Learning Japanese While Driving?

Oh, one other ressource for intermediate level is News in slow Japanese. I have no clue why there is the possibility to pay for it, because you can simply download all podcasts in slow and fast Japanese.
There is a transcription for all lessons, so you might listen to a podcast a couple of times (shuffle mode on mp3-player) and then read the transcription. At least for me this is a very good way

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Is there a way to download their podcasts or do they need to be streamed? I think I could really dig that but don’t want to kill my data plan for it. haha

yep, i do it with the Video Download Helper addon for firefox. With this you can basily downlaod all video or audio data in the current tab (also works for News in slow Japanese).

~T :lion:

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Is that a free thing?

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Would you please be so kind to post a link? That sounds really interesting!
Tanks :slight_smile:

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And when they say slow, they mean it. Even the faster one still feels a bit slow compared to just watching the news. But it’s helpful as you can listen to the slow one, then the fast one, and you can probably pick everything up. I think they’re also split up by level.

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Downloading some of these japanesepod101 podcasts. Will see how that rolls. Gonna follow the recommended path of this nihongo no baka dude. I expect I might be wanting to gag through Newbie Seasons 4 and 5, but will try a few episodes and see whether or not I should skip up.

I’d like to second the NHK Easy Japanese suggestion. It’s pretty well put together and free.

The podcast suggestion is a good one. Exposure to Japanese at normal speed is beneficial even if you don’t understand it all. I found one, almost at random, which I like. 斉藤雪乃のイチバンセン、which is a weekly podcast by a self confessed 鉄ちゃん, (train enthusiast, てっちゃん). She spend a lot of time talk about two of my favourite things in japan l, train travel and food; trips, 駅弁、お土産、things you can eat in station restaurants. I’m entertained even if I’m only understanding one word in ten. Up from one in a hundred which I guess is the point.

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Pimsleur is fine for driving.

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I use the Japanesepod101 app for android (they also have one for iphone). You can download podcasts while on wifi and listen to them later. I download an entire series and listen to a couple while driving to work each day.

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Japanese Pod 101 is great! I haven’t ever payed for it to unlock more lessons unfortunately, but some of the beginning lessons are amazing - at least, they were for a beginner. Looking back now though, I think I’ve well surpassed those beginning podcasts. I never did try the advanced courses though, so I don’t know what level of Japanese they can offer. If the advanced lessons are as good as the beginning ones, it could be very useful. Either way, for the sake of a monthly subscription it could be worth trying.

@chaswrig , @Tjorven

NHK
:slight_smile:

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Can anyone recommend more “people chatting” podcasts that don’t have music in the background? I don’t understand why so many podcasts tend to use it.

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When I see this title:

Learning Japanese While Driving?

All I can picture is driving down the road doing my Wanikani reviews. Unfortunately, that is no worse that much of what I see people doing while they drive. :slight_smile:

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I admit I thought it would be some scheme to learn from the road signs you see every day!

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Put your google maps into Japanese and get lost somewhere.

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Well, I did know Kita, Nishi, Higashi, Minami from riding the train and learning all the stop names. :slight_smile:
Favorite stop: 上大岡 - Kamiooooooooooka!

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i can recommend japanesepod101.
the basic sub is enough, takes you to a pretty good level and 4$/month isn’t expensive for what you get.

It seems like a lot of people are using JapanesePod101, I used to use it a looong while back before they started charging and I remember it was really good but then stopped cause I was tight on time, maybe it’s time for me to try it again also lol

Japanesepod seems to be doing the job pretty great. I started with newbie season 4 and even though the grammar and stuff is definitely that really really beginner stuff, I find the culture banter and vocabulary introduced to be of good use. I also like noting how the native speaker responds. Even in English, just following how she navigates the conversation. Like, “I think that…” or “maybe” is often used for statements that, as an American, are pretty obvious and not “maybes.” haha So, I will go ahead and push through from the beginning. I will be putting another 14 hours in drive time this week, so will probably make some quick work of these early lessons, anyway.

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