Little confused how to go about japanesepod101 content

[norefund176007]

Hey guys, hope maybe you can help me. I've finished my free trial and like japanesepod101.com so far. Lots of good info that is actually practical for everyday use with much better explanations than most textbooks for grammar points and word usage. However, one thing i'm confused about is the process of learning thru the website. What i mean by this is, there are like multiple seasons of beginner, absolute beginner, intermediate, etc etc. The first season tends to have like hundreds of lessons and then later seasons have less. What i'm confused about is, what order do you do content. Should start with season 1 and go thru all the content then move onto season 2 then 3 and all the way thru each level before moving on? Is season 1 kind of outdated and just there for those that want it, but i'm okay starting at season 2 with the newer content? the newer content seems more organized and professional as the service became more popular, so am I wasting time by going thru all that season 1 content? Any help would be great. Thank you .

[mmmason8967]

The lessons on JapanesePod101 do not follow an obvious sequence such as Lesson #1, Lesson #2, and so on. New students often find it difficult to work out where they should start. Hopefully this short summary will remove some of the confusion.

Overview
JapanesePod101 is based around audio lessons that generally last around ten to fifteen minutes. Lessons are grouped into seasons (explained below) and are categorised by Level (also explained below).

Levels
Lessons are categorised using four levels: Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

The Absolute Beginner level contains two sub-levels, Absolute Beginner and Newbie. The main difference is that the Absolute Beginner sub-level is aimed at those who want to learn to say things in Japanese but don't feel ready for detailed grammar explanations.

Seasons
There are several seasons (or series) at each level. You are not expected to work through each season in order! When you have completed between two and four seasons at one level, you will probably feel ready to move up to the next level.

For most seasons there is a summary of the curriculum for that season. You can find the curriculum from the season's home page by clicking on the Explore Curriculum button. The Explore Curriculum button is also available alongside the seasons listed for each level on that level's home page.

Curriculum
Many members like to follow a structured curriculum. For these members there is a sequence of series called Nihongo Doujou.

Newbie S2 --> Newbie S3 --> Beginner S4 --> Beginner S5 --> Beginner S6 --> Lower Intermediate S6

Alternatively, there is another earlier sequence:-

Beginner S1 --> Beginner S2 --> Beginner S3 --> Lower Intermediate S1 --> S2 --> S3 --> S4 --> S5

Writing
You can find out about Japanese writing on the Japanese Writing System page.

The first stage of learning to read and write Japanese is to learn the kana (hiragana and katakana). A very good resource is the Kantan Kana video course.

マイケル

[norefund176007]

ありがとう！ This helps so much.

[community.japanese]

Hello マイケルさん、
Thank you for the analysis and feedback, and helping norefund176007 san.

norefund176007 san,
マイケルさん knows about us more than we do.
We will try our best.
Thank you very much.

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[norefund176007]

mmmason8967, Sorry to bother you again. thank you so much for the help before. Curious after Lower intermediate 6 what you do? Just continue onto intermediate 1, then upper intermediate 1 and on from there? Or is there also a recommended route after that as well. Thank you so much

[mmmason8967]

No, I don't think there's a recommended route for the higher level series. I think the idea is that having got the basics from the Newbie and Beginner series, you check the curricula for Intermediate series and select ones that cover areas you are interested in.

For example, the curriculum for Upper Intermediate Season 2 says that it covers "living in Japan ... finding a job in Japan, sending kids to school" and so on. Well, I'm in my late fifties, so moving to Japan is not something I'm likely to be able to do and sending the kids to school is no longer an issue, so for me this particular series doesn't sound very relevant. I'd skip that one and choose one of the others.

マイケル

[vagrant.nomad_497687]

This massively confused me too, I've been emailing a tech support but I do not believe he understood my questions. "Yes we have 5 seasons" was the best answre I received.

You may want to help your tech support say "The intended order is, ___, and check out the forum". I went to the FAQ, I would put this info in the FAQ as it wasn't there.

While my basics are answered here, I had another question that was not answered. Is all the grammar covered in a season?

By the structure of the FAQ, I got the impression that seasons exist simply because pop culture outdates itself over time. Can I assume that the same grammar points are covered in each season?

...just noticed, if I want to follow said curricula, do I just look for the seasons that have nihon-go doujou titles in them? That marker appears halfway down the list in some of the seasons, hard to tell the curricula.

Thanks,
Steven

[ofeliadgrd]

Hi Steven-san,
We apologize if we were not able to help you properly.
Thank you マイケルさん for giving a good support！

Regarding the Curricula, you can check them from here:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?cat=Beginner
and one looks like this:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/japanesep ... urriculum/

Sometimes they are not ready, because we are still working on them.

Regarding the grammar points, it may be that the same point is covered by several lessons, in that case you can try to enter the topic in the "Search Lessons & Dictionary" field and you will be able to see which lessons are about it.
Have you ever had a look to our Grammar Bank http://www.japanesepod101.com/japanese-grammar/ ?

Please feel free to let us know your feedback, it is very important for us!
Thank you,
Ofelia
Team JapanesePod101.com

[vagrant.nomad_497687]

Thanks for the response.

Actually, I can't read Kanji, so the curriculum guide is fruitless. I just finished Beg. S4 and I think I'm on to intermediate 5, as per the curriculum. I do not see why I would go through all the beginner seasons if they cover the same words and grammar points. It is hard to stay interested when you repeat something too many times, but repeating is good for awhile so we learn.

I have to write Kanji to learn it, so I don't use this site to learn Kanji, just doing the audio. I do find the audio very useful!

Thank you.
S.

[youngarnold_505647]

マイケルさん,

Your description of the structure of seasons has helped me formulate a plan of attack. I found myself starting both Beginner Seasons and Newbie Seasons, and flicking between lessons of each. Found I knew things in each , but at times found things that were new to me, which didnt quite make sense as to me 'Newbie' in the 'Absolute Beginner Series' would indicate a lower level than the 'Beginner' in the 'Beginner' Series.

Thanks to you I have now added the seasons from your description to my dashboard in order so I can follow them in the order suggested.
It may be that I eventually do both, either by working through one then the other, or both simultaneouly.

Structured learning works best for me so this will definitely help.

ローレンス

[community.japanese]

ローレンスさん、

がんばってください。

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com