/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46894794
Yeah, I do similar drills during mornings before I go to work and downtime. For my usual routine, I'd repetitively write down vocabulary and unfamiliar kanji in a notepad app/program or on a piece of a paper as a way to quiz myself. It might be braindead and all but repetitive practice is a tried and true method to learn many skills in general.
Besides while in the office, sometimes I would even do this at home as I read VNs as a "warm up" to get engaged and also write down notes after each reading session, especially about words or grammar I don't fully understand. I did this a lot for Paradise, which helped tons for my memory since I can also review my notes the day after when I'm at work and the context itself is still fresh in my mind. But when I actually do get into the zone to read, I try to keep a good flow going on with an inner monologue in Japanese by recognizing the readings as much as I can. For me, if I can't recite the vocabulary's reading then don't know the word at all, even if I do understand the meaning in English and/or just simply recognizing any of the kanji as visual aids to clue me in.

Here's one thing I wrote down while reading Paradise. Matsuda's route (one of the scenes that predates to a bad end) - Azuma starts talking in his monologue about how impressed he was with Takara when he stood up to Matsuda's violence. He compares that chutzpah to himself.
そんな姿を見てたら、ビビリの性根がちょっとだけ奮い立った。
根性はねえよ。でも、ないならないなりの行動ができるははずだ。

性根=しょうこん
根性=こんじょう

These words are quite distinctive from each other so it's funny how readings can also mean differently with just a simple kanji order switch. It still confuses me so just writing about parts of the scene helped. On a side note, 外人 (がいじん) and 人外 (じんがい) is yet another one of my favorites.

>It's just that following the JLPT curve is actually effective since it gives you tangible goals to work toward, and setting a faux-deadline helps to not lose focus.
That makes sense. Ever since I got invested, I was aiming for solely N1 since I heard job opportunities I'm interested in aren't interested with anything less but I'm definitely at a position where I don't need any credentials right away. I haven't took any real exams in years so I'll have to prepare myself mentally as well and go back to reading about standardized exams. Failing sucks but at least you got experience with the testing. I heard N1 is pretty difficult. Guess for any sort of official testing, I figured it's not only your knowledge being tested but on how to take them.

>It's my eternal shame that I brought that discussion to an abrupt halt because even after repeated attempts I couldn't fucking make my mind up about how I interpreted two of the more ambiguous endings. Fucking Cage and its 理解不能 endings god fucking damn it to hell they drive me insane.
That's totally fine for me, can always come back to it later when you have a better understanding. I think it's already great to see more constructive impressions here, especially about VNs which barely gets discussions in the first place. IMO sharing thoughts and having discussions are the most important things which keeps the hobby alive even if the future may not be the brightest so I'm really glad to see you guys talk about the Cage in depth.