I have to say I really like the column format of the Kanji PDF. I find I need to review the material a number of times shortly after the podcast to retain it. The column format of the pdf is nice because I can cover up most of it with a piece of paper to test myself.

My review schedule by the way is:
1st - 10mins after listening to cast.
2ns - 10 mins after that.
3rd - 1 hr after that.
4th - later in the evening.
The reviews are not long, hopefully on 5 to 15 mins depending.

What methods do others use to retain the material?

Minty.

Minty-san,

After all of that, I forgot to address your question

It seems that you’ve got a good grasp of the way your brain retains material. In addition to returning to the material progressively, the more ways that you deal with the material, the easier it will be to retain. If you listen to the podcast, then return later and listen again, etc. you will have good results. However, add reading the PDF and you’ll have better results. Add writing the Japanese text as well… add repeating it outloud… your retention will skyrocket. And if you reeaaallllyyy want to top it off: teach a friend what you’ve just learned. You’ll find that when you set out to give information to others, you’re dealing with the information in a new way that calls for you to really grasp it and make it your own. Of course, part of this is making sure that you don’t give somebody misinformation.

Here is an interesting article that covers relearning frequency:
http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/vocab/principles/systematic_learning.htm

Hope you find that interesting!

Nathan-san, thanks for the feedback! Bear with me, as it was my first day on the job(working long hours ) But constructive criticism is always welcome! We were actually planning on doing a better introduction, but there is too few hours in a day…

Now I have to get to bed! oyasuminasai!

Jonas

KamenRider-san,

Although I am not part of the staff, I’ll give you my take on it. The casual dialogs are not lessons themselves, but rather casual versions of dialogs in the actual lessons. Keeping that in mind, there is a lot of discussion about the casual dialogs that goes unsaid. If they put up a feed for these tracks, they are endorsing them as part of the “JapanesePod101 Podcast Package” and this bears the big responsibility of making sure people understand what’s going on and why, and how to not misuse the information.

As it is now, these are simply bonus, supplemental information for those who wish to take their studies to the next level. JapanesePod is not saying “hey, we’re teaching you the casual, too”. Instead, they’re saying, “for inquiring minds, we’re going the extra mile to give you some supplemental information, but this is NOT A LESSON”. If these were part of the intermediate or advanced lessons, then I would agree with you, but I would also expect explanation of the casual elements.

I don’t think it’s only about driving traffic to the site, but personally, I have no problem at all dropping by once a day to grab the EXCELLENT bonus material. I hope that even if my thoughts aren’t the thoughts of the staff at JP101, they might still shed a little light on some of the possibilities.

Jonas-san,

I understand! You did a great job for your first day, and I was not trying to demean that in any way. JP101 is bringing us so many great things, I understand that it all takes time and lots of effort. Keep up the great work!

I preferred it when the formal and informal version was incorporated into the same lesson. Now I have to manually import the files into iTunes each day if I want to maintain an archive. That’s not very user-friendly, the only flaw in an otherwise awesome podcast.

KamenRider-san,

I am still a bit behind on lessons, but I believe the only time that they were incorporated into the same podcast was in the intermediate lessons. This goes along with what I mentioned earlier. Giving casual speech in beginning lessons brings up the concerns I attempted to address. Of course, I may be mistaken since I haven’t completely caught up with the non-intermediate lessons. Please forgive me if so!

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure it happened at least once.

I just feel that the lessons should be made as accessible as possible, and having so many bonus tracks detracts from that. Before I could hit one button to keep up to date, now I have to come to the site, download files, import them into iTunes and then try to organize them in a way that makes sense. I can do that, but the whole point of having a feed is that the computer can do the busy work for you.

I’ve said enough, just my two cents. I’ll keep listening either way.

yes, let’s keep this up! I welcome both the Kanji Close up and the Informal versions…

please put them into the podcast downloads.

Thanks again

Ay up J-pod101 team!

not related to this lesson but I do have a question.

as the guys know I listen to J-pod 101 while driving my truck. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who speaks, is learning or is interested in learning Japanese and so get no opportunity to to practice to an audience (other than driving my poor wife and daughter to homicidal distraction) or to get my ears ‘tuned in to the language’ outside the excellent j-pod101 lessons
I scouted around I-tunes and found a pod cast (can’t remember under what listing) whose description was in kanji script and so on a whim subscribed. It tuned out to be a spoken language podcast in Japanese, short episodes and different contributors. I only pick up the odd Japanese word here and there and the Katagana words used. In one episode I think people were talking about their holiday in Brazil and in another it sounded like some bloke was waffling on about French wines.

The Jingle sounds like ‘Nippon Hozo Podcasting Station’

I listen religiously, partly because I love the jingle but have little idea what exactly I am listening to!

does anyone out there have a clue? if so i’d love to know

Cheers chaps
Ta Ra

Thank you so much for the Kanji corner. Keep up your excellent work. My Japanese friend was so impressed by being wished 節 分 鬼は外！福は

BTW,

I was just enlightened by the –Chan thing, really great that you guys let the conversation flow. I discover more every day!

Natsuko is really funny!!! Hi Nats!!!

The “Kanji Closeup” was awesome! More please
My only question: do you guys sleep?
- ジョン

Man, so many comments!

First of all, Kevin-san: What do you mean with a pain in the neck to close? If you are looking for a lightweight pdf reader, have a look at www.foxitsoftware.com. They have a really nice one that is really fast. Not like the sloooow adope one (I use it on my old 500mhz box).

John-san: I dont think Peter does I was lucky and got 5 hours sleep yesterday, but since it was my first day, Peter went easy on me

Jay-san: kanji kloseup, huh? Sounds like a KDE application (not sure if you are familiar with Linux and KDE, but if you are, you`ll understand) )
About the kanji, thanks for the feedback. We know it is still room for improvement, since we developed the format, produced, edited and published it yesterday So any feedback is great! Actually, Ikebukuro is ike + fukuro, where ike is pond, and fukuro means bag. Sometimes, when kanji is put together, the sound of the second one changes, like fukuro to bukuro. Another example, using fukuro is “paperbag”, which is kamibukuro (I`m sure you get what part means paper )

Jonas

Nick-san,

I’m not sure exactly what you were asking for, but I checked iTunes, and found some podcasts by ニッポン放送 (Nippon Housou), including one called “ニッポン放送 Podcasting STATION”. You can find their website here:

http://podcast.1242.com/

Hope that helps!

*Whew!* Finally got caught up!

The Kanji corner is a great, great idea, but it’s something that begs to be a video podcast.

Also, maybe you could make one more podcast stream for all the extras. I realize that not wanting to right click, save the mp3 file, drag it into itunes and then drag it into your iPod is the epitome of lazy, but I love being able to plug my iPod in before I hit the road and have all the new stuff on it.

Other than that, the overall quality the podcast has actually greatly improved since a few weeks ago; and here I was concerned that you’d be able to sustain it. Great job, again!

Matthew-san,

Your points are well-taken, and I agree that Matt’s suggestion is very constructive.

I would guess, however, that for business reasons Jpod101 needs to pave the way for “premium content” subscriptions, and that probably entails generating traffic to this website. Given the extremely high and improving level of these podcasts, nobody should begrudge this inspired team their salaries!

こんにちは、なつこです。
Again, so many posts!! Thank you very much to everyone!

JP-san, thank you, you really flatter me! I’m a bit embarrassed. Am I improving as an actress?!

Also, I really appreciate all the opinions on Kanji Close-ups. I’m glad that most of you liked it, but since this is a new project for us, we really want to improve it to meet you needs as much as we can!

じゃあ、またね！

Steve-san

What was the name of the children’s book? Can you remember?

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions, and apologies for the delay in responding! The new Kanji Close-up addition is still being formatted! Things to do, things to do.
Regarding requests for inclusion of the informal dialogue into RSS feed, our official position is as follows:
The inclusion of the informal and formal dialogues into one track was done in an intermediate lesson, as intermediate students, by our definition, have a better understanding of selecting which Japanese, formal or informal, to use according to the situation that presents itself. Even with this presumption, we still take the time to explain that this is not for formal situations and not to be used when speaking with teachers, clients, business associates, etc. We try to be as careful as possible.
For non-advanced students, we think it would be a bit inappropriate to provide the informal Japanese without providing as much explanation as possible, including multiple explanations about when to use informal Japanese and when not to, and by separating the tracks we feel we have a bit more control over this, as visitors will be more likely to read the material, ask questions about usage, etc. Our worst nightmare is someone burning a bridge, causing an awkward situation, by using informal Japanese they learned here. Remember, we are not teaching informal Japanese, but giving this to you as a supplemental study material. We feel it is important to know this material as anyone with intimate Japanese friends will hear this form or use this form, but with this knowledge comes the need for knowledge about when to use this Japanese (we call it situational sense).
We will, however, carefully and thoroughly evaluate all suggestions, including Matt’s suggestion. We’ll keep you posted.

Nathan-san’s and Bob-san’s posts sum up our views very nicely! Thanks guys!

Was this helpful?

Thanks for all the comments! Will be back tomorrow to properly address them! Yoroshiku!

Peter, Sakura and Natsuko

I am not certain this is the best place to leave this messge but…

Just wanted to thank you all so much for your excellent Podcast. It is really a joy to listen to your lessons, you all sound like you are having a great time and enjoy each others company.

I travel to Japan almost every other month and have been listening to tapes for about a year and making almost no progress with Japanese. I thought it was just my lack of language talent. However listening to JapanesePod101 for the last several months and concentrating on the Survival Phrases (listening over and over) I have finally really made progress!

Even my business associates are noticing that I can do things like introduce myself without people wondering what I am saying. On my last trip I was able to use almost all the phrases you taught. I actually look forward to trying out the phrases while crusing around Tokyo.

One of the reasons for this progress is that you provide the PDF on the lessons - thank you, thank you. Being able to review the vocabulary in the evenings is what is really helping to drive home the language. I take the PDF and reformat the phrases into a table to so I can more easily test myself on the phrases and vocabulary

I have been picking and choosing the lessons a bit and plan on just going ahead and at least giving them all a listen because you all are just fun to listen to. Most of my listening is done while exercising, and now I am listing in the car. My children think I am completely wasting my iPod but I really think you make this little device valuable.

One question / request – can you do some lessons on saying goodbye? I know there are so many ways and options it would be excellent to hear your suggestions.

Also on the videos it would fun to see all of you talking in a restaurant or something like that. After all this time spent with you it would be fun to see you.

Thanks again.

Morgan

Hello all ,

Although I’m not using iPod, I use itunes, so it is very convenient that podcasts get automatically updated. I think including bonus tracks will be very useful.

Right now there are two podcats:
(1) with video
(2) without video.
This is actually confusing , for example, reviews and ratings for them go separately.

I suggest that we reorganize them into:
(1) major podcast
(2) only video
(3) only bonus tracks

Joey-san: Of the 3, “naze” is probalby the least commonly used, but that is not to say it isnt used. “Naze” feels a bit more formal maybe… Hard to explain. But they can generally be used interchangally

Jonas

In this lesson, I heard kaze1973 said: 今夜ですけど。What does ですけど mean? Can anyone kindly explain to me? ありがとうごさいます。

Benedict-san and Joey-san,

Sorry for the delayed response!

です is the polite form of the copula, and roughly corresponds to the English “to be.” (You probably knew that one already.)

けど is a conjunction that can be used similarly to the English “but” or “however.” It is common to end a sentence with けど, as is done in this case, in order to soften the sentence - make it less direct. It is similar, perhaps, to the following:

Would you like to catch a movie?
When?
Tonight.

vs.

Would you like to catch a movie?
When?
Tonight, if that’s okay…

It leaves the sentence open-ended, and thus allows for the listener to have more leeway to express their feelings or response. There are a number of subtle nuances that ending the sentence in けど can express, but I hope this helps you understand what is happening in this case!

Nathan-san, arigatou gozaimasu! i’ve been wondering this for a while but now thanks to your explanation i get it.

Ireneさん、
“de” is a particle used with locations to indicate where an action has taken place.
ie de mimasu.
See it at the house.
gakkou de mimasu.
See it at the school.
doko de mimasu ka.
where do (will you) see it.
The particle is not used when no action takes place.
ima doko ni imasu ka.
where are you now.
gakkou ni imasu.
I am at school.
In these cases, “de” is not used because no action is taking place.

Hope this helps.
John

Wow, this is a great lesson and I’ve been finding it quite difficult - but perservering! Just joined up JPod101 a couple of weeks ago so lots of catching up to do!

Also, thanks above for explanation of ですけど as I was wondering about that too.

Tony

This site works for me:

http://www.jlpt-kanji.com/

Is there a reason why the negative form of miru is used in the question, shall we go and see a movie together? Does this technically become - Wouldn’t you like to see a movie with me?
Is a negative verb often used for asking questions?

Darren you figured it out exactly, in Japanese you can you the negative version of a sentence as an invitation!
I wouldn’t recommend thinking it as only “wouldn’t you like to…?”
Because the more your study, the more you’ll find variations. But start with the idea that to use a negative question with a rising intonation is a way to make an invitation.

飲みませんか？ would you like to drink?
食べませんか？ would you like to eat？
行きませんか? 　would you like to go?

welcome aboard!!! and we’re glad to have you here!!

old messages aren’t regularly monitored, but we try our best! (actually i hope you’re posted on this message and get my response.

about “shi”

i don’t really understand your question because the examples you gave are quite different — actually they are touching on grammatical items that are way beyond this lesson.

but…
楽しい tanoshii - means happy, fun (this shii is the normal adjective ending)
楽しくて tanoshikute - means… well… it means that this -i adjective is occurring in a context where the adjective is joining with something else,
for example, このサイトは楽しくて安いよ！ kono saito wa tanoshikute yasui yo!
this website is fun and cheap!

there is a particle し (shi) that means “etc” or “among other things.”
but it didn’t occur in this lesson…

btw - everyone moves at a different pace and has different exposure levels,
so i invite you and everyone else to camp out not only in the current lesson threads, but also in the forum. there are soooo many people here who have great insight and tips! and, of course, jpod staff hangs out here too, so, ENJOY!