When I search for what people think of JapanesePod101 the views sometimes seem a bit lukewarm. I disagree - I think their website is fantastic.

If you go for the premium version (and it really works much better if you do) you get a lot of material in each lesson and it is really well organised.

What I do for each lesson is take a look at the vocabulary they are targetting and make sure I am familiar with it (they give you a handy list). Then I will maybe go through the conversation which they give you in a kanji format and try to understand it. They I listen to the conversation and the rest of the lesson. If I understood the conversation at normal speed I skip the slow and translated versions. Then I listen to the rest of the lesson. After that I check out the kanji work sheet and just confirm I know the kanji and if not brush up on it. Then go through the pdf of the lesson notes to practice reading the kanji version of the conversation, study the grammar and go through the sample sentences. Then I finish off by doing their video vocab test and the review track (basically another test). The whole thing takes about 30 - 40 minutes which is about ideal for me in terms of my attention span.

At the moment I am still working my way through the beginner series - I am on series 4 - and I use it as a refresher for my other learning as much as anything. They have hundreds of beginner lessons but also lots of intermediate and advanced as well as some specialised stuff - a series on particles for example. Their survival phrases series is excellent too ahead of a trip to Japan.

I think some people underestimate Pod101 because some of what they offer is free and people seem obsessed with trying to avoid paying for anything on the internet. As a result they don't' sign up for the paid version and don't benefit from the way all the lessons have been organised and the massive amount of materials that support each 'podcast'. I started up as a basic member, moved up to premium and am very happy with that.

Another moan I see in some forums is that they find Peter Galante (one of the hosts and the original founder) somewhat annoying. I totally disagree - he is a really funny guy and I find the shows he hosts particularly enjoyable. (And because he is the founder he has the confidence to move away from the script somewhat which makes it more fun than some of the other presenters who can sometimes seem to be reading everything from the page).

I think it is true that the original podcasts were not very smooth and Peter had some annoying verbal tics but that got sorted after the first 10 shows or thereabouts. As there a now hundreds and hundreds of lessons that is pretty much irrelevant. Also people seem to forget that this was a start up by people who were developing it from zero. It wasn't some huge corporation with a ton of money and experience. I am not surprised the guy was unsure and a bit nervous at first - actually the nervousness is quite charming in an odd way - Pimsleur is great but it is SO polished and this was refreshing in a way. Anyway I admire what they have managed to achieve. They clearly worked really hard to get where they are and I just applaud that 100%

The only thing I don't much like about them is their marketing. They always seem to have discounts and go on about free accounts. This is a very high quality service and they market it as if it were a bit dodgy. They should have confidence in what they are doing.

Anyway I apologise for the length of this post. I just thought maybe some people are put off Pod101 by the poor marketing and wanted to share my appreciation of the site here. (And I am not related in any way, shape or form with Pod101 by the way!).

Rusty Wrote:Another moan I see in some forums is that they find Peter Galante (one of the hosts and the original founder) somewhat annoying.

Go to
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1C
and search for 母, click the play button and listen to what Peter Galante says.
It's been like that for YEARS, not only 母, of course.

What I heard was something like 'the audio for this clip is not available'. Is this a separate thing or a JPod thing? I am confused!

Rusty Wrote:What I heard was something like 'the audio for this clip is not available'. Is this a separate thing or a JPod thing? I am confused!

My hearing is rusty, but what I hear is:

Peter Galante Wrote:The audio for this clip is currently not available. It will be recorded and uploaded shortly. Thank you for your patience.

The dictionary itself is not a JPod thing, but the audio is. They made a deal with Jim Breen - they can use his dictionary but had to record it.

Peter Galante reminds me of Jehovah Witnesses:
'When's the end of the world?'
'Soon.'

buonaparte Wrote:

Rusty Wrote:Another moan I see in some forums is that they find Peter Galante (one of the hosts and the original founder) somewhat annoying.

Go to
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1C
and search for 母, click the play button and listen to what Peter Galante says.
It's been like that for YEARS, not only 母, of course.

Do you know any other dictionaries like this that have audio included?

Interesting. Seems there is a certain amount of 'plumbing' behind japanese learning tools I was not aware of. I still thing Jpod101 rocks however . . .

Yes it's a great resource that people here seem to love to hate for some reason. It's mostly useful at the beginner level when still discovering basic grammar and getting the feel of the language.

Also since it's in audio format it's great for learning while commuting. My main pet peeves are the annoying jingles and constant self promotion, as well as the super slow syllable by syllable repetition that continues well beyond the beginner lessons. At home it's not too hard to skip but when listening on the go it's often impossible to skip.

Also the marketing got worse and worse over the years while at the same time new content has become extremely rare...

Yeah, I used to use JPod much more than I do now. It was good to have something to listen to that was instructional and a little silly on while commuting or whatever.

I really liked the Upper Intermediate stuff, but they cancelled it last year. It was mostly in Japanese, and some of the grammar was useful. The advanced blog is interesting sometimes, but it's usually waaay too short, and I can get more out of a real JP podcast. (NHK gives me an hour of news in the morning to listen to for free. Just sayin'.)

The original survival series had some good tips in it for traveling over there the first time, especially about planes, trains, buses, taxis, and hotels. (The bus and taxi stuff was especially useful for me in the suburbs and 田舎.)

What I would want the most out of any service like this would be an in-depth discussion of Japanese grammar in Japanese, focused on stuff that's N2 and above. And keigo. Lots of keigo.

Anybody find anything like that out there?

so, Buonaparte... the audio clup isn't there. care to tell us all what Peter says about 'mother'? Please let it be naughty. I would love for Peter to actually be like the Bob Saget of the Japanese language community.

for those of you don't know, Bob Saget, best known as the lovable yet eternally lame dad in Full House, was actually one of the grossest, raunchiest stand-up comedians ever. Kind of amazing he got that job in the first place.
for a very nsfw demonstration, you can youtube "bob saget the aristocrats"