JapanesePod101.com Blog

Google is the world’s biggest Search Engine. Apple is the world’s biggest smart phone maker. The Blue whale is the world’s biggest animal. And now, our little Innovative Language Learning family has become the world’s biggest language learning app maker! Apple verified this themselves. Surprised? Us too! In about 5 years, we’ve made over 600 apps across 40 languages that available on the iTunes store for the iPhone and iPad alone. Not to mention, our Android and Mac desktop apps. Can you imagine? That’s more language packed in one spot than a United Nations conference. Except you could learn them all. Or some. Mastering 600 apps is only for insane overachievers. Some of our most popular mobile apps include Survival... Show more

It seems to us that studying through rote memorization is the best method for retention. While it works (to an extent), unless you encounter what you’ve memorized on a constant basis, you will forget it. After all, how much do you remember after you took that last test at school? Somehow, we’re under the impression that if we reread and repeat things enough times in our head, it will magically get stuck there. In a way, it’s the lazy and painful approach to studying. The difficulty lies in the fact that we’re introducing a new concept to our brain with nothing to relate it to. Do logarithms make sense to you? (let the non-math lovers answer please) The concept itself may have no relation to you or anything in your life. It’s too... Show more

Probably not, but it can get you pretty close. This little app does pack a massive punch - master all the words and you’ll reach 80% comprehension, or in other words, daily conversational level! But if Gengo WordPower wasn’t powerful enough already, we’ve went ahead and added more power! In Case You Didnt Know... The Gengo WordPower App provides you with the Core 2000 Japanese words. According to experts, knowing 2000 puts you at over 80% comprehension (exact number varies per language). So Whats New? A new sleek black interface & smooth navigation which lets you breeze through your studying. The new Flashcard system - you will remember those words because the flashcards wont let you go until you do. Go... Show more

It’s already second half of 2011! How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? ..Its okay, we totally understand. By no coincidence, the 2nd half of our season begins today. Here’s a reminder of our weekly schedule! Monday - Absolute Beginner Season 1/Beginner Season 6 Tuesday - Lower Intermediate Season 6/Audio Blog Season 4 Thursday - Throwback Thursday Friday - New video series coming soon! Sunday - Bi-weekly News: Check out what’s going on at at Japanesepod101

You were swimming, weren’t you!? Don’t worry, just checking. Summer’s here and we’re in the mood to celebrate this warm joyous season – and what better way to start summer off right than have a Summer Celebration Sale! Why celebrate summer you ask? Excellent question. Because not only is the sun shining and the ice-cream plentiful, but we also have a lot of NEW things to release. We’re kicking off July with 6 brand NEW languages, NEW Premium Flashcards, NEW lessons AND a NEW discount of 22% OFF for Premium Subscribers. Click here to get the discount and get all of our new features! This Fourth of July, we welcome Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian, Hindi, Hebrew and Indonesian to the Pod101 family! Also, our Premium... Show more

Hej! Hallo! Sziasztok! That’s “Hello” in Dutch, Swedish, and Hungarian. Did we get it right? We’re really excited about our 3 new European additions to the Innovative Language Learning family and today we’re announcing yet another three languages. We’ve held our breath for so long to keep these a secret that we’re just about ready to faint! Ready? Starting July 4, Hindi, Hebrew, and Indonesian will be getting the complete Innovative Language Learning treatment with their own 101.com websites! Now, even though these languages are spoken by a collective 725 million people worldwide, they aren’t given enough attention online – or anywhere for that matter. Until now! If you’ve never had a good reason to learn these languages before,... Show more

In case you thought we were kidding about world language domination, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. After months of hard work, we’re proud to announce the launch of AustralianPod101.com for all of you Down Under lovers! Just kidding. Though, we are giving this idea serious consideration. Coming this July to a laptop screen right in front of you, we will be introducing 6 new exciting languages to the Innovative Language Learning family. Dutch, Hungarian, and Swedish are just the first additions to our language family on track to be released July 5th. We’d love to tell you about the other 3 but it’s a big secret – you’ll have to wait another 2 weeks! Now, the Dutch, Hungarian and Swedish languages aren't... Show more

Premium Members, your Premium Account just got a whole lot more powerful! My Flashcards now allows you to study the Japanese words you want by importing lists from audio and video lessons, your My WordBank and the Japanese Core Word Lists 2000. Here's a quick rundown of the new features: My Flashcards Dashboard: My Flashcards have a brand new interface. Import words from any audio and video lesson, My WordBank and the Core Word Lists. Create, edit and delete as many decks as you want! Create a New Deck: How you want to study is completely up to you! You control what displays on the front and back of cards. Create new decks out of the existing words in My Flashcards. Simple pick the words, name your deck and you're ready to... Show more

All eyes are on Japan right now. We've put together a list of resources we have found particularly helpful over the past week. These links will help you get caught up, stay updated and offer ways to help Japan. Our Story: JapanesePod101 After the Quake Social Media Heroes of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster English news from Japanese sources: NHK World Kyodo News in English Wall Street Journal's Japan Real Time Blog BBC World News On Twitter: hashtags: #jpquake #jishin_e follow: @TimeOutTokyo @makiwi @norishikata Japan DisasterTwitter Cheat Sheet via The Wall Street Journal Find Loved Ones: More Reading on Radiation Issue U.K.'s Chief Scientific Officer Professor John... Show more

** Updated ** 50% of all subscription purchases will be donated directly to disaster relief efforts. Please help us help Japan here. It's been 1 week since the 9.0 earthquake and devastating tsunamis struck Tohoku, Japan. As students of the Japanese language, we know you're deeply worried about Japan and it's people. We also know that many of you have visited the country and have made close friends along the way. We at Innovative Language Learning and JapanesePod101.com want to do all we can to help. Along with cutting back on electricity in Tokyo both at the office (the Innovative Language Learning office is closed until after the long weekend) and at home, we're also doing what we can to help get much needed supplies up to the... Show more