Switch languages and learn the ' learning offer' words.

[mikuji]

皆さん

have you ever wodered how JPOD101' PR blurb may sound if the roles were reversed; that is, if this was a site in Japanese for Japanese people wish to learn English with MP3 lessons in short bursts?

Well, someone has had this idea already of course! But why am I mentioning it here? WE know English already, right?

The reason is that on such a site we can find a lot of vocabulary and expressions that you could use to explain an offering such as JPOD101 in Japanese. A lot of cute little titbits such as:

レッスンにはたくさんの英(!)会話や英語ナレーションが出てきますが、それらをダウンロードできるよう、MP3ファイルを用意しました。お使いのパソコンはもちろん、MP3プレーヤーなどでもお使いいただけますので、モバイル教材としてもご利用いただけます。

But, before I get done for copyright violation I'll send you to the proper site, aptly named: www.5minutes.co.jp.

With the help of pera-pera-kun/rikai-chan facilites [ペラペラーンクとリカイーチャんはご利用いただけます!] and, if you have it , a computer generated voice you can revel in finding such useful expressions as: ダウンロードボタンを右クリックし...を選ぶとMP3ファイルを保存できます。

How's that for multiplying useful 教材?
お試しください。
どうぞよろしくお願いします。

mikuji

[Psy]

I'd say that's some mighty fine 教材. I've actually been listening to 英会話 podcasts for the very same reason, but I hadn't known about this site before. It's a nice way to step outside the window of "Japanese for foreigners" and really hear how the language is used in teaching native speakers. For navigating the site, I guess I'm just lucky to be a kanji nerd.

Anyways great find, it's now bookmarked. ありがとうございます！

[Jason]

have you ever wodered how JPOD101' PR blurb may sound if the roles were reversed; that is, if this was a site in Japanese for Japanese people wish to learn English with MP3 lessons in short bursts?

Um, we had this idea, too.

[mikuji]

Jason-san

fantastic! I've been looking for a site like this for ages!

PSY-san,

great idea to actually listen to the English teaching lesson and hear Japanese used to explain the English - will follow up for a great 'reverse take'.

ありがとうごさいました
よろしくお願いします！

mikuji

[Javizy]

Check out the video podcast on Station 81 called 日常英会話. It starts with a clip of some random American speaking nonsense, and then has subtitles and a Japanese voice-over. The host then goes on to explain some key points in Japanese (usually some colourful slang), and a key sentence which is displayed in kanji and English. It's really stupid and pretty funny, but actually quite useful at the same time.

Marimo's English (on that site as well) is also quite good for learning some colourful Japanese that'll never make its way onto this site, or any classroom. It's all in Japanese and they cover one English word per "lesson", and discuss what it means and the various cultural differences involved with it. I don't want to give too much away here, but let's just say the words are unsuitable for children.

If you do want words suitable for children, check out こどもと英語で話そう!. This one is a bilingual podcast that teaches Japanese kids simple English phrases. The Japanese is nice and simple, and you can pick up some useful everyday expressions. They give the English first, so you can try and translate yourself before you hear the Japanese.