Japanesepod101.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| JapanesePod101.com | |
| Other names | JPod, JapanesePod |
|---|---|
| Genre | Educational; Language Course; Cultural Instruction |
| Running time | 10-25 minutes (Average) |
| Country | Japan |
| Languages | English; Japanese |
| Starring | Peter Galante Natsuko Kawamoto Sakura Suzuki Sachiko Nakagome And many other personalities |
| Creators | Peter Galante, Eran Dekel |
| Producers | Mark Hobold |
| Recording studio | Tokyo |
| Air dates | December 2005 to Present |
| Audio format | MP3 |
| Opening theme | Marky Star |
| Website http://www.japanesepod101.com |
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 Podcasthttp://www.japanesepod101.com/feed.xml |
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JapanesePod101.com is a language course podcast and accompanying website that offers free lessons in Japanese. The service was founded in 2005 by Peter Galante and was the first such language learning program from Innovative Language Learning.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
JapanesePod101.com provides free daily podcasts with accompanying text expansion exercises and other extensive tutoring aids available to paid subscribers or "premium subscribers". It is based in Tokyo, Japan and hosted by New Yorker Peter Galante and Japanese Natsuko Kawamoto, Sakura Suzuki and Naomi.
[edit] Content
The free daily podcasts range in difficulty from "Newbie" to "Intermediate" level and has an average of ten to twenty minutes lesson time. Beginning in 2007, a short Japanese-only comedy sketch starts each lesson with references to Japanese History, customs and pop culture. Users are also encouraged to interact with the Japanesepod101 hosts and listeners around the world on their website and in the forums. Topics can vary from asking specific lesson questions to requesting content for future podcasts.
[edit] Shows
[edit] Levels
- Newbie - For first-time learners of Japanese. These podcasts introduce simple words and phrases, and breaks them down into individual syllables.
- Nihongo Dōjō - A situational-based spin off of the original "Newbie Series," based on the antics of Fabrizio, an eccentric Italian fashion coordinator who works at a trendy Tokyo hair salon called "Style You." The title is a Romanization of Japanese; 日本語 Nihongo means the Japanese Language) and a 道場 dōjō is a training hall where martial arts skills are perfected through repetition and discipline.
- Survival Phrases - This series is aimed at the Japan-bound traveler, and provides the listener with useful phrases, tips, and situations associated with travel in Japan. Grammar is kept to a minimum and easy, polite set phrases are explained. It seems to have stopped after 50 lessons.
- Beginner - These lessons are designed to introduce basic Japanese with the end goal of enabling the student to substantially increase his/her listening and reading comprehension skills. With over 100 lessons and dialogs, the beginner level course covers the basic grammar along with hundreds of frequently used vocabulary words.
- Beginner Season 2 - This level is designed to reinforce basic grammar and introduce new vocabulary. It often features contractions, slang, male/female speech variance, and Japanese dialects. The conversations are usually heavily based in modern Japanese culture, covering topics like family, television, maid cafes and otaku.
- Lower Intermediate & Intermediate - These lessons are designed for students with some previous experience in learning Japanese. The situations, vocabulary, and conversations mimic those that one would encounter in real life on a daily basis when interacting with friends, acquaintances, employers, etc. Intermediate drastically reduces the amount of English used in the lessons. Popular characters from this show include a recent college graduate who moved to Tokyo, and Taro, a super-intelligent japanese macaque who escapes a life of slavery at the hands of his wicked master.
[edit] Extra Content
- Japanese Culture Class - These lessons introduce and focus on various aspects of the Japanese culture, presenting useful related vocabulary words, phrases, and even songs. Culture classes are conducted primarily in English and cover one topic per episode. Japanese Holidays, dialects, and religion are amongst some of the topics covered, as well as practical topics such as real-estate, moving and manners.
- Miki's Blog - These audio blog's feature Miki, a Japanese university student, talking about various topics at normal speaking speed and are designed to provide listeners with exposure to long passages of natural, polite Japanese. It covers a broad range of topics all from a Japanese perspective."
- News - An infrequent broadcast that talks about new features, community members and functions, and many other things related to the website.
- Premium - As of December 2007, there were 4 Premium Lessons available. These are ghost stories called kaidan which were released during the Japanese Bon Festival 2007 and Halloween in 2007. They differ from the regular format in length. Two stories were written by Jyunji Inagawa, one of Japan's leading story tellers. An ongoing premium series called Sights & Sounds has been available since January 2008. The lessons are based on photographs taken around the Tokyo area.
- Also falling under the category of Premium are tools for practice and review. These include Review tracks (vocabulary and sample sentences only), Dialog Tracks (a stripped down version of the conversation on which the lesson is based), Combo Tracks (continuous conversations are combined into one audio file) and Video Vocab (a short, portable video flash card program based on each lesson's content).
[edit] Hosts
- Peter Galante: Having lived in Japan for more than 9 years, began JapanesePod101.com in December 2005. He has been student of linguistics and teaching for over 9 years. Arguably the face of JapanesePod101, he shares hosting duties with numerous JapanesePod personalities.
- Natsuko Kawamoto: A translator by profession. She lived in New York for four years when she was in elementary school, and is a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University.
- Sakura Suzuki: She lived in Ireland as a child, and an original member of JapanesePod101. She is also a translator and a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University.
- Naomi: Usually referred to as "Naomi Sensei" on the show, she is a certified Japanese Language Instructor and currently hosts every level. She is very often the butt of many of Peter Galante's bad jokes.
[edit] Related Projects
- EnglishPod101.com - First aired in December 2007, is a website similar to JapanesePod101.com with a primary Japanese audience who are learning the English Language.
- GermanPod101.com - A German Language podcast launched in 2008.
- ItalianPod101.com - An Italian Language podcast launched in 2008.
- KoreanClass101.com - Purportedly spun off the Survival Phrases website, this podcast teaches formal and informal spoken Korean Language to English speakers. Launched August 13, 2007.
- SpanishPod101.com - Similar to JapanesePod101.com, teaching Spanish to English Speakers. Launched December 17, 2007.
- SurvivalPhrases.com - Purportedly spun off from the JapanesePod101.com "Survival Phrases" series, this website provides a range of lessons for travelers or casual learners in a variety of different languages.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Further reading
Stone, Brad (2006-08-24), Learning a Language on Your iPod: How new podcasts like ‘JapanesePod101’ are changing the way people learn a foreign language., <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14500635/site/newsweek/>. Retrieved on 9 May 2007
Marx, W. David (2006-02-28), To learn the Japanese language, get pod-agogical, <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/ek20060228a1.html>. Retrieved on 9 May 2007
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
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