Learning a new language has always been a mix of highs and lows for me: One moment I’m feeling like I’m really making progress, the next one it seems I’m not getting anywhere. One of the hardest challenges in learning Japanese is that it’s so different from virtually every other language I studied before. That meant a lot of the old tricks didn’t work and I had to figure out a learning style that sticks.
In my series of Japanese language teaching apps and courses, I’m taking a closer look at JapanesePod101 today, which has carved out its very own spot in terms of teaching style.
JapanesePod101 is a platform offering a blend of audio lessons, quizzes, and interactive features aimed at learners from beginner to advanced levels who are looking to learn Japanese online. It’s structured to give users flexibility, letting them dive into lessons on everything from everyday greetings to formal business Japanese.
A notable feature of JapanesePod101 is its host-led lessons, including those by Risa, whose approachable teaching style results several pages of video comments. These lessons are intended to make language learning accessible and engaging.
Risa aside, what makes JapanesePod101 different from other online Japanese courses? How does it compare in terms of usability and effectiveness?
In this article, I’ll explore JapanesePod101 objectively (well, I’ll try to, at least), examining its features, strengths, and potential drawbacks. By the end, you’ll hopefully also have a clearer understanding of whether it aligns with the way you study Japanese.
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Contents
What Is JapanesePod101?
JapanesePod101 is a comprehensive online platform designed for learning the Japanese language. It caters to various levels, from absolute beginners to those with advanced skills.
The platform was created by language experts at Interactive Language with the goal of making Japanese accessible to everyone. Unlike the name suggests, it doesn’t just offer podcasts, but diverse lessons featuring audio, video, and written content. These resources are not just educational but also engaging, combining real-life conversations with interactive elements.
JapanesePod101 provides a flexible learning environment. Users can set their own pace and choose learning paths tailored to their needs. It integrates technology and effective teaching methods, making learning Japanese not just possible, but enjoyable.
Key Features of JapanesePod101
JapanesePod101 stands out for its rich array of learning resources. These features cater to various learning preferences.
One primary feature is its extensive library of lessons. The lessons range from short, beginner-friendly snippets to detailed advanced lessons.
Key features include:
- Audio and video lessons
- Interactive quizzes and flashcards
- Cultural insights
- Community forums
- Mobile app accessibility
The platform is continuously updated. This ensures learners have access to the freshest material.
Users appreciate the personalized feedback from native speakers. It adds a human touch to this digital learning environment.
Audio and Video Lessons
Audio and video lessons are a cornerstone of JapanesePod101. These resources allow learners to hear authentic Japanese in various contexts.
The lessons are structured to build listening and comprehension skills. They begin at the most basic level and progress gradually to challenge more advanced students.
Users can replay segments to grasp nuances. This approach aids in honing pronunciation and understanding different dialects.
Topics range from ordering at a restaurant to using Japanese in a business environment.
Interactive Learning Tools
Interactive tools enhance the learning process on JapanesePod101. These include engaging quizzes that reinforce the lessons.
Flashcards are available to help with vocabulary retention. Users can test themselves on key words and phrases.
Additionally, the platform offers voice recording tools. This feature allows learners to practice pronunciation and compare it with native speakers.
Cultural Insights and Tips
Learning a language isn’t just about grammar and vocabulary. JapanesePod101 also delves into the culture.
Lessons integrate practical tips about Japanese customs. This helps learners understand context and enhances their communication skills.
The cultural notes are woven into lessons, providing a holistic approach. These insights make the learning experience richer and more immersive.
Different Skill Levels
Skill levels range from absolute beginner to advanced. It would take around 120 hours to listen to all of the lessons in the five main levels.
Each main series also comes with additional lessons based on topics of interest.For example, at the Absolute Beginner level you can learn about basic Japanese culture, how to introduce yourself, and so on. At the Upper Intermediate level, there are additional lessons on the JLPT N2. In total, there are several thousands lessons available on JapanesePod101.
Risa: The Face of JapanesePod101
Risa is a well-loved personality on JapanesePod101. Her engaging style and cheerful demeanor have made learning enjoyable for countless users. Known for her clear explanations and infectious enthusiasm, Risa enhances each lesson with her unique charm.
Students frequently mention Risa in their JapanesePod101 reviews. Her presence adds a personal touch, making the learning experience feel more connected. Many learners find her approach inspires and motivates them to continue their language journey.
Obviously Risa is not the only teacher on the program. In total their team consists of 29 teachers, including the founder Peter Galante, a resident of Japan for over 9 years and Phd candidate at a Japanese university who started JapanesePod101.com in 2005.
How JapanesePod101 Is Different
One of the biggest advantages of JapanesePod101 is its flexibility. You can learn Japanese wherever and whenever you want, making it easy to fit lessons into your daily routine. With the mobile app, you can listen to lessons while commuting, exercising, or doing household chores. This “learn on the go” feature lets you make the most of time that would otherwise be idle.
Another key benefit is the ability to study at your own pace. JapanesePod101 doesn’t require you to follow a rigid curriculum. You can repeat lessons as needed, skip over familiar material, or jump to lessons that match your specific needs, like business Japanese or casual conversation. This adaptability allows you to tailor your learning experience to your level and goals. This also sets it apart from apps like Duolingo, where you need to repetitively learn the same things again and again before you can move on to other lessons.
JapanesePod101 also stands out for its cultural and linguistic explanations, providing insight into not just what to say, but how to say it in a way that sounds natural. Lessons often cover cultural nuances, like appropriate phrases for different situations or informal expressions used in daily life. This authentic approach helps learners understand the context behind the language, so they’re not just memorizing words—they’re learning how to use them effectively. To give you an idea, there’s one dialog where a little girl calls a dog “wan-chan” (わんちゃん). The JapanesePod101 teacher explains that the word comes from the sound a dog makes – in Japanese, it’s “wan wan”, not “woof woof” – and also says that this word is mainly used by children, especially girls.
Lastly the teachers are great: I already mentioned Risa, but in addition to that, each lesson has a comment section where you can ask questions there directly and get more explanations by JapansePod101’s teachers. However, the comment section is currently only available on the website.
Pros and Cons of JapanesePod101
In a nutshell, here’s what you get with the course – the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good
- Mobile App and Offline Learning: Accessible on mobile, so you can listen to lessons anywhere – during commutes, workouts, or while doing chores.
- Self-Paced Learning: Allows you to set your own pace, repeat lessons, or skip over content you already know.
- Authentic Language Insights: Provides cultural and contextual explanations, helping you understand real-life Japanese beyond textbook phrases.
- Engaging Host: Popular host-led lessons, like those by Risa, add personality and make learning more enjoyable.
- Comprehensive Content: Covers all levels from beginner to advanced, with thousands of lessons on various topics.
- Preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT): Targeted materials include practice exercises and specific vocabulary lists. They are designed to help learners focus on key areas required for the JLPT exams, enhancing their readiness.
The Bad
- Lacks Speaking Partners: Primarily focuses on listening and reading; finding a speaking partner outside of the platform is recommended for conversation practice.
- Clunky Navigation: The lesson organization can make it difficult to locate specific content, especially if you want to revisit a previous lesson.
- Limited Kanji Focus: Not ideal for intensive kanji study; supplementary resources are recommended for kanji practice.
- Requires Self-Discipline: No set schedule or classroom structure, so it’s up to the user to stay motivated and consistent.
The Ugly
- Actually the teachers all seem to be kind of cute in their own way 🙂
Alternatives to JapanesePod101
There are like 120 million Japanese speakers in the world and last time I checked, most of them didn’t go through JapanesePod101 to learn the language. However, not everyone has the benefit of two parents teaching them Japanese while getting their diaper changed. So let’s look at alternatives that don’t require being born Japanese:
Language Schools
Learning Japanese via a language school is considered one of the best learning methods by many, especially if you have the privilege of learning at a language school in Japan. It gives you the chance to be fully involved with the language, which can rapidly increase your Japanese skill.
Outside of Japan, a language school still gives you a good foundation in Japanese. Courses provided by the language school are usually well-structured.If you have questions, you have the opportunity to ask your teacher right away. You have classmates that can both encourage you and help you improve your Japanese.
Compared to JapanesePod101, studying in a language school can be a better option for some people, especially when you find it difficult to study on your own without the motivation from teachers, classmates, homework, and the classroom environment.
However, language schools also have drawbacks, such as commuting to and from class and finding the right course based on your current level as well as being available to participate in class at the provided time in the first place.
Although there are a lot of courses available for beginners, courses for intermediate and advanced levels are quite limited. And maybe this isn’t a deal killer for everybody: Especially at lower levels and unless you take a private course, your classmates are probably going to be mainly teenagers.
In short, if you can find a good language school with the right course near where you live, don’t mind the teenagers and can make it to class regularly, then go for it. I don’t think any option is as good as that while you’re not in Japan yourself.
Private Teacher
Learning with a private teacher is another option, especially when you need a custom course based on what you need to learn at that time. The problem though I find, is that private language teachers frequently lack a lot of structure and the educational background to teach foreigners their language.
One benefit of a private teacher is that you get a language partner to practice your Japanese with. You get their feedback directly, which can help you improve your Japanese language skills more quickly. While there are all sorts of websites offering to link you up with a private language teacher, a lot of them leave a lot to be desired when it comes to their vetting process for ‘teachers’ – quotation marks intended. iTalki is probably the largest of the bunch and more reliable than others, but even here that’s something I’d keep in the back of my mind.
My take here would be that it can be complementary – to language classes, courses and books, but isn’t a viable alternative on its own.
Books
Learning by books alone isn’t recommended: Language keeps evolving all the time. Sentence patterns and words you find in some of the literature that has been around for a long time might not be up-to-date with how Japanese people speak in real life.
For example, many people complain that they barely understand Japanese in real life, although they have already completed two books of Minna no Nihongo for beginners. Some words and grammar rules mentioned in the book are rarely used.
This doesn’t mean that learning through books isn’t good. It just isn’t enough. You could combine it with a private teacher to get the advantages of a structured book, together with the immediate feedback and corrections of a language teacher and that’s probably a feasible way to go about it. It does require quite a bit of initiative though to get that off the ground and stick with it.
Apps
There are a lot of mobile applications for learning Japanese out there. To be honest, only a few are worth mentioning. Two of them are Kanji Senpai, which only focuses on kanji characters, and DuoLingo.
DuoLingo has incredible production value and I’ve seen it really work for some people. For myself I found it too very repetitive, finding myself answering similar questions on a topic over and over again – and not in the ‘improving my understanding’ kind of way. However, the barrier to trying it out is pretty low, so why not check it out to see if it fits your learning style.
Kanji Senpai is going into a different direction: Kanji characters. It’s actually a great complementary app to pretty much every class and course out there, helping you figure out one of the hardest challenges in learning Japanese.
For some additional details, you can also check out my guide to learning Japanese online, which also covers websites and other digital resources.
Media
There are many forms of media available for learning Japanese such as video games, songs, movies, anime, podcasts, and news.
While they are good to help you be immersed in Japanese, you probably shouldn’t use them as your main method of learning the language, unless you are prepared to write down new things you learn while pausing and replaying things multiple times.
As a supplement though, media can be amazing. One awesome trick I learned is to watch movies you already know in their Japanese dubbed version. You’ll be able to infer what’s going on – not just from the context, but from well, having it seen already.
It’s probably obvious, but I still want to point it out: Many sentences, especially in video games and anime, are not the same as Japanese people actually use in their daily life. If you speak like that, Japanese people will find it weird – Teppei Sensen has a fun podcast episode about that.
Subscription Options and Pricing
There are three plans available on JapanesePod101:
- Basic
- Premium
- Premium Plus
The Basic plan, at $8 a month, gives you access to all of their lessons.
If you want to get access to more interactive study tools, such as custom word lists, lesson quizzes, vocabulary audio dictionary, and so on, you need to subscribe to their Premium plan at $25 a month.
Their most expensive plan, Premium Plus, at $47 a month, gives you 1-on-1 access to their teachers, including the personalized program, assessment, assignments, and all perks from the previous tiers.
In addition there are discounts for longer plans: The longer you subscribe, the cheaper it will be.
Basic, Premium, or Premium Plus?
In our opinion, if you want to learn Japanese through JapanesePod101, you should go for either the Basic or the Premium Plus plan. To start with, you can get their Premium plan for only $1 for a month on your first subscription. The Basic plan gives you all the lessons you need to learn Japanese, while the 1-1 access from the Premium Plus plan can rapidly increase your Japanese skill for those who are learning more seriously.
Is JapanesePod101 Worth It?
As every lesson, app or class – it depends on how, or more importantly – if – you use it. The nice thing is that it is fairly entertaining, lowering the barrier to stick with it. And despite the light-weight presentation, it can help improve your Japanese level step-by-step from absolute zero until you are able to use it in your daily life.
Aside from the structured approach to learning, the engaging teachers are really the highlight of JapanesePod101 and what makes you stick with it. And that’s essentially what every language course comes down to: Does it help you stick with it? And in the case of JapanesePod101, I’m comfortable answering that question with a resounding yes.
tl;dr
JapanesePod101 offers audio, video and interactive language learning element. It’s ideal for people who are primarily focused on learning how to speak and are struggling to find a way to be consistent in their practice. It’s best feature is that it’s enjoyable and motivating. If you want to learn Kanji as well, you need to combine it with another resources like Kanji Senpai. Testing out JapanesePod101 only costs $1, so if you don’t want to go over the whole review, you can just test it out.
