2 Weeks of Tadoku

16Aug10

I’d planned on writing a weekly blog about my progress in the Read More or Die contest, but that fell through. You’ll have to settle for a summary of the first two weeks instead.

I’ve got to say that it’s been made an enjoyable experience by the presence of the other participants on Twitter. You think you’re doing well and then you see the #pagecount tweets from your competitors. There’s a good feeling to be had from updating your page count at the end of a long day of reading, knowing that others will see it and be encouraged to catch up.

Everyone in the contest has read at least one page. Some have read more Japanese in the past two weeks than in their entire time as a learner. It’s good to see the community coming together and getting into the spirit of learning. I think we need a big well done for everyone who has taken part. Can we get a round of applause, please?

As for my own progress – I’m pretty pleased. I’m easily outpacing my goal of 1000 pages total. I would have liked to place first, but the top of the leaderboard is a fierce land of uberreaders. I’ll settle for reaching my own personal goal. Creating a habit of constant reading will be a good side effect, too.

As for what I’ve been reading, I’d estimate:

70% novels/short story books
20% manga
5% subtitled videos
5% websites

I think I need to broaden what I’m reading, but that’s not a big deal for me right now.

My only problem with the contest is that I won’t be able to finish it properly due to my trip to Japan. The only stuff I’ll be reading in the last three days is restaurant menus and street signs. It’s a hard life, I guess.