particular areas (i.e. reading, writing, listening) that are strong in LingQ? I've steered clear of many of the subscription model programs because they make me nervous.
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User avatar
Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's 2018 Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Mon May 07, 2018 6:38 pm

zjones wrote:
Hello! Nice to see another French beginner here! :D

How do you like LingQ for French? Are there particular areas (i.e. reading, writing, listening) that are strong in LingQ? I've steered clear of many of the subscription model programs because they make me nervous.


Hey there! I like how LingQ has a variety of texts at different levels and how all the texts come with audio. There's a database of user made/automated definitions and translations for words and phrases) which is really useful for French, it might be the most important feature for me. I also like the "gamefication" aspect, you know, keeping count of words learned, read, lingQs made etc. Sometimes I do upload my own stuff, usually without audio, but I like that I can choose off-site texts and then make lingQs and such from them. I think the best way to use LingQ is to really dive in and do as much as you can, and then unsubscribe when you're not going to be using it.

You could also try Readlang, the free version lets you use it as a pop-up dictionary on any site, but it won't let you translate phrases without paying. It seems to collect words for you, but I haven't looked into that part of it yet. There'd be no audio, and you'd be left to your own devices to find beginner texts.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100


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