The Economist magazine

I don't have good magazines in English to improve my English ability.

I'm feeling that the Economist is getting easier than when I started subscription a year ago. It isn't my progress in English but a whole difficulty of the magazine. I checked older issues of it, and I found that the older is more difficult than the recent one.

On the other hand, I'm reading two or three articles every morning, and the new issue come before I finish. It's wasting money.

So I canceled the subscription and I'll buy new issues when I finished the whole articles because I need morning readings. Or I'll buy kindle books for a morning routine.

Or search for other magazines.

Apple's not-good point

I tried the voice recognition input method in iPad mini4 in English. It worked at a certain level, but the sentences suddenly changed after the input and it made a whole different one. So I quitted using it.

I also used Google Assistant in my iPad in English. The system is probably an extension from Google Search. But I was able to listen to several short news (Reuter, BBC, Bloomberg) from it, so it's changed in a short term. The quality of the voice input system is pretty great.

I don't know why I can't find a decisive progress from iOS's voice input system. I guess Apple isn't aiming at that kind of peripheral technology. But I also think that Apple's strength is the quality of trivial function and that Apple is losing that.

Studying English

It's a holiday. And I'll do as usual.
I don't have anything to write as usual.

I started reading the reading portions of 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan) yesterday. It was warming up section and its difficulty is the same as the book which I'm reading now. It'll gradually be more difficult to read maybe.

And I'm doing the vocabulary drill book for Eiken. I felt a need to practice a listening portion too. But it will be too much for me, so I'll keep the amount of study.

Actually, I don't have a need to pass the 1st grade. I won't have the job related to teaching English or translation or interpreting, so English qualifications I have now is enough. But I'll lose the ability if I stop the learning, so I'll try the exam anyway.

being lazy

I woke up at 5 a.m. as usual.

After I finished my strength training, I went to bed again. It was rainy at that time, and I felt sleepy. I slept for about two hours, had a bowl of oats, and I forgot writing this blog.

I'm feeling listless. I thought that I have to forget about waking up at 5, doing strength training and English training, and I felt that I have to go to 24h izakaya early morning. But I have no raison detre for me except for those, so I need to continue to do them.

I did transcript training with Hear the Wind Sing and didn't with Pros and Cons. I'll be a lazy guy today. But I don't have especially tough training every day.

Twitter is hard to live with

I have nothing to write as usual.

I started to study the vocabulary portion of the Eiken test (English exam in Japan). I have about three months till the test. I'll do what I can do, though I will not able to pass the exam.

I'm feeling that I got a strange influence on Twitter about learning English. So I need to stop saying something offensive for other persons who need to earn money from teaching English in Japan. Everyone has their own teaching method and belief, so maybe I'm always offensive for someone if I say something about learning English. I'm not an English teacher, and I’m not aware of their stance every time when I tweet. Twitter is becoming hard to live with.

I checked 1st grade

I need to improve my reading ability of English more.

I checked the passed portions of 1st grade of Eiken test. I printed the six set of the passed portions from this month's test. And I read the reading passages in January 2017 yesterday.

I can solve the questions slowly pace, and those are almost right answers, but I was not considering the time limit. And I found that the writing portion is a little difficult to build the opinion. So I guess that I will not be able to pass the exam, as I wrote before.

I'll try to read the drill book of reading portions every day, after reading books as extensive reading training. I read part7 of TOEIC test before taking it in September, I'll do the similar thing.

Eiken test

I have nothing to write this morning.

I got a drill book for the vocabulary portion of Eiken test. I'll take this after another word book.

I'll take the 1st grade of Eiken test probably. The tuition fee is too high for a nonemployed like me. But TOEFL's tuition fee is over the twice of Eiken's. It's a wise choice for me.

I won't pass the test. But I came to think that the experience of taking the highest test of Eiken is a must for me. I'm not sure about life after next April. So I should do what I can do for now. I know that I'm not special, but I need to go to where I can go.

My vocabulary as a non-native of English

I don't have anything to write as usual.

I'm mentally unstable recently. I guess that I need to increase my intake of Vitamin Bs and protein again. I'm already doing strength training every day, and I need to improve my nutrition.

I tried a site named Test Your Vocabulary again to evaluate my vocabulary as an English learner. I found that I have 11,700 words of English (http://testyourvocab.com/result?user=10708909). I aimed 12,000 words and almost reached now. I see that I can get a not bad score on the 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan). It needs, I read somewhere, over 15,000 words at the maximum, but I probably have the right to challenge it.

For Japanese learners: You can read about around that on Eiraku, Yaduki's website. https://ei-raku.com/2017/11/exam-eiken-comparison/ Its analytical insight is helpful for many.

I’m considering aiming over 20,000 words now that I get almost 12,000 words.

What I hate

I need to write something anyway.

Twitter says "You aren't special in English language," as I wrote. Twitter's intention is probably "I'll show you those who are higher than you, you need more effort." I began to consider quitting Twitter if he/she has sent me that sort of message again. I'm already making efforts to improve my English ability. That's too heavy for me.

If I haven't had an unfortunate experience, I would maybe have had a wife, some children, a job to proud and some money to live now. Why do I suffer from being alone and making a vacant effort to improve my English ability which doesn't need for my real life at all?

Mecha Samurai Empire

I have nothing to write as usual.

I finished reading The Tipping Point. It's interesting to read. Especially as a former smoker, the story of being nicotine addicted or not is a great insight for many young people.

I started reading Mecha Samurai Empire. This SF isn't difficult in English and has not too terrible scenes for Japanese people, compared with United States of Japan. So I was able to read it without irritating for now. But I'm still at the starting point of that so I can't guarantee that this book is for Japanese yet.

This book has more anime-tasted situations like a classroom or a game arcade. So I will perhaps recommend it for English translated light novel readers if I finished it without suffering from tribble scenes which expresses imaginary Japan.

Inner soles and transcript training

I don't have anything to write in my mind.

I probably wrote that my foot hurts and that I bought a pair of inner sole for my jogging shoes by Doctor's advice. It worked for me. I bought another pair of inner sole, and put them in my walking shoes.

I forgot to remove inner soles which are already in the walking shoes, but I noticed that in the earlier timing. I walked a little and found it worked.

My foot pain is reducing after the purchase.

By the way, my transcript training is already four months. As I wrote, I added Pros and Cons recently, and I passed a bit tough period to embrace the burden. This training is great for me to improve my input ability of English. Furthermore, I sometimes think in English after a while of the training.

I've been driven by negative emotion from Twitter

Twitter is saying "you aren't great at all."

I'm searching on Twitter about TOEIC or other English exams. I've usually found someone's tweet saying that "Your score of xxx points is not great. It's outdated." I first found that kind of tweet when I got over 700 points  at the first time.

After I got over 800 points, Twitter (the tweet which someone mentioned about TOEIC) said that in recent corporate Japan, 800 points or so isn't evaluated.

I finally got 900 points. Twitter never said anything annoying about my score on TOEIC test. I'm reassured. But recently a translator (I can say that he is probably professional of English) said something annoying for me (I don't specify on this entry about that). Maybe Twitter said "Your new enemy's here! Let's overcome him!"

I fed up with that sort of thing. I'm tired of English hierarchy among Japanese English learners. Twitter fostered that.

Walking habit

I usually have nothing to write. I'll write by my way to do.

I overslept. Precisely saying, I woke up as usual, and went to bed again during my morning routine.

The time when the sun appears is getting later and later. When I open the storm-shutter, it's still dark. I came to think that I need to wake up later because waking up in dark is a little depressing.

During my walking exercise, I see two old ladies walking the street for exercise like me. They recently shifted their time of exercise for rising the sun. I have seen they are praying to rising sun on the street. Maybe praying to the rising sun is common for elderly persons in Japan. I'm not doing so.

We exchanged greetings and I passed them. They are slower than me, and I have something to do at the turning point, at Seven-Eleven. I'm usually reading some articles of the Economist with my iPhone at the Seven-Eleven with a iced coffee.

While I'm reading the articles, they reach there. They join me at the counter, and they talk something about their neighbors. I'm listening them in Japanese while reading in English. It's too confusing.

After reading the articles, I say good-bye to them, and get back to home.

Getting English ability

I have nothing to write this morning. I'll write what pop up in my mind.

I'm doing transcript from English books to my notebook. I've already done What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I'm doing Hear the Wind Sing.

Recently I felt needs to know more academic writing than novels by Haruki Murakami, so I started transcript Pros and Cons, a debater's handbook. It's a little burden for me because I'm familiar with Haruki Murakami's novel translated to English, but not with a kind of academic one. My brain will be able to accept that sort of thing, though.

I'll change the theme of the entry.

I, and some Japanese English learner, know that listening in English has two levels. The one is listening sound of English, and the second is listening the meaning of English. I'm beginning to accept the sound of English in Netflix movies. It's a great progress for many Japanese English learners. For those who are solving grammar quiz every day, it's a little tough thing to do. I will be able to accept the meaning of English in Netflix movies completely in relatively near future.

Go physical, not mental

I find that I need to go to physical thing, not to mental, spiritual way.

I haven't been doing strength training during summer because it's too hot with my muscle. Muscle generates heat in body. But this made my mind down. So I restarted strength training now that it's cool enough to deal with heat generated from my muscle. Everyday protein powder is increased again.

I'm becoming better minded thanks to that. About a year trial, I find that I have to think physical thing rather than mental or spiritual. And I need to intake more protein, meat, soy and oats. Oats has protein much more than rice.

I have recently read a book saying that like-Asperger-syndrome (includes not being completely in that criteria) must go to physical approach and never try mental or spiritual approach. That backs me up.

I don't need to try to strengthen my mental or my soul. I improve my body and I'll be stable minded.

My foot problem

While I decided to write this blog in English, I have anything to write today.

My foot have hurt for a month, and I wrote on Japanese blog that I would go to the clinic. Doctor said that I need to buy insole for my shoes.

I bought a pair of insole at Amazon and put them in my jogging shoes. When I walk for training, I felt no pain at all, and it's very fine on barefoot  for a while after walking. Solving problem without no medical treatment is great. I can say that he is highly professional.

By the way, I'm still pondering to take 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan). After 900 points on TOEIC test, I felt void and no pleasure. So I thought that even if I pass the 1st grade I never satisfied at all by that. I'll make effort for the 1st grade, but I'll avoid the test by any chance.

Restart again

I'm considering to write this blog again.

I'm writing a main blog in Japanese. But I want to train my writing ability of English for 1st grade of Eiken test(English exam in Japan). So I'll suspend the main blog in Japanese and restart this blog in English again.

My attempt to output in English isn't doing well. I made a Twitter account for English writing, but that wasn't work. And writing this English blog sometimes when I want is not working too. Making something daily habit is the best way to study something. So I'll change my habit of writing blog in Japanese to writing in English.

Mixture of language on blog is, however, not good for readers. So I made this English blog before. There is no reason not to use this blog again.