That's all good and well. You could always try pimsleur.
That's a good idea, actually. There's bound to be a few things in there I don't know and it'll refresh what I do know. Though I don't think I'll be speaking aloud to myself on a bus.
I second alyks's recommendation of Pimsleur, especially if you are a beginner. If you are an intermediate student, then I would say to try something else 'cause it will probably be too easy for you.
Have you tried Japanese Pod 101? Never used it myself until now, but some people like and others can't stand the host. You might give it a chance and see how it goes.
If you have a way to access Anki on the go, you could also use its online interface to do some reviewing. Just some ideas here - hope to have helped.
I've tried Jpod101 about 3 times and gave up every time-- I couldn't stand the host and it was annoying/boring. Thanks for the recommendation, however! Unfortunately I have no way to access anki on the go, bar getting my laptop out on the bus-- which I don't think is a smart idea.
If you like JDramas, you can always download them and strip the audio out of the video. There are many programs out there that will do that. Then just listen on your iPod or whatever.
There's a thread about audio stuff/podcasts somewhere in here as well. It's pretty much hit and miss, though. It depends a lot on your skill/ability in the language, and it's still hit and miss.
Jpod 101 has some useful stuff in it. The intermediate level stuff is mostly in Japanese, too, which I prefer. With a subscription, you can just download the dialogues only, so if you don't like the host, you don't have to listen. I've met him before, so I don't mind. They really do work hard to put something useful out, and I give them full credit for it. I've been listening to it for over a year now, and it totally saved my bacon a few times when I was over there. I usually listen to a few episodes whenever I work out.
I'm not quite sure what my ability is, really. But I can understand a nice chunk of jdrama so I might do that. I think I'll skip out on jpod101, to be honest. No offence intended.
I know since I've started downloading Japanese podcasts, I've really come to enjoy listening to them. They can be pretty entertaining, plus it's great to know that I'm learning at the same time. And it's really fun to hear the different speakers and accents...but even more fun when I can actually understand parts of what they are saying! : )
That's cool. Could you link me to a few you listen to if it's not too much trouble?
You could try taking a book? A lot of Japanese novels tend to be small (in my experience, anyway), so they won't take up a lot of space to carry with you.
That's an idea. I might take some manga with me as they take me ages to read anyway and I got a bunch off of bookmooch which I'm v-e-r-y--s-l-o-w-l-y--g-e-t-t-i-n-g--t-h-r-o-u-g-h.
To add to that, if you have a video iPod or whatnot..... just put the drama on your mp3 player . I encode my dramas into the iPod video format (there's a number of programs that do this) and then put them on my ipod to watch while I'm on the go.
Aw, I wish I did. Thank you anyway.
I find it too hard to listen to talking(podcast/drama/audio book) on the bus. It's just too noisy. I use long bus rides for reading smile
Maybe you could bring flashcards or some sort of reading material(textbook, printouts, novels, whatever you like).
I might be the same way... I tried walking with listening to stuff and I couldn't do it. I contemplated bringing textbooks but I'm not sure if they'd be too heavy. I guess I could do that when I'm not bringing my laptop with me.
