JapanesePod101.com Blog

Hi there listener, When students start learning Japanese, a ton of questions start popping into their brains like... “How’d the Japanese language come to be?” “What are the top 100 Japanese words I should know?” “What’s the deal with this crazy grammar?” “Where’s a good dictionary when you need one?” You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers. You’ll find them and a lot more at the newly redesigned Japanese Resources Corner. It covers everything from language origins, the writing system, grammar, and must-know vocabulary down to extras like mobile apps and the dictionary. Best of all, you get access to FREE resources like: About the Japanese Language Japanese Pronunciation Introduction to Grammar Grammar Bank Japanese... Show more

Hello Listener, Why go for anything less? Right about now, the best of the best are gathering in London for the 30th Modern Olympic Games. That’s over 10,000 athletes, all aiming for a gold medal. Their eyes are on the prize. Are yours? Want to learn Japanese? You will. Unlike at the Olympics, there’s no losing here; you only get better - day by day, word by word, grammar rule by grammar rule. So, don’t just learn a few phrases, learn to speak Japanese the way you know your own language. Go for the gold and go for fluency with JapanesePod101. Until the end of the Olympics (August 12th), save 30% on ALL Basic & Premium Subscriptions and unlock the biggest Japanese lesson library online. Click Here To Lock In Your... Show more

Greetings from Team JapanesePod101! We’re stopping by the blog today to tell you about an exciting new feature we’re slowly rolling out on the website. A few select users have been chosen to test drive the new Dashboard feature. Log in to your account today to see if you’re one of them! The new Dashboard aims to help you track your Japanese learning quickly and easily. We’ve produced a lot of lessons in our lifetime and while we pride ourselves on offering a wide variety of lessons to our users, we realized that it can been pretty overwhelming for some. Where do I start? What level is best for me? What series do I move on to now? These were common questions coming in from avid users like you, so we set out to solve these... Show more

Hello Listener, Last week, we confirmed Bulgarian, Finnish, and Vietnamese are coming in July, 2012. In fact, you can go and sign up right now! Just keep in mind that these fast, fun, and easy lessons don’t start ‘til July 2nd, while we get ready for launch. But let’s get back on track. The next three languages are... *drumroll* Filipino, Norwegian, and Turkish! Why these languages? The users have spoken. And we had to deliver. Plus, while there were tons of website teaching a few basic words and phrases, they all skipped what really matters: speaking and understanding native conversation. Before you choose one (or all three), remember – every new lesson published will be FREE to access for 3 weeks, when... Show more

Hi there listener, 200 Million Lesson Downloads! That’s a ton of lessons downloaded! That’s a lot of Japanese mastered! Since we couldn’t have done it without you, we gave out 120 Premium Memberships! Did You Win? Click Here To See The List of Winners! If you missed out on the big giveaway, here’s another chance to learn Japanese for LESS. Save 20% on Premium at JapanesePod101.com until July 4th and... Master the ins and outs of daily conversation Learn Japanese culture directly from native hosts Understand Japanese conversation instantly without stopping to think Start speaking ASAP from the very first lesson Premium JapanesePod101.com Access! Click Here To See The Benefits! 20% OFF Our Most... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hello everyone, Motoko here. Today’s post is a report from our bowling tournament! The full-time staff at Innovative Language Learning (which I’ll call just Innovative from now on) all took part in a bowling tournament. Initially we were going to have a team-on-team match, but we ended up playing as individuals. 　 A グループ対抗戦　(gurūpu taikōsen) means, just as you can see from the Kanji characters, competing as a group. Conversely, a 個人戦 (kojinsen), individual match, is when you yourself are your only ally and you compete... Show more

Hello Listener, Get ready! We’re getting some new additions to the family! No, you’re not getting a brother or a sister. Come July 2nd, 2012, 6 new languages will join the Innovative Language family. That’s a total of 27 languages that you can be fluent in. And knowing how insanely passionate about language our listeners are, 27 will not be a problem. Want to know what the new languages are? Here are the first three! Bulgarian, Finnish, and Vietnamese. And the others? Find out in an upcoming blog post, but in the meantime, tell us which languages you’d like to see next! Why learn with Innovative Language? It’s the tried and tested Pod101 method we’ve been doing since 2005! And it’s the lessons that our listeners... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi everyone! Motoko here! A few weeks ago, we celebrated the marriage of Marvin. He's part of our Technical Team and is from Germany. The wedding ceremony was held in May – and what’s more, his bride is Japanese! In Japan, there are all kinds of wedding ceremonies. There’s the traditional Shintō shinzenshiki, which is held at a shrine, and the Buddhist butsuzenshiki, which is held at a temple; there’s also the kyōkaishiki, or church wedding, which has been gaining popularity in recent years. Another more unusual variant... Show more

Hey there Listener! Here’s a thought: The world around you needs to have little Japanese labels. Anything you see, you’d know its Japanese meaning immediately. Office building? Check. Train station and everything inside? Check. The items in your kitchen? Check. Learning Japanese would take half the time! With InnovativeLanguage.com’s Visual Dictionary Japanese iBook, you can do just that. This Visual Dictionary is the first of its kind. Even iTunes has noticed! Learn by Exploring the World in Japanese! Just tap and zoom through 26 different everyday scenarios. You see the word in its real-world context, read it and hear its pronunciation. From the city streets, to train stations, and right down to your own... Show more

Today, we bring you a blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi everyone! Motoko here. Today’s blog is about the concept of off-kai. At the beginning of this month, two JapanesePod101.com listeners came to visit us at the office. Apparently we often used to have listeners come and visit us, but for me it was the first time, so I was really excited. Christophe was from Switzerland, and said that he tries to come to Japan at least once a year. It was really clear to me that he loves Japan! This time he visited our Tokyo office with his friend, who is also a JapanesePod101.com listener.... Show more