Comments on: News #98 - Meet the Team and Find Out Who’s Behind the Scenes of all Our Great Japanese Lessons! http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/ Learn Japanese with Daily Podcasts from Tokyo Whether you are Japan-bound or a seasoned speaker, our lessons offer something for everyone. We incorporate culture and current issues into each episode to give the most informative, both linguistically and culturally, podcasts possible. For those of you with just the plane ride to prepare, check our survival phrase series at Japanesepod101.com. One of these phrases just might turn your trip into the best one ever! Yoroshiku O-negai Shimasu! Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:30:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.11 by: Mark http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-575686 Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:34:54 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-575686 Yeah, I'm living in Japan. I don't get as much free time as I'd like but I do try to check out something new each day if I can. I've just checked out the PARTICLES lessons and I have to say I think they're great, especially from units 10-15. Looking forward to many more things guys.... Yeah, I’m living in Japan. I don’t get as much free time as I’d like but I do try to check out something new each day if I can. I’ve just checked out the PARTICLES lessons and I have to say I think they’re great, especially from units 10-15.

Looking forward to many more things guys….

]]> by: Jessi http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-551273 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:17:52 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-551273 kabukiguyさん and Shimezawaさん, Thanks for your suggestions about advanced lessons, and thank you also for the links. We're looking into them to get ideas for possible advanced lessons ideas. Thanks again! graeme.さん, Thanks for your nice comment!! I do the best I can to try and keep up with the comments and forums and get back to everyone :smile: Markさん, Thank you for your kind words! So you are living in Japan now? We're really glad to hear that you find the content useful!:mrgreen: kabukiguyさん and Shimezawaさん,
Thanks for your suggestions about advanced lessons, and thank you also for the links. We’re looking into them to get ideas for possible advanced lessons ideas. Thanks again!

graeme.さん,
Thanks for your nice comment!! I do the best I can to try and keep up with the comments and forums and get back to everyone :smile:

Markさん,
Thank you for your kind words! So you are living in Japan now? We’re really glad to hear that you find the content useful! :mrgreen:

]]> by: Mark http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-551225 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:53:53 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-551225 I studied a lot using JP101 last summer during my summer break back in the UK, and learnt so much useful stuff that has actually helped me with my English teaching here in Tokyo... from the simple things such as Onomatopaea sounds such as "parapara" to useful idioms such as "asameshimae".... the lessons are easy to relate to, and I don't feel I have my head stuck in a coursebook. You guys are legends! I studied a lot using JP101 last summer during my summer break back in the UK, and learnt so much useful stuff that has actually helped me with my English teaching here in Tokyo… from the simple things such as Onomatopaea sounds such as “parapara” to useful idioms such as “asameshimae”…. the lessons are easy to relate to, and I don’t feel I have my head stuck in a coursebook.

You guys are legends!

]]> by: kabukiguy http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549400 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:31:06 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549400 This is great, Shimezawa-san. I hadn't seen or known about these sites. You've really been helpful. This is great, Shimezawa-san. I hadn’t seen or known about these sites. You’ve really been helpful.

]]> by: Shimewaza http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549372 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:44:40 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549372 Kabukiguy, I have Living Japanese too and I agree that its good. You are right that students of Japanese can get a false sense of security when listening only to prepared dialogues. Jumping into the deep end too soon is just discouraging, so these dialogues definitely have their place. But when a certain level is reached, perhaps intermediate, I think the student should start taking the plunge. The Japanese podcasts, DVD's, and TV shows, having been made for a Japanese audience, are certainly the raw Japanese you refer to but you can pause, replay, and check the Japanese subtitles in the case of DVD's, so that's why I like using them. For sure, just passive listening is much less effective than drilling out loud or even better practicing with a partner. I find the key to fixing new Japanese words and expression in my head, is to actually successfully use them in a spontaneous conversation. If you don't have partners to practice with, you might check out this Skype language exchange site: http://www.language-exchanges.org/ Regarding the comparatively few advanced lessons that I've encountered, while a full English translation is great if provided, personally I'm happy if there is simply a Japanese transcript (Thank god for Eijiro and Rikaichan). Anything else is icing. I'm looking forward to seeing what Japanesepod101 instructors come up with. PS: I put it on the Forum post I mentioned before but here it is again in case you haven't seen it. I think this might be the kind of Japanese you are after. http://www.voiceblog.jp/japaneselistening/ http://japaneselistening.blogspot.com/ This one is also pretty good http://www.njuku.com/ Kabukiguy,

I have Living Japanese too and I agree that its good. You are right that students of Japanese can get a false sense of security when listening only to prepared dialogues. Jumping into the deep end too soon is just discouraging, so these dialogues definitely have their place. But when a certain level is reached, perhaps intermediate, I think the student should start taking the plunge. The Japanese podcasts, DVD’s, and TV shows, having been made for a Japanese audience, are certainly the raw Japanese you refer to but you can pause, replay, and check the Japanese subtitles in the case of DVD’s, so that’s why I like using them.

For sure, just passive listening is much less effective than drilling out loud or even better practicing with a partner. I find the key to fixing new Japanese words and expression in my head, is to actually successfully use them in a spontaneous conversation. If you don’t have partners to practice with, you might check out this Skype language exchange site:
http://www.language-exchanges.org/

Regarding the comparatively few advanced lessons that I’ve encountered, while a full English translation is great if provided, personally I’m happy if there is simply a Japanese transcript (Thank god for Eijiro and Rikaichan). Anything else is icing. I’m looking forward to seeing what Japanesepod101 instructors come up with.

PS: I put it on the Forum post I mentioned before but here it is again in case you haven’t seen it. I think this might be the kind of Japanese you are after.
http://www.voiceblog.jp/japaneselistening/
http://japaneselistening.blogspot.com/
This one is also pretty good
http://www.njuku.com/

]]> by: Ｓｉｎｄｙシンディー http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549280 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:44:28 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549280 Peter-san! ありがとうございました。 I never had the change to say it but I'm really sorry for all those bad comments I made in the past, I learn my lesson and thanks to you and JP101, I learned hiragana and Katakana. I'm struggling myself now with Kanji and I'm very happy to be a listener all this years. I'm 25 years old now and I'm try to be more muture from now on. Thank you again and hope to meet you and all this wonderful team in the future. :grin: S_R_C Peter-san!

ありがとうございました。 I never had the change to say it but I’m really sorry for all those bad comments I made in the past, I learn my lesson and thanks to you and JP101, I learned hiragana and Katakana. I’m struggling myself now with Kanji and I’m very happy to be a listener all this years. I’m 25 years old now and I’m try to be more muture from now on. Thank you again and hope to meet you and all this wonderful team in the future. :grin: S_R_C

]]> by: graeme. http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549265 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:05:30 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549265 @all of jpod101.com ありがとうございました。今年もよろしくお願いします。 @peterさん, thanks for continuing to be so integrated into lessons. It gives the site a family feel more than a corporate feel if you know what I mean. Also, a big thanks for what you and your team did for the audio on wwwjdic. I laughed pretty hard when your voice came up 'the audio for this will uploaded shortly'. :smile: @jessiさん, thanks for taking care of the comment and forum sections. Its a big deal to me and I'm sure many others knowing that the jpod101.com staff values all of our posts. :twisted: @all of jpod101.com ありがとうございました。今年もよろしくお願いします。

@peterさん, thanks for continuing to be so integrated into lessons. It gives the site a family feel more than a corporate feel if you know what I mean. Also, a big thanks for what you and your team did for the audio on wwwjdic. I laughed pretty hard when your voice came up ‘the audio for this will uploaded shortly’. :smile:

@jessiさん, thanks for taking care of the comment and forum sections. Its a big deal to me and I’m sure many others knowing that the jpod101.com staff values all of our posts.

:twisted:

]]> by: kabukiguy http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549264 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:04:23 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549264 It's great to see these recent responses, and thanks to Shimezawa for the suggestions. For me, the problem is not so much finding stuff to listen to, which is abundant, of course, but of being able to talk back, even in the form of drills. A lot of programs pooh-pooh drills and try what they say are more up-to-date pedagogical methods, but I've always credited the drills I practiced for whatever abilities I have. Anyway, more actual conversational experiences are crucial to learning Japanese. Anyone who listens over and over to the lessons on programs like Japanesepod101 will certainly improve their comprehension skills, but only to a limit. Once they go to Japan and hear a real conversation they'll realize how little they actually know, as most of what they hear will be incomprehensible and will require one on one experience with native speakers. There are (or were) some commercially available programs on tape (pre-CD), like インタビューで日本語 (from Bonjinsha)　and a similar one for newscasts, but their written materials were entirely in Japanese. If you're going to publish a training program for people to listen to advanced Japanese conversation, and there are no translations provided to follow the dialogue, why bother? Anyone able to comprehend such advanced-level conversations wouldn't need such a program. Even in the transcripts one can't make heads or tails of much of the dialogue because of all the contractions and other conversational tics used by the speakers. One good thing about the Japanesepod101 lessons is the translations, although these sometimes do have problems of accuracy or nonliteralness. Also, students shouldn't be lulled into complacency by the clarity of the speakers on these lessons. The speakers are all actors or voice-over professionals, and they are always easy to follow. Listen, however, to how everyday Japanese people speak (as on the tapes I mentioned), and you'll soon realize how artificial the lessons are from the point of listening to "real" Japanese. This is true of practically every advanced Japanese program I've ever used, so it's not Japanesepod101's fault for following the same path. Finally, I should mention that there's a challenging new program available with an accompanying DVD where you get to actually see the speakers, who are everyday Japanese, and to follow their words in a textbook. Again, unfortunately, although much of the text is in English, the conversations are not translated, so you have to struggle with much of the material, but it's a step in the right direction: it's called Living Japanese (Ikita Nihongo), by Karen Colligan-Taylor, and is from Yale UP. Listening to people talking spontaneously, with all their hesitations, sucking of breath, self-corrections, verbal abbreviations, slang, swallowing of final words (just as in any language) will show you what actual Japanese sounds like, not the overly formal constructions and excellent speaking (often at a slowed-down pace) of the average language program. I'm hoping Japanesepod101 moves in this direction some day. I keep wondering: when all the non-native speakers involved in Japanesepod101 learned Japanese, how did they achieve fluency? By the methods provided here or in some other way? It’s great to see these recent responses, and thanks to Shimezawa for the suggestions. For me, the problem is not so much finding stuff to listen to, which is abundant, of course, but of being able to talk back, even in the form of drills. A lot of programs pooh-pooh drills and try what they say are more up-to-date pedagogical methods, but I’ve always credited the drills I practiced for whatever abilities I have. Anyway, more actual conversational experiences are crucial to learning Japanese. Anyone who listens over and over to the lessons on programs like Japanesepod101 will certainly improve their comprehension skills, but only to a limit. Once they go to Japan and hear a real conversation they’ll realize how little they actually know, as most of what they hear will be incomprehensible and will require one on one experience with native speakers. There are (or were) some commercially available programs on tape (pre-CD), like インタビューで日本語 (from Bonjinsha)　and a similar one for newscasts, but their written materials were entirely in Japanese. If you’re going to publish a training program for people to listen to advanced Japanese conversation, and there are no translations provided to follow the dialogue, why bother? Anyone able to comprehend such advanced-level conversations wouldn’t need such a program. Even in the transcripts one can’t make heads or tails of much of the dialogue because of all the contractions and other conversational tics used by the speakers. One good thing about the Japanesepod101 lessons is the translations, although these sometimes do have problems of accuracy or nonliteralness. Also, students shouldn’t be lulled into complacency by the clarity of the speakers on these lessons. The speakers are all actors or voice-over professionals, and they are always easy to follow. Listen, however, to how everyday Japanese people speak (as on the tapes I mentioned), and you’ll soon realize how artificial the lessons are from the point of listening to “real” Japanese. This is true of practically every advanced Japanese program I’ve ever used, so it’s not Japanesepod101’s fault for following the same path. Finally, I should mention that there’s a challenging new program available with an accompanying DVD where you get to actually see the speakers, who are everyday Japanese, and to follow their words in a textbook. Again, unfortunately, although much of the text is in English, the conversations are not translated, so you have to struggle with much of the material, but it’s a step in the right direction: it’s called Living Japanese (Ikita Nihongo), by Karen Colligan-Taylor, and is from Yale UP. Listening to people talking spontaneously, with all their hesitations, sucking of breath, self-corrections, verbal abbreviations, slang, swallowing of final words (just as in any language) will show you what actual Japanese sounds like, not the overly formal constructions and excellent speaking (often at a slowed-down pace) of the average language program. I’m hoping Japanesepod101 moves in this direction some day. I keep wondering: when all the non-native speakers involved in Japanesepod101 learned Japanese, how did they achieve fluency? By the methods provided here or in some other way?

]]> by: Peter http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549258 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:28:37 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549258 Ｓｉｎｄｙシンディーさん、ごめん！Thanks for listening all these years. :grin: We'll keep you posted on the audio blog, as it's looking like the second half of the year. よろしくお願いします！ Ｓｉｎｄｙシンディーさん、ごめん！Thanks for listening all these years. :grin: We’ll keep you posted on the audio blog, as it’s looking like the second half of the year. よろしくお願いします！

]]> by: Peter http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549257 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:26:50 +0000 http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/24/news-98-meet-the-team/#comment-549257 Julie-san, maido! Thanks all the comments. :) Ryuda-san, arigatou gozaimasu! We'll try to put together a video one of these days. :) Mimi-san, arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for the great message. Fer-san, arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for the awesome comment. Sakura got a kick out of it! On a side note, the pictures were actually taken by a listener of ours from Hawaii who came to visit. Todd-san (the listener) is a video/photo guru, so he made it happen. Fun day! Edwin-san, thank you for listening! It's thanks to you that this was realized. Arigatou gozaimasu! Stanley-san, 本当にありがとうございます！。Thanks for all the support and for spreading the word! We really appreciate it! (bow) Rigo-san, ありがとうございます！ Kabukiguy-san, the female talent were quite smitten by your first line! :) Thanks for the great feedback. We're currently in the bat cave working on some really interesting projects and surprises. While our reaction time is slower these days, we are listening. :) Please keep the great feedback coming, and we're currently working on some advanced language learning material. :) Your great feedback will definitely be factored in. Thx! Shimewaza-san, again. Thank you for the great feedback. We were actually discussing that thread the other day. Advanced material is a topic we're hoping to tackle this year. Also, great advice on access to advanced Japanese. Raymasaki-san arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for listening along with us! Wow, feels really great to comment again! Have been locked in the lab working on a big project, and they finally let me out. hehe. Thanks again everyone! We truly appreciate your support! And look forward to many more years together. :grin: Julie-san, maido! Thanks all the comments. :)

Ryuda-san, arigatou gozaimasu! We’ll try to put together a video one of these days. :)

Mimi-san, arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for the great message.

Fer-san, arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for the awesome comment. Sakura got a kick out of it! On a side note, the pictures were actually taken by a listener of ours from Hawaii who came to visit. Todd-san (the listener) is a video/photo guru, so he made it happen. Fun day!

Edwin-san, thank you for listening! It’s thanks to you that this was realized. Arigatou gozaimasu!

Stanley-san, 本当にありがとうございます！。Thanks for all the support and for spreading the word! We really appreciate it! (bow)

Rigo-san, ありがとうございます！

Kabukiguy-san, the female talent were quite smitten by your first line! :) Thanks for the great feedback. We’re currently in the bat cave working on some really interesting projects and surprises. While our reaction time is slower these days, we are listening. :) Please keep the great feedback coming, and we’re currently working on some advanced language learning material. :) Your great feedback will definitely be factored in. Thx!

Shimewaza-san, again. Thank you for the great feedback. We were actually discussing that thread the other day. Advanced material is a topic we’re hoping to tackle this year. Also, great advice on access to advanced Japanese.

Raymasaki-san arigatou gozaimasu! Thanks for listening along with us!

Wow, feels really great to comment again! Have been locked in the lab working on a big project, and they finally let me out. hehe.

Thanks again everyone! We truly appreciate your support! And look forward to many more years together. :grin:

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