In most cultures, it is custom to express gratitude in some way or another. The dictionary defines gratitude as follows: it is “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”. Giving a sincere, thankful response to someone’s actions or words is often the ‘glue’ that keeps relationships together. This is true in most societies! Doing so in a foreign country also shows your respect and appreciation for the culture. Words have great power - use these ones sincerely and often! Table of Contents 12 Ways to say ‘Thank you’ in Japanese Video Lesson: ARIGATŌ GOZAIMASU or ARIGATŌ GOZAIMASHITA? Video Lesson: ARIGATŌ or DŌMO? Infographic & Audio Lesson: Survival Phrases - Thank You... Show more

Learn 4 tools and techniques to stop translating in your head and start thinking in Japanese Going through Japanese lessons is enough to get by and learn the basics of Japanese, but to truly become fluent you need to be able to think in Japanese. This will allow you to have conversations with ease, read smoothly, and comprehensively understand natives. To do this, you need to go beyond just completing daily or weekly lessons. We naturally translate in our heads because it's viewed as the easiest way to learn the definitions needed when learning a language. This way of learning can actually hinder your skills and fluency later on. If your brain has to make neural connections between the word you're learning, what it means in your... Show more

When I decided that I was going to spend the summer before my final year of college abroad in Japan, I knew that I had to prepare for a trip unlike anything else that I had ever experienced in my lifetime. I knew absolutely nothing about the culture or the language and I was going with two of my buddies from school (both of whom spoke Japanese) so I needed to get ahead before we arrived. JapanesePod101 helped me do just that. JapanesePod101 made it easy to review and learn from experiences that I had on my daily travels. By allowing me to learn from repetition, giving me the choice between verbal, written and visual lessons and giving me situational vocabulary, it definitely made it easier to pick up an unknown language. ... Show more

One of my main goals has always been to become fluent in Japanese, but despite all the Japanese courses I’ve taken in college, I still seem to be stuck at the intermediate level. Now I am nearly graduated from college and have finished taking all my Japanese courses. Seeing how expensive it is to go to a language school, I decided I needed a cheaper alternative to continuing my Japanese education. Luckily for me, I recently discovered JapanesePod101. When I discovered JapanesePod101, I KNEW that I had found what I needed. After browsing through it’s website and signing up for a membership, I noticed that there are some perks compared to taking lessons in a classroom setting. Here are some of the main perks: The ability to start... Show more

I have visited Japan for three times, and each time this country always surprise me with its culture, scenery and people. As a dancer, I have attended many workshop and classes in Tokyo, and met many inspirational people. However, the biggest problem that came up to me is the language barrier. I have had problem to communicate with people about my ideas, stories. As we all known, communication is the most important thing for a friendship. So I started to look for online lessons, since taking actual classes is not possible for me, and I would rather save the money by finding some low budget online tutorial. That’s when JapanesePod101 popped up to me. I have used it for a year, and I can’t deny that JapanesePod101 has provided me... Show more

Hi Listeners, Do you know what the top 6 Japanese fairy tales are? Reading short stories in Japanese is a fun way to learn the Japanese language and culture. Check out the 6 Japanese fairy tale stories below and learn must-know folk story words and phrases in Japanese! 1. Top 6 Japanese Fairy Tales 1. Momotarō, the Peach Boy The Japanese title is 桃太郎 (ももたろう; Momotarō). Born from a peach and raised by an old couple, Momotaro grows into a strong boy and starts fighting evil creatures. He is a symbol of bravery and humility. 2. The Crane of Gratitude The Japanese title is 鶴の恩返し (つるのおんがえし; Tsuru no on-gaeshi). An old man frees a crane and later takes in a young woman. Behind closed doors, she turns into a crane and... Show more

If you are in Japan for business or travel, or meeting you Japanese friend’s family in your own country, we are sure you would love to impress your Japanese hosts with your Japanese language skills. You want to introduce yourself, say hello and learn how to say nice to meet you in Japanese. But you have heard that it is difficult and a mistake can cause great confusion or trouble. Don’t worry! Here we bring you some useful tips for that successful first meeting for all Japanese beginners. You'll learn formal and informal Japanese phrases in this blog post. Discover the list of Top 10 Lines to Introduce Yourself in Japanese 1. My name is . こんにちは。わたしは です。 Konnichi wa. Watashi wa desu. "Hello. My name is ." ... Show more

September either sounds like back to school or end of holidays. Getting back to work? Well, that’s usually harder, but if the summer didn’t get rid of your motivation to learn Japanese, then you’re about to start on the bleeding edge thanks to: The 10 Day Hiragana Challenge The "Challange" is quite simple: within 10 days you’ll be able to perfectly READ and WRITE all Hiragana. That’s all you’ll need to master one of the three alphabets of Japanese language. From Tuesday, the 6th of September we will release one video per day during 10 days on our YouTube channel, to give you all the resources and tips to learn those Japanese characters. Every day from the 6th to the 15th, Risa will teach you the secret to easily learning 46... Show more

Do you like chicken teriyaki? If so, this blog post is perfect for you. In this lesson, you're going to learn an easy way to cook delicious chicken teriyaki while learning Japanese. Check out 鶏のテリヤキのレシピ (Tori no teriyaki no reshipi; chicken teriyaki recipe) below! Make sure to listen to the audio lesson and review the words and phrases too! Listen to our Japanese audio lesson - How to Make Japanese Teriyaki Chicken! 1. What's teriyaki? Teriyaki (テリヤキ) is one of the most well-known and popular cooking methods in Japanese cuisine. Fish or meat (or other types of ingredients) are marinated in sweet soy sauce and then grilled or broiled. We can write teriyaki in kanji (照り焼き), hiragana, or katakana. 2. Ingredients (材料; Zairyō) ... Show more

Hello Learners, and welcome to your Monthly Recap that will make Japanese easier to learn! Through this post, you will: - Receive your free ebook in PDF form to easily master Top 1500 Japanese Kanji - Know the latest update and upcoming features on JapanesePod101.com - Catch up with posts and video released this month that you shouldn’t have missed Contents: New Lessons Itadakimasu! Super Sushi Ninja Challenge Current Offers YouTube Videos You Shouldn’t Have Missed in July Top Blog Articles in July JapanesePod101 Corner 1. New Lessons Top - (Beginner) Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures #4 - Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures: Asking About Location or Position The Sentence Patterns... Show more