What People Say

I was really surprised at how fast and easy you learn with this method. I remember the first time I went to Japan and wasn’t able to talk, it was very frustrating. But now I can have a casual conversation and even speak on the phone with my friends. I like how you can listen to the podcasts while driving or working, and how you can learn with just that. You assimilate Japanese without effort or even thinking about it. I’m also surprised at how much I can understand while listening to a movie now while turning the subtitles off. Another think that I like is that even if I’m not native English speaker, the hosts articulate very well, so it’s very easy to understand. The stories and mood of the show is really fun too. You have a wide choice of levels to choose from, and I could speak with friends only after listening to beginner seasons 3 to 5. After struggling with many many (boring) books or classes, it’s a relief. I’ve already recommended JapanesePod101 to people, because it’s really worth it. I even gave a try to the other languages, always efficient !

Thank you JapanesePod101 Team !

I have been studying Japanese off and on for a number of years. I have never been able to break through the intermediate level. There are any number of reasons. One reason may be that intermediate grammar is often taught in Japanese … which often relies on a deductive approach to understanding. Formation of the structure is easier to teach than when and how to use the structure. JapanesePod101 teaches grammar directly and in English. It comes as such a relief to hear technical explanations of a grammatical structure in a language you understand. Thank you.

I have four kids, and every time we would go to McDonalds or another burger place, I would try to order them hamburgers without ketchup, or onions, or pickles, or something, because my kids are picky that way. One time I got a burger with no hamburger, just the bun. One time I got no bun and just the burger. After going through the lessons and learning how to order properly, now we get our burgers the way they like them.

Thank you Japanesepod101.com!

Mike6686

I’ve been studying Japanese at university since September 2011, and have yet not learned anything besides a few new words and kanji. Grammar, vocabulary, sentence constructions etc. has not been the least bit challenging nor new - and ALL credits go to JapanesePod101.com! Mind you, I have only been a Basic Member, but thruthfully, I’ve mostly only listened to the lessons, and not looked at the PDFs. I can’t imagine how far I’d gone if I’d also used the extra material and studied kanji…
- A sincere “Thank you” to the entire staff on JapanesePod101.com!

I was a student of media studies / media science (Medienwissenschaften it’s called in German) when I fell into depression and had to be hospitalized. I spent 4 months in a mental hospital (2009) and even though I knew I couldn’t do anything productive when I got out (as in going back to university, taking a job, etc.) I set myself the goal to study Japanese.
I had already listened for a year or so to Japanesepod101.com but I never got serious because I have problems remembering things and when you learn a language you need to remember vocabulary. After I was discharged from the hospital I bought a premium subscription to finally challenge the language and most of all: myself. Doing something I thought I cannot do, to fight my symptoms (especially problems with concentration), to have a task to get up for and to have something where I can see and not being to deny my progress.

I combine listening to the audio lessons & review/dialogue tracks a few times, looking at the pdf, going over my textbooks and putting the Japanesepod’s vocab into Anki (which you recommended back then) and learning that. My textbooks are in German and it does help actually to learn Japanese in English and in German parallel because I don’t stick so much with a word by word translation as I rather understand the meaning. Sometimes it is just a translation. A book is ほん but if you try to translate はじめまして or いただきます that’s a different matter.

I am not that fast with the language learning but I try. For me the point is that it keeps my mind occupied and broadens my knowledge. I am a head-person, I think a lot, and when you’re unable to actually do anything the mind dries out. That’s why I also listen to EnglishClass101 and GermanPod101. Just thinking about language is fun. Japanesepod helps me to keep my mind in training and even more importantly it makes me feel as if I would accomplish something and my time isn’t wasted. This is a huge help for me. Language learning is brilliant and I wish I were a language buff but I am not, however you help not only with my Japanese but also you accompany me on my way to get better, to get healthy.

I absolutely love the lessons available with JapanesePod101.com. The podcasts are informative, engaging, and have excellent sound quality. The videos available online and as video podcasts are of equally excellent quality and compress a lot of information into accessible chunks. The quizzes and notecards are great for testing how much you’ve retained. I’m so glad I got the premium membership, and recommend it to all!

Japanese is something i wanted to learn for a really long time but classes would cost so much and i didn’t have much luck with finding good sites. But my luck turned again and i stumbled across Japanesepod101.com and i automatically sign up for the free trial, and let me tell you i fell in love with it.

My mother just recently purchased a basic membership for me and i have been on it ever since, i love how things are broken down for you to clearly get the understanding and you have different difficulty levels which is a great bonus. I would recommend to anyone who like me is determined to master the language that Japanesepod101.com is the best website to get that determination from and the lesson are fun and entertaining so you never get bored. Thank you and keep the good work up.

Thank you Japanesepod101 for enriching my Japanese vacation!

My wife and I just got back from Japan and we had an amazing time. Part of that was because of the reception we got every time I spoke Japanese. I spent two months listening to japanesepod101 podcasts on my work commute and I couldn’t believe how much I learned in such a short time. I think hearing all the different teachers really helps with pronunciation. In addition to the language, the cultural insights and basic information about how to get around were invaluable.

We’ve traveled to many different countries and have always tried to use the local language but the reactions elsewhere in the world were not nearly as satisfying as in Japan. The smiles and looks of surprise on people’s faces were priceless and made all the effort worth it. I was asked many times if I lived in Japan or if I spoke Japanese! The only downside to this was the rapid Japanese spoken after my initial phrases or questions! But being able to converse, albeit just a little, really enhanced our experience and I definitely recommend learning as much as you can from Japanesepod101 before you go!

I just want to say THANK YOU for putting together such an efficient, comprehensible system for learning Japanese at JapanesePod101. From the website to the mobile app– I cannot fathom the amount of man hours that went into assembling all of this data and building out all the programming. Seriously, great work. My expectations were exceeded, and it’s the first time I’ve stuck with learning a language and not dropped out like the countless other times!

I just returned from a 16-day whirlwind tour of Japan with a group from our town in Fairbanks, Alaska. To help me with a more meaningful experience, I subscribed to Learn Japanese through JapanesePod101 absolute newbie lesson plan. Being that I am 67 years old, learning a new language did not come easy. Over the course of about 6 months I was only able to get through 42 lessons. My speaking Japanese was not essential for me while in Japan, but I am so glad to have had studied so hard. Not only did I learn basic vocabulary, phrases, and the ability to construct short statements and conversations, JapanesePod101.com provided appropriate cultural lessons. The little I managed to keep in mind and use while traveling was absolutely worthy of my effort and expanded my appreciation, and response from those I met on our journey. I was most appreciative of the lesson on gift giving: Tsumaranai mono desu ga, dozo. Generosity and appreciation to others pays dividends worth more than the effort to give. My group nominated me as chief magistrate at Fukushima Sekisyo on the Nakensendo Way at historic Kiso Fukushima where I stamped visas. I will not hesitate to highly recommend JapanesePod101.com to anyone interested in learning to speak Japanese.

Your sentences will be corrected. Your pronunciation will be heard. And you can ask any structural question as well as words and phrases you want to find out more on their usages and etc. I would strongly suggest anyone interested in picking up a new language to go with the 2-year subscription for Premium Plus. Thanks everyone at JapanesePod101.com!

I have been a student of Japanese off and on for many years since living in Japan in the 1960’s where I developed a love for the culture, the people, the food and the especially the language. I too, have spent much money on many different books, tapes, and programs over the years and nothing compares to what Peter has developed with this system. The audio for the JapanesePod101.com lessons are especially well done and I have never come upon anything which comes even close to being equal to them in either content or price.

I have tried using audio books as well as spending a lot of money on textbooks, and both did not work for me.
With this in mind, I was skeptical of paying for audio lessons but the sheer amount of content alone makes is so worth it! The short lessons are perfect for walking/train/bus journey to and from work and provide detailed breakdowns of the grammar and pronunciation, which is essential. The extra tools available with premium of flash cards and pronunciation practice (compares your voice to native speaker) are super practical tools that have gone a long way for me.
Despite using many audio books, I found myself at an Absolute beginner on JPod101, and learning essentials that other audio books failed to cover. The fact that I used audio books (which I now discovered used a mix of casual and formal Japanese) and used these casual phrases in Japan (with varied reactions) makes me feel like an idiot for not signing up sooner!
Thank you for the Nihongo Dojo series and continued support and feedback to listeners on your lessons. I am happy I am learning the right way now so next time I visit Japan, I will speak with confidence, knowing exactly what to say in the right setting!

I signed up for a free lifetime membership at JapanesePod101 in August 2016, and I was checking the daily word and listening to the free podcasts, but I was hesitant about signing up. Last week I finally did it, and I am so happy!
I have been downloading and listening to the Absolute Beginner and Newbie series, and I feel like I’m already learning a lot more. I am actually practicing speaking the phrases and sentences with confidence, learning new vocabulary, and enjoying practice!

Hi guys, can I just say, it is truly an absolute pleasure using your website and app. I am blown away by how seamlessly I end up learning Japanese, it’s almost as if it just happens naturally as I go through the high quality material on your site. Everything is so immersive, and it genuinely feels like so much fun, which is what really sets this method of teaching apart from other sites. I thank you so very much for the considerable efforts which must’ve gone into creating this site and all the efforts in maintaining it. If anyone ever has any doubt as to whether they should sign up and subscribe to this site or not, let me tell you, GO AHEAD, you will certainly not regret your decision.

I’ve been subscribed to Japanesepod101.com since May 2017. Initially I was skeptical that I would learn and retain anything significant. Not because of the content itself but because I’m… well, me.
However, the lessons and course notes themselves are so comprehensive and well put together than even I can understand them. Kanji was the one aspect I thought I would struggle the most with, but actually it’s slowly beginning to make life much easier and I’m beginning to notice reading patterns.
Peter and the team put together really fun, engaging and easily-digestible lessons with detailed lesson notes, so the content is memorable.
I think it also helps that it’s so obvious that the teachers all have a great relationship and enjoy recording the lessons together. All in all, it makes for a really pleasant listening experience and certainly brightens up my commutes. I couldn’t recommend Japanesepod101 enough to anybody serious about learning Japanese.