Learning Japanese While Driving?

The first time we went to Japan I listened to this series in the car and learned lots of useful phrases for when I was there. Learn in your car Japanese

2 Likes

I do this during my daily jog or row and/or walk, so already get 30+ minutes a day of musical exposure. Could probably use more songs, though. Some of those I have been listening to since high school and late middle school…so…16+ years? :older_woman:t2: Gackt is a classic, mkay? :joy:

I sometimes listen to shows I’ve already watched at work, so that I already know the contexts. I sometimes also listen to Let’s Plays of games that I know. For example, I listened to a good 45 or so episodes of someone playing through (and reading all of) Final Fantasy 9, which is extremely dialogue heavy even compared to the rest of the series. It helped, and I know that game well enough that I had enough context to make piecing together what I was hearing easier.

If your data plan isn’t as liberal as mine, Netflix lets you download any episodes ahead of time. I was listening to the same few arcs of ひぐらしのなく頃に for awhile.

1 Like

Next up, taking driving lessons in Japanese.

4 Likes

My friend had to do that to get her license over there. :laughing: God bless her, I can’t even get the gumption to say hi to my own Japanese neighbor.

Coming from someone who had to get theirs, the Japanese driving test is literally hell on earth.

2 Likes

I think I’ll just take the train… :joy:

I’m planning on doing it next year.

2 Likes

i took my driver’s license here in 2014. second try. there’s some traps hidden in the questions, but it’s not too bad.
(there was a ruby version)

1 Like

I second this recommendation and would also like to point out that since they cover such a wide variety of topics, you can make things a lot easier by choosing the right one!

For instance, I already knew about Minecraft, Hearthstone and The Force Awakens, and those topics contain a lot of loan words, so they made for considerably easier listening for me compared to some of the more everyday topics.

EDIT: Fun fact: the Minecraft episode was where I first learned the word 異世界!

2 Likes

On the app Castbox you can access Japanese pod 101 for free, along with lots of other podcasts like Bilingual News. It’s a bit more confusing than getting the lessons on subscription as they aren’t neatly sorted by ability etc, but you can go through them and download them into your own playlist to listen to offline later.

I listen to them while sewing, which is a lot like driving except instead of getting distracted and killing a dog, you get distracted and sew through your finger.

2 Likes

Seconded. I think they have intermediate/advanced levels available.

1 Like

Jokes on you, my new car stops for me if it senses something ahead. :dog2: :no_entry_sign: :blue_car:

NHK Easy Japanese is great. I was looking for a podcast to casually review Japanese I material and also get in some listening practice without necessarily throwing too much new information at me and I love it.

I get easily overwhelmed and don’t retain anything when I’m spending part of my day on a new chapter of a textbook and then I try a new podcast for listening practice and that’s all new information too.

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.