I've only just seen this thread (late on 18th Dec). Is it okay to join in, having missed the first day?

Edit: Stories for the 17th were still there, so I've been able to start with those. Please count me in.

Is it okay to participate while reading 3 articles from regular NHK news?

ColdCore Wrote:Count me in, but just to clarify: which date do you mean in the spreadsheet?
The date of the article or the day of reading?
As I see some people have already done 18/12 while only 17/12 is online (or am I missing the latest one?).

I try to do the reading on the corresponding day of the articles although I think its more important to develop a habit of reading regularly, so I'd count the day of reading. On the other hand the total number is respectable enough to provide benefits too (90 albeit short articles over 1 month), so someone who joins later can always "catch up" in numbers and get more regular reading later.

scarby dancer Wrote:I've only just seen this thread (late on 18th Dec). Is it okay to join in, having missed the first day?

Edit: Stories for the 17th were still there, so I've been able to start with those. Please count me in.

It's not a problem at all, you can join anytime as far as I'm concerned. I just encourage everyone to develop a reading habit out of this

partner55083777 Wrote:Is it okay to participate while reading 3 articles from regular NHK news?

If you can handle them its even better, maybe even paint your column red or something to indicate you're doing the more extreme version. Actually this was my plan all along for those challenges:
1. This challenge - 3 'easy' articles with corresponding audio
2. Next challenge - same as previous one but with a twist of also reading & listening to source articles, this way you can get familiar with the subject on the easy version and transition naturally to a full grownup article
3. Last challenge - 3 full articles with no training wheels

I didn't understand one of todays articles, maybe someone can help me.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/20121217...41000.html

“１票の差が２．４倍”　衆議院選挙は無効だと訴える

I understood what the article was talking about (that the election may be proclaimed invalid), but I didn't get the reason why. "A difference of 1 vote is 2.4 times"

My politics vocab is kind of weak, but I thought the article was talking about the difference in the number of voters voting in different wards. Because of this discrepancy, 1 vote is worth 2.4 more than other votes. I could be off base though

I think it was talking about the difference in the value of votes between the smallest and largest wards due to the number of eligible voters in each ward. With votes from kouchi 3ku being almost two and a half times as valuable as those from chiba 4ku.　So because there are less people in kouchi 3ku who can vote, they have slightly more power when voting for their representatives. Not 100% , though. Japanese politics is confusing.

Another late joiner here! i needed something to keep my reading consistent hah.

Hmm I can't see the word definition pop ups on my android tablet. Guess I'll read at home.

Now that I've read 6 articles... are the newspapers limited to using only jouyou kanji? (I've read the source articles as well.)

hee.

「デマを信じないで冷静になるように言っています。」
They're telling everybody to not believe the false rumors and to get a hold of themselves.

Pretty sensible advice, even taken out of context. :3

I'm jumping in. I'll make up the days I missed by reading for a few more days after it's over.

I actually read 2 articles this morning before ever discovering this. Good job, me.

Thanks for this great initiative I really was in need for something competitive.
I'll try to stick at Reading the full articles too I wonder if this way I could reach N1 by next year's December xD. Or maybe create a challenge for N1 next year !
Btw seems like the short news speed is too slow how could I change its pace?

I'm a little late (Dec 21), but this looks like exactly the motivation I need to really crack down on reading.

やるぞ！

In story: here there is a passage I don't understand fully (bold part is the problem):

国の検討会は、高いところにあって４０年以上過ぎた高速道路を壊して、代わりに地下にトンネルを造ることを考えたほうがいいという意見をことし９月にまとめました。

My first instinct about it was: it describes parts of the road that are above ground, next it was: road in expensive places and I even have a faint: it describes the meeting as being high profile and what follows is just what was decided.

Could someone tell me what is the proper meaning of that part and how can I eliminate other interpretations. Is it all about context, or my understanding of function/usage of those words is lacking or maybe its grammar that got the best of me here.

I'm pretty sure that your first instinct was right and that it had to do with the actual structure being high. i.e. The committee thinks it would be best to demolish the overhead structure and replace it with an underground tunnel.

Comparing it to the equivalent sentence in the full version of the article sheds a little more light:
このうち国が設けた検討会は、ことし９月、建設から４０年以上が経過した高架の部分を撤去して代わりに地下トンネルの建設を検討すべきという提言をまとめました。

Where 高いところ seems to have been replaced with 高架 aka "overhead structure".

Hope that helps

I supposed there is no new article for today and tomorrow?
Any suggestions what I could read?

i just picked out three articles from the main NHK news site and marked it with a different color in the spreadsheet.

The reading section of Japaneseclass.jp has many news articles with categories as: Top Headlines, World, Business, Sci & Tech, Politics, Entertainment & Sports. Contains furigana, vocab list (with audio) with definitions and example sentences (also with audio).

http://japaneseclass.jp/lesson/reading/h

There is a small Weather&News section from CosCom. You have the option to read in romaji (I hope no 1 chooses this), kana alone or with the kanji. Also contains a vocab list. Explains where you can find more info about certain grammar concepts in their books/CDs and what kanji (& corresponding numbers) are used from 2001.Kanji.Odyssey.

http://www.coscom.co.jp/newsweather/weather/index.html

imo both sites much easier info to digest than NHK easy but I'm up for the challenge

Thank you RawrPk and radical_tyro

I picked 3 news from the NHK main site.

I always try to read the text first, after that watching the video, trying to understand as much as possible ^^

It's still very hard.

No articles today

I hope they're not taking a Christmas break. Or even worse and it goes into the New Year.
I have a strong desire for trivial news stories written at middle school level in Japanese.

I'm switching to just reading 3 full news articles so I still can complete the challenge over the weekends.

They've posted three fresh articles today, I've just read them Didn't expect that right in the middle of Christmas.

A lot of new vocab for me today. Yay learning!

In the regular NHK site, there are some articles that line up almost exactly with the audio, such as this one:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20121229...71000.html

For people that sometimes want to read the main site, these types of articles might be good/easy to focus on.

I love this challenge, has kept me really motivated to do something in Japanese every day. Not only the NHK reading, but I also haven't missed a day of Anki.

We should do more challenges like this, maybe a challenge for manga/novel reading : )

I think the important part is that there's a spreadsheet to keep track of your and everyone else's progress. And kinda a feeling of competition. I just wanna be one of those that finish with 30/30 (or 31/31 or whatever).

Cheers to you thurd

edit:

Wow I just now noticed that the next tadoku contest is starting on January 1st.