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audio content - english explanation

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teremka
New in Town
Posts: 3
Joined: November 8th, 2008 2:53 pm

audio content - english explanation

Postby teremka » January 10th, 2009 11:01 pm

Hi,
Could you organise a bit differently reading japanese vs english chunks of audio on podcasts?

What I mean, could you give japanese sentence, than english explanation, than repeat that japanese sentence once again? Only that it makes sense, to try to connect and figure out the text.

If you read text few times, than read sentence in japanese and than in english and than do not repeat that sentence in japanese again, while the listener knows more or less what is this about, all paraghaph is simply forgotten. Of course, you repeat that at the end, but that is way to far, to memorise it for the duration of the whole podcast. Human memory got it's llimits.

Maybe I should not mention competition, but tried chinesepod.com. they repeat the sentence in chinese and english several times (appropirately for each level) and it works brilliantly. by the end of the lesson (when they repeat the whose dialogue, you understand clearly all dialogue, (if you take correct level for you) even if you couldn't make head or tails of it at the beginning. With japanesepod I get only frustrated, by listening japanese sentence, not understanding it, and than when I get english explanation you head stright for another one equally difficult, withouth a chance of relistening and catching the structure. utterly frustrating, making lot of the work damaged, and lot of time wasted.

I know the languages are completly different ones, but really, have try, I would be really grateful. Want to have full subscription, but as I commute a lot, and 90% of my work is on audio lessons, and (in comparition to competition and what can be done) they are a big time wasters: or you need read the english version first to understand what it is about (which is simply not the methodology), or listen that once again (hey, that's boring and wasting time) or get extra frustration or work in front of pc (i do not want to do that) or simply give up inefficient methods.

Please, make a change, it simple and will make a world of difference to all of us in here.

Teremka

Javizy
Expert on Something
Posts: 1165
Joined: February 10th, 2007 2:41 pm

Postby Javizy » January 11th, 2009 12:38 am

What section of the audio are you referring to? The English translation of the main dialogue? So you'd have Japanese sentence > English sentence > repeat Japanese sentence > next Japanese sentence? Seems a little... unnecessary. Also, you speak of damaging work, but trying to correlate Japanese with English is one of the most detrimental things you can do.

Your best bet is to just listen to the lessons once through, since hearing the vocabulary and grammar explanations will help you understand the dialogue at the end. When it gets to the end, you can keep rewinding any bits you can't catch. After you know what the individual words mean, you should be trying to break down the sentences thinking only in Japanese, not relying on a sandwiched English translation.

It's also important to review periodically. Just because you can understand the sentence for the 10 second interval in your scenario, doesn't mean you will one week, day, or even hour later. If you're struggling so much that you're getting completely lost without a translation, maybe you should consider listening to a lower level until you're listening comprehension and vocabulary develop a little. Once you can break down syllables and recognise common sentence structures, you'll find that everything is a lot easier.

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pensuked
New in Town
Posts: 4
Joined: October 17th, 2008 7:51 pm

Postby pensuked » January 11th, 2009 3:57 pm

I'm sorry but I don't really get what you're trying to say. I don't think there's a really big problem with getting what the dialogue is talking about if you listen to the japanese plus english in between and the vocabulary breakdown. I've tried chinesepod before and I find their repetition of the same word/phrase 3 times in a row unnecessary and waste of time.(it's what the rewind button is for).

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