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Should I spend time in absolute beginner?

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MAGllKARP
New in Town
Posts: 4
Joined: July 8th, 2014 6:28 pm

Should I spend time in absolute beginner?

Postby MAGllKARP » July 8th, 2014 6:36 pm

I started using this podcast in April since I drive a lot for work and am on Beginner Season 6. I LOVE it. The intermediate is understandable but a little hard considering I'm not 100% focused while driving and beginner seems like a nice fit right now. I just ask because originally I skipped absolute beginner (not wanting to hear about things like hirigana) but I'm wondering if anyone who has studied absolute beginner/beginner could tell me if I would be missing out on good things, aside from more time with our excellent hosts (honestly I'll probably repeat Beginner S1-S3 just because of how awesome all the people were. <3 Natsuko, Naomi and Peter!!!!)

Also sorry if this is in the wrong forum. This is the first time I've posted here and I'd like to become a regular poster in this community.

EDIT: I answered it myself. Just found the grammar bank and went through all the grammar for those seasons. Only found one or two small items to review :)

adelholtz_499460
Established Presence
Posts: 58
Joined: May 21st, 2014 8:53 am

Re: Should I spend time in absolute beginner?

Postby adelholtz_499460 » July 8th, 2014 7:58 pm

今日は

Although i had some knowledge prior starting to learn using this site, i started with the Absolute Beginner Season 1.
My course so far is this:
Absolute Beginner Season 1 -> Absoute Beginner Season 2 -> Newbie Season 2

Parallel to those courses i also did:
  • Ultimate Japanese Pronunciation Guide (very helpful, very good)
  • Basic Japanese(Video Lesson)
  • Learn Japanese Grammar Video - Absolute Beginner (summarizes and reviews grammar learned in Absolute Beginner and Newbie Seasons)
  • Kanji Videos with Hiroko (really good, wish there would be more :kokoro: )

I would really recommend this to everyone newly starting out, cause it gives you a nice learning pace and you can fully focus on grammar in the Newbie Seaons (cause you have most of the vocab covered in the Absolute Beginner Series).

If you are at Beginner Season 3 or Newbie Season 3 the Absolute Beginner Seasons may be a bit easy for you. The Absolute Beginner Series do focus on basic sentence patterns like A は B です, usage of particles が は を and saying that smth is smth or is not ありませn ect.
It mainly provides a fast access to basic japanese language skills and gives you a nice amount of vocubalary (and kanji if you bother learning them).

The story is nice, the hosts are good and there are some really fun moments. I guess i would recommend the Absolute Beginner Series for you if you would like to refresh basic skills in a "laid back" fun environment.
As i said lessons arent to hard and compared to the Newbie Series theres a bit less content covered per lesson(no deep grammar explanations ect)
I definitely wouldnt see it as wasted time going through them :D

FInally i have to say that i really like/d all of the courses i did so far.
The PDF's and the other tools are really helping.
Good Job everyone!

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community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: Should I spend time in absolute beginner?

Postby community.japanese » July 14th, 2014 7:42 am

MAGllKARP san,
I hope adelhotz san’s opinion could help you.

adelholtz san,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience and opinion.


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