JapanesePod101.com Blog

Hello Listener, And out goes January! If you missed the the big news, JapanesePod101 Mobile is now open to all users! Plus the Inner Circle kicks off on Friday! What’s this Inner Circle, you ask? Keep reading to find out! To your fluency, Team JapanesePod101 In this month’s newsletter: 1) JapanesePod101 Mobile Is All Yours! 2) The Inner Circle: Motivation and Strategies for Japanese Success 3) We’re Hiring! Join Innovative Language Learning in Japan! 1) JapanesePod101 Mobile Opened To All Subscribers! iPhone? Android? No matter – take all your Japanese lessons on the go with any mobile device including tablets like iPad and Kindle. No downloads necessary. A Wi-Fi or 3G connection and a love for the Japanese language... Show more

Peter here, and welcome to another year of JapanesePod101! It’s halfway into January and everyone’s focused on their New Year’s resolutions. This used to happen to me year after year, and now I see it year after year. The start of a new year gives everyone renewed hope that THIS is finally going to be the year they master their goal! The hard truth? 90% of these people will fail. 70% will have given up by February. Resolutions have become a kind of societal joke that we all pretend to play along with. That is, until we actually have to do something about it. Do these numbers surprise you? I know from personal experience that it’s easy to let your goal go. For many, many years I had the same goal year after year! Then one year,... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi listeners! Motoko here. In this blog, I would like to talk about our trip to Round1. This was the second event we held while Eran was here (actually, we went there in November! :p). Round1 is one of the Japanese amusement complexes that have a variety of athletic fields for sport and other indoor activities. It is also famous for “Spo-cha,” (short for “sports challenge”) which is the name of the kind of service Round1 offers. You just pay the fee for 1 or 3 hours and then enjoy as many sports and arcade games as... Show more

Welcome Back Listener! It’s been a while! Last time we saw you, it was still 2012... Christmas trees were up, and you were still making your 2013 resolutions. Now that the New Year has begun, the #1 question everyone’s asking is... “How do I fulfill my resolution and make serious Japanese progress?” One: Stop thinking and start doing. Take on the challenge and jump in. Your progress starts NOW. Two: Create a measurable and attainable Japanese goal. (Master new 100 words in 2 weeks, listen to 5 Japanese lessons a week, hold Japanese a conversation for 5 minutes, etc.) Three: Challenge yourself more each month. (Go for 10 minute conversations, move on to 200 words, etc.) It’s as easy as that! So this 2013, take the... Show more

Rise and shine, listener! You’re in a new year and you've made your Japanese resolution! Just one last thing left to do: start speaking some Japanese with JapanesePod101. Whether you’re just starting out light with the basics, or going heavy...you’re about to add some serious Japanese muscle this year. You’ll go from simple phrases to dominating conversations in Japanese. Why? We’re guiding you every step of the way, that’s why! And we've made it our New Year’s resolution to go heavy too. We’re pushing out all new series – all new lessons to get you learning the Japanese language and culture inside-out with native speakers. Stay tuned because the first lessons start publishing on January 7, 2013! Here’s a sneak peek of the... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hey everyone. Motoko here! I’d like to talk about our year-end cleaning event, called Ō-sōji(大掃除) in Japanese. Most of our staff had questions about why people in offices did cleaning themselves instead of hiring cleaning staff. But this process is very significant for the year end in Japan. As you see from its kanji, this is the biggest cleaning season and takes place at the end of the year. It has its origin in a Shinto event called Susuharai (煤払い), in which monks and people cleaned their houses to purify them and... Show more

Hello Listener, While people were out getting TVs and DVDs... Our listeners were getting better, faster, stronger in Japanese instead. Black Friday and Cyber Monday were prime time for language learning.. But if you missed out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals at JapanesePod101, then good news! The holiday season is fast approaching which means two things: one, wear a sweater and two... The JapanesePod101 Holiday Countdown Begins December 10th. Serious about mastering Japanese in 2013? Join the Holiday Countdown as we count down the holiday season with 10 days of the 10 BIGGEST deals on Japanese Apps, Audiobooks, Software Subscriptions, and much much more. How big? Try 53% OFF Premium! 55% OFF Basic! 50% OFF... Show more

Hi everyone, Peter Galante, founder of Innovative Language Learning here. With 2012 winding down, it’s time to check in and see just how far your Japanese has progressed with JapanesePod101! Around this time of year, our inboxes start filling up with success stories from users all around the world. (You can share your story here.) This year, I'd like to share my 2012 Chinese language success story with you. On January 1st, 2012 I made a resolution to learn Chinese. What was different from past years? I wrote out the resolution and left it on my desk, where I looked at it each day; I listened to ChineseClass101 lessons or vocabulary lists each day during commutes on my mobile phone; I used my ChineseClass101 lessons as study... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hey everyone. Motoko here! Today I would like to talk about our recent visit from Innovative Language’s Co-Founder, Eran. Though he’s usually based in New York, he came to visit the Tokyo office in mid-November. It had been a year since his previous visit, so we welcomed him and took him to some interesting spots! The first event was dinner at Ninja Akasaka. I’m sure you know what a ninja is! And this is a restaurant where you can see modern-day ninja and enjoy creative, gourmet meals. When we arrived, we were let in... Show more

Hi Listener, It’s about to get really busy. The holidays are coming up which means... Gifts for moms, gifts for dads, gifts for friends. Everyone but yourself. And your Japanese? If you’re not careful, your Japanese language will take a backseat. So this Thanksgiving, you come first. Thank yourself with something that gets you speaking better Japanese in minutes. We owe you a thank you too! Thank you for learning Japanese with JapanesePod101 and for being part of the Innovative Language family. To show our gratitude, get a head start on 27 languages in under 2 minutes by learning one of the most important phrases, “Thank You.” Learn how to say “Thank You” in 27 languages with this free video lesson! Click Here... Show more