Mina-san, Marky here! As you can probably tell, JapanesePod101.com is truly a labor of love for us! We love learning and teaching Japanese and honestly, we’re having a lot of fun. But we’re always trying to think of ways to improve what we’re doing or thinking “how can we do something different?” And often the best ideas come from you all! Introducing 2 new Tracks added to the Premium Feed! The Review Track A lot of people have asked us to leave some blank space when introducing vocab so they could have some time to repeat and practice. Well, if you’ve been with us a while, you know we tried a while back. We had some good feedback about that, but it dragged the podcasts on with silence and ate up time for going through... Show more

Someone asked on a recent post at Japanesepod101.com what なつこ先生's name was in 漢字. I said that it was 夏子. I'm pretty sure it's 夏子, in all of the early PDFs, she is listed as 夏子. Almost all Japanese people have 漢字 names, and all family names are 漢字. The last time I went to Japan, I was quite fluent with my 漢字 from my Chinese study, but I still found common Japanese names very interesting. Whenever I'd go into any shop, I'd make a point of reading the various workers' namecards. I found the names fascinating. To someone used to dry, uninteresting Chinese names, Japanese names are a breath of fresh air. They sound like they were made up by hippie parents. Take 夏子 for example (the name, not the lady!) The first character is 'summer', the... Show more

Some of us don't get the opportunity to use what we learn in Japanesepod101.com lessons; Japanese speakers just aren't everywhere. But there is one avenue that we can take advantage of, one which is often overlooked. Our teachers mention it in almost every podcast. It's the message board. In case you haven't noticed, there is a separate message board for every individual lesson at the Japanesepod101.com website. It is where users can post anything. Recently, I have made a conscious decision to post something every day. It wasn't easy at first, but it's getting easier and easier. One of my first problems was not a language problem, but what to post. But once you get your creative side working, it gets easier gradually. Also, after... Show more

I was just 5 minutes ago talking to someone on MSN about one of my vocab memorization techniques. The conversation started, as one usually does on MSN, as 'what are you doing'. It took me a while to explain, but my friend thought it was a good idea. He's learning English, but the principle is the same. I do it whenever I'm trying to memorize a lot of words. Maybe it'll work for you! Step 1: Open a search engine. For Chinese, I use 百度, for Japanese, one might try google.co.jp. Step 2: Click on the 'images' tab (remember it probably won't be in English though!) and write in the word. Let's take something from today's lesson; おめでとう meaning 'congratulations'. Step 3: Feast your eyes on all the lovely pictures. Each one has something... Show more

Learn advanced Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. Today we introduce you to Japanese riddles! This is sure to boggle your mind. Not only did we bring you a great riddle, we brought in a true pro to do the reading! You don't want to miss this chance to get used to a type of voice you probably don't get to hear everyday. Answer in the comments! Good Luck!

Learn Japanese from other listeners of JapanesePod101.com!! Today we want to thank Minty Fresh-san and Frank-san from Canada for providing two great learning resources! Minty Fresh-san provided us with this hilarious video! I didn't know if they were serious or not, until half way through. Very, very funny! (first video) https://homepage.mac.com/pockyrevolution/Personal25.html You definately want to see this! Thank you Minty Fresh-san! Please keep up the great participation! Frank-san provided us with this great article related to "Osu". This is an amazing article, well written, informative and well worth the read! We highly recommend that you check it out. Thank you Frank-san! Please keep the great participation coming! ... Show more

Today Natsuko and Sakura said: Osaka(Oosaka)・おおさか・大阪 Located in the Kansai region, located in the middle of Honshu Island, it is the third largest city in Japan with a population of 2.7 million. Osaka is the historical commercial captial of Japan. People are proud of and speak with a distinct dialect, Oosaka-ben, akan and honma are two popular words.

In today's lesson Sakura said, "Ohayou, Sapporo!" Sapporo・さっぽろ・札幌 - located in and is the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, the second largest island and the largest prefecture of Japan. Famous for Sapporo beer, miso-flavored ramen, and the Sapporo Snow Festival held every year in February. Thank you for listening!

We received this great information about "Osu" from John-san in NY. "A little information on the word "osu". I have studied karate in New York for 8 years and osu is the way that karataka greet each other both in and out of the dojo." We will be looking into the orgin, so if anyone has any info, please keep it coming! Arigatou Gozaimasu! Thank you John-san Peter