I subscribed to TV Japan on Direct TV in the U.S. Itâs channel 2040, and it costs me $25 a month. I really enjoy it and even understand a lot of the childrenâs programs. The other programs are very interesting, even if I donât catch all of the Japanese yet. I also really like how most of the programs have the Japanese subtitles. That gives me the extra reading practice, too.
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I should look into this stuff, though I donât live in the US. There might still be ways I can get in on the action! 
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I would guess one of the TV services would have it. You might have to call more than one to find it, though. TV Japan is also NHK.
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Iâve been putting this on for about 30 minutes a day after discovering it a few weeks ago on the big resources list. I find it to be very helpful.
From what I can see Speechlingâs levels roughly end up mapping as:
- Beginner (A1): N5 such as Genki I
- Intermediate (A2): N4 such as Genki II
- Advanced (B1-C2): N3 such as Quartet I
- Expert (B2-C2): N2 such as Quartet II
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Thanks for that comment! Iâm sure lots of people are helped knowing the rough estimate of the difficulty levels of Speechling! 
Nihongo no teppi podcast. I wouldnât recommend nhk news. They use too much keigo (higher than masu) form.
Text books: order of operation
JFZ series or genki
Then after that
Tobira or approach to intermediate japnese
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This is a good point⊠although⊠I do live in Japan, so one of my secondary goals is to be able to follow the news here, and NHK seems to be the default common source (though the listening to this pod, takes up less than 5% of listening time. Itâs just an occasional listen). At home, I hear plenty of casual, local Chikugo-ben slang.
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yeah. wanikani is based on most of the kanji. but they use too much keigo which is the issue. i read nhk sometimes, but mostly nighongo no teppi podcast. you can also click the audio to follow along when reading nhk easy web
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Might be a hard question to answer, but it makes me really interested to know what Chikugo-ben is like. 
What are the quirks of this Japanese dialect?
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This is close and similar Japanese Dialects Hakata-ben - Hakata-ben Study Website
There are a few examples in there I recognize. I mainly mentioned it because the textbooks tend to lean towards Tokyo and Kanto area language, and I sometimes have to ask my wife, How do you say this?
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Yes, also as far as Japanese media. Itâs unusual to hear other dialects in anime, though it happens from time to time. (the calligraphy anime comes to mind)
Thanks for sharing the link! I do love dialects. ^>^
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I like to have some âbook reading videoâ running on youtube as I work.
For example :
Since i have almost no grammar knowledge I donât understand the story, but it is fun to grab more and more words as I learn them in WK or Drops or Assimil.
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Thanks for the tip!
You might also enjoy LibriVox Audiobooks. Theyâre free and thereâs a wide range of books that are read for you.
As for grammar, I didnât have much of that in the beginning. I read about the particles. But then I mostly watched anime which made me identity conjugation forms and internalize them. I think exposure to the language is a great way of learning (though, having a grammar textbook is faster and easier).
Good luck with your studies! ^>^
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This isnât a listening resource, but itâs definitely a listening funny. And I wonât be forgetting ç”ć± (if it is ăăŁăăă) probably ever 
on Twitter: âThis is so crazyâ
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@tatihirata kindly did a resource list dump here in the forums (A list of some Youtube channels that might help you). Itâs a very extensive list of YouTube channels, but I figured Iâd link to the podcasts here in the thread so as to keep all listening resources in one place and make it easier for anyone looking for good listening practice resources. ^>^
Happy listening everyone! 
Bonus - Podcasts
Japanese Mania - PDF files with scripts in Japanese
Japanese with Noriko - scripts on her website
Kotsu Kotsu Nihongo with Mizuki - scripts on her website
Listen to Real Japanese
Nihongo-M - link to scripts on her Anchor page
Sakura Tips - scripts on her website
Shirokuro Papa - All the sentences are on his Twitter
The real Japanese podcast - scripts on her website
Yuyu Nihongo
Okay so I linked to a post before and that didnât really work. So hereâs just the post I made earlier.
Itâs a few recommendations for VTubers which are relatively chill to listen to and good for listening practice. All but one of them are Hololive because thatâs the rabbit hole I fell into. VTubers have done wonders for my own listening comprehension, and fi watching whole streams is not your thing most of them have a lot of clips floating around. You can even search for their name in Japanese with ćăæă as a search term to find Japanese-subbed clips - the text can offer some context you may miss from listening (in the form of kanji and such) and help your comprehension that way, without having to rely on English subtitles.
Recommendations below:
Shishiro Botan
Super chill, looks like a lion, giggles like a kitten. Is an absolute beast when playing any FPS. Completely unshakeable in horror games (as in seriously - she just chuckles her way through, itâs almost sad for the monsters). Also plays stuff like Planet Coaster (where she mostly builds contraptions that test the limits of the physics engine) and Trials Rising (which turns into a regular gigglefest as she crashes her shopping cart in the most hilarious ways).
Tokino Sora
The OG hololive idol. Also fairly chill, especially in free talk streams. Super loveable dork. Studies English somewhat regularly, and is actually getting fairly good at it. Also does a lot of music and has a very impressive vocal range. Almost as unshakeable as Botan in horror games, except when bugs/worms get into play - but sheâs not the scream and get hyper kind, she gets quiet when sheâs scared.
Nekomata Okayu
The literal embodiment of chill. Has a voice as smooth as velvet. Sheâs extremely easy to just sit down and listen to even if you donât understand a word of what sheâs saying. Has played games like Jump King and Getting Over It without getting overly frustrated, most youâll get is cute noises.
Tokoyami Towa
Her voice may take some getting used to, but sheâs overall pretty calm. Can get worked up sometimes though, but I wouldnât personally classify her as hyper. Supposed to be a devil but so far het grand evil master plan seems to be to slowly kill everyone with cuteness-induced diabetes. Has one of the most amazing singing voices Iâve heard in my life.
Murasaki Shion
Smug brat extraordinaire. Likes to mess with chat. Iâm honestly not too familiar with her, but from what Iâve seen she does seem a lot of fun and fairly calm. Also has a super impressive singing voice, if you care about that sort of thing.
Roboco
High-spec cute robot. Super chill, does things like breakfast streams and lately has been doing a lot of English study as well which is always good listening practice. Overall just really adorable and has a fairly calming voice.
Yukihana Lamy
Not always super chill (especially not in games, and especially especially not in horror games) but in some of her streams you can bet on it. Does regular æ掻éè« streams where she just goes through her morning routine, lasting anywhere between 2 and 4 hours, which are actually super relaxing to listen to. I highly recommend watching at least one of her horror game collabs with Botan if you enjoy the idea of a smug giggling lion messing with an elf who gets scared of absolutely everything (itâs hilarious and adorable).
Ookami Mio
Sometimes described as everyoneâs mama, and she does give off that vibe. Calming voice, calm personality. Spent golden week calling various memebers out of bed, which was equal parts cute and funny because most of them have wildly unhealthy sleep schedules and hadnât slept for more than a few hours.
Yuzuki Choco
Doesnât get too worked up during games, and is very calm in her chatting streams. Most worked up Iâve seen her is over cute girls. Extremely good in bed - has been known to literally sleep all day (no, seriously, when Mio called her during golden week she realised she just⊠hadnât woken up at all the day before). Good cook and has cooked on stream. Can get a bit obsessed⊠Like when she decided to just casually start mass-murdering Endermen in Minecraft and levelled up to lv 502 as a result.
Ryugasaki Rene
Not Hololive for a change 
She has relatively small viewership so you can actually interact with her, and she does interactive streams fairly regularly doing stuff like trying to learn about overseas food or internet slang (though I donât think sheâs done this recently). Also does breakfast chat and free chat streams. Has a relatively deep and very calming voice.
Nakiri Ayame
Thanks @ChatterBox for reminding me of her. Absolutely the most adorable thing youâll see all year (YMMV). Pun machine extraordinaire. æ©ćŁèšè champion. Easily defeated by foreign names during superchat readings. Only thing to note is that her choice of words can sometimes be a bit archaic, like using äœ as her first-person pronoun, but overall I think she speaks as normally as any other VTuber. Combine her with Mio for maximum diabetes.
Oozora Subaru
If youâve seen the dancing duck meme, youâve seen Subaru. She has a rather unique voice and can be a bit high energy sometimes, but sheâs a super hard worker and has very entertaining stories. Desperately tries to be Mioâs daughter (Mio does not remember giving birth to her). Actually has a fairly decent grasp of English. During her more recent chat streams sheâs made an effort to accomodate her overseas fans by having short English summaries of her talking points on screen, letting you check your understanding of what sheâs saying.
I think what you mostly want is éè« (free chat) streams, theyâre always fairly easy listening. You can also check collabs to get a feel for other members and see who you like. That has the added benefit of actually listening to a conversation instead of just listening to a streamer talk to an audience.
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@ekg I would love to start listening to audio dramas but is there any sites where you can buy them as mp3 files or are they always released as CDs?
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I canât say Iâve encountered it myself. Iâve only bought BLCDs physically. You can get lucky and buy something used, but yeah, they arenât that cheap.
But, itâs not surprising, considering how much product value you get from a Drama CD (itâs cheaper to make than anime, but itâs still much more costly than a book in comparison).
Just generally speaking, Japan isnât knows for being progressive when it comes to the music industry and digital content. Not sure if that also includes drama CDs. But, I also havenât been looking for it.
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Yeah I thought that might be the case, they arenât always progressive with technology 
It would be nice if they did release them digitally, I wouldnât mind saving money on shipping/import tax and the CDs themselves. Not to mention the shelf space it would save as well 
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To be honest, while it is nice to have the CDs (I do like collecting stuff, though I donât go mad about it), Iâve also ripped my own CDs to I can listen to them on my mp3 player on the bus. Itâs just about what is practical in the end. ^^;
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