Hi everybody,

I'm a computer researcher that have been studying the Japanese Language very hard since I came to Japan on this April
I've solved two JLPT N5 complete test samples with 90%+ grades, and I know the writing order, pronunciation and meaning of 230+ kanjis
For achieving this level, I've finished Minna No Nihongo I and Genki I including all their workbooks and Kanji accompaniments
Currently, I'm studying Genki II and RtK1 with the help of Anki
I'm pretty satisfied with my progress, however, I really want to increase my listening expertise
I can't start listening to the audio of movies or TV shows yet, as I don't have enough vocabulary and grammar (I know about 1000 words only)
I don't mind paying money for learning, that's why I checked the following websites:
AJATT
JapanesePod101
LearnJapanesePod

Which one would be most useful for me to enhance my listening capabilities WITHOUT adding stress to my studying schedule?

Thank you very much...

fifo_thekid Wrote:I can't start listening to the audio of movies or TV shows yet, as I don't have enough vocabulary and grammar (I know about 1000 words only)

You can't, or you won't? Because I assure you, that's enough to start.

Find something easy like Chi's Sweet Home and just start.

I would actually suggest that you start listening to Japanese TV dramas at http://www.d-addicts.com.

Most of the new shows now have Japanese subtitles (which are downloadable as text files). They are exact word-for-word transcriptions. So it's very good for building vocabulary.

Don't get trapped in the "I'll try native media when I'm ready" state of mind. You'll
never be as ready as you want to be. So just start as soon as possible.

I wouldn't worry about not understanding every word. You can always just make up
a story as go along (that's what I did). Just get comfortable being in a situation
where you only hear Japanese. Over time, you'll start to notice certain words are
used more often and that will help to direct your studies.

After a while, you reach a point where you can pronounce the words people are
saying (even if you don't understand them). This really helps when you finally start
meeting Japanese people and listening to their conversations.

I actually have a Japanese-English dictionary on my phone. When I attend events
with Japanese people, I try to speak in Japanese as much as possible. But for those conversations that are too advanced, I just listen to the conversation and look up
words that I hear more than a few times. Then I save them to my phone.

When I get back home, I study them.

you can do dramas/animes as long as you got the japanese subs.

there's lots of threads on that so go search.

I wouldn't take the calls of listening to native media too seriously. If I had tried that seriously at that level I would have wanted to shoot myself in the face. And, frankly, people only believe it because some idiot wrote a blog that said to do that.

But, if you do find something you can watch in pure Japanese without being bored, maybe a TV show or movie that is very visual (Ponyo, for example, is a great visual movie), it would be good to try. But don't push it. Watching stuff with English subs can be just as useful, if not more useful, at your level.

Anyway, I did Japanesepod101 for a while and thought that it was pretty solid. But, somehow I couldn't stick to it.

Also, talk to people.

Tzadeck Wrote:But don't push it. Watching stuff with English subs can be just as useful, if not more useful, at your level.

I agree with this. When you don't know a lot of vocab and grammar it'll be tough to pick up new vocab just through listening alone. What you'll get out of native media at this stage is probably getting used to different voices, speeds of speaking and pronunciation.

Tzadeck Wrote:I wouldn't take the calls of listening to native media too seriously. If I had tried that seriously at that level I would have wanted to shoot myself in the face. And, frankly, people only believe it because some idiot wrote a blog that said to do that.

But, if you do find something you can watch in pure Japanese without being bored, maybe a TV show or movie that is very visual (Ponyo, for example, is a great visual movie), it would be good to try. But don't push it. Watching stuff with English subs can be just as useful, if not more useful, at your level.

Anyway, I did Japanesepod101 for a while and thought that it was pretty solid. But, somehow I couldn't stick to it.

Also, talk to people.

Don't take it seriously?
NS...

Anyways, from what I read on this forum I thought native media was supposed to be fun.

fifo_thekid Wrote:Which one would be most useful for me to enhance my listening capabilities WITHOUT adding stress to my studying schedule?

Thank you very much...

As part of your studies you could listen to the CD while reading the script. This would clear up and misunderstanding of any pronuncations that you might have. You can do this as part of your review.

I tried listening to Japanese Drama before, but I found that it is too early for me to do that as I don't have the basics of the language yet
I even tried Manga with Furigana, but I failed miserably :S
As about the conversation methods, I think that the best way to learn the language is to be "immersed", and that's why I'm following your procedure already

chamcham Wrote:I would actually suggest that you start listening to Japanese TV dramas at http://www.d-addicts.com.

Most of the new shows now have Japanese subtitles (which are downloadable as text files). They are exact word-for-word transcriptions. So it's very good for building vocabulary.

Don't get trapped in the "I'll try native media when I'm ready" state of mind. You'll
never be as ready as you want to be. So just start as soon as possible.

I wouldn't worry about not understanding every word. You can always just make up
a story as go along (that's what I did). Just get comfortable being in a situation
where you only hear Japanese. Over time, you'll start to notice certain words are
used more often and that will help to direct your studies.

After a while, you reach a point where you can pronounce the words people are
saying (even if you don't understand them). This really helps when you finally start
meeting Japanese people and listening to their conversations.

I actually have a Japanese-English dictionary on my phone. When I attend events
with Japanese people, I try to speak in Japanese as much as possible. But for those conversations that are too advanced, I just listen to the conversation and look up
words that I hear more than a few times. Then I save them to my phone.

When I get back home, I study them.

I think I'll do this from now on

fifo_thekid Wrote:I tried listening to Japanese Drama before, but I found that it is too early for me to do that as I don't have the basics of the language yet
I even tried Manga with Furigana, but I failed miserably :S
As about the conversation methods, I think that the best way to learn the language is to be "immersed", and that's why I'm following your procedure already

chamcham Wrote:I would actually suggest that you start listening to Japanese TV dramas at http://www.d-addicts.com.

Most of the new shows now have Japanese subtitles (which are downloadable as text files). They are exact word-for-word transcriptions. So it's very good for building vocabulary.

Don't get trapped in the "I'll try native media when I'm ready" state of mind. You'll
never be as ready as you want to be. So just start as soon as possible.

I wouldn't worry about not understanding every word. You can always just make up
a story as go along (that's what I did). Just get comfortable being in a situation
where you only hear Japanese. Over time, you'll start to notice certain words are
used more often and that will help to direct your studies.

After a while, you reach a point where you can pronounce the words people are
saying (even if you don't understand them). This really helps when you finally start
meeting Japanese people and listening to their conversations.

I actually have a Japanese-English dictionary on my phone. When I attend events
with Japanese people, I try to speak in Japanese as much as possible. But for those conversations that are too advanced, I just listen to the conversation and look up
words that I hear more than a few times. Then I save them to my phone.

When I get back home, I study them.

Nobody until now gave me a comparison between those sites until now :S
However, I've already subscribed to JapanesePod101, and I think that it is very useful
I won't be using it for extensive study: I'll be spending around 30minutes everyday listening to the podcasts, and consulting the video or the script only when i really don't understand the words...

I've been a JP101 member for about 7 months now. I started Japanese from nothing back in December and now am starting to finally understand more things in daily life. My vocab is probably around 1500 words. I've just recently started watching dramas from the site listed above and wish I started earlier. It really helps to re-inforce any vocab you previously learned. Whenever I hear a word spoken that I recently learned it's like a light goes off in my head that says "hey, this word is important. Let's try to remember it better." If I recently learned the word and I forget the meaning while watching the show, I'll pause it and look it up. This really helps to remember it.

I've even tried watching a couple shows with no subs just to test my listening and while I miss a lot, sometimes I can fully understand what is happening so don't sell yourself short thinking you can't yet watch stuff.

For JP101, I used to first listen to the podcasts and then reference the transcript as a final step but I recently reversed it. Now I read the script first and then listen to the podcast and I found that it helps me retain the new words better and it has cut down on the amount of time I need to study the podcast. I used to be around 45 mins for one podcast and now am around 30 mins. After I'm done, I add the new vocab words to Anki for review tomorrow and in the future.

matto Wrote:I've been a JP101 member for about 7 months now. I started Japanese from nothing back in December and now am starting to finally understand more things in daily life. My vocab is probably around 1500 words. I've just recently started watching dramas from the site listed above and wish I started earlier. It really helps to re-inforce any vocab you previously learned. Whenever I hear a word spoken that I recently learned it's like a light goes off in my head that says "hey, this word is important. Let's try to remember it better." If I recently learned the word and I forget the meaning while watching the show, I'll pause it and look it up. This really helps to remember it.

I've even tried watching a couple shows with no subs just to test my listening and while I miss a lot, sometimes I can fully understand what is happening so don't sell yourself short thinking you can't yet watch stuff.

For JP101, I used to first listen to the podcasts and then reference the transcript as a final step but I recently reversed it. Now I read the script first and then listen to the podcast and I found that it helps me retain the new words better and it has cut down on the amount of time I need to study the podcast. I used to be around 45 mins for one podcast and now am around 30 mins. After I'm done, I add the new vocab words to Anki for review tomorrow and in the future.

I'm planning to start watching Japanese Drama by the time I attend my N4 exam (December this year)...

fifo_thekid Wrote:I'm planning to start watching Japanese Drama by the time I attend my N4 exam (December this year)...

Why would you wait so long? Unless japanese doesn't mean anything more for you than serious work I don't see why you couldn't give yourself a break and start with some simple stuff with subs that's enjoyable.

I've always wished I started earlier with native media.

TwoMoreCharacters Wrote:

fifo_thekid Wrote:I'm planning to start watching Japanese Drama by the time I attend my N4 exam (December this year)...

Why would you wait so long? Unless japanese doesn't mean anything more for you than serious work I don't see why you couldn't give yourself a break and start with some simple stuff with subs that's enjoyable.

I've always wished I started earlier with native media.

are you talking about english or japanese subtitle?

Japanese ones, so you can follow along with what they're saying and get reading practice at the same time, although it might be going a little fast for a beginner in that case. If you're not done with rtk1 yet it might not be as valuable though.

But we've got different study philosophies, I'm all for learning in a natural way through exposure and input (ajatt, if you will) and the closest to "traditional study" I go is the core decks for anki. But my 2円 would be to finish rtk as quick as possible and begin to read stuff and expose yourself (you live in Japan? You're all set!). If you're all busy with clearing N4 you balance what you want how you wish. To each his own.

By the way, how much does passing the lower levels of JLPT really mean? Just honestly curious, if it doesn't have much significance in practice then I wouldn't feel like bothering with the tests until N2 myself hrug: just rambling here.

I think I'll do that once I finish my N4 preparation and at least half of RtK1
As for N5, I always hear that it's a useless exam, except for gauging your knowledge and using it as a milestone for next levels...

TwoMoreCharacters Wrote:Japanese ones, so you can follow along with what they're saying and get reading practice at the same time, although it might be going a little fast for a beginner in that case. If you're not done with rtk1 yet it might not be as valuable though.

But we've got different study philosophies, I'm all for learning in a natural way through exposure and input (ajatt, if you will) and the closest to "traditional study" I go is the core decks for anki. But my 2円 would be to finish rtk as quick as possible and begin to read stuff and expose yourself (you live in Japan? You're all set!). If you're all busy with clearing N4 you balance what you want how you wish. To each his own.

By the way, how much does passing the lower levels of JLPT really mean? Just honestly curious, if it doesn't have much significance in practice then I wouldn't feel like bothering with the tests until N2 myself hrug: just rambling here.