Is Langlearner a good tool to learn Japanese?

[Bastiaan]

Konichiwa!

I need your opionion,

I'm looking for a good online course to learn Japanese . While checking out Rosetta Stone I found a new competitor called Langlearner, http://www.%20langlearner.com, I think their approach is very similar to Rosetta Stone; they use flashcards, games, audio and video to help you to learn words and phrases.
One of the differences is that you can choose your own instruction language - I'm Dutch - which is good when you're not fluent in English. Another great feature which RS does not have is the reader. you can read news articles in Japanese, or listen to them (!) and if you don't know a word you can just click on it and the translation pops up.

And it's much cheaper than RS....

The problem is that I don't know any Japanese yet. Is there anybody who can have a look (they offer a free trial) and check whether the vocabulary is up-to-date and the pronouncination is good? (I checked their Dutch course and there the vocabulary and voice was very good),

Would you go for it in stead of RS or any other online course?

Arigatou gozai masu!

Bas

[watermen]

Konichiwa!

I need your opionion,

I'm looking for a good online course to learn Japanese . While checking out Rosetta Stone I found a new competitor called Langlearner, http://www.%20langlearner.com, I think their approach is very similar to Rosetta Stone; they use flashcards, games, audio and video to help you to learn words and phrases.
One of the differences is that you can choose your own instruction language - I'm Dutch - which is good when you're not fluent in English. Another great feature which RS does not have is the reader. you can read news articles in Japanese, or listen to them (!) and if you don't know a word you can just click on it and the translation pops up.

And it's much cheaper than RS....

The problem is that I don't know any Japanese yet. Is there anybody who can have a look (they offer a free trial) and check whether the vocabulary is up-to-date and the pronouncination is good? (I checked their Dutch course and there the vocabulary and voice was very good),

Would you go for it in stead of RS or any other online course?

Arigatou gozai masu!

Bas

Jpod101 is still by far the best learning tool online. By the way, I am not Jpod101 staff, it is just my experience from a learner standpoint.

You can't really learn real Japanese from Rosetta or Langlearner, because it doesn't teach you the grammar and culture behind the language. You will come to a bottleneck after finishing their lessons and not able to progress.

With Jpod, you can start from nothing and progress pretty fast. If you study 2-3 lessons everyday, you should be able to understand some Japanese after 1 month. Also, it is cheaper than Rosetta and Langlearner, I think possibly the cheapest online Japanese course I know.

Of course, Jpod has its downside too, you may reach a bottleneck when you reach intermediate level. You may find it tough to progress because the lessons can sometime be really tough to understand, however, with hardwork, it shouldn't be a problem. Some people are complaining Upper Intermediate are too easy, so I guess it really depends on the person too. That being said, Rosetta or Langlearner can't even bring you anywhere near intermediate level. If you are able to reach intermediate level, you can basically read Japanese newspaper with some help from dictionary, you probably can do most of the basic conversation too.

Therefore, I highly recommend you to use Jpod101 to study Japanese.

[Bastiaan]

Thanks,

That's very helpful. I did the free trial with Langlearner and I liked it a lot. Did not decide yet, so I'll first try the free trial of Jpod, first.

I'll let you know whether I'll choose Langlearner or Jpod.

I would be able to understand some Japanese after a month? Wow, that sounds promising. But can you specify "some Japanese"? Would I be able to understand the answer if I would ask a question? That's the problem with most language courses. You can learn a question, but if the answer is not "according to the book" then you're lost again.



Bastiaan

[watermen]

Thanks,

But can you specify "some Japanese"?


Bastiaan

This is a very subjective question, and most importantly, really depend on how you use Jpod101. There are many ways to use Jpod101.

For example, when I first started, I started with Beginner Season 1 (there was no newbie series at that time.) By the time I reach lesson 90++, I realized that I can read JLPT 4 materials without having any trouble, you can also possibly read some Japanese kid story books without much trouble. By the time you reach lesson 170, you are actually in the lower intermediate level, from there on, you start with lower intermediate series, it will start to get difficult, as you progress you should be in the intermediate level, at that level you should be able to read Japanese newspaper with dictionary help.

Once you reach intermediate, it is when the real tough time comes. If you are living in Japan and have a lot of Japanese friends and speak Japanese everyday, then it is probably not going to be a problem, but you are living outside of Japan and have no Japanese friends, it might be tough to learn. That being said, just like learning any languages, once you an intermediate level, progressing to advanced level is always the toughest.

That was my method of using Jpod.

Today, Jpod101 offer way more series and options then it was 4 years ago. If I were you, I will probably start off with Newbie Season 1, Survival Phrases Season 1, 2, and Beginner Season 1 (Lesson 1-50) at the same time. Once you finished all, I will start beginner season 4, after finishing season 4, jump back to beginner season 1 lesson 51 and finish it. You can skip some lessons in between if you want to.

I tried Rosetta before, didn't work, Langlearn is pretty similar to Rosetta. Both of them share the same downside, that is they don't teach you the grammar and the culture behind it. If you just want to go for a holiday in Japan and learn a few phrases just to get you through, I think Langlearn is a good option. If you are a serious learner and want to learn Japanese, both Rosetta and Langlearn are not able to help you to achieve that.

Without learning the grammar and culture behind a language, one just can't progress far. That is why I personally think Jpod is still one of the best options available, because of its strong emphasis on grammar and culture.

Going back to your questions, if you want to understand replies in different way, you need to master the grammar and know enough of vocabs. Language is a flexible thing, you can express the same thing in many different ways, and to achieve that, one need to have an understanding of the grammar and know enough of vocabs.