Learning Japanese with your own mini calendar Calendars have a wealth of features you can leverage for everyday practice in your language learning adventure.
This insight was originally published on August 02, 2022, and transferred here later.
I wanted to start making more insights this year about cute little projects you can do at home to practice your Japanese. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to the next item in this series: A Mini Calendar (📅)!
What can be learned from making a calendar?
Dates and numbers
One of the most basic, obvious things that can be learned from a calendar is dates. When you make your Japanese learning calendar, you get a reminder that years, months, and dates exist. When you actually use the calendar, you are regularly reminded that the day Tuesday (火曜日) exists, or that tomorrow is the _th day (_日) of the month.
Events
Aside from the baseline of learning numbers & dates, a calendar also gives you the opportunity to learn various event-related vocabulary in Japanese. Birthdays (誕生日・たんじょうび・tanjoubi), holidays (お休み・おやすみ・oyasumi), and other scheduled events are scattered throughout the year for you to discover and acknowledge as a learning opportunity! It doesn't stop there either. You can incorporate Japanese vocabulary for things like weather forecasts, astronomical phenomena, and other timed occurrences.
An exercise in time management
Making your own calendar for learning Japanese can also couple nicely with another project you might enjoy: a Japanese to-do list! Calendars often have space for you to write notes relating to a given day, but since you will be making this calendar yourself, you can give it as much space as you want for perfecting its usefulness as a language learning tool during your journey. With all this organized structure and learning, you are sure to become the most powerful nerd around!
Make your calendar: an example
To start your brand new language learning calendar, you'll need something to make it on: paper, wood carvings, digital canvases, etc. Anything you want to regularly look at or work with is totally fine! In my example here, I used a whiteboard.
1. Decide your timeline
From there, you can decide what kind of calendar you want. A monthly calendar is always a classic, but full-year calendars and weekly ones also exist. How do you like to organize your time? Go with what best works for your sort of schedule.
In my example above, I used a weekly calendar because I focus better on what I can get done in a week than I do in a month. It also means I have to update my calendar more often. And to me, that just means an extra study session for the week! For you, it might be different. Do what vibes best with your flow~
2. Date your calendar in Japanese
After you have laid your calendar out in appropriate sections for each date, start filling it in with the details. At this point, your calendar is only allowed to use the Japanese language. If reading & writing Japanese script is concerning to you, don't worry about it! You can use romaji instead, and that is perfectly fine too! The main point of this exercise is that you focus on using Japanese words to learn and practice.
3. Add filler to your calendar's days
When you have completed adding your calendar dates in Japanese, then you can add whatever bonus things you want! You can incorporate the to-do list project with your calendar as mentioned earlier, or just add cute drawing and things for extra flair and excitement when you refer to it. Use your creativity to make that calendar flourish as you see fit~
4. Check out your cool Japanese calendar every day~
When it is all done and you are happy with it, you can use your brand new calendar every day to get a daily dose of practice with the Japanese language. If you found that you liked doing the project or found it especially helpful, you can do it all over again when your current calendar's dates have passed. Do it as much as you like~
Have any questions or ideas to make this mini project even better? Feel free to message me on Twitter @NihongoFamiliar, or you can reach our in the comments section below: 👇👇👇