When Japanese Pod is too easy...

[Elfunko]

I dig the community and the Audio Blog and now those O-Bon stories, its getting closer to real Japanese. I haven't done any of the intermediate lessons since I get more learning from reading/translating/learning from larger articles. So what I was wondering is if Japanese Pod is gonna come out with some advanced material? Use any grammar dictionary and just pull some fun articles, make a short vocab list, a short grammar point list (which you just retype from the grammar dictionary) and bang you got my 36 or 60 dollars for the basic service. But until then I gotta wait. As for the KoreanClass101, that I can actually utilize since I'm just a beginner. But for us who have progressed past basic/intermediate, give us a challenge!

[scnnrc]

I think that recentrly JPOP101 has become too easy as well. I would remove the newbie lessons because I think that would be well replaced by survivalphrases.com and focus more on the lower-intermediate audience.

[nilfisq]

i am a newbie... that is: i followed all the newbie lessons so far and i am about to switch to the beginners lessons.
i think it is good that jpod101 covers all levels, from newbie to advanced. referring beginners to survivalphrases.com is not an option, because you would have to pay for two memberships. i think survivalphrases.com alone is not enough, because i would miss the culture classes, all the premium extras and naomi-sensei!

as for the newbie series: the first lessons by naomi-sensei are excellent but relatively easy to follow after having completed newbie lessons 1-30 (some of which were quite challenging ). I think peter mentioned somewhere in lesson 31 that naomi's series of 25 lessons can actually be categorized as "newbie lessons s2". wouldn't it be a good idea to mention that in the category list?

[markystar]

actually, our largest listener base is low level. but recently we've begun adding a finite point to the lesson categories.

for example, Celebrity Survival Phrases was 15 or so episodes. the Nihongo Dojo series ends at 25.

Beginner Season 2 is kind of our of wild card level. The stories are short and relatively easy but we've been trying to throw in edgier grammar items like slang, regionalisms and cultural references. it seems to be really popular with all levels since the stories tend to be pretty crazy.

as for advanced stuff, i want to do it too! and it's just a matter of time before we roll out something.

by the way, we have another Ghost Story coming up for Halloween!
that project was entirely yuki and i. we wanted to really push what you called "real Japanese" so i'm glad to hear you liked them!

i sort of envision the advanced material taking a similar form. what did you guys think about the format of the ghost stories?

marky

[nilfisq]

すごい! looking forward to tackle all those fun and ghost stories: still a long way to go, but i will get there!

[markystar]

yes, you will get there! it's good set goals, be it the JLPT or some scary stories

[Elfunko]

LOL, the JLPT is a scary story. The ghost stories were good. But theres a whole range of topics that can be covered for advanced speakers. Everything from formal speaking/giving speeches, the audio blog format on a deeper and more authentic level, personally for me use of ageru/kureru/morau/ etc in real context and in advanced speaking, specialized topics, etc. Beginner is beginner, intermediate is intermediate, but advanced I would think would be an endless pool of possibilities. Wider range would mean more subscriptions.

[Tourne]

.... I would remove the newbie lessons because I think that would be well replaced by survivalphrases.com and focus more on the lower-intermediate audience.

If you would like to have more advanced content then fair enough, but I don't see what is to be gained by removing the newbie files. I am a newbie and I need that stuff. If newbie and beginner content gets removed, JPOD would have no value for me and I'd have no reason to renew.

[Ulver_684]

.... I would remove the newbie lessons because I think that would be well replaced by survivalphrases.com and focus more on the lower-intermediate audience.

If you would like to have more advanced content then fair enough, but I don't see what is to be gained by removing the newbie files. I am a newbie and I need that stuff. If newbie and beginner content gets removed, JPOD would have no value for me and I'd have no reason to renew.

Tourne-san!

Definitive you have all my support!

[markystar]

have no fear! we're not taking down any content.

even as i type this, all the old lessons are still available and will continue to be so.

naturally, the newbie stuff will progress. and since nobody wants to be a newbie forever, we're trying to keep things linear so they we can all grow together!

i'm not sure what's in the future for Beginner Season 2, but my guess is it'll be around for quite a while. i think it's one of our strongest levels because it's pretty funny and is a good place to bounce to for advanced Newbies or those who started with the original Beginner level (which ended up quite advanced somehow). it tends to tap into cultural stuff quite a bit and regularly introduces slang and dialect and other kinds of odd non-textbook vocab (so even advanced listeners can get something out of the dialogs (if not the lesson portion too).


recently a few people have posted things here in the forum like this. not sure where the rumors are starting...
but don't worry, we're not trying to evict the low level learners. won't happen.

marky

[Jason]

but don't worry, we're not trying to evict the low level learners. won't happen.

This is japanesepod101 after all.

[padrik]

The 101 is great, maybe we also need a 201... Almost everything is too easy, but the community is cool of course.

[Jason]

Well, I just meant that since beginners are the main target audience, that even with expansion into other materials the lower level lessons won't be abandoned. Just reinforcing what Marky said. I didn't mean to imply that jpod shouldn't cover more advanced material.

[watermen]

Well, I just meant that since beginners are the main target audience, that even with expansion into other materials the lower level lessons won't be abandoned. Just reinforcing what Marky said. I didn't mean to imply that jpod shouldn't cover more advanced material.

After looking at today's newbie lesson #47...I suddenly feel that it is too easy....to a certain degree, I also think that this lesson is unnecessary, I believe anyone who is able to come to this point should be able to understand everything that is being said in lesson #47.