As for the teaching, when I want to learn something I prefer a University room rather than having a drink with my teacher. When I want fun it is the other way round. If you expect or look for teacher-entertainers I think that teachers-teachers (and entertainers-entertainers, that´s to say, people who respect and is loyal to their own field of expertise) are the best. A good teacher is entertaining too because fun is part of the teaching process and entertainment is never an ingredient added or combined with the teacher to make a “combo” (please, let´s leave making cocktails to the bartenders). Besides, Japanese language is so appealing and wonderful by itself that I feel there is no need to spend time and effort to give any extra.
Those of you working in a company with time to learn only a few pieces of information every day, people who only want a meal and a room in Japan, voracious students without appetite (the true ones never feel close to egomaniacs or aren´t afraid to be taken by one of them, they feel proud to be like that and don´t take precautions when the say it), newcomers (I can´t imagine a more lively and rewarding Japanese learning than doing it speaking and writing to my family but Tohru will have his own reasons to do it that way), manga fans, kids... Japanesepod101 is for all you whithout any doubt and I never said the opposite. I recently spoke about a desirable wider range of topics covered in the lessons and a more eclectic approach to teach Japanese but listeners preferred to call my comments “studying 1300´s Japanese legal system” or “discussing n-manifolds with a waiter”. On the other hand, I never showed any doubt about japanesepod101 credentials to teach japanese, never said that it is not to the point within the narrow limits the staff chose to move, never said that it is not useful to learn conversational Japanese plus some hundreds kanji (more about this next post)… but people felt anyway that they had to remember all this to me. What all this means is too clear to spend time commenting on it. Facts like that (and many others) sets the tone of what´s discussed in the comments section and shows its real (and very low) value as a forum of discussion on what´s done in japanesepod101.
I think podcasts are a great way to teach languages but japanesepod101 doesn´t make use of all the potential advantages it has. The humor, entertainment and liveliness that Peter tries to show in every lesson (very good though occasionally it is overdone) sets at the same time the limits of the podcast because the pressure he puts on himself to be fun and entertaining will make hard for him to take on issues that are taken on in other webs or books that teach languages. This web, for instance, says in its “About us” section that “…Lessons are carefully crafted to include current events, words, celebrities, and so-on. For example, when the Japanese baseball team made it to the finals of the World Baseball Classic, we were able to do a lesson about this on the very same day. Before the Olympics we had a lesson introducing the big name Japanese stars. And of course, we’ll be doing the same for the upcoming World Cup in Germany…” and, leaving aside the English grammar mistakes, when you give three examples of current events and the three of them are about sports it is very clear what you understand by “current events”. One can be lucky if the evolution of Nikei, the latest scientific breakthroughs or the political situation of Japan are mentioned once per year (how did the businessman listener call these three examples? Yeah… I remember now… “…to disucss Fourier Transforms…” (I copied and pasted) and things like that) Culture classes are so few and far between than, in fact, one can´t complaint too much about this. That paragraph doesn´t mention the fact that only advanced Japanese students can find useful to know the kanjis or pronunciation of Japanese Olympics stars names (and we already know that this is not for advanced students), in that particular lesson about the Olympics, no Japanese language item was explained (at least I don´t remember it), no vocabulary related to Olympics was taught systematically (only a bunch of words) , and on and on. How can you say that “Lessons are carefully crafted to include current events” when there is no Japanese lesson, just two people commenting on what they consider current events.
Does this mean that I think Japanesepod is doing it wrong? Not at all. It is enough to see the posts in the forum (Food and eEntertainment 45, History and Tradition 6, General culture, 0) to realize that what Peter is trying to do is totally right. I just mean that Japanesepod101 may work in the future perfectly well as a business by teaching basic Japanese or being the very good survival audio phrasebook for tourists that is now (it has already everything to be successful. Its faithful listeners remember it in every post and I agree with them on this) but it could be much more than that and so far they have hardly showed a true desire to become it. This web could be an excelent platform for people who wants to live Japan (and also live in Japan) and not only survive in it. The pompously called “2.0 version” of this web was a missed opportunity to do it. They failed and I regret it because I truly believe in this idea and, above all, in the people working on it.
Take care all of you
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Say Hello in Japanese No Matter What the Time of Day
Absolute Beginner Season 1
Learn how to greet someone both formally and informally
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