This week's post is going to be rather general and not even specific to learning Japanese. It doesn't mean it won't be helpful, though! I'm going to examine a few of my favorite tips for building good study habits. If you want to learn Japanese, you really must study and you must do it consistently. That's the problem many at-home learners, including myself, have: the discipline to study on a consistent basis. Let's look over a few of the most popular ways of keeping yourself motivated and organized in your studies, shall we? Set goals – Setting a goal for yourself, such as “I will have __ number of lessons done by the end of the week,” is an excellent way to motivate. It gives you something specific to work towards. If you don't... Show more

Welcome to another addition of Benkyou Blog! So, you've been studying through JapanesePod101, but you think you're ready to add a little extra something to your routine. If you feel you've got a decent mastery of basic Japanese, there are a few ways you can add snippets of Japanese popular culture to your routine that will build your exposure to the language. Building exposure through music, television, and other forms of media is a great way of helping you learn Japanese. Case in point: me! Before I went to Japan, I was obsessed with Japanese pop music. It's all I listened to. GLAY and Utada Hikaru dominated the airspace in my bedroom. I was also your typical anime nerd (though not anymore – remember, this was when I was in 8th - 9th... Show more

Hello again! Welcome once again to Benkyō Blog. I was thinking back to when I first started studying Japanese, and I recalled a technique I used for memorizing some hiragana and katakana. I saw some of them like pictures or symbols of something else. These little picture devices helped me to remember what was what. Here are a few examples of what I came up with. While looking at my examples, think to yourself: what is it that I see? It's like looking at clouds and describing what animal they look like. One person might see a duck, and another person might see a stegosaurus. Don't just take my examples because they aren't yours. Make up your own and they'll really stick! コ　- This little guy is the katakana for “ko”. To me, I see a... Show more

Youkoso! Welcome to the first “real” edition of Benkyou Blog. Gather 'round everyone, it's story time. I'm going to tell you a little personal story about when I was a high school exchange student in Japan. I am a very self-conscious person. I find I'm comparing myself to others often. So, when I and my fellow exchange students would get together for various functions, I was constantly comparing my Japanese to theirs. At first, I was proud of myself. I had the best pronunciation and least accent of anyone else in the group, and considering I'd had no formal Japanese education, I wasn't half bad. Midway through our ten month stay, things were a little different. I arrived at our little meeting for the Osaka exchange students and their... Show more

So, you've listened to the podcasts. You've looked at the lessons. You've tried to memorize the grammar and vocabulary. Still having problems? Looking for some tips on studying Japanese? Looking for someone to relate to so that you don't feel like the only one struggling to learn this difficult language? Hello everyone. My name is Janna, and I'm here to introduce to you my new blog series, “Benkyo Blog", that will be the new addition to the JapanesePod101 blog. My job is simple: to make sure that you, the JapanesePod101 listeners, don't feel alone. I have been studying Japanese for years, and much of that time was spent in self-study. I went to Japan in 2004, my sophomore/junior year in high school, as an exchange student. While there,... Show more