English Diary 2026
☆ 0611 "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill We need to husband our resources carefully. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Listening is the weakest link in the chain, so I have decided to make it my top priority for the next 100 days. Listening is one of the most critical challenges for me because it affects all four language skills. Without it, progress in the others is limited. My real problem is not hearing English itself, but maintaining concentration after the reading section. By the time the listening test begins, I am often mentally exhausted. I can hear Japanese perfectly well, so I believe this is more a matter of endurance and familiarity than ability. 0609 Today, I visited Futaba and Namie for the first time since the Great East Japan Earthquake. To my surprise, so many buildings and familiar landscapes had disappeared that there was almost nothing left. In Futaba, the only noticeabl...