JapanesePod101.com Blog

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

Yuri sent us an e-mail last week about why she's studying Japanese.  Being half-Japanese and growing up outside of Japan, she told us she really wants to improve, but has trouble picking up the language. "I am half-Japanese on my mother's side. Although she wasn't taught Japanese growing up she encouraged me to learn, and as I got older I began to want to learn the language myself. I have used many resources over the years but never have I found as great a listening comprehension resource as Japanesepod. When I found Japanesepod I had already studied for several years, and so was able to jump right in at the intermediate/upper intermediate levels. I also greatly enjoyed Miki's Blog because it was at just the right level for me, with... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Here's a Seinfeldian type of question: Have you ever wondered why we call odd numbers odd? After all, every other number is odd. What's so strange about that? They're hardly scarce. (By contrast, much scarcer numbers are called prime, as if they're of great value, like prime rib or prime real estate.) I'd never considered the matter of numerical oddness until I came upon this compound: 奇数 (kisū: odd number)     odd number + number In 奇数, says Halpern, 奇 means "odd number." But the original and most common meaning of 奇 (KI, ku(shiki)) is "unusual, strange, odd," and the meaning "odd number" clearly spun off from that. In both English and... Show more

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? * My computer crashed, and my JapanesePod101.com files are gone! * I lost my iPod! All my JapanesePod101.com lessons...gone. * I got a virus, and my computer is toast. * I reformatted my computer, and I didn't back up my JapanesePod101.com lessons. * I accidentally deleted JapanesePod101.com files, help! * My computer died. * My iPhone got wet, and.... Over the years, we've seen almost every possible scenario on how our Japanese lessons go missing. We weren't sure how to solve the issue. After all subscription do run out, but people want to use our lessons forever. This simple solution was proposed by one of users who lost his audio files when he lost his... Show more

Have pen pals?  Lars wrote in to tell us since using JapanesePod101 his pen pals have been quite surprised with his Japanese.  He also told us about how he first decided to learn the language and why. "I'm Lars (38) from Germany and I have a relationship to Japan for many years. I like Japanese sports and culture. And finally I have decided to start to learn this beautiful language Japanese. I went to at a local public high school and noticed soon that the style of the textbook does not really cover current daily Japanese language. Additionally there are not many chances to practice conversations in a big class. So I went on looking for other options. My search ended with japanesepod101.com. I like browsing through the... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Today's blog features two parts: a contest and a palindrome puzzle. They're both challenging in their own ways, so 頑張ってください (Ganbatte kudasai: Good luck)! Back next week with a more typical blog!   Contest! Do you want to win a copy of Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters? I'm hoping that my new book will make you fall in love with kanji. I'm also hoping it will serve as a map that orients you in the vast and often confusing world of kanji characters. For a free copy, try your hand at the eight questions in the contest at the first link. Whether you're a kanji newbie or an expert, you'll find a fairly level playing... Show more

Today we'd like to share another story from the Mail Bag Contest we did recently from Nathan Mittelman of Sydney, Australia.  What do you do while listening to the podcast? Nathan walks his dogs and has even taught them commands in Japanese! Here's his full story: "On my first trip to Japan I was sure I would pick up Japanese easily.  I had the wonderful opportunity to work at Tokai University Hospital for a working holiday.  Although I had no previous experience with the Japanese language, I had been able to pick up European languages quickly and easily, and so smugly I thought Japanese would be a pushover.  I bought a phrase book at the airport in Sydney and spent a few hours reviewing it on the plane. The problems started... Show more