Postby Tom » May 25th, 2007 12:31 am
First off, I don't have access to the Learning Center. I'm talking about the free audio and video only.
In my experience, JPod and Nakama don't mix well. They don't use the same starting points to learn things, they teach things in different ways, and they teach things in very different orders. But they taste great together! Once Nakama has taught you rigid Japanese, JPod will teach you the vocabulary and colloquialisms to not sound so flat.
I don't think that listening to JPod will help you test into a higher Japanese class unless the test is speaking only. Even then, it does not teach all the grammar you will need to carry a basic role-playing conversation, which is what professors like to give in my experience. Maybe it does eventually, but I've been listening for months and months (up through BL68 on May 10, 2006), and so far there has been little hard-hitting grammar.
To do well on a written placement test, you will need to have lots of practice reading Japanese to be familiar with how things look on paper, in context. You probably won't get this skill from listening to the lessons and memorizing the hiragana/katakana charts. There is probably learning material to help you with this in the LC, but again, I haven't looked.
I recommend using the textbook as your main study material, and listening to the JPod for fun as supplementary material. Once your real class has started, you can play with that balance to find how you like it. The free JPod audio is great for helping with your spoken Japanese and listening comprehension, but not compressed enough nor comprehensive enough to quickly get you to the point where you could pass a first-term Japanese written test in the time you have available.
IMHO!
If you got the CD and workbook with the Nakama textbook, use 'em! They're great!
