JapanesePod101 is certainly one of the leading Japanese learning resources in the whole world. They have millions of users all over the world and their videos have been watched already more than 100 million times on YouTube (the number is rapidly rising, of course).
In my JapanesePod101 review, I am going to explain to you how their resources can take you from a complete beginner into a fluent Japanese speaker faster than you think. Are you ready? Let’s get going! 🙂
JapanesePod101 is similar to other courses in the LanguagePod101-family.
JapanesePod101 Review
Name: JapanesePod101
Website: www.JapanesePod101.com
Overall Rank: 4,9 stars out of 5
What Is JapanesePod101?
JapanesePod101 is modern and is a multi-device [mobile, web, tablet] platform for people who want to learn the Japanese language. This device is the easiest way for you to start learning Japanese. Innovative Language Learning Company has developed the device. It is very useful if you are a beginner and want to develop conversation and basic vocabulary skills.
It is also helpful to the intermediate learner. This is because it has many several materials, which are highly helpful. For the advanced learners, this device will not be of much help.
You will learn Japanese using the JapanesePod101 in many ways. They include the following:
- Community discussions and forum
- Mobile applications
- Video and audio lessons
- Tools that build vocabulary
You can undertake practices across many devices including:
- Mobile
- Web
- Tablet
You get to sharpen your skills in the below areas
- Listening
- Speaking [you do it with a voice recorder which is interactive]
- Reading
The creators of this program are updating it constantly. They put in new features and materials. By doing this, it becomes very helpful to the advanced and intermediate learners. There are premium and premium+ plans that help you access extra features such as interactive quizzes, custom word list, a mobile application that is up to date, repetition flashcards and many more.
By using the spaced-repetition flashcard, you will be able to add many words to your vocabulary in a number of days.
JapenesePod101 provides more than 2950 audio and video lessons. If you go through all those lessons, you are afterward most likely a fluent Japanese speaker/reader.
How is the JapanesePod101 Different from the Rest?
You get to study the Japanese language at your own pace. You get to do this from home or anywhere you feel comfortable. The lessons are clearly explained and easy to follow. What you learn with the podcast is applicable in real life. The lessons are fun and entertaining.
Content of the lessons
Even though there are many video lessons for learners, the heart of this podcast is the audio lesson. The audio lessons last for 10-20 minutes. For this reason, you will not get overwhelmed or get fatigue. Every lesson focuses on a specific point. In addition, a word file will explain what you learn in more details.
The native speakers of the Japanese language on the audio give you insights that are helpful on how to speak Japanese naturally. You also get to hear about Japanese phrases, words, and culture that they use on a daily basis to express themselves.
JapanesePod101 has been producing Japanese learning resources for YouTube already for around 10 years. Here is one of their lessons where you learn to introduce yourself in Japanese in less than 4 minutes.
You also get to learn the natural expressions. This will make you sound like an expert in the Japanese language within the shortest time possible. For every word you learn, you get directions on how to use it, and situations, where you should use it. The words that you learn you get to use them in a day-to-day situation. There is no need to learn words that will not be of any help to you.
The quality of the teachings of the pod 101 is unparallel. On the audio, there is both a Japanese and an English speaker. This means what is said in Japanese you get to hear the translation directly from an English speaker.
You can decide to download the audio to your computer or listen to it directly from the internet. There is also an option to update them into your podcast automatically.
Is JapanesePod101 Genuine?
Yes, JapanesePod101 is a genuine resource for mastering Japanese. It’s a part of 101Languages series by Innovative Language -Institute. They have produced resources for numerous languages and I’ve written about many of them on this blog LanguagesAreEasy.com.
You can take a look at our articles by clicking the links below:
JapanesePod101 App – Learn Japanese on the Go!
Innovative Languages provides a mobile app for all languages in LanguagePod101 series. If you are studying a new language, I recommend downloading their app to your phone and dedicating at least a short time every day for practicing your target language with it.
Here are some of the biggest benefits of their app in my opinion:
- You can practice your language wherever you are. In train, bus, plane, riding a bike, driving a car, etc.
- You can relax on your sofa and practice a new language at the same time. Combining the fun and benefit, right? 😉
- Their app is easy-to-use.
- It helps you to track your progress.
- There are numerous different resources in the app to improve your Japanese skills. (compare to language learning apps that teach you only by using one way.)
JapanesePod101 app doesn’t only help you to learn Japanese but it also tracks your progress.
Cons of JapanesePod101
It’s pretty hard to find any downsides of JapanesePod101 but in order to provide you the most comprehensive and honest review, I am going to talk with you about cons as well. I believe that not a single resource is perfect and there is always room for growth. Some people say that their community aspect is a bit limited
JapanesePod101 is very popular. They should develop a platform where learners of this language can connect. At the moment thousands of Japanese learners can connect with each other on YouTube on their website. Though it seems that it’s not something like Italki or other language learning communities.
It would be good, in my opinion, if you could see other people’s profile inside the community and practice Japanese with them. I guess that it would also bring more success and revenue to their website. It’s often said in the online marketing world that people find you because of your content and stay because of your community.
Anyway, that’s not a problem for you and me because we can easily find language partners on other platforms like Italki, Hellotalk, and Speaky.
It’s sometimes much more fun to practice a language with someone else than alone. Nowadays it’s easy because you can find immediately tons of Japanese native speakers and students on the Internet.
JapanesePod101 Cost – JapanesePod101 Basic vs Premium
The sign up is free and includes lifetime membership. The free level offers you access to audio lessons. There are also resources, which include Japanese key phrases, vocabulary lists, dictionary and more. In addition, you can always watch their free Japanese lessons on YouTube.
=> Try JapanesePod101 for Free Today!
- Basic Membership – $4/month
For the basic level, you get to pay 4 dollars in a month if you take the longest membership plan. For this subscription, you get all the audio lessons and writing lessons in Japanese. I think this membership plan already gets you pretty far if you just go through all the resources they give you.
- Premium Membership – $10/month
The premium level has all the lessons and you get access to most of the resources available in JapanesePod101. You should get a subscription at this level because it will cost you min $10 a month. It comes with everything that you require to be fluent in Japanese. Pretty much the only thing that the premium plan doesn’t include is 1-on-1 lessons.
- Premium Plus Membership – $23/month
There are those who want private tutoring. You can get this from a teacher on the JapanesePod101. To get this service you have to sign up for a premium plus membership. The advantage of this subscription is that you get to ask the teacher questions and get the answers. You cannot ask questions on the podcast.
I think this plan is for those who are committed to learning and are ready to use money and time to become fluent. On the other hand, $23/month is not that much. You eat once in a restaurant and it costs you already a membership for one or two months.
This is a quick summary of differences between membership plans. You can find more detailed information on their official website.
Conclusion – JapanesePod101 Is a Comprehensive Tool For Mastering Japanese!
If I would start studying Japanese, I would for sure use two resources right away: JapanesePod101 and Fluent In 3 Months by Benny Lewis.
JapanesePod101 has been trusted by so many language learning students over the years that it proves they are certainly one of the best Japanese teachers in the world. It’s not a coincidence that millions of people worldwide have used their lessons.
They have over 2,950 audio and video lessons and many other tools that help you and other Japanese learners to become fluent speakers. I think that’s one of the most comprehensive Japanese learning resource banks you can find.
Another resource that I would use is Fluent in 3 months. In that course, Benny Lewis shares the secrets that he used to become a fluent speaker of around 10 different languages. He shares a huge resource bank also for mastering Japanese and gives lots of ideas how he tackles a new language.
I think that with the help of JapanesePod101 and FI3M by Lewis you can become a fluent in Japanese faster than you would believe. What do you think?
=> Master Japanese with JapanesePod101 Today!
Have you used this or some other resource for learning Japanese?
What kind of results did you achieve? Are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced Japanese speaker?
The fact that JapanesePod101 has got lots of learning resources shows that it is top of the list when it comes to those that want to learn the language. However, I would want to know how easy is it to write in Japanese for I’ve seen Chinese writings and its something strange to me.
I believe writing Japanese would requires lots of practice. I have a little experience of practicing Chinese writing and I realized it would require practice. That being said, everything becomes easy after practicing enough 😉
That’s the issue with Asian languages. One thing is to learn about how to speak them, but another is taking out time to practice them. However, I agree with you that nothing beats practicing for that’s how we become perfect at what we do.
The Program looks promising.
I’ll see if I can revisit this in the future when I need to learn Japanese for my travels.
The program is great like other programs in 101Languages as well. They have done a great job when helping people to learn numerous new languages.
I have taken time to check out the resources available in JapanesePod101, and from the looks of everything including both audio lessons together witg the written lessons, it’s definitely going to be helpful for those willing to master the Language. Although I believe it’s writing is as difficult as writing Chinese. The words are mostly like drawing and a shaky hands cannot pen such down with great finesse.
It’s true what you say about writing. I think many people just want to learn to speak with other people so they don’t need a writing skill. However, if you want to write, for example, professional texts in Japanese, then writing is necessary.
Learning how to write in Japanese is definitely going to hard from how I’m seeing it, but hey nothing beats determination and persistence. As long as one is truly determined to learn it, I’m quite sure that anything is possible.
Yeah, anything is possible for sure. If one has ever done something, it’s possible for you as well.
You are absolutely right, precedence is a very good motivation to do something because looking at the accomplishments of others in the same sphere, a creative and determined individual would ask himself or herself, what is the difference between himself and the person who is already successful in the same task? And the answer is abs the willingness to succeed. Persistence and determination is the key to learning anything that seems difficult at onset.
Chinese and Japanese languages are similar to the way we got to learn them even on writing as well as spoken learning.
But I agree with you that there is a need on practice; as considering me ; I learned some Chinese and Japanese when I was meeting Chinese native speakers.
Great to hear that you’ve learned some Chinese. Are you sure that Chinese and Japanese are very similar?
Well, I just found out that it is not necessary need to memorized all the chinese writings, i am pertaining to kanji characters, for it is just taught in school and japanese people just only use a few or some of the kanji characters. They more likely used katakana and hiragana for communicating with a little kanji.
My friend, who has a japanese boyfriend,told me that info when I was about to practice the kanji characters and it was difficult to memorized even if its just 3-10 kanji characters. But as you have mention in other comments, it really requires practice even in hiragana and katakana. It may look simple but the truth is it is kinda difficult to familiarize because sometimes some of writings are quiet the same with each other.
I think one of the reasons why Japanese is having difficulty familiarizing english sentences or its arrangement and sometimes they jumble the words when speaking in english because Japanese and english has different arrangement of sentences.
Of course, at the beginning everything may feel challenging like your friend said. But if he would have first mastered, for example, 100 characters. Then adding 3-10 more would be much easier. Or if he would already know 1,000 characters. Then 3-10 new characters would be just a piece of cake because she knows how everything works out.
Writing and speaking in Japanese and Chinese languages is never easy. However if someone keeps on studying, learning and practicing, i believe everything would be fine. But of course everyone who wants to learn needs help from someone or to anybody may it be a device an application or it be in school settings. Of course learning is never easy but the good thing it can be learned.
Interesting points. Have you studied some Japanese and Chinese?
I am back because I believe this website captures my interest and I am planning to use or learn from this site and hopefully I can learn how to speak Japanese in an easy way.
For sure you will. Keep me updated of your progress 🙂
japan is a lucrative destination for education and work for the people in my home country. Every year hundreds of thousand people spend many months learning Japanese language so that they can go to Japan. However, those language programs are useless for people who want to learn language fast. These traditional language courses will take at least 6 months to make them learn to communicate in the Japanese language. I think the people who want to learn Japanese will benefit a great deal. Thanks.
Yeah, “old-school” methods are usually very slow for many reasons. One of them is that you can’t make faster progress usually because they have a “one-size-fits-all” course. There are also many other reasons why I think online resources are just much more effective.
You have coined this right. The traditional language programs offer “one-size-fits-all” course. Well, these courses might make people well equipped with all kind of language skills that include speaking fluently and writing correctly. However, if you do not have a desire to teach Japanese, what’s the point of spending such a long time learning nuances of grammar and language. Tailor made courses like this one will help people learn the communicative language very fast.
JapanesePod 101 has a very affordable price breakdown. I am tempted to use this, however, I do not want to add this up to my current online studies so I will fit this in for this year and hopefully will learn a new language this 2018. Thank you Roope for this review and for opening these gems to use that we never really know existed.
Yeah, JapanesePod101 is a really affordable learning resource. You’re welcome for this review 🙂 Let me know if you have requests for the future.
When I first saw Japanese text I was like “oh my god, I will never learn this language”. It seemed to me so hard and confusing. I tried to learn it via Dualingo but as soon as I started I got bored. It looked like a work and required some effort and patience.
What I like in JapanesePod 101 is that it’s a perfect tool for beginners that have never heard a letter in a Japanese language!!! It has the audio translation in English which makes it even easier to learn. This makes learning even easier!
I lost many opportunities before but I would never lose this one!
I’m glad to hear that you like JapanesePod101!
Japanese is the main language I’m working with at the moment, and I’ve been struggling to find intermediate level resources. There is a weird gap between “I know basic sentence structure and reading/writing” and “you should be able to understand everything I am saying right now” and it is really hard to find anything that fills the in-between space. There is so much content in this program that I can finally find what I need.
Thank you so much for writing about this site, I’d never heard of it before now 🙂
Yeah, you will definitely make progress if you use JapanesePod101. 🙂