Japanese. I’m still trying to just attach a general meaning to each (common) Kanji, so when I see it I think “oh, there’s the character for [whatever]”. It’s only a start - still then have to learn actual words and pronunciations and all, but I feel like it’s a step worth taking.

Each time the card comes up with the keyword, I write down the charcter. Being able to write from memory really helps me with recognition. Since I’ve been out with no pen or pad, I’ve just been tracing the characters with my finger on my other hand or leg - gotta stay flexible!

Mainly focused on those flashcards (in Kanji Kohii web app), but I also have Anki decks and cards in jpdb with vocab.

For all the tough parts of Japanese, at least I don’t have to worry about declension

Was on vacation most of the week, but I still kept up in flashcards. Didn’t add any new ones, so it was nice to get the number of daily reviews down a bit.

Also had time to enjoy some relaxing reading practice.

It’s zero effort to turn on the signal. I say do it every time you’re planning to turn or merge. Why not?

I guess sometimes if I’m behind a bunch of cars in a turn lane, I’ll wait until I’m up near the front and about to actually turn.

Far from perfect, but I think it’s good to have a layer that very visibly shows ‘yes, this is the account you want’.

Domains are a worthwhile addition, but they run into almost the same problem as usernames and handles. Can be made misleading easily - sure, I could often go to the web address and verify it (if they don’t put up a convincing fake site), but that’s much lower visibilty.

Eg, you can probably register [email protected] or similar and get it by some folks just as easily as registering the Twitter handle. There’s a payment step to get the domain, but that’s about it.

The centralization problem you mention is a good point though. It was a fine system, if you felt like you could trust Twitter as a verifier. Today obviously, one could not. But Bsky seems to at least theoretically have a ‘choose your verification provider’ idea in mind, which would (again theoretically) resolve a lot of that issue.

I do not see anything to be angry or disappointed about?

Verification badge was good, the dumb thing Twitter did was throw it away by letting anyone pay for it.

Counting books? Sure would be nice to use the kanji for book… but nope, that’s for hot dogs or something.

And even if you figure out the right counter word, the numbers are often prounced different ways depending on what follows. Whether it be rendaku or just irregular readings.

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68426/~/nintendo-switch-and-nintendo-switch%26nbsp%3B2-accessory-compatibility

Here’s how Nintendo’s support site lays it out.

I think it really depends. If you’re replacing your language study times with video games where you barely read the text, probably not helpful.

If you’re replacing time you would have spent playing games in English with games in your target language? That’s a win. Even if you barely need to read anything, games can get repetitive and expose you to the same words over and again in a way that builds up.

Dedicated games just for language are interesting. I think they can be too heavy handed about teaching, where they should be about using simple language and creating context that makes words obvious. Still, they make me curious and I’ll try out some examples from the comments here.

I just tried the Wagotabi demo since @[email protected] mentioned it here a week or two ago. It’s a game to learn Japanese specifically. Only the demo is on Steam, but it seems like a pretty cool thing. It’s like a top-down RPG where you travel to Japan and learn a few words at a time. The demo has you going through an airport and talking to people, and you need to understand a few words to do some tasks. The beginning is maybe too basic (since I’m not quite a beginner), but I’m sure it gets more involved in the full game.

I also tried out Influent this week. I couldn’t really figure out how to add words or show mastery. But it has you run around your small apartment and point at things to read/hear how to say them. So far I’m not a big fan, but maybe I’m missing something.

I also mentioned this in the weekly thread, but slightly off-topic shoutouts to Chants of Sennaar. Deals a lot with translating a made up language, and is super fun.

I have one of the Galaxy Flip phones.

I really hate the idea of my phone just being a glass rectangle touch screen. I don’t like the current options for physical keyboards, so flip is at least some weird tactile hardware gimmick I can go for.

Pretty good! I found some nice, free graded readers in Japanese and have been reading a bunch of the easy ones. They’re so basic and understandable, but most of them have cute little stories that are entertaining in their own right – exactly what I’m looking for out of reading material at my level.

I’ve also been doing some Kanji-based ‘graded reading sets’, but they’re less good. Just random sentences one after another. Still, I think it’s valuable to get a sense of readings for characters.

Another thing, I realized I could switch my chess app to my target language. Not ready to change my phone’s language, so it’s always nice when I find an app I can change individually that I’ll use repeatedly. (Maps is also great for this, I’ve had that one in target language a while.)

Whenever I manage to do any meal prep, I keep it dead-simple.

Chop up 2 or 3 chicken breasts and cook them in a skillet, divide into 3 or 4 portions to eat throughout the week with different sauces or seasonings.

Roast a bit of broccoli and carrots (or sometimes chickpeas) and use them to have a different side item each day.

But doctor…I am Pagliacci.

Another note: any time there’s a piece of software that you like, but don’t want to use it (because it’s proprietary, missing features, or whatever reason), alternativeto.net is an incredibly useful resource.

Here’s their list of apps with a wishlist feature: https://alternativeto.net/feature/wishlist/

Usually a great starting point.

I can’t offer much in the way of experience - but I have at least wanted to replace Amazon wishlist functionality. I’ve never gotten around to making the jump, so I can’t really say that I personally recommend any of these.

But when I was looking around, these are 3 options that seemed promising at surface level:

• https://giftwhale.com/
• https://wishy.gift/
• https://www.wishlistr.com/

I’d be curious to know how it goes, so I hope at some point you update the thread with what works for you.

Yep, I feel like people overestimate how much anyone cares about official support or security patches or whatever. People will assume it’s fine until they’re either forced out or something goes horribly wrong.

Regular folks will most likely let it be if possible, until it’s time for a new PC anyway.

I’m not big on the idea of open world racing. To me, driving between race tracks looks like a chore.

I’ve seen other racers do it, but I’ve never really delved into a game like that. Maybe once I do I’ll really like it.

I do think grinding rails and wall jumping around looks pretty fun in MK. But it could end up gimmicky and unexicitng once you’re used to.

Basically all a big ‘wait and see’ from my perspective.

I was just playing Chants of Sennaar and wondering why the same type of game isn’t out there for real languages.

And of course the obvious answer is that it is, I just don’t know. Wagotabi looks neat. I’m still dipping my toes in with playing other games with language set to Japanese, but W seems like it might be a fun bridge.

There’s a big gulf where basic exercises seem too simple, and real, spoken language seems unbearably fast and difficult.

Good luck! I’m confident that it will improve over time if we keep engaging with the target language every day. But I don’t expect any results to be quick.

Por que?