Hi Guys,

Do you guys listen to japanese dialog or talkshows in the background? AJATT reccomends constantly keeping the background with your target language. I usually listen to music but...

Can you tell me any online websites or audio streams with live radio or tv to leave on in the background while i study on koohi?

Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-...anese.html
Here you can listen to various radio stations over the internet. I generally don't use that site, since I don't get to hear any good programs thanks to the time zone differences, but I sometimes have the Fuji News Network clips playing in the background (there is a link to those on that site as well).

If I were you, I wouldn't be too obsessed with keeping Japanese audio on at all times. It's good of course to get your ear accustomed to the sounds, but don't expect what you're listening to to spontaneously become comprehensible to you without any context through which to understand it. This kind of passive listening becomes much more beneficial after reaching a level where you can understand most of what you're hearing. For language learning to occur, you essentially need two things, the target language itself, and some context through which to understand it and connect meaning to it. At the start, this context through which to understand the target language will come from:
- translations provided in textbooks, grammar references, parallel texts, audio courses etc
- intuition: interaction with native speakers, other students, teachers or by watching tv/movies/anime etc.
I'm not discounting the importance of audio. Actually it's extremely important. But as a beginner, you're better off focusing on comprehensible material and listening to it while not overly distracted by other things. I found listening to previously watched anime or youtube videos on loop on my ipod during my commute to work to be pretty good listening practice back in the day. This kind of listening practice is good because while you're listening you can recognize the sound effects and characters' voices and start recollecting the scenes, which acts as context to make the audio comprehensible. Judging from your name, I guess you like anime, so why not try looping the audio from an anime you know really well? Audiobooks are also really good in my opinion. I don't reccomend music unless you're prepared to spend the time to actually learn the meaning of all the lyrics. Listening to music for pleasure is of course another matter.

I usually listen to tokyo local podcasts (more women directed I'd say). Two months ago I barely understood a word, now I can understand 50% +

This because I've been working my ass off studying japanese lately.

Any other cool podcasts out there?

I used to always listen to old anime in the background. You can probably do the same with drama or movies. Even though I'm still a beginner, it was really useful to pick up regularities such as verbal flexions or particles. But the best benefit I got out of it was it perfected my inner ear. You get the hang of vowels, assimilations and intonations just by passive listenning. It's always useful when you want to read or pronounce something.
If you wonder, I've stop doing it, because it was too much multitasking for me. For example, I can solve problems much quicker with silence. But when you do unimportant stuff, hey, it's alright.

Everything what nadiatims & CarolinaCG said is correct. Listening is beneficial but only after a certain point. First you have to work like crazy before being able to profit from this kind of immersion. It's better to focus and intentionally work on your language skills and play with immersion only when there is really no other option. Passive audio also creates a false notion of actually "working hard" and creates an excuse for you to not do anything more that day ("I'm so tired today but at least I'll listen to some J-Music")... and the day after that... and another etc..

I've been listening to crystal clear pronunciation songs for about a year now but I didn't benefit from it much. I've seen bigger progress thanks to a few lessons a day from jpod101 for 2 weeks than all those months with "passive listening".

CarolinaCG Wrote:Any other cool podcasts out there?

The Podcast Thread - Podcasts listed by genre
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5572&page=1

here as well
http://podcast.ibc.co.jp/
http://www.voiceblog.jp/

I'm not a fan of passive listening, either. I've found that unless I'm actively listening, it just washes over me and I get nothing from it.

Heck, I was actively watching a TV show the other day and realized I had stopped paying attention to the words and was getting nothing.

you can listen to the stuff I made with sub2srs!
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=2576&page=3
"
I recently stated using to just get all the talking parts from the drama episodes.and usually the length is at least half the episode, and obviously it depends on how much you filter

So in the time it takes you listen to the whole episode 4 times, you can listen to pure dialogue part like 10 times,etc."

I try passive listening, and yes I agree it's not useful for beginner.

Words I know "pop out" at me when hear them, but without visual context they're gone again and I haven't really learnt anything from them. I'm also good at blocking out external noise.

On the other hand, if I'm watching anime and a word I know pops up, it usually has context, either from something going on on the screen or from the subtitles. This word then sticks in memory.

Khatz explains passive listening in that AJATT youtube video, and he is correct, it is a good way to gauge how your are doing and to use Japanese without really trying, and also to get used to the sounds of the language. But it can't be used for learning as such, just as a suppliment.

Just listen to things appropriate to your level. If you're a begginer listen to minna no nihongo or genki cd's.

Yeah, I'd suggest audio of drama or anime you have already seen for background listening. This will be something you have already have learned the context of. So it should be easy to remember what is going on.

Radio Podcasts go right over my head, since I can't pick out enough words to figure out the context.

I've been listening to native level material for about 8 months (the first month was some language tapes that got stale fast). I have to say that I think that it is beneficial in all the ways mentioned above, but the tune out factor is a major issue.

Personally, one of the biggest challenges with my listening is deciding whether it is a good idea or not to do what I do. Can I say I've gained from it? In conversation I can get a lot of what is being said (maybe 50%), but is that because I worked hard or because I passively "previewed" 1,000,000s of words prior to learning them? Is this a continuing process or just a result of my SRS? How much is my grammar ability holding me back?

One thing I can say is that I don't think I have learned that many words from TV without looking them up. Probably most of my vocabulary is from SRS, writing, and reading. Audio has reinforced my understand 100 fold, but hasn't paid me back in words yet. Then again, as I get towards the intermediate stage, I think it will pay me back some.

Nevertheless, I like the idea of listening to anime you've really worked over a lot (probably using Subs2SRS). I have about 100 podcasts that I pretty much listen to when I'm not traveling (where I listen to music). I'm too lazy to change them, so I've heard them enough to go "Oh, no this one again". I probably have a strong enough understanding to get 50% of what I hear in these. I haven't really done anything with them - if I had I really feel it would have been MUCH more effective. I guess if you work a piece of audio over, learning grammar, words, etc. then re-listening to it is powerful repetition. Lol, I wish I had enough time right now to do more of that kind of thing as working over a podcast or two might be quite interesting as an experiment.

I guess, in summary, what I'm trying to say is: "if you don't actively interact with your audio before you listen initially, then you get minimal gains, if you do your gains will be as good or better than your efforts."

Then again, minimal gains are gains...

Thank you all for your excellent insights. I appreciate it very much. I will continue to focus on studying/finishing RTK along with my bunpou book as a main focus. Thank you so much

I usually listen to a good japanese radio station called sankakuyama,i like it because it has both talk shows and music,and sometimes they even play english music.

I've been listening to native Japanese audio for 8 months and it's made a world of difference. But more interestingly, I enjoy it doing so. The same impulse that would drive me to have on the radio or TV on in the background while working is still there, however now I simply respond in Japanese. Sometimes the way to get the most out of it is to stop trying to "get" something out of it.


We're all looking for what works best for us so differences are bound to come up.

Just saying, listening to J-audio shouldn't be treated like TPS Reports.

A good way to think of it is this: In your native language, you listen to music/watch tv/doing stuff in that language. You enjoy what your doing and you learn new stuff everyday. The same can be applied to learning Japanese. You'll soon notice that the barrier to understanding go really down and you start to understand more and more. Till you reach that goal of 99% understanding for mostly everything.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/r-news/
japanese news. you can choose slow/normal/fast.
slow is too slow for me lol. normal sounds slow to me now a days but then fast sounds sorta funny but i prefer it to normal.

youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/comedy

there's lots of japanese tv on youku.com but the sit eloads slow.

ta12121 Wrote:A good way to think of it is this: In your native language, you listen to music/watch tv/doing stuff in that language. You enjoy what your doing and you learn new stuff everyday. The same can be applied to learning Japanese. You'll soon notice that the barrier to understanding go really down and you start to understand more and more. Till you reach that goal of 99% understanding for mostly everything.

Couldn't agree more. That's what's happening to me right now. I listen to podcasts (which like 2 months ago I couln't understand a thing) and everytime I listen I understand one more thing.

sesshomaru Wrote:I've been listening to native Japanese audio for 8 months and it's made a world of difference. But more interestingly, I enjoy it doing so. The same impulse that would drive me to have on the radio or TV on in the background while working is still there, however now I simply respond in Japanese. Sometimes the way to get the most out of it is to stop trying to "get" something out of it.


We're all looking for what works best for us so differences are bound to come up.

Just saying, listening to J-audio should be treated like TPS Reports.

Hehe, me too. I actually get edgy if I am in a place I would normally hear/listen to/understand background Japanese and I don't have it on. Also, silence sort of freaks me out too now (I do sleep listening as well). It's a weird life.

ta12121 Wrote:A good way to think of it is this: In your native language, you listen to music/watch tv/doing stuff in that language. You enjoy what your doing and you learn new stuff everyday. The same can be applied to learning Japanese. You'll soon notice that the barrier to understanding go really down and you start to understand more and more. Till you reach that goal of 99% understanding for mostly everything.

Couldn't agree more. This really nails it, I feel.