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

Howdy people, my name is Thomas. I’m a blogger and huge Japanese enthusiast. Today I’m going to review www.JapanesePod101.com and give you guys a 100% honest opinion on it. I am not being paid or otherwise compensated for this, and all opinions are my own. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m brutally honest and blunt, so I won’t pull punches in a review. That said, enjoy. My first impression of JapanesePod101.com was that it looked a lot like what I had come to expect from language learning sites, from Rosetta Stone to Duolingo, I knew the drill and the layout of the main page was the same, bare-bones info page that I always see when I go to a site with a landing page that tries to get you to sign up right away. By comparison,... Show more

Hi everyone! Previously I introduced a game called “Fukuwarai” in my last blog. Has anyone tried it? Today, I want to introduce another useful game that you can play with your friend. I am sure that many of you have played this game with cards. It is a language version of “Concentration” (Shinkei suijaku). This is also known as memory, in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards. If you have the chance to play this game with your classmates, make your own cards and try with Japanese. To remember Katakana and Hiragana, for example, you can make cards with Hiragana and Katakana which can be matched... Show more

Mina-sama, here at JPod World Headquarters we're always trying to think of more and more ways to help you learn Japanese! And now we have something very special for you! In April, we will have a very special guest with us. His name is 矢野先生 (Yano sensei) and he has nearly 20 years of experience teaching Japanese! His resume includes not only university classroom instruction, but also private and corporate instruction. He also founded the 矢野アカデミー which specializes in training Japanese teachers how to teach Japanese. It goes without saying; Mr. Yano will bring to us a wealth of expertise and wisdom about the process of learning this amazing language! But it gets better! Rather than merely introduce him to our staff, we thought it... Show more

Hi everyone! One of the most fun ways to learn a language is to play a game. Some of you might find it easy to learn language when you use your body and learn visually. If you are kinesthetic or visual learner, you should try “Fukuwarai”! Fukuwarai is a Japanese traditional game which is usually played as a New Years game. “Fukuwarai” can help you to learn directions and parts of the face. How do you play Fukuwarai? You have an outline of a blank face and paper cutouts in the shape of the eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The blindfolded player will place the cutouts of the eyes, mouth, etc., while other people give him or her directions by saying “うえ (up), した (down), みぎ (right), ひだり (left)”. When you give the parts of the face to the... Show more

Hi, everyone! Nowadays, there are many fantastic ways to learn Japanese with modern technology like JapanesePod101.com! One good way to learn and experience Japanese culture and language is to surf YOUTUBE! There are many excellent things, and many not so excellent things, you can find on this website. For example, this video can help you remember some adjectives. This is an actual TV commercial in Japan. This commercial uses i-adjectives in a very simple and funny way! You can find many other ads if you search “Japanese Funny Commercial”. If you are learning Japanese outside of Japan, it is sometimes difficult to find very authentic material, but YOUTUBE provides you with the opportunity to access updated authentic... Show more

Hi everyone! Do you have difficulty remembering the counters for small animals (匹・ひき・hiki) and minutes (一分・いっぷん・ippun)? When you count these, as you might know, sound changes as below. CounterHiPi(Bi) CounterFuPu 一匹 ippiki 一分 ippun 二匹nihiki  二分nifun  三匹 sanbiki 三分 sanpun 四匹yonhiki  四分yonfun  五匹gohiki  五分gofun  六匹 roppiki 六分 roppun 七匹nanahiki  七分nanafun  八匹 happiki 八分 happun 九匹kyūhiki  九分kyūfun  十匹 juppiki 十分 juppun When just starting... Show more

皆様、こんにちは。Hi everyone! My name is Miho　「美帆」, and I live and teach Japanese in Australia, Melbourne. I am also currently studying at renown Monash University. Since JapanesePod101.com began, I have been keeping track of its progess, as I see it as such a fun and interesting way of learning Japanese. I find the pedagogy of the program interesting, and as a teacher of Japanese, I would like to blog about “Japanese teaching”. It sounds quite broad, doesn't it? I will basically talk about useful tips for both learners and teachers of Japanese over the next 10 weeks. My advice and tips will probably focus on students with an English Speaking background since I am in Australia, but you are always welcome to comment about other language... Show more