I am an complete beginner and want to learn Japanese, but i can’t find a useful app or site. So then I came across JapanesePod101 and they are offering 65% off if you buy the 24 months plan. Should I do it?
If you want a recommendation for something that’s not a physical textbook: Both “[Human Japanese](https://www.humanjapanese.com/)” and “[Japanese from Zero Online](https://www.fromzero.com/)” are very legit resources and will teach you all the basics (~N5+N4). They are both essentially interactive textbooks, packaged as an app/web-app. Do the free trial for both and pick the one you like better.
As for JP101: They used to have sales all the time, so I don’t think there is any rush. You can also always google for a discount code. Take your time, do the trial, and see how you like it. As a beginner I used their cheapest subscription tier (= only the podcast) and thought it was good as a supplement, but not as your main resource. The other subscription tiers seemed overpriced, even after their usual “sale” discount.
It’s easily the best podcast out there for N5-N3 levels, and it’s great for getting some studying in while doing other things like driving or working out.
But it’s not going to replace a proper textbook. If you use it as your only source of learning, I think you’ll end up frustrated at how slow your progress goes.
I used them for awhile, and I will personally say no. If you can do the free-trial, I would recommend at least checking it out so you can get an idea as to what it’s actually like.
The content isn’t as well structured as I’d like, and the vocabulary learned can’t be transferred to a better SRS application (you can, but its limited in its scope and requires some programming knowledge). That, in addition to the lessons being very short (maybe 15 minutes at the most), and not very detailed, led me to dropping it in favor of other resources.
They are very good for listening practice, IMO. At least, when I used them as a very early beginner. The episodes are structured in a particular way. They will begin with a sketch utilizing professional voice actors and utilizing the vocabulary already learned, as well as the new vocabulary that will be covered in that lesson. These sketches follow the same characters each time, in different real-world scenarios, and that tends to help a lot with comprehensibility. After the first play, they will play it again, but slower. They don’t simply slow down the audio either. The voice actors rerecord the lines, just with slower pronunciation, so that it doesn’t affect how clear the words sound. After that, they repeat it one more time at full speed, but with an English translation after each line. From there, they go into the grammar lesson and talk about the new vocabulary. At the end of the episode, they play the sketch once more so you can see how much more comprehensible it is compared to the beginning of the lesson.
The audio sketches are quite incredible, IMO. Haven’t seen any other apps or websites doing audio at this level of quality. That said, I’m not sure the price can justify a minute long (at most) audio sketch, and the other stuff they offer just isn’t that great.
If you’re looking for something streamlined to get you started, I ended up starting with Busuu, which is an application in the same vein as Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, etc. It suffers from the same problems as many of those applications, and so I eventually stopped using that too, but it was easily the best one I’ve used. It got me to N5 quite comfortably. Their SRS is still pretty dogwater, though.
As the only source for studying? I would say no. I use then along with other methods (Genki books, YouTube, etc…)
What I really do enjoy about jp101 is the audio stuff. Their lessons flow well, nice to listen to when you’re doing stuff, have a natural friendly feel that I haven’t found anywhere else.
I bought the 2 year plan as well for that same discount and have listened to them every single day. Beside their audio their app has some good stuff, but I wouldn’t say unique. It’s just conveniently all in one place which I also like.
I’ve only used their free resources and I’ve got to say that I love them! Checkout their YouTube channel, their free pdf cheat sheets, and both of their Spotify podcasts. They’re great!
As for the paid stuff, I’ve never tried it but considering how much I like their free resources, I can’t imagine it being bad.
I didn’t get to buy it at all and i didn’t like much of the free videos, because they are to repetitive for me, but i also learned all hiragana and katakana in their “learn in 1 hour” videos in a week each. Kinda liked these 2.
6 comments
>i can’t find a useful app or site
If you want a recommendation for something that’s not a physical textbook: Both “[Human Japanese](https://www.humanjapanese.com/)” and “[Japanese from Zero Online](https://www.fromzero.com/)” are very legit resources and will teach you all the basics (~N5+N4). They are both essentially interactive textbooks, packaged as an app/web-app. Do the free trial for both and pick the one you like better.
As for JP101: They used to have sales all the time, so I don’t think there is any rush. You can also always google for a discount code. Take your time, do the trial, and see how you like it. As a beginner I used their cheapest subscription tier (= only the podcast) and thought it was good as a supplement, but not as your main resource. The other subscription tiers seemed overpriced, even after their usual “sale” discount.
It’s easily the best podcast out there for N5-N3 levels, and it’s great for getting some studying in while doing other things like driving or working out.
But it’s not going to replace a proper textbook. If you use it as your only source of learning, I think you’ll end up frustrated at how slow your progress goes.
I used them for awhile, and I will personally say no. If you can do the free-trial, I would recommend at least checking it out so you can get an idea as to what it’s actually like.
The content isn’t as well structured as I’d like, and the vocabulary learned can’t be transferred to a better SRS application (you can, but its limited in its scope and requires some programming knowledge). That, in addition to the lessons being very short (maybe 15 minutes at the most), and not very detailed, led me to dropping it in favor of other resources.
They are very good for listening practice, IMO. At least, when I used them as a very early beginner. The episodes are structured in a particular way. They will begin with a sketch utilizing professional voice actors and utilizing the vocabulary already learned, as well as the new vocabulary that will be covered in that lesson. These sketches follow the same characters each time, in different real-world scenarios, and that tends to help a lot with comprehensibility. After the first play, they will play it again, but slower. They don’t simply slow down the audio either. The voice actors rerecord the lines, just with slower pronunciation, so that it doesn’t affect how clear the words sound. After that, they repeat it one more time at full speed, but with an English translation after each line. From there, they go into the grammar lesson and talk about the new vocabulary. At the end of the episode, they play the sketch once more so you can see how much more comprehensible it is compared to the beginning of the lesson.
The audio sketches are quite incredible, IMO. Haven’t seen any other apps or websites doing audio at this level of quality. That said, I’m not sure the price can justify a minute long (at most) audio sketch, and the other stuff they offer just isn’t that great.
If you’re looking for something streamlined to get you started, I ended up starting with Busuu, which is an application in the same vein as Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, etc. It suffers from the same problems as many of those applications, and so I eventually stopped using that too, but it was easily the best one I’ve used. It got me to N5 quite comfortably. Their SRS is still pretty dogwater, though.
As the only source for studying? I would say no. I use then along with other methods (Genki books, YouTube, etc…)
What I really do enjoy about jp101 is the audio stuff. Their lessons flow well, nice to listen to when you’re doing stuff, have a natural friendly feel that I haven’t found anywhere else.
I bought the 2 year plan as well for that same discount and have listened to them every single day. Beside their audio their app has some good stuff, but I wouldn’t say unique. It’s just conveniently all in one place which I also like.
I’ve only used their free resources and I’ve got to say that I love them! Checkout their YouTube channel, their free pdf cheat sheets, and both of their Spotify podcasts. They’re great!
As for the paid stuff, I’ve never tried it but considering how much I like their free resources, I can’t imagine it being bad.
I didn’t get to buy it at all and i didn’t like much of the free videos, because they are to repetitive for me, but i also learned all hiragana and katakana in their “learn in 1 hour” videos in a week each. Kinda liked these 2.