All posts filed under: Language diary

Language diary #7: monthly review

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March has been a strange month. I have done my third trip to Japan, and of course, it motivated me a lot. It also slowed down my progression for the JLPT preparation, and it was hard to keep studying the week after my return from Japan. I have been able to find my study rhythm again at the end of the month, and I was finally able to achieve my JLPT goals. My goals for March were: Reading Goals I had no reading goals this month. I was able to finish the books I wanted to read before the trip, and I have started my 2019 reading challenge last week. I am reading 『切り裂きジャックの告白』by Shichiri NAKAYAMA (中山七里), and it is not an easy read. I thought it would be a classic police thriller with a serial killer and police officers who try to catch him. In fact, it is exactly that, but the novel also contains a lot of thoughts and debates on organ donation and transplantation in Japan. I am not usually interested in …

Language diary #6: Book haul and reading challenge!

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I was in Japan last week for a trip in Tokyo, and of course, I took the opportunity to visit several bookshops and buy Japanese books. (This post is long, scroll down to see the list!) Reading Challenge #2 Last year, I set myself a first reading challenge: read all the 13 books I had bought in Japan (in December 2017) before the end of 2018. This meant reading roughly one book per month. This challenge was a success, it got me into the habit of reading Japanese genre fiction regularly and helped me improve my reading pace. This year (2019), I start a similar challenge: read all the 23 books I bought in Japan before December, 31st. As we are already in March, this means reading 2 to 3 novels per month. I think that it is doable, given that I bought mainly detective and mystery novels, a genre that I am used to reading and is not too challenging for me. How I chose my books Usually, I buy my books in Korean …

Language diary #5: Monthly review

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February is over, and I haven’t been as diligent as I should have been. JLPT first practice test 😭 I think that the JLPT N1 practice test that I took during the second week of February discouraged me a little. It was the JLPT Official Practice Workbook (the one published in 2012). The vocabulary and grammar part was too difficult for me, but it is normal given that I still have several months to prepare. What really discouraged me is the reading part. I found it very hard. Reading detective novels and thrillers is much easier than any of the N1 text! To be honest, I more or less thought that I could take the test without making extra efforts on the reading part, that I already had the required level. But now I think that I will have to read other things than best-selling novels if I want to score a good mark. Another discouraging thing was listening. The listening questions of the practice test are too easy and do not correspond to the real test level. …