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I don't even know...

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jlmcmillan932687
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: March 21st, 2013 3:59 am

I don't even know...

Postby jlmcmillan932687 » March 21st, 2013 4:08 am

Ok so rosetta stone's not going too hot so I heard that this is a pretty good site, but honestly I have no idea how to begin really with this, I guess just start with the lesson that has the big blue arrow :shock:
I plan to really learn japanese but I don't really want to end up paying out the wazoo...again, the 10$/mo. looks good
but is it strictly 10$ EVERY month? I read someone ended up being charged 25$-ish after the first month.
I know I'm all over the place here I just have alot of questions you guys are likely tired of hearing by now,
so any enlightenment would be nice :D

mmmason8967
Expert on Something
Posts: 758
Joined: January 7th, 2012 12:24 pm

Re: I don't even know...

Postby mmmason8967 » March 21st, 2013 8:43 am

jlmcmillan932687 wrote:Ok so rosetta stone's not going too hot so I heard that this is a pretty good site, but honestly I have no idea how to begin really with this, I guess just start with the lesson that has the big blue arrow

I have a boilerplate answer for the "where do I start?" question because it comes up fairly frequently. I'll post it as a reply to this topic.

I plan to really learn japanese but I don't really want to end up paying out the wazoo...again, the 10$/mo. looks good
but is it strictly 10$ EVERY month?

The "$10 A Month" thing is a bit of marketing. A two-year subscription is $240, which works out at $10 a month. A one-year subscription, which is what I've got, costs $180. I've been very happy with my Premium subscription and recently renewed for another year. Previously I'd spent quite a bit on audio courses and textbooks but I didn't learn much Japanese from them; JapanesePod101 has been a lot more effective.

マイケル

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mmmason8967
Expert on Something
Posts: 758
Joined: January 7th, 2012 12:24 pm

Re: I don't even know...

Postby mmmason8967 » March 21st, 2013 8:44 am

The lessons on JapanesePod101 do not follow an obvious sequence such as Lesson #1, Lesson #2, and so on. New students often find it difficult to work out where they should start. Hopefully this short summary will remove some of the confusion.

Overview
JapanesePod101 is based around audio lessons that generally last around ten to fifteen minutes. Lessons are grouped into seasons (explained below) and are categorised by Level (also explained below).

Each lesson has a variety of supporting materials including Lesson Notes and Lesson Notes Lite. These PDF files contain exactly the same information: use Lesson Notes Lite if your PDF reader won't display Lesson Notes correctly.

Levels
Lessons are categorised using four levels: Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

The Absolute Beginner level contains two sub-levels, Absolute Beginner and Newbie. The main difference is that the Absolute Beginner sub-level is aimed at those who want to learn to say things in Japanese but don't feel ready for detailed grammar explanations.

Seasons
There are several seasons (or series) at each level. You are not expected to work through each season in order! When you have completed between two and four seasons at one level, you will probably feel ready to move up to the next level.

For most seasons there is a summary of the curriculum for that season. You can find the curriculum from the season's home page by clicking on the Explore Curriculum button. The Explore Curriculum button is also available alongside the seasons listed for each level on that level's home page.

Curriculum
Many members like to follow a structured curriculum. For these members there is a sequence of series called Nihongo Doujou.

Newbie S2 --> Newbie S3 --> Beginner S4 --> Beginner S5 --> Beginner S6 --> Lower Intermediate S6

Alternatively, there is another earlier sequence:-

Beginner S1 --> Beginner S2 --> Beginner S3 --> Lower Intermediate S1 --> S2 --> S3 --> S4 --> S5

Writing
You can find out about Japanese writing on the Japanese Writing System page.

The first stage of learning to read and write Japanese is to learn the kana (hiragana and katakana). A very good resource is the Kantan Kana video course.

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

Re: I don't even know...

Postby community.japanese » March 22nd, 2013 12:48 pm

jlmcmillan932687-san, マイケルsan,
kon'nichiwa! :D
Wow, it seems マイケルsan knows about this site a lot better than I do :mrgreen:
Thank you very much for your help as always!! :kokoro:

jlmcmillan932687-san, hope you'll find our lessons and site worth subscription.
If there's anything we can help you with, please feel free to ask us anytime!
As all your questions were perfectly answered by マイケルsan, I think there's nothing more to add for now :mrgreen:

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

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