What do you guys do to increase Japanese listening?
Every time when I read or listen I understand sh*t.
It makes me think when I was little I was listening to English movies and understand nothing.
Should I just blindly read and listen?
I follow lessons now via JapanesePod101 for free, but idk should that help me with better fundamentals?
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Do you listen to anything with English/native subtitles? I think watching anime or other TV shows / movies with English/native subtitles will at least get you used to hearing the flow of the language. Maybe try that for a few months first? I don’t really do enough subtitle-free listening myself, but I’m kind of lazy in that regard.
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I think in part it has to do with how you use the content. I’ve used Japanese pod for years mostly just listening to the lessons. Recently I have started reading the lessons line by line and then playing the audio. I feel like reading the sentence in written form ensures that your actively understanding every word. Once I’ve covered a season I can download the dialog tracks for the season and listen to every item back to back. I find this to be very useful because I can listen to 20 minutes of pure Japanese and understand almost every word as it is said. At least for me I feel like this has trained my years to be able to better hear phrases and words as they occur in anime and other mediums.
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I’d also add that not all the seasons are equivalently good. Right now I’m covering upper beginner season one which uses a public announcement as part of every dialogue and I find it very interesting and practical. Certainly which season is appropriate to you depends on your level but the higher beginner/intermediate seasons will have longer more complex dialogue
A lot of Japanese TV and youtubers put big blocks of text on the screen that are kind of like subtitles, but just emphasizing things most of the time. They will change the grammar a bit or omit parts but allow you to follow along.
As for me personally, I like the かまいたち YouTube channel. They’re a manzai/sketch comedy duo. They do the text thing I was mentioning on some videos. I’m sure this specifically is beyond your current level (it’s advanced, about a specific comedy competition, and in Kansai-ben…), but I just figured it would give an idea of what can be found.
Example of a video with the text
Example of a longer discussion type video without text
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I’d recommend terrace house on Netflix - watching that when I first came to Japan really helped me understand lots of casual phrases that I didn’t really get. Especially the first episode of a series you get lots of introductions repeated, and lots of simple questions, so it’s quite good for picking up on those sort of phrases and reactions. From series 2 they have English subs, if you can watch one with and then the same episode again with Japanese subs.
Obviously it’s stopped now due to the tragic ending, but it’s still online and remains a good source for listening imo.
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Hi! Could you blur spoiler the last sentence of your post? I haven’t seen the show yet and its a shame to know what you wrote at the end there 
There is a Listening Comprehension-thread here on WK where I invite everyone to share the content you use for listening practice! ^>^
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It’s nothing about the show itself per say that spoils it. One of the stars killed themselves because of the hate they were receiving. So they had to cancel it abruptly.
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Why was it such a bad show?
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The heck? There are haters harassing someone who appeared so the show must be bad?
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Idk I that why I ask. Why would people out of nowhere harash someobody?
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You’re unfamiliar with reality television? >_>
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Nihongo con Teppei has a beginner podcast which is great for listening comprehension. It was really helped me improve my overall listening comprehension!
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Not really.
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PROTIP: set your language to Japanese in your Netflix profile (Can only be done from the webpage AFAIK, but every netflix app is a little different so maybe some devices can set it from the app) and that will make the hidden Japanese language tracks show up for shows that have them.
Typically this is just for Netflix original series (Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, etc) but there might be others tucked away. If you watch the credits for netflix shows they will list cast for every foreign dub. Thats the easiest way to tell. Japanese, Turkish, and Mandarin tracks are available for man Netflix original series but frequently hidden if Netflix thinks you just speak English.
In my opinion, you need to find content that’ll be catered to your level.
For example, after having completed Genki 1, I’ve just gone back to review using Minna no Nihongo and I’m finding a TON more clarity in my reading… but some of the listening tasks are still challenging and require me to listen a few times to make sure my accuracy is as good as my general comprehension. That tells me that I need the extra practice.
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Who said the show was bad? I just said that one contestant received a lot of hate.
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