#june progress

the only exception is maybe Poyun, Sha Po Lang, and Can Ci Pin, which are probably above my reading level a little bit. According to that zhtool website i’m reading extensively at about 1.8 (with lower numbers being more difficult), and most of the novels i own are 1.8 or easier (with the exception of the 3 listed above). So my dmbj novels, the gyadl novel, the LiuLi novel, modu, zhenhun, saye, hell even the mdzs novel i have in traditional characters i could probably do right now (i have zhenhun in simplified and traditional and figure i’ll read the traditional to re-remember/get used to recognizing some traditional hanzi i forgot or am not used to yet). Related... i saw a new dmbj novel for sale that looks like slice of life old man iron triangle side stories in the village and i’m very... tempted to buy... but i should probably buy reboot novels first (i have the first set of dmbj novels in print, then the 10 Years Later novel). To be fair, all the dmbj novels are online too (so im not worried about missing some).

Maybe i will finish this fanfiction i’m reading, then move onto a print book for a while. usually i read digitally for the automated-audio, but since i haven’t been using that lately and my listening comprehension is getting ignored Anyway, there’s no huge difference for me between using print novels or online ones. Eventually i WILL listen to audiobooks and get some listening reinforcement, will listen to chinese spoonfed audio again for listening gaps, and when i run into new Frustrating words when reading in print i do sometimes look them up and get the word’s pronunciation. so my reading to listening gap is more like “oh no i kept reading 晕 yun as hun for 200 pages (which is easy to pick up the correction when listening), or 小心翼翼 xiaoxinyiyi as xiaoxinweiwei” (yeah idk where my brain guessed the wei pronunciation either).

(Which to be fair is about as easy as The Wrong Way to a Demon Sect Leader, I just happen to know more wuxia words versus this novel having career and daily life words which i Know Less without surrounding context lol)

Anyway here's the "easier" story 我男朋友好像有病

And the pingxie supernatural college au I'm reading 夜半衣寒

If you feel like checking them out

And its a reread, last time I resd everything but the last 3 chapters because I tend to stop stuff I love right before its over. So yeah, I'm rereading. So as expected, the actual amount of totally brand new hanzi i see is fairly low. I've read this before intensively (looking up nearly all unknown words) and extensively (looking up an occasional new word but guessing mostly). So I am fairly familiar with the vocabulary the fic uses, though I forgot the pronunciation of some of these words.

Well like. Its a wild experience noticing how much I comprehend this time around. I am extensively reading, looking up 1-6 words a chapter (for pinyin or to double check I guessed or remembered a word correctly). I am reading it faster than last time. I notice this time around I simply know a lot more words, which makes me think I definitely improved vocabulary in between reading this last time and rereading it now. Because I do NOT remember recognizing this many words even when I was reading intensively in the past and looking most words up. I also do NOT remember details being THIS Clear to me when reading. Aka I remember a lower overall comprehension of what was going on. Last time, I remember I grasped wu xie was a singer/radio host kind of thing in a sucky apartment building that was moist, creepy sad music was heard, he met xiaoge the security guard etc.

This time, I am:

1. More aware of details im missing like "is this moist or damp? The teacher is standing either at a podium or platform but I'm not sure. The window was described but I'm not sure if that's about paper covering the window or a curtain I will look it up."

2. I am comprehending way more generally than last time - now im grasping specific details much easier like "wu xies bed is in this portion of the bedroom, there's 2 windows, the windows were sealed so wind couldn't have knocked the paper, the room had moistness despite tightly sealed windows, xiaoge is being accused of being the late night singer but says he didn't sing and wu xie is not grasping that xiaoge did not grasp he was being accused, so wu xie thinks he's being blatantly lied to. Wu xie is not just IN a class lecture (which I grasped last time) but also sick, red nose, blowing nose, teacher is annoyed he's sick and talking to friends trying to encourage him to go to school doctor, wu xies sneakily glancing at internet instead of listening to lecture on western architecture (so i can tell what the lecture is about, WHY the teachers mad, what specifically his friends versus him are saying about being sick, what specifically wu xie is doing on his phone - things I could not grasp last time beyond simply "He's in a lecture and sick and friends asking something and teacher mad.") So as you can imagine, in a way it feels like reading it for the first time all over again. I have the prior reading experience to roughly inform me if my guess of an unknown word is likely close enough (now that I can remember wu xie is Sick in the lecture it's easier to guess the paper is a tissue and not school related text, the lecture being done by a teacher means I can now guess easier that the architecture word is related to the class subject instead of describing the rooms appearance, knowing wu xie has Z kind of apartment with Y furniture means when I do see an unknown I can be fairly sure it's a cupboard or window-accessory etc).

I am very much enjoying it, as its making this both an easier read and more fun to catch all these details I missed last time. I think for me, the way I tend to read and reread has its benefits sometimes and here is definitely one of those times.

I want to eventually be one of those people who has read like X number of books in chinese ToT. Alas I've read 20-100 chapters in several things but not actually finished much. I finished The Little Prince, 4 graded readers, 2 children's novels about wild cats in the city, then read some chapters of a couple dozen other things. I would love to say I've read 1 priest novel... 3 ;-;.... all the ones on my bookshelves. Oh the day I can read can ci pin ;-; ....

It's also a bit fun and surprising to be reading again after nit being able to study Chinese for a few months for various reasons. In one part because I've been sick and focused study has been rare to impossible, and in other part because I've been focusing mainly on Japanese when I Do have energy since I'm trying to get my Japanese good enough to play an imported game I've never played before once it comes in. Also whenever I'm playing Japanese games (and I'm playing yakuza games rn) my urge and motivation to study Japanese skyrockets. Hearing Japanese nonstop for like several weeks because of those games definitely has motivated me lol. Also I just bought a Nintendo famicon and Final Fantasy VI in Japanese so... one day I'll be playing that.

But yeah, my chinese study has been neglected for a good 3 months. So it's interesting to see what I've retained versus what I had not learned solidly enough and therefore lost or struggle to remember now. Certain sounds I seem to be rusty at making, and maybe that's partly Japanese study interference. Remembering pronunciation in General of hanzi I only vaguely knew is what seems to have taken the worst hit. When I read, most hanzi I can recall SEEING before (so I remembered the radicals combo as familiar) and can recall at least roughly what it meant (so I see 颤抖 Chandou and forget the pronunciation, forget if it specifically means tremble, but can recall it means roughly tremble/shake/shudder which are rough synonyms which tend to make sense in the places I see the word. I can recall the second hanzi might be dou based on the radicals but cant quite recall Chan when I see it unless I look up the word again). There's a Lot of words and hanzi I had learned vaguely before my study break, and I mostly still recognizd them in reading but the sound info and specifics is foggy or gone. Then there's words I specifically remember where I learned them (words I learned from zhenhun in particular lol I have a really strong recall of since I reread those words a Lot and Heard them a lot) and they tend to recall very solid and I'm certain when I see them. (Related note, I watched 4 eps of guardian lately, 2 without English subs then 2 not even looking at the screen and just playing in the background while working and.... if there was ever a show I learned from So Much I follow everything lol its that). My point is... I retained a lot more reading skill than I expected. I'm really happy about that. While my listening skills weakened, and that's a big goal for me eventually, this is nice at least. Also my writing/speaking skills tanked like wild, but I suspect it's a short term effect of being so japanese study focused I just can't remember much chinese active vocabulary at the moment. That's happened with French plenty of times and it just means usually I need to start Using the language again and it will mostly come back (except for the words I only vaguely learned to say... which will need to be more actively restudied to put into active vocabulary longer term).

Other updates:

I've mostly been reading manhua instead of thicker texts. Does not probably help with my goal of read A LOT to improve (and read thru the novels I want to lol), but its fun. I'm reading 破云，你的距离，19天. It's relaxing to read manhua tbh right now, in part because I know most words so I really can just guess and move on, and I'm in a comic reading mood even in English lately (I read a 500 page beast recently in English and am still reading some dense fanfic, so books wise my brains been like legs read junji ito slowly... and manhua slowly... and death note slowly.. and ranma 1/2 slowly...) also I've been drawing again lately, so no doubt seeing the art styles is helping me with ideas a bit.

I am probably not learning Korean. In my little attempt around a month ago I learned hangul a bit again, and some real common basic stuff. Got a bit less horrific at recognizing hangul spelling. But I just do not engage with Korean much. (Also I unfortunately did not find a learning resource that did what I wanted, the only ones I did were more suitable for intermediate learners which I am not). Maybe one day.

I am also I think a bit spoiled in that like... the other languages I mainly focus on I am upper beginner or higher in and have been for a While so they just do Not ever feel as hard... Japanese I can read with a dictionary, it's only like lol my level of Chinese at 8 months but it's still eons better than total beginner. French I can read extremely solid in so its only ever listening practice of words I Should Know already when I pick it up again, chinese I can read and watch and talk/write if I make myself so it's not a matter of being functional it's more a matter of improvement (my listening skills need WORK but with my reading skill where it is, like French it's mostly a matter of learning to hear and follow what I can already read). Spanish and Italian I am very weak at study wise, but I can read technical texts fairly well in both and have already prepped learning resources ideal for my learning style so when I do rarely have time to study them I know exactly what to sit down and use. My German is probably the weakest, despite 2 years of school for it lol, but like Italian and Spanish I already have all the resources prepared I prefer to study from for German so it's again just a matter of using them. Whereas for korean... I had no study plan, no resources already found and suitable for my learning style and absolute beginner level. And probably most importantly... just no urgent need. My French never got very good besides reading because I only needed it for reading when I studied it a lot. My chinese is probably the furthest along because thanks to authors and shows I Really enjoy, there's an actual need for me to be able to consume non translated media that keeps me eventually making myself study again and again. My Japanese stalled once I could play kingdom hearts 2 in Japanese cause that had been my goal since age 11 ToT. And it wasn't until recently with more actual untranslated Novels I want to read and untranslated games i want to play that the motivation to study again has kicked in gear. For me an urge to be able to understand stuff I cannot find translated (or know enough to tell where the translations are a bit odd) tends to motivate me a lot.

Fairly unrelated. I found a list that ranks cdramas based on how easy/hard they are to watch for learners. And I found it funny Ice Fantasy was ranked as easy - I AGREE wholeheartedly. While my cdrama watching is fairly doable for anything without English subs if I have chinrse subs, Ice Fantasy in particular is something I can follow without having to pay any more attention than if I was watching with English subs. So very low intensity, comprehensible, doable. I could do that about 2 years into study so probably a solid 2000-3000 vocabulary knowledge is plenty to make that show with chinese subs feel as easy as any eng sub show. Word of Honor is marked as Difficult, and I would say while I could follow it about 1.5 years into learning Chinese, it definitely required way more focus to follow the plot than Ice Fantasy. So their difficulty rating matches up fairly well to my experience.

I do think maybe vocabulary density though would make faster improvements if you watched though. For me, the more dialogue and range of vocabulary, the more I tend to pick up and learn now. But as a beginner, action genre was easier and one of the only doable ones (because action context is clear and many lines are literally what actions people are doing). Along with detective murder mystery genre, specifically because I am very familiar with episode structure for that genre and words related to it so I could use context to help me. Whereas word of honor was a major challenge when I watched for the poetic things wen kexing and a few others said, and the in depth plot that was more complex than just cases of the week.

I recommend checking out this site! If you click the Words next to each entry, it downloads a word list with hanzi pinyin and definitions. I can do it on my phone, then open in Moonreader+ and look at the list. It would be very helpful for review or pre-study before watching a given show. Word of honor has about 8000 words and I'm glancing at the list now. I think the list can also be imported to Pleco (possibly as a flashcard set). The list has word list download tools, difficulty ratings, and may also be useful for finding a new drama to watch for practice.

In it, they wrote that:  At the end of three years of learning Chinese, I hadn't yet read a single complete novel.

Ok so. To be fair to them, one of the books they tried reading for pleasure (as in without a dictionary) was The Dream of the Red Chamber after 6 years of study. Which is like reading Shakespeare - its literary, its older, its fair if that is difficult especially for pleasure. (As in english speaking countries, we’ve been in school 9+ years before we’re asked to read Shakespeare and other classical type literary works).  

But back to focusing on the “end of three years” thing. 

When I started learning chinese, I was basically motivated by a person who wrote an article about how they looked at a little grammar, some radicals explanations, then brute forced 2000 common words memrise decks, then started reading with a click dictionary for pleasure. And it worked for them! And so, being me and very curious to ‘test’ if things work: I wanted to try it too. I did more prep work, more extra hanzi work than that article mentioned. And I don’t think it felt pleasurable with a click dictionary (I used pleco) for a while - but it was doable with a click-dictionary at that point so I do think that person who wrote the article was pretty honest about the progress they’d made. For me, and I think them if I remember correctly, that was around 8 months to start reading with a click dictionary. 

I read another article back in the middle of this, by Timo (who made Timo’s All in One Chinese anki deck), where he said he’d learned enough to pass HSK 4 in somewhere between 6 months to a year (I can’t remember exactly how long but it was a year or less). I think I covered all the HSK 4 words in memrise by 10 months, and probably felt comfortable with most of them around 14 months? And Now its been almost 2 years and if I were to take an HSK test that’s probably the one that I would pass with some study (I imagine I could try an HSK 5 one with some prep beforehand maybe?). HSK 4 is what I “aimed for” since I’d also read articles around that time of people saying that’s about when simple webnovels got “doable with a click dictionary” and when learning words FROM what you read started helping reading percent comprehension more than HSK. Which is a statement I agree with - I learned vocabulary mainly from reading after that point, and as a result it has definitely improved my reading comprehension and vocabulary (like it made Xiao Wang Zi pretty readable without dictionary etc, Zhen Hun is now readable without a dictionary, Daomubiji is), but these words I’ve picked up only matched maybe 50-70% with HSK 5-6 words (which is why I’d need to prep if I wanted to take an HSK 5 test probably).

So. I do think: if you WANT to read, if your GOAL is to read chinese novels? That is doable in 3 years. Certainly doable in 6. Especially if you are willing to study, and to read a LOT. 

General opinions I’ve found surrounding the topic of reading in Chinese include: reading through several books (10,000 pages) will help reading speed/ease, the more you read the easier (and faster) it gets. The more words you know, the easier it gets (WORDS not hanzi, and words generally being 5,000-15,000 for ease-feeling depending on your own tolerance for ambiguity). So basically: yes it will be super slow going at first, YES the speed will improve, yes you don’t need to dread not being able to pick up a book until X years into studying. I’ve seen people who started reading after 8 months (the guy who used a click dictionary who inspired me), or people that started after 1-3 years (me at around 1 year, a lot of people around HSK 4-6, a lot of people once they’ve learned 2k hanzi or 2k-5k words etc). 

I personally noticed a page used to take me 30 minutes... then 20... then 15... then 5... now a bit under 5 minutes (and ‘easier’ books less time). So reading speed will eventually get better. Mine still has some improvements that need to be reached eventually lol. I can say at about 1500 hanzi reading and picking up hanzi IN reading (provided you have an audiobook or click-dictionary with audio to hear the hanzi sound) seemed to start working pretty well. So I do think 2000 hanzi is actually a fair estimate of ‘reading will get doable without a dictionary by then.’ I may be around 2000 hanzi known now, and most of the time the hanzi I see are either brand new words (which I SHOULD learn) or part of descriptions/similar words to things I know and I can guess (and with audio also learn them). Hanzi have gotten easier to guess now, to remember, to make connections with.

My point is just that if you want to read - read early, read often, you do not need to be afraid it’s impossible. 

There are people who got into reading way faster than me, people who did much slower. And also tolerance of ambiguity is a big deal - I do think chinese requires more tolerance of ambiguity when making the transition to reading native content (versus learner materials and graded readers) since there’s unknown hanzi you won’t be able to avoid. I’ve got a pretty high tolerance, but yeah there might be ‘slogging’ for a while depending on where your tolerance level is. If you can comprehend the ‘overall main idea’ of paragraphs, sentences? You can understand it enough to learn from it (though how ‘draining’ it will feel will depend on difficulty of the reading and your own tolerance for ambiguity). I saw one translator estimate 3-4 years to read webnovels for pleasure (so no dictionary necessary) and I think that’s a pretty fair estimate (if you’re studying regularly, trying to practice reading with graded readers and click-dictionaries). I’m at almost 2 years and some webnovels I can read for pleasure without a dictionary, many feel better with one but somewhat doable without one, and some I slog through even with a dictionary. I think 3-4 years is a pretty good estimate if you’re studying regularly. 

My other main thought is just... oh man. Reading that someone did not complete their first chinese novel in 3 years MAKES me want to finish a chinese novel before August (that’s my 2 year mark -3-)! I mean technically I finished Xiao Wangzi and a Xiao Mao book but those are both for children and quite short. But yeah nothing motivates me like a challenge to see if something is doable or not...

For me: As a beginner, before I knew enough words to handle target language subs with a dictionary and watch at a reasonable pace (an ep taking 1 hour or less for me), I would use english subs to study sometimes. At first, it would be to pick out some key words and phrases like 小心, 怎么了, 知道吗, 你放心, 我答应你, 我喜欢你, 这个, 那个, 哪个，东西 that were easy to start recognizing. I’d use dual subs sometimes since youtube has hard chinese subs and then english captions, I would pause and look up chinese words here and there.

Once I was a bit above total beginner, I would use dual subs in english-chinese to just kind of compare how the grammar meant sentences were worded differently. Since I’d often know a decent amount of the words and be able to match up unknown words, but not be used to the grammar much yet. This was also when I just started watching chinese subs only more.

this was what I got (6/22/22). I answered based on what I can read.

If I’d done hanzi I know pronunciations of only then I get:

also if I was gonna rough estimate hanzi I know well it would probably be in the middle of this range between these so maybe ~2000.

Other chinese things:

Wordswing - a text game for intermediate learners! https://wordswing.com/about

LINE Dct - a chinese english dictionary https://dict.naver.com/linedict/zhendict/#/cnen/home

Heavenly Path to Chinese Webnovels (good advice and resource links): https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjVsapt4NOZx0KuDwgBUfQggTyT15hdgUjHHdqZRnV8LTnzQ5lY-fKjJhV0cb7I06q3x_syq1DyE4H/pub

WOOH

WOOH

I talked in chinese today! For around a half hour!! AHHHHHHHH

ANYWAY

AHHHHHHH

IM SO HAPPY I WAS UNDERSTANDABLE AHHGGHGSIUSJAJEJDJEEJIE

So first of all I practiced with Google translate today beforehand (lol yes machine translate isn’t perfect). I clicked the app, clicked transcribe, spoke in chinese then saw if the English translation it was producing was close enough to what I was trying to mean to say. (Also I learned chinese transcribe will need to process for a few moments if you play Chinese audio like from a podcast because at first it will give you a sucky transcription lol and then correct itself). Anyway so I did that and quickly learned: Google translate WILL fucking think I am speaking sentences when I’ve only said a couple words of my sentence because I pause “too long” so when I tried thinking of tones or grammar I spoke too fucking slow for the app so BAM I had to speak faster for the app just to comprehend me. So I did not practice Thinking about how the fuck to say things right much, just how to recall words on a fucking speed time limit lol. So uh that was an experience. I’ll definitely say that my 学习普通话 app is way better for me actually practicing pronunciation with any success, because Google just will NOT tolerate me speaking slowly goddamn.

Anyway so then tonight I spoke with my language partner. Well

WELL

good news: I was understood, I was told I sound pretty standard and they can tell I maybe imitate some peoples phrases and words from shows I watch (which in this case is a compliment since they said weeks ago when I asked how they improved their standard mandarin accent for a speech competition that’s what They did and the kind of shadowing they suggested I try doing more for accent work).

My grammar and word choice was understandable (I KNOW I wasn’t perfect and there were fucking mistakes Especially just notable spots where I forgot common words and tried to talk Circles around those words to describe them since I know Enough words to kind of “explain around” and come up with a more word description of a simple word I forgot sometimes but fuck is it probably awkward to listen to. Like I forgot “back then/at that time” so I said “the time when I was in high school” or “in high school I..” just because I couldn’t say “that time” on the spot, also fucking I forgot how to say “also” and “or” in certain ways and just had to figure out a different way to make my point like “this is like that” or “not the same” ToT).

Anyway regardless it’s a real big accomplishment to me. Reasons being: 1. I’ve never talked in chinese that long straight or to someone else communicating, or telling stories about my life and asking questions and actually testing my fucking communication abilities past small talk. Even talking alone to myself it’s just phrases or small situations where if I forget a word I just stop, so this was huge for me. 2. I did not have time to think about tones period while talking today with my language partner so like being comprehensible is!!!! GREAT. Considering I tried speaking to a language partner simple common word tone pair examples or very simple small talk at 5 months into learning and remember being incomprehensible like 50% of the time. Versus me now a little under 2 years in so being able to simply not be constantly thinking about tones and still know I might be understood (and in this specific case was understood) is nice to know. 3. I did better at winging vocabulary and talking my way around words I didn’t know than i thought I could. 4. REALLY simply tone and grammar being comprehensible is blowing my mind on its own - I know there were many mistakes (I personally could hear my 3rd tone not always sounding right to my own ear, and know I heard a few grammar mistakes I heard after I’d made my point lol). But just being comprehensible enough for someone understand my points even if I made those mistakes was really cool. 5. I’m hoping this means all the things I’ve been doing lately: the Listening Reading, the watching shows with English subs this month while repeating some of the Chinese lines to myself, listening to audiobooks and repeating many of the lines to myself, and the weekly language exchange I’ve been doing, have all been helping to some degree. Improving production skills is not something I’ve tried studying before and so basically all that I’m doing is flailing around trying stuff and hoping something is useful. It’s nice to see something must be if I’ve managed this.

Anyway it was just very very cool to be understandable. ;-; At this time last year I was absolutely assuming it would take years to get even a little understandable. Also for now idk this proved to me to maybe just stick to shadowing for a while and Not specifically thinking of tones While actively speaking. For a while I thought of them actively which made me clearer and I think was important and helped, at this point currently I think sometimes i overthink and trying to speak from memory/more shadowing practice might help it become a bit more automatic? And then I can go back to some corrective work where I’m messing up specifically or haven’t internalized certain words/phrases tones maybe.

—

IN OTHER NEWS

today I ALSO played 4 hours of Kingdom Hearts II in Japanese WHICH WAS AN EXPERIENCE

AN EXPERIENCE IVE NEVER HAD BEFORE LIKE FUCKING THIS

So 1. EONS easier than last time I studied Japanese. For context at 2-2.5 years into studying Japanese I played the opening of KH2. I remember it was brutal, I used my phone constantly to look up words, but I got through like the opening portion to the first save point after the haunted mansion (so like is that day 2? Basically what’s usually .5-1 hour of play or less that took me a few hours back then). It was doable, kinda brutal, but also I have kh2 near to my heart so I could play it without reading when I felt drained. Now?? I had over a year break from Japanese study (maybe 2-3 years break idk). I reviewed Japanese in I think March-April 2021 this year. April/May to June (now) I’ve been studying some new material. The biggest new material being some more Nukemarine memrise decks, and Clozemaster as of this month. So like... this Eons of improvement is after a long ass gap of no study, a cram review, and some just beyond last-times-progress kind of new study. It is a HUGE difference to me in how it feels.

I did not use a dictionary at all this time. I did not play slow either, I read at a speed much more bearable, I comprehended most sentences totally (understanding words because of a mix of knowing most words, knowing the context for the words since I know KH2 WELL, knowing Hanzi from chinese, and thanks to Clozemaster of all things feeling a lot better/quicker with Japanese grammar comprehension), and a few sentences I knew the overall gist because of recognizing the Hanzi (tho they were being used in words that aren’t similar to Chinese), the grammar overall (the rough intention of the sentence), and knowing KH2 well enough to remember the main idea of th English sentence. So it was overall a much more pleasant, easygoing experience this time around playing! It was something where I COULD play 50 hours of Japanese KH2 now.

This kind of showed me some things: first that knowing a basis in chinese (for me) makes a huge difference. Kanji now make words easier for me to learn and guess. I can now recognize when some pronunciations are somewhat similar to Chinese words. I can recognize when some kanji are used to mean Different things from Chinese (since I know the English context too). I can also now actually Like and Appreciate that KH2 specifically uses kanji in some speech bubbles and scenes then hiragana for the same words at other times - it gives me a chance to use context to see both versions of the word and learn both the pronunciation and kanji a bit more. Now I have katakana English like words and kanji (in the sense of their similarities to Hanzi) and my basic grammar grasp to rely on to parse sentences which makes all of it much easier. For me chinese was just easier, and that’s now paying off also in making Japanese easier in some ways than it was before.

I also appreciate now why “prior context” and “comprehensible input” are encouraged so much. My effort level is comfortable and NOT draining, so I could’ve kept my playing for hours and I did not need a dictionary for new words because I had TONS of context. Part of this is KH2 being a game I know super well (so even back at year 2 it was doable if draining when no other video game probably would’ve been doable at all). So it makes sense now it would be the first comfortable feeling one. It is VERY comprehensible input for me, especially now with some of the Japanese improvements I’ve made.

Whereas I tried to play crisis core a month ago (doable but DRAINING in part because I knew the game so comprehensible but I didn’t HAVE the game remembered by heart like KH2 so I had to slow down to read everything slowly and figure out words much slower with no prior meaning in my head for many parts), and persona 3 (which was doable but DRAINING in part because I have little prior context compared to cc or KH2 and in part because it has so much reading). Also KH2 is easier to read than cc or persona 3 - kh2 is obviously meant for age 10+ and so the amount of text I’m required to read is shorter, a lot of conversational stuff and not layered (cc had a lot of technical paragraphs of directions for missions and persona is aimed at older teens and has much more like “think about it more long term” conversations which I struggle more to parse). Also just persona 3 has so much dialogue I started speed reading just to get to a save point which felt Draining. Whereas KH2 the reading is comfortable so I don’t read too slow, and so it doesn’t feel as draining since it’s not slow nor do I have to rush at lower comprehension to get through it - I can just read and comprehend everything as much as I can at a reasonably non draining pace.

Also I DO think Clozemaster (so kudos to u app) is actually helping noticeably. I’m doing Clozemaster Japanese by common word tracks (still in the 100 most common words sentences and almost done). I’ve been doing listening mode and then reading sentences after. I can TELL it’s helped me already with the following. I’m doing better at recognizing some grammar structure particles/words/conjugations in various forms and levels of politeness. I now have much less issue telling how to separate sentences into word/grammar functions - it makes everything just much easier to start being able to segment my sentences as I read so I can just pinpoint WHAT parts I know versus don’t know and what their rough function is (and since in KH2 I know the English lines usually it makes it way easier to guess what words mean roughly what English translation). I also read some manga during this past month that’s also helped with this skill. I noticed Clozemaster also is just helping with it a lot since in Clozemaster the politeness level varies and stuff so I’m forced to practice guessing and figuring it out more with Clozemaster sentences over and over. The listening mode has helped because I can tell that some of the most common words I can hear more instinctively now and read aloud at a more normal pace now. I still CLEARLY read over listening when the subtitles in KH2 are there if I don’t know a word, so my listening has HUNDREDS or likely thousands of hours to go (my Chinese is much much better). But I can already notice the sheer fact Clozemaster listening question mode is forcing me to 1 HEAR Japanese more (and I need like what 2000 hours listening) and 2 start recognizing more easily at least recognizing words I’ve learned when I hear them (whereas before I would struggle to hear certain words even if I’d studied just because I’d read-studied a lot but not actually heard much of those words much). Now this all isn’t a huge help with new words in KH2 since I’m learning to read them from the game but my listening isn’t picking them up or Parsing them well. But as far as IN Clozemaster: yes the constant audio word drilling is helping me recognize words by sound which is great since thanks to Chinese kanji recognition is now not intensely difficult, it’s the sound recognition and match up to spelling that’s now the major confusion for me. I mean grammar is also confusing.. and will take years... I do think Clozemaster forcing me to practice interpreting the grammar somewhat with nothing to help me is helping me at least feel less drained by the grammar. I used Clozemaster before for french and chinese at the stage between graded readers and actual native speaker material, and I think for Japanese it’s also Good for this purpose. Clozemaster is good for a lot of immersion-like sentence reading practice, with tools to make it easier like a translation and mostly words you know in each sentence. Making it a bit easier than just diving into the deep end into a random novel. I do think it helps with preparing you for less learner-tailored materials a bit while still being easier than native speaker materials so you can practice without feeling youre drowning.

anyway ahh. WOOH I PLAYED KH2 in japanese today!!! I HAD FUN

gonna do it some more.

kh2 is maybe THE original reason i started trying to learn japanese. its really fun playing it now.

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And finally, while I’m at it: I am ALMOST done with the Sundial arc in Guardian Listening Reading wise. I’m on chapter 17. I have like 2 days left so who knows maybe I can manage to finish the sundial arc we’ll see.

What I mostly did this month was Redo L-R chapter 1-12 with a second audiobook, read the novel print version up to chapter 12, read chapter 1-2 in the traditional print version, also read maybe 4 chapters of other random things, listened to audiobook files of stuff overall idk 20+ times while repeating after a lot of lines, did a small amount of Clozemaster chinese (mostly just Radio mode), did 30 min - 1 hour writing or speaking language exchange sessions once a week, and watch a bunch of Chinese shows with English subs this month while repeating after a lot of lines.