how many audio lesson and words should i learn a day?

[Martinzza1764]

Hi all, can you guys out there help me with my enquiry about how many audio lesson and words should i learn a day? as now I am very exhausted that I am currenlty learning about 50 words and listening to 5 audio lesson per day. I really need some advise, if can please post me your learning schedule. Thank you

[mmmason8967]

The number of audio lessons that I listen to averages out to well under one a day. Typically I listen to one audio lesson a day until I get to the end of the series but then I go back to the start and do them all again; I might end up listening to a series four or five times. The second time I go through a series, I often have trouble understanding some of the lesson tracks because I've forgotten the vocabulary or the grammar point. By the fourth or fifth time, though, it's usually starting to stick and I can get through five or six in a day.

It's worth pointing out that I'm 57 and getting new information into long-term memory takes longer than it used to when I was younger. You may very well find that you don't need as much repetition as I do.

I think it's also helpful to have interests that aren't directly related to the lesson plan you're following: things like anime, movies or popular music. One of my things is following a blog done by the staff at a boutique in Harajuku. The blog entries are nice and short, and there and are photographs to provide clues about what's being said (but it took me a while to figure out words like コーデ and ロクパー). I'm not exactly the target demographic but I find it fascinating.

I think that the rate of progress is an individual thing that will be affected by natural ability, how dedicated or passionate you feel and how much time you have to study. The important things, I think, are that your schedule is regular (a little every day is better than a lot once a week) and that you are making progress--although we all get stuck for a while at times.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

Hi martinzza1764-san and マイケルsan!
Thank you, マイケルsan, for great advice!
I agree; basicly one lesson per day would be efficient. But of course, if you think you can "absorb" more, you can try two or three lessons! It's totally up to you!
Unless you listen too many without learning anything, you can listen as many lesson as possible.

Also, like マイケルsan suggested, having interests outside lesson topic would encourage your study a lot.
It could be anything and it doesn't have to be Japanese. For example, if you're interested in sport, art, cooking, etc. you can use those things totally in your own way!
If there's anything we can help, please feel free to ask us!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Martinzza1764]

Hi 奈津子 san & マイケル san,

Thanks for your reply and professional advise. My aim is to master japanese fast, i think i am forcing myself too harsh.

If there is more advise to master Japanese will be very appreciated.

[Martinzza1764]

Hi 奈津子 san

I am currently listening to beginner season 1. The lesson is a huge lesson contain of 170. Do I have to follow all of the audio lesson from beginner level to advanced level?

[mmmason8967]

Do I have to follow all of the audio lesson from beginner level to advanced level?

No, the JPod101 lessons don't work that way, you will probably be pleased to hear!

The lessons are graded into Newbie, Beginner, Lower Intermediate, Intermediate and so on. Within each level there are a number of series, giving you a choice: if you don't get on with one series, you can try another one. In theory you could pick just one series at each level, but I think that is, perhaps, a bit too ambitious…

Since you've already started with Beginner S1 you might want to follow this often-recommended sequence:-

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

Alternatively, you could follow the Nihongo Doujou sequence, which is the one that is most frequently recommended for beginners because it follows a planned and structured curriculum:-

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

As far as advice for learning Japanese goes, it's not easy to do much more than give suggestions--everybody learns in different ways and what works for one person might be ineffective for someone else. For example, flashcards don't work for me even though lots of other people love them.

One thing that does work for me, and might work for you, is writing Japanese on paper with a pen. I find this more effective for memorising new words than trying to memorise them by staring at a vocabulary list.

Another thing that might work is trying out your Japanese in the forums. It takes more effort than you expect and you get plenty of things wrong. Trying, failing and then being told the proper way to say whatever-it-may-be seems to make things stick far better than simply trying to memorise grammar points, for me at any rate--although I suspect that if you're learning a language and you want to make progress, sooner or later everybody has to try it out on somebody that speaks the language better than they do.

マイケル

[Martinzza1764]

Hi マイケル san,

Thanks for your reply. Can you enligtened me what is the different between "Beginner Season" and "Nihongo Doujou "? i am quite confuse on which one i should move on.

[community.japanese]

martinzza1764-san,
I'm sorry to confuse you: you mean Newbie series' Nihongo Dojo, right?
Basically Absolute Beginner and Newbie covers almost the same level, so if you're doing already Alsolute Beginner or even Beginner, then feel free to move on to next level, at your own pace!
Like マイケルsan advised you already, you don't have to go through all lessons of all levels.
If you want to know which lesson covers what kind of grammar, or conversation target, each season (any level) has curriculums too
For instance, the curriculum for Newbie Season 2 (Nihongo Dojo) is:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/japanesep ... urriculum/
Hope you can also use these info efficiently! Good luck!!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com