Nihongo Dekimasu, fantastic learning resource

[watermen]

http://nihongo-dekimasu.blogspot.com/search/label/anime

These videos are really awesome. I wish Jpod101 can produce video like these, it is so fun to watch and you learn so much.

Just finished lesson 4, it is so funny to see foreigners in Japan eating onigiri...I really can't stop laughing at the way they eat.

[kitty-chan]

I want to check it out but their download system is バカ

[Javizy]

I want to check it out but their download system is バカ

You can stream the ones with the Megaupload link, it's a site like Youtube, so try clicking that.

[jkeyz15]

Thank you for the awesome vids.

[Psy]

I watched the latest episode and part of me wonders how useful this really is. It seems that the level of what it is they're teaching is well below the level of what you need to know to understand their explanations. In all my years of fooling around with this language, this is the first time I've ever encountered the base form being conjugated from the ます form.

Still, I guess it's nice to see some of these forms being put to use as you see various places in Japan. It's also satisfying to watch a program without any translations... I just don't see how it'll be particularly useful for newbies.

[Javizy]

I was thinking the same thing. They're teaching how to get to the plain form while using various other more complicated conjugations. The guys at the batting cages were also speaking pretty casually, so if you were only up to learning polite forms it'd go straight over your head. Lots of easy to understand Japanese though, so I found it worth watching.

[Liz21]

I love these videos! Thanks so much for telling us about them! I easily downloaded an episode and I watched the current online.

[Taurus]

I *think* NHK might be showing this series again:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gogaku/japanese/erin/

[jkid]

In all my years of fooling around with this language, this is the first time I've ever encountered the base form being conjugated from the ます form.

That is how I learnt plain form. Although it was not until after joining this forum that I started reading about how strange that is. I just thought that was how it was taught.

[Taurus]

I'm not sure if it's quite the same, but Minna no Nihongo starts with the -masu form and only introduces the dictionary form later, too. And I'm not sure I think it's strange. I'm not sure it's the most efficient way of learning, but I'm not sure it's strange...

[jkid]

Maybe strange is not the best choice of words.

I'd like to add that Minna No Nihongo is a great textbook.

[andamanislander]

Hey, those really are pretty good.

The pace, though, is SO SLOW! I don't mean the talking speed - EVERY language learner appreciates people who talk slowly - I mean the eternal pauses between phrases...UGH!

Still, I'll watch at least a few of them...thx...

[jaboyak]

I like that they speak slow because I can definitely understand better, but it doesn't really help to always go slow. It makes real Japanese harder to understand for me.

[Psy]

I find it's seldom the slow, but the clear that makes a big difference in comprehension. Speed you can always handle by listening repeatedly to some clip until you can make everything out. If it's slurred or the any of the sounds are unclear, however, things can become difficult or even impossible without aid. I liken it to saying, using equal time, what'cha wanna do and what do you want to do do? in English.

[Taurus]

I have this problem with my wife's mum... She speaks really quickly, and whenever I ask her to repeat what she's just said, she just says what she said equally quickly, but with long breaks between the words - so it becomes "what'cha (pause) wanna (pause) do (quizzical look)?"

It's a real skill being able to simplify your native language so that learners of that language can understand. One of my wife's friends is really good at it - first he repeats what he said with slow and careful pronunciation, and then, if I'm still having difficulty understanding, he'll use simpler sentences to convey the same meaning. My wife, on the other hand will just get frustrated and speak to me in English. Warui sensei desu!