[edit - oh and please do leave your own suggestions of anything that’s helping you now at an early stage - I know there are lots of suggestions on the boards already but they generally seem totally over my head so fire away]
I use Japanese with Noriko and think she is great. She does different types of podcast to suit different level beginners. There is also transcripts of her videos on her web site. Her short story collection is good for early beginners because she speaks a little slower.
I love Nihongi con Teppei but I feel like it’s for high beginners really. You need to have built up quite a bit of vocab before you can start getting the gist, I think.
I liked this a lot, it is really very very basic, but still useful for someone my level or lower (currently level 8 on wanikani and have previously done some classroom Japanese classes)
I especially like that there is interaction with a non native speaker
and there are even more videos you can watch than on youtube. It’s so encouraging to listen / watch something that’s pretty graspable as a beginner - lots of repetition and clear pronunciation. I recommend
It’s possible to download subtitles (voice recognition) from YouTube. It can be auto-generated, although it will need proof-reading, if you want learn to thoroughly.
It’s inside CC button or Three dot >> Show Transcript,
youtube-dl
File size is problem for downloading too, but there might be easier ways?
% youtube-dl KRB2LL5hhJE -F
[youtube] KRB2LL5hhJE: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for KRB2LL5hhJE:
format code extension resolution note
249 webm audio only tiny 46k , webm_dash container, opus @ 46k (48000Hz), 2.92MiB
...
% youtube-dl KRB2LL5hhJE --sub-lang ja -f 249 --write-auto-sub
[youtube] KRB2LL5hhJE: Downloading webpage
[download] Destination: 海水魚の水槽にコイを投入すると…-KRB2LL5hhJE.webm
[download] 100% of 2.92MiB in 01:05
The filename is actually 海水魚の水槽にコイを投入すると…-KRB2LL5hhJE.ja.vtt, which is a text file, but might need to be cleaned for easy usage.
To use youtube-dl is a problem in itself, as it is not really allowed by Google. I can’t tell when it will be blocked.
Also, listening to something too fast is a problem for me as well. I won’t say I can’t listen at all, but I need some easier (not muffled, and perhaps slower) materials first.
so fire away]