How to advance effectively through JapanesePod101 lessons

[lehner.rom_500466]

Hi minna san,

I just finished the absolute beginner season 1 series and wonder how to advance effectively. Japanesepod is said to be a fast approach to learn Japanese. But there are a lot of other series within the absolute beginner level, such as the newbie series, which would take months to cover if I took one lesson a day.

In general, do I need to cover all lessons, or when do I decide to change to a higher level?

[mmmason8967]

This question comes up quite often, and I have a prepared response that will hopefully help. I'll post it as the next message.

マイケル

[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).

Each lesson has a variety of supporting materials including Lesson Notes and Lesson Notes Lite. These PDF files contain exactly the same information: use Lesson Notes Lite if your PDF reader won't display Lesson Notes correctly.

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.

[VanDesu]

Thank you for your detailed explanation. But I don't understand why seasons are not expected to be worked through in order, since one might get exposed to lesson materials which were covered in a previous season. Isn't that the case?

However, if I stick to the second of your proposed curriculum, will that cover all essential materials regarding grammar?

[community.japanese]

マイケルさん、

どうもありがとうございます。
You should be one of our team member.

Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[mmmason8967]

Thank you for your detailed explanation. But I don't understand why seasons are not expected to be worked through in order, since one might get exposed to lesson materials which were covered in a previous season. Isn't that the case?

Yes, you're right: to a certain degree that is the case. However, you don't really want to start with Absolute Beginner season one and then work your way through the rest of Absolute Beginner followed by all of the Newbie seasons and then all of the Beginner seasons. A new member might reasonably expect that to be the way it works, but it isn't.

Originally there were only three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The Absolute Beginner and Newbie levels were added later, and make it clearer to new starters which series to go for first. However, the older Beginner level series start with the basics, and the original Beginner Season One series (which is really, really long) could be split into two or three Newbie seasons followed by two or three Beginner seasons.

The basic set-up is, firstly, that there are a number of stand-alone seasons covering specific topics, and these are given a level so that you'll know how easy or difficult each series is. The Culture Class: Essential Japanese Vocabulary series tells you about Japanese artists, writers, festivals, favourite foods and so on, and is at the Absolute Beginner level, while Japanese For Everday Life gives you useful phrases for dealing with car repairs, plumbing failures and the mysteries of Japanese waste-disposal, and is at the Upper Intermediate level. With these series you can choose one that interests you and do it alongside whatever else you're studying.

On top of this there are two main curriculae: the original one that starts with Beginner Season One and the later Nihongo Doujou that starts with Newbie Season Two. Taken together, these two series account for two out of five Newbie seasons, all six Beginner seasons and all six Lower Intermediate seasons. If you pick a season that's part-way through one or other of the two curriculae, you will find, as you suggested, that you're expected to know the grammar from earlier episodes within whichever curriculum it belongs to.

However, if I stick to the second of your proposed curriculum, will that cover all essential materials regarding grammar?

Yes.

マイケル

[lauralanda]

Hi lehner.rom,

Thank you for posting!
The answer would be, it depends on your needs.
As you can see we have different kind of lessons: cultural lessons, writing lessons, pronunciation lessons, grammar lessons...
So the curriculum you should follow depends on what you are planning to do (why you are studying Japanese for)

If you wish, we can help you plan your study curriculum according to your needs making use of our Premium Plus Subscription!
Please, have a look at what it includes by clicking the link called "Upgrade" on the upper right corner of this screen.

Let us know if you have questions.
Kind regards,
Laura
Team JapanesePod101.com

[doodoofan6899]

I used to study 5 lessons a day, sometimes even more. But I was studying full time so maybe that's normal. I suggest that you remember everything you learned from previous levels before moving on to the next ones. I ended up forgetting many things because I was moving too fast.

[community.japanese]

doodoofan6899 san

konnichiwa.
Yes, I think reviews are important, too.
Otherwise you forget and can build up vocabularies and grammar points.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com