account of connected events.
A while back I resolved to "stop" reading fiction in English. I never considered a complete moratorium, but I did drastically curtail my input -- a decision for which I blame Robin "trilogy of trilogies" Hobb. They're impeccably written. Can't put them down. Suddenly I notice the sun's up again.
This has improved my Japanese a bit. I've been reading a lot of manga, some with furigana, some without. Occasionally reading stuff like A Game of Thrones (now autographed! Quoth GRRM: "beautiful covers.") It's an incredibly slow process in which I recall the original text and pretend I can read the Japanese translation. Over time the pretense becomes less so, with help from frequent excursions to the dictionary. (Gene Wolfe: "It is said that it is the peculiar quality of time to conserve fact, and that it does this by rendering our past falsehoods true.")
The downside's been that, in the absence of narrative input, my dreams seem to get a little unhinged. I haven't really noticed that I have more free time than before either, which rather surprises me. Nonetheless, an interesting experiment.
Of course, my ability to sustain this kind of thing is limited, so I've been reading considerably more fiction in English than I was. Yesterday I read Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom, which was fantastic. Pirate adventure story with involuntarily time-travelling protagonist. Unreliable narrator, which is one of Wolfe's trademarks. Some extremely difficult unresolved questions barely poking their heads above the narrative, which is another. Recommended.
This has improved my Japanese a bit. I've been reading a lot of manga, some with furigana, some without. Occasionally reading stuff like A Game of Thrones (now autographed! Quoth GRRM: "beautiful covers.") It's an incredibly slow process in which I recall the original text and pretend I can read the Japanese translation. Over time the pretense becomes less so, with help from frequent excursions to the dictionary. (Gene Wolfe: "It is said that it is the peculiar quality of time to conserve fact, and that it does this by rendering our past falsehoods true.")
The downside's been that, in the absence of narrative input, my dreams seem to get a little unhinged. I haven't really noticed that I have more free time than before either, which rather surprises me. Nonetheless, an interesting experiment.
Of course, my ability to sustain this kind of thing is limited, so I've been reading considerably more fiction in English than I was. Yesterday I read Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom, which was fantastic. Pirate adventure story with involuntarily time-travelling protagonist. Unreliable narrator, which is one of Wolfe's trademarks. Some extremely difficult unresolved questions barely poking their heads above the narrative, which is another. Recommended.