Kaeru Ranawa's Blog

  • Studying with Eye Strain: Exploring Dictation

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    3–5 minutes

    As mentioned in previous posts, I have been dealing with eye strain problems for the last few months. Having been recently able to study again, I have had to adapt and find study exercises that will allow my eyes to heal. One of these adaptations is increased usage of dictation software. This was initially suggested…

  • Study Update, Week of April 26

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    4–6 minutes

    So, because I found a more convenient and quick way to update my blog, I’ve decided to post a little bit more (as long as I have things to say). Writing a post like this is partially a study tool (as it’s a good chance to reflect on what has and hasn’t worked), and partially…

  • April 2024 Update – Life (Kinda) After Eye Strain

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    2–3 minutes

    So, I’m just going to jump right into it. I have been dealing with a lot of eye  since the beginning of the year. This has definitely impacted a lot of areas of my life, but right now I’m just going to focus on my studying habits. Just before my problems started, I was about…

  • Language Self-Assessment with the “Police Station Test”

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    2–3 minutes

    The premise is: If you got dropped in the middle of an area that only speaks your target language, could you get yourself to a police station? I call this The Police Station Test and personally consider “passing” it to be a decent measure of highly practical communication ability, as well as a way for…

  • November 2023 – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

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    1–2 minutes

    After a few months of personal things that were disrupting my study routine, I’m finally stable enough to meaningfully progress my Japanese studies again! In an effort to keep study time high and writing time low, here’s a quick bullet list of what I hope to achieve this month:

  • My JLPT N5 Post-Mortem

    My JLPT N5 Post-Mortem

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    2–4 minutes

    There (thankfully) isn’t too much to say about how the JLPT N5 test went for me, so I’ll keep this brief. In summary: I passed with a high percentile but was 5 wrong answers away from failing the listening portion (and therefore the whole test). Why did that happen and what will I be doing…

  • My Process for Developing Japanese Writing Skill

    My Process for Developing Japanese Writing Skill

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    3–5 minutes

    One of my goals for June 2023 was to write in Japanese more. In ideating how this goal would be best achievable, I thought of a format that I call “カエルの日記” (Kaeru’s Diary). I’ve gotten into a groove in not only writing the entries, but also how I check them, and wanted to share in…

  • Overall – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

    Overall – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

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    2–3 minutes

    In my attempts to partially shift this over to being a Japanese learning blog, I realized I should probably give some context to my goals and general self as a language learner. What do I most want to use Japanese for? Weeb thing to say, but I anticipate what I’ll end up using Japanese the…

  • June 2023 – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

    June 2023 – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

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    2–3 minutes

    This is what I hope will be a monthly series where I outline what I’d like to do for the month and how I’ll do it. For context of how this all fits into my overall goals, you can visit this post! I’ll update this post at the end of the month and post the…

  • Blog Content Changes!

    Blog Content Changes!

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    1–2 minutes

    How many times have I stopped blogging then promised to come back (only to stop again for a year or two)…? Maybe three, but I think this time it might stick. Let me tell you why. First off, the subject of content will definitely be changing. When I had started this blog, I was still…