Thoughts Before The Great Reading Contest of 2010

30Jul10

So, Sunday (August 1st) is the start of the ‘Read More Or Die’ reading contest. It will run through August and simply requires for you to read as much Japanese as possible. It’s designed to get a group of Japanese learners into the groove of reading. The learning community that’s formed on Twitter is already very friendly and good spirited, but I hope this will strengthen and expand it. I guess there will be a nice mix of encouragement, fighting talk and friendly competition to keep spirits up over the course of the month.

I’m looking forward to it a lot. It will be the push I’ve been needing to really boost my skillz. To start on the right track, I’ll be waking up early on Sunday, brewing up lots of coffee and happily reading away all day. I’ve got a selection of reading materials that will aid my quest: a healthy mix of novels, short stories, manga and websites. I don’t have a specific total amount of pages that I want to read, but I’ll be trying my hardest to get the number as high as possible.

For more information on the rules and participants, check out the contest blog. If you’re reading this and aren’t currently involved, you’re more than welcome to take part! The hashtag we’ll be tweeting with is #tadoku, by the way.

(I’ll be keeping notes on my progress on my blog as the contest goes on. I’ll put some photos of my books up, too).