Hello everyone. I have returned to Japanese again after I don’t even know how many breaks and I’ve basically been sat at I guess intermediate level? It’s hard to judge. I could probably pass N3 with a little bit of study though JLPT isn’t really the best metric. I recently found a podcast called [日本語の会話のpodcast −ことのは−](https://anchor.fm/kotonoha1nihongo1podcast) before finding [this long list of podcasts on this sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/n1rocl/a_big_list_of_japanese_podcasts_from_beginners_to/) which I believe does not include this podcast as it’s a newer one. I actually am finding the podcast mostly enjoyable to listen to. I’m understanding definitely at least 75% of what is being said and overall the general gist of what is happening throughout the podcast. Though the creators of this podcast say in the opening bit that the podcast is aimed at people who are not yet able to follow along with anime or dramas, so I know it’s not a huge thing for me to be able to follow.
But yeah, my main approach at the moment is just to listen to the podcast while driving at work or while doing chores around the house. I don’t know if transcripts are available but I’ve not looked to check, and I’m not sure if studying the transcript would be at all useful anyway? In my head, I am thinking that the best approach to take towards listening is to seek out podcasts and YouTube videos where the Japanese spoken is something I can mostly follow, so that I am not demoralised and more than that, so that I’m actually interested in the podcast content beyond just language practice. For example in one of the podcasts they were talking about Japanese school life and I could understand most of it and found it interesting to hear their experiences.
Once I am finding this podcast (and others like it) easy, I would then *hopefully* be able to understand a podcast spoken in slightly faster Japanese. And then after getting accustomed to that podcast, eventually I’m just listening to natural-speed and naturally-worded Japanese. This is how I imagine “getting good at listening” works but I’m not sure how much I got right or if there’s a better way?
I have in the past rewatched an anime I’d already seen but in Japanese with Japanese subs, and I had to pause a lot to catch words and phrases. I think many people recommend just jumping into something you ENJOY listening to even if it’s a bit difficult at first, and I’d be down to try watching some raw or JP subs anime, but for me, watching raw anime wasn’t one of my main goals when starting learning so I’m not purposely limiting my listening exposure.
And lastly as the title says, do you have any podcast recommendations perhaps aimed more at intermediate learners? If you have the time and can listen to any of the podcast I’ve been listening to, that speed and way of speaking (they probably use slightly more beginner friendly words and less slang?) is something I can follow. But feel free to share any podcasts of any level as they might help other people who find this thread. If you can recommend any podcasts specifically from [the aforementioned big podcast list](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/n1rocl/a_big_list_of_japanese_podcasts_from_beginners_to/) too that’d be great as there seems to be a lot of choice.
**TL;DR:** Looking for podcast recommendations geared towards intermediate learners ideally around the level of [this podcast](https://anchor.fm/kotonoha1nihongo1podcast), but feel free to share podcasts of any level if they are entertaining or fun for you. And wondering what the best approach is to improving listening ability. My current approach is basically find content like the podcast I’ve linked at the start of the tldr, interesting to listen to and mostly comprehensible, and after some time listening to that content I can probably understand more from a more “difficult” podcast. Or is it better to try to jump into watching anime or other more “difficult” content?
3 comments
You’ve found a good list imo. All of the podcasts i would recommend for your level are on that list.
I particularly liked teppei’s podcast, YUYU nihongo and the real Japanese podcast
When I was first getting back into Japanese, I listened to “Let’s learn japanese from small talk” podcast. Here’s a [Tofugu review](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-learning-resources-database/lets-learn-japanese-from-small-talk/) of it.
That big list of podcasts you linked also mentions the podcast, but it describes it has one of the harder ones, but I found it to be one of the easier ones (if you’re already at intermediate level). The two Japanese women (who are studying abroad at a university in England) don’t speak fast, and they provide vocab lists on their blog. I think you should be able to handle if you can understand the “日本語の会話のpodcast −ことのは− ” podcast already. Tip: skip the first several episodes as the two girls were learning how to podcast, and they improved their conversation flow (and their mics) as they went along.
When my listening skills were still rusty, I’d listen to the podcast, then review this vocab list, then re-listen to the podcast again.
[Meshclass Japanese](https://www.youtube.com/@meshclass) gives conversation tips, as well as explaining grammar. Her Japanese is clear and simple and what I liked were the role-playing skits to demonstrate her lessons. I have YouTube premium so I just listened to them on my phone as I drove, then sometime watched the video later.
As I improved, I started to listen to [4989 American Life](https://www.4989americanlife.com/), about a Japanese women talking about living the US. This might be a little harder for you, but the reason why it’s good is that she started to provide [full transcripts](https://www.4989americanlife.com/blog) of her podcasts in Japanese, so you can read it as you listen (or in your case, read when you’re not driving).
Hikibi podcast was also good, but sadly is no longer, where a man and woman talk about various random topics (moving apartments, VR, Final Fantasy games, Uniqlo clothing stores, etc), but you can still listen to [them here](https://archive.org/details/hikibiki_podcast/001.mp3). I liked the fact it exposed me to a wide-range of subjects.
I really liked the IGN Japan podcasts, like TV and film review podcast, [IGN JAPAN 銀幕にポップコーン](https://jp.ign.com/ginmaku-podcast). They mostly talked about non-Japanese movies and TV shows, like Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Marvel movies, etc, which was great since I had seen those shows/films, it made it easier to follow along.
I really liked the podcast episode where they gave a lesson on the history of cyberpunk, its themes and tropes and how they are explored in various movies and games. Although maybe that was in IGN Japan video game podcast, [IGN JAPAN しゃべりすぎGAMER ポッドキャスト](https://jp.ign.com/shaberisugi-gamer), which I also liked.
To be fair, it took awhile to get to the point where I could really understand the Japanese IGN podcasts, but I felt it was a nice challenge. After that, as I gained more fluency, I just started searching for ラジオ on YouTube and started listening to various Japanese radio shows, radio interviews, and radio dramas.
Also in my podcast app (I use Overcast on my phone), I searched for “TBS” or “FUJI” to bring up various radio shows from those two Japanese networks. There’s quite a few, covering all kinds of topics: news, politics, sports, entertainment, etc. What’s nice is if you are also watching a lot of Japanese dramas, you’ll start recognizing some of the guests just by the sound of their voice alone.
I found this link on the sub recently. I’ve found it pretty helpful. Not sure if you’ve already found it or not though. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/17P2dBQHnBnHcG3ua_24IO6sP9RDC-5b3WHV9Ri2N5qU/htmlview#gid=0