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.

Last edited by rich_f (2008 May 23, 1:41 am)

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.