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I was trying to think of a way to say "I'm trying hard to read a news article every day" (in the sense that I'm trying to find the time to sit down and pay attention long enough to read, not necessarily that the material is very difficult).

What I came up with off the top of my head was an awkward-sounding construction of 毎日、ニュース記事ひとつを読んで頑張っている, but that sounds both a little strange to me, and also like it's difficult for me to read the material. (Of course, I'm not a native speaker so I can't say 100%...maybe it just sounds wrong, full stop.) I'm not proficient at reasoning out how grammar works (or should work) in my head, but as far as I can tell, in the phrase 勉強頑張る 「勉強」 is a noun, so I was wondering if it wasn't something like 読むの頑張る, but that sounds odd and received no Google hits.

I feel like 頑張る should be used, because it's such a great word, but I could be wrong.

My searches have turned up vague results and cultural essays.

Please note! I am much less interested in translating the phrase I mentioned above and much more interested in learning how to say things like:

"I'm working hard at doing X every day."

or

"I'm really trying to do X regularly."

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    As an alternative, you may want to consider using something like 一所懸命に{いっしょけんめい}. (For example: 一所懸命に勉強〜) Although 頑張る should be fine in this case. Also, there's 熱心に{ねっしんに} if that helps.
    – summea
    Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 5:23
  • Hmm, not sure about this but maybe you could add another 毎日 in front of the sentence to emphasize the "毎日"?
    – Pacerier
    Commented Mar 23, 2012 at 4:47

4 Answers 4

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心掛ける is a good one to learn.

毎日Xをするように心掛けている。
I'm working hard at doing X everyday.

Also, 努める or 努力する

毎日Xをするように努める(努力する)

If you overly use 頑張る, it sounds strange, especially when you use it for things like "reading a newspaper". You should use it for something more "important" like studying for a test or trying to get a job or something.

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~ようにしている might fit the bill. For instance,

肉を食べないようにしている。

I'm trying not to eat any meat.

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毎日、ニュース記事をひとつ読んで頑張っている I'm making an effort to [read a news article every day]

sounds fine to me, as long as you move the を to after 記事 (ひとつ should be used adverbially).

To me, this formulation doesn't sound like the material is difficult to you. More like keeping up the habit is difficult.

If, on the other hand, you say

毎日、ニュース記事をひとつ頑張って読んでいる I'm [making an effort to read a news article] every day

it's more likely to sound like the material is difficult to you.

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  • +1 Your answer was awesome and helpful, thanks a million :)
    – silvermaple
    Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 22:17
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I would use なるべく.

毎日なるべく一つの記事を読むようにしている。

I'm trying to eat lots of vegetables.

(なるべく)野菜をたくさん食べるようにしている。

Also 'I'm making it a rule to...'

毎日一つの記事を読むことにしている。

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