Hi all, I recently came across a post the included the link to jpod101, I checked out the homepage and listened to some sample audio, sounds like fun to me... I was just wondering if any of you have tried it and see the other material as worthy (of paying for), because I can just download the audio somehow (if anybody has any links, I'd appreciate it).

Sorry if this was posted already, I'm bout to go to sleep and searched for similar topics to no avail.

おやすみなさい

It depends on how much Japanese you already know.

The Survival Phrases podcasts they did were actually useful for traveling. The info they gave on buses/trains saved me a lot of trouble. (Knowing how to use the buses in Kyoto is very very handy... as it is in Hiroshima, Fukuoka, heck, anywhere, really.)

The beginner lessons were cheesy. Hard to avoid that, really, since they were just starting out, and hadn't done it much before. They even say that when they listen to the old lessons, they're embarrassed. But, the dialogs are always useful, because as odd as they may be, it's native Japanese. I never listened to the newer "Newbie" lessons, so I don't have a clue about those. They did use way too much English, IMO, but it's free. The lessons have useful info in them, but I wouldn't just use it alone. I'd use it as something else to do that has a "Learning Japanese" flavor to it.

The intermediate/lower intermediate/upper intermediate lessons are perfect for me, because they have plenty of Japanese, and only just enough English so I don't get completely lost. I love listening to those while working out. I don't do the other stuff, I just listen.

You can download their podcasts via iTunes, but it's only the last 7 days' worth. I wonder if you'd get full access with a subscription? I never subscribed, because I just wanted something Japanese-ish to listen to while working out, and the podcasts worked fine for me.

I'd say it's a great secondary source, but you should find a better structured primary source to go with.

You can download all the old episodes for free from their website. Apparently there are some download apps that you can use to grab them all. If you have a premium subscription, there's a built-in way to download them all at once.

Yeah, I quite like the intermediate lessons (all three levels) - I listen to them while biking or walking or whatever. There's a lot of good stuff scattered around the beginner lessons, but there's just so damn many of them (over 200 now), and the information is too diluted with English explanations, that it's not worth it if you're not actually a beginner. I've heard they have dialogue-only tracks available for the more recent lessons - it might be worth giving those a listen.

Yes, too much explanation, not enough practice or material, and the guy will annoy you after ten or so. He says the exact same things over and over. Anyway, the bonus dialogues and informal audio have zero or little English in them, so I listen to them a bit.

I like jpod101 and have a premium subscription. Yes, Peter can be annoying and repetitive (although he gets better), and there is too much English chit-chat and tomfoolery in the early stuff but, for me, the lesson content is good, relevant and generally pretty well presented. There are also often interesting extra bits of useful vocabulary or set phrases that appear as asides in the lessons.

I listen to podcasts in the Gym (it helps the time on the treadmill pass!) and I'm currently still in the middle of Beginners, which is behind where I am in classes, but serves as very helpful revision. I sometimes listen to an intermediate podcast or the audio blog, even though I can't understand much of it, just for the listening comprehension practice.

If you have iTunes you can easily download them all at once. It's one of the listed podcasts.

I'm currently in the first part of Beginners and Peter already starts to become really annoying. The English infos that he gives are interesting but the repetitive "very nice...", "now break it down please...", "...and now slow", etc. are just plain annoying.
In addition I was surprised that I could hear a noticeable difference how he pronounces Japanese sentences/words and how the natives pronounce them. I'm a real beginner and shouldn't be able to tell those differences... unless his American accent is very very heavy when he speaks Japanese. So I try to ignore him as much as possible and listen attentively when the natives speak the Japanese part. I wonder if he improved and his accent became less noticeable in later lessons...

I subscribed for the free version of the pod, and for my purpose it's enough to just listen to the different lectures. In the 7-day-free trial I only looked briefly at the additional material. It might be useful if you want to use the podcast as your main Japanese course and need to get infos on the grammar that's used, the vocabulary and want to be able to read along in the text while it's spoken. For me it's too pricey at the moment, since I'm using Assimil and there's enough material in there to learn for me. So I'm using this podcast mainly as a little extra of spoken Japanese with some cultural infos thrown in.

peter has the most annoying voice IMO... jpod is torture to my ears >_<

Dont worry. After the intermediate they make him shut up. I even felt sorry for him.

shaydwyrm Wrote:You 可an download 皆ll the 古ld episodes for free 乃rom their website. Apparently there are some download apps that you 可an 使se to grab them 皆ll. If you have a premium subscription, there's a built-中n way to download them 皆ll at once.

Yeah, 吾 quite like the intermediate lessons (皆ll 三hree levels) - 吾 聴isten to them while biking or walking or whatever. There's a 壌ot 之f 良ood stuff scattered around the beginner lessons, but there's 是ust so damn 多any 之f them (over 200 今ow), and the information is too diluted with English explanations, that it's 勿ot worth it if you're 勿ot actually a beginner. 吾've heard they have dialogue-只nly 跡racks available for the more recent lessons - it might be worth giving those a 聴isten.

Yeah thanks, sorry I didn't specify, I already finished a beginners first year intensive (8 month) course on Japanese, so my knowledge is adequate for a beginner imo. When I went on the front page of the website (http://www.japanesepod101.com/) I clicked on the sample audio

"Lower Intermediate Japanese Lesson #76 - LI2: Going on a Date 3"

And understood enough to know whats going on for the most part, I was impressed actually, I assumed I wouldn't understand a thing considering their having a normal convo and its native speakers but yeah, looks like it can really improve my listening comprehention (I'm also trying to learn as much as possible before August, students from Japan are coming to my university and we're pairing up with them ), I'm guessing the guy at the beginning is Peter? Yeah I thought he was weird too haha....

Whats funnier is all you guys talk about how you use their audios while you're on the treadmill at the gym, I go every other day to the gym and this is exactly what I was planning to use haha, Primsleurs is just wayy to boring for a 25min run :/

I'd try intermediate before deciding on lower intermediate.

Didn't want to start a new thread. Does anyone use the premium service? Is it worth it?

I like Jpod101 very much, and have subscribed to the free ones since the beginning. (I have every single podcast for every level except for the premium tracks which I've never subscribed to.) They're always trying to improve the learning center but unless you have time to commit to their program with the Kanji it may not be worth the money from what I've heard. They have a free trial, and if I'm not mistaken you can download all the back episodes during the trial.

if you're interested here's the syllabus for beginner season 1 http://www.japanesepod101.com/toc-beginner/

The earliest episodes were less than perfect but still worth a listen. You never know what culture or slang you might learn at the lower level episodes so it's worth a listen even if you don't re-listen.

They also have a fairly active forum http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum and blogs for each lesson http://blogs.japanesepod101.com/ but these have been hard to find since they took the links off the home page.

If you are using something like Anki the premium service doesn't really add anything. I have the basic service which gives you access to the pdf files. I listen to a lesson a few times over then download the pdf and copy the sentences into Anki. I quite enjoy the dialogues, even if, like many people think, Peter is annoying.

if you have the premium service it's easier to get the transcripts of the dialogues and play each line individually....then you can cut and paste and put the sentences into anki...you can even just listen to the dialogues just by themselves and avoid the problem of hearing too much banter in English...it's worth it to me ...I try to do newbie, beginner, and lower intermediate lessons...and the other lessons if they are interesting...I like the newbie grammar review...I used to be overwhelmed by the number of lessons they have but now I just follow what gets posted...we'll see how much of a difference a year makes...they often have discounts so I would try premium for a month and wait for a discount if you are happy with what you get...really explore the possibilities of the Learning Center

The survival phrases stuff actually helped me a lot in Japan-- mostly the info on how to deal with taxis, buses, and trains. Especially the stuff about buses-- they can be downright confusing (oddly enough) when you first get there. You know, the thing with the paper tickets and the big board full of numbers. Heh. They also gave a good piece of advice about taking subways-- buy the cheapest ticket if you're in a hurry, and just use the fare adjustment machine. Saves time staring at maps. Or if you're in a major city served by Suica, just get a Suica.

I like to listen to the lower/upper intermediate tracks when I work out, because they mostly use Japanese, and they don't speak it too fast. (They also use vocabulary I mostly get.)

I've been mulling over subscribing for a while now, and I think I'll give it a shot, if for no other reasons than 1) support something I use, and 2) get access to some podcasts I missed.

I just subscribed to the Basic service, to be able to get the pdfs, about a month ago. For the intermediate lessons, they often talk a little bit about the kanji makeup of the compounds they introduce as vocabulary, so it's nice to be able to see them and study them in a convenient group (of course, you could just use a dictionary, but I also don't mind paying a little bit for a service that makes things convenient). Also, for me there's often some other new vocab in the transcripts as well, that I pick up better after being able to read it and then hear it again. The premium service really seems overpriced so I'd wait for a free sample...

17th December (or thereabouts) is the birthday of JPod 101 and they have given good discounts (i.e. 50%) on subscriptions on that day in the past. Worth marking in the diary if you're interested.