JapanesePod101.com Blog

To help you break the monotony of Kanji study, we came up with a fun game using Twitter! To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101 (What's Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.) How to Play Japanese Kanji Scrabble On the day we play in the morning (Japan time), we'll select 10 Kanji: 1 Key Kanji and 9 other possible suffix and/or prefix Kanji. Example Tweet: Kanji Scrabble #01 　二、本、一、国、人、十、中、三、時 (Learn How to Play Here is what you do: 1. Using the Key Kanji (the one in brackets): Make as many compound words using the Key Kanji and Kanji in the list *Remember each compound you create must included the Key Kanji* 2. Write those compounds in a reply to our tweet... Show more

To keep you updated on our lessons and better communicate with you, we created a Twitter account (actually a long time ago) and urge you to do so too! In case you're confused what in the world Twitter is or don't know how or why you would use Twitter, we've made a simple FAQ & guide just for you. What is "Twitter"? Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service. Each post is limited to 140 characters so that each post, called a "tweet", is short and to the point. This makes it perfect quickly sharing internet links, messages or ideas with others. To see automatic updates of others' tweets, you go to their page and then "follow" them. If they want to see your tweets, they'll follow you. 1. Start your own account To start using... Show more

Top Secret Project with the Legendary Jim Breen Finished! Well, it’s done, and it’s alive! Mr. Jim Breen, Innovative Language Learning, and JapanesePod101.com, are happy to announce that EDICT, Jim Breen’s legendary Japanese to English dictionary, now has… Audio clips for all entries! So what exactly am I going on about? First, let me back up a second. If you’re studying Japanese, you’ve encountered Jim Breen’s EDICT Japanese to English dictionary, whether directly at WWWJDIC or through another Japanese language learning tool. (Many popular Japanese language learning tools use EDICT.) Having used the dictionary at WWWJDIC countless times during my Japanese studies, I’m a huge fan of the site. Last November, I... Show more

Welcome to the JapanesePod101.com blog, Feature Spotlight. Here we would like to periodically introduce some well known features as well as some not so well known features here at JapanesePod101.com. We want to make sure everyone knows about all the great features that you can use to master Japanese in just minutes a day. Today we would like to introduce My Feed. This is a fully customizable RSS feed. What's that mean? Well, for those that haven't studied up on the latest Web 2.0 technology, that basically allows Premium members to decide exactly what lesson content they want on their Premium feed. Here's 3 simple steps on how you can use My Feed to really master Japanese: You decide exactly what you want. You download what you... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary As a multicultural citizen of the world, you've probably left your hometown behind. You may miss it occasionally, but what do you miss? The way the hills and valleys came together, a river running through it? The scent of honeysuckle in summers, and the crickets that never stopped chirping? The brilliant autumn displays, and the heavy snows in winter? Do you miss the kind of people from that area? Your family in particular? The food you can't find anywhere else? Your house and the room that was yours and yours alone? The familiarity of everything in that house—the layout, the way the place smelled, the possessions that acquired so much meaning along the way? Or... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Today we'll start with a Verbal Logic Quiz! But first, consider this compound: 郷土 (kyōdo: native place; birthplace; old home)     village + soil If you come from Kyoto, you're lucky, because you can say this: 京都は郷土だ。 Kyōto wa kyōdo da. My hometown is Kyoto. OK, now you're ready for the quiz! Quiz 1: If-Then 1. If 色 (SHOKU, iro) means "color," what color is 郷土色 (kyōdoshoku: village + soil + color)? Does the answer vary with the color of the local soil? 2. If 博物館 (hakubutsukan) means "museum," what kind of museum is 郷土博物館 (kyōdo hakubutsukan: village + soil + extensive (knowledge) + physical phenomenon + public building)? 3. If 文学 (bungaku) means... Show more

Many listeners tell us when and where they listen to our podcasts.  At school, in the car, while walking their dogs, on the train, etc. But maybe sometimes it's TOO convenient...  Simon wrote in to tell us where he has listened to our podcast and about a time when he made a funny mistake while living with a host family in Japan. "I'm an avid fan of Japanese Pod 101. I love the lessons and I listen to them at every opportunity I get (including on the toilet! Whoops - too much information!). Anyway, here's my Japanese learning story: I was very privileged to do home stay for nine months the first time I lived in Japan (about 8 years ago). My home stay family were wonderful and they went out of their way to make me feel welcome and... Show more

Are you committed to studying Japanese? Do you study on the train? At home after a long day of work? While at the gym? Any moment of free time you can find? We know how serious our students are. Studying a language takes time and commitment. We know you have the commitment to study. Now we're providing you with the time to study Japanese for 2 full years, hassle free! You can now study with JapanesePod101.com with our new 24 Month Subscriptions! After studying Japanese with JapanesePod101.com for 24-months you can take the leap from Beginner to Advanced, have flowing and fluent conversations with native-Japanese speakers, and rread books, novels, magazines, and newspapers. We want you to be able to reach those goals. That's why... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary The contest results are in! Although I predicted that the high score might be 2 or 3 correct out of 8, I couldn't have been more wrong! Out of 45 contestants, an astounding 21 had perfect scores! And it's not as if the questions seemed easy to people; many spent two to three hours on research. What a motivated, ambitious group! Can it be that they simply wanted a copy of Crazy for Kanji? Or do they love kanji as much as I do? Even a self-identified kanji newbie spent several hours on the questions, getting many of them right. This impressed me enormously, because doing kanji research is no small task. Knowing how to look for answers is most of the battle, and that... Show more

When did you start learning Japanese?  High school? College? Or as a hobby after work each evening? One of our listeners, Zach, couldn't wait and started when he was 11 years old!  He really loves studying Japanese and was VERY enthusiastic to tell us his story: "Konnichiwa, I'm Zach. I'm 12 years old, from the Philippines. I started learning Japanese last March. I was influenced by my friend Ki-el who was already 16 years old. When he told me of Japanese I was very thrilled. He introduced to me katakana and hiragana.  We learned Japanese together, practiced katakana and hiragana together, and I even helped him learn kanji. I was very addicted to Japanese that I always talked about it all the time, to my friends in school and... Show more