June 4, 2023

Let me preface this by saying that reality shows are not my cup of tea but I heard good things about Terrace House with regards to its language learning potential and I wanted to try out unscripted content for a change so I gave it a try.

First of all, they all speak over each other all the time, it's so annoying and hard to understand.

Secondly, I didn't like the hosts. They all have a weird voice. Some have such a raspy, hoarse voice that I wanted to clear my own throat every time I heard them speak (I'm looking at you, YOU), while another has a voice that's so high-pitched, it's unpleasant. The laughing track is obnoxious but the worst is how the hosts “interrupt” the show from time to time to comment on what happened between the participants. Often enough, they end up judging and making fun of the participants and that makes me so uncomfortable.

Thirdly, this is probably just caused by the poor state of my listening comprehension there have been multiple instances where I quite simply couldn't hear what the subtitles were saying. It's not because the subtitles don't match what they're saying; after replaying the same line over 20 times in a row, something finally unlocked in my ear/brain, and I could distinguish each mora of the line in the audio. I guess that's the hazards of natural, unscripted content: people will hesitate, switch gears mid-sentence, speed through certain parts and slur words together so be prepared for that.

Overall, I didn't enjoy it but it's definitely a good source of everyday Japanese with a bunch of slang, idioms and contractions left and right.

Gradings:18
1
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Vie graded
on November 9, 2024
Vie graded
on July 21, 2024
similar in difficulty to生きるL32
Vie graded
on June 15, 2024
Vie graded
on April 24, 2024
Vie graded
on January 18, 2024
easier than進撃の巨人 S1L31
Vie graded
on December 29, 2023
Vie graded
on December 9, 2023
easier than銀河英雄伝説 S1L34??
Vie graded
on October 30, 2023
harder thanゆるキャン△ S1L25
Vie graded
on October 29, 2023
Vie graded
on October 29, 2023
harder than聲の形L23
Vie graded
on October 29, 2023
Vie graded
on October 29, 2023
easier thanビリギャルL28
Vie graded
on October 3, 2023
Vie graded
on June 27, 2023
Vie graded
on June 10, 2023
harder than日常 S1L24
Vie graded
on June 10, 2023
Vie graded
on June 10, 2023
harder than氷菓 S1L27
Vie graded
on June 10, 2023
easier than残響のテロル S1L31