Head over to Japanesepod.com and you’ll see a page saying “Coming Soon”. I’m really stoked about this because I’ve been a long time fan of ChinesePod. JapanesePod, not to be confused with JapanesePod101 which was started independently, is by the same company that brought you the original ChinesePod.
I’ve always preferred ChinesePod over JapanesePod101 because the lessons and dialogues seem more focused and serious. The fact that ChinesePod also has much harder difficultly levels in the Upper-Intermediate and Advanced lessons furthers that impression. Actually, to be honest, I think JapanesePod101 itself is fine, I just never liked Peter as a host personally. What’s up with his corny greeting 「相変わらず、絶好調です」 and his bad jokes? Ugh. This is just my personal opinion so don’t read anything into it regarding the general quality of the show.
Praxis, the company behind the site is currently hiring for the show. Man, I’d love to be the Lead Teacher and you even get to work in Shanghai!! Teach Japanese and learn Chinese, that would be awesome! Alas, I don’t have a Masters in Linguistics, Education, or Japanese. o(T^T)o
Only time will tell whether JapanesePod will be better or worse than JapanesePod101. But nobody says you can’t use both and when it comes to language resources, the more the merrier I say. I can’t wait to see what kind of people will lead the show. I must try not to be too jealous. And yes, I did sign up for email updates.
I think Peter started a nice thing, but he always sounds like he’s trying to sell you something during the show. It’s just his style of speaking – It gets on my nerves. He might be a great salesman, but he’s not a good radio-personality. And the self-promotion he tacks on to the recordings sounds like something you might have seen on TV in the 50’s for a home-appliances store.
I have nothing against the guy, but I think it would benefit the project if he stepped into the background and hired someone (professional) to take his place in the recordings.
I’m glad it’s not just me. I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all but yeah something about his speaking style bugs me too. That’s why I’m eager to see who they find for this new website.
(just a humble post to say that the link to JapanesePod101 directs to japanese.com instead of japanesepod101.com — wait… did you do it purposefully ? (^_^) )
Ha ha, probably just a simple copy+paste error. It’s fixed now, thanks!
I also linked to the “real” homepage with the actual stuff instead of the commercial page with no link I can find to the actual content.
I’d certainly welcome a contender to japanesepod101, which while I enjoy the scripts I feel Peter get’s a little too involved.
Even the higher intermediate lessons seem to end up using too many English words mixed into the japanese for my liking.
Plus Peter can’t seem to keep quiet even though he frequently can’t seem to destinguish ‘long vowel’ and ‘short vowel’ sounds etc.
I think Peter is a nice person and all, but maybe he should stay in the news recordings and away from the lessons.
I’ve added myself to the japanesepod notification. ^^
Yeah, sometimes they’re too talky (in English), but I usually only listen to the lesson fully once. After that, I just fast-forward to the dialogue. (On the site, you can listen to the dialogue entirely separate from the rest of the lesson, too).
I’ve always hated Jpod101. I’ve hated Peter the most, for some reason his accent and way of speaking really bothers me. I don’t think that the high intermediate lessons are difficult enough, and I always feel like they are speaking too slow. I just listen to all Japanese podcasts, but often times I find them boring. I haven’t found a good podcast for learning Japanese yet, so I’m looking forward to JapanesePod =D
This is very interesting. I had expected at least some people to criticize me for my opinion and defend Peter! I almost feel sorry for him. I just hope nobody who works there reads this blog…
i hope peter stays locked away in side, if i met him in person there is no telling what violence could come of me given the provocation of his voice
I think he’s probably ok in the beginner lessons but I see no reason why he is in the intermediate and upper intermediate lessons. It sounds like he can barely keep up. Honestly, after 8 years of living in Japan, his Japanese should be better than that. Especially since his job is teaching Japanese!
Maybe that’s why there are no advanced lessons since he feels he needs to be in them too but his Japanese isn’t good enough yet.
I’m pretty sure there are no advanced lessons because of seemingly little demand for them among the site’s subscribers.
I like JPod101, because as a self-learner it helped “ease” me into the language half a year ago. W/o it, it would’ve been a lot tougher for me to tackle other learning sources such as your grammar guide (which is excellent, btw). Your qualms about Jpod101 are understandable; I’ve listened to several Chinesepod podcasts (intermediate level) and they are very focused and truly ‘intermediate’…can’t say I like the male host at all (like how it is with you guys and Peter?), though he does a pretty good job. I guess those that are more driven, or w/o the need for the teaching source to be especially personable, would be especially drawn towards Cpod’s format.
Anyway, I’m also looking forward to Jpod.
I agree with Alex, Peter should step down (to the basement) a let somebody else do the podcasts. He irritates me so much that I have to skip the recordings when he’s in.
Fortunately, Eric is doing the Newbie lessons and is much better. Rebekah before him was good as well but alas Peter remains in every other level.
I tried Japanesepod101; for the reasons stated here, I find it impossible to repeat the lessons enough to absorb the content, and I will welcome Praxis’ Japanesepod!
” This is very interesting. I had expected at least some people to criticize me for my opinion and defend Peter! I almost feel sorry for him.”
Well,
actually, I kinda like Peter as a host. We have the same kind of humor to be honest (so I guess none of y’all would really like me, but that’s okay, I’m used to being beaten to a pulp :P). Although I agree that his accent is kinda meeeeehh after 8 years of living in japan. And the fact that even I as a n00b can make that call really says something I guess.
Even so, the contrast between him and the actual native speakers only emphasize for me how the words should(!) sound. I will also have a look at japanesepod though. As I agree with tae kim. The more material the better.
Well, it’s been almost a year since your blog post and all I get is a page load error, so I don’t think Japanesepod is happening any time soon. While I agree that there should be more advanced lessons in JPod101, I try not to take it so seriously. I mostly listen to it for the dialogues and scrap the explanations since, with the exception of the first few lessons in the Intermediate level, Peter’s not involved with them. I really like some of the funny intros they do (おサルを磔にしようぜ！） and the (newer) dialogues are not bad.
But I have to say that in some ways I’ve grown to like Peter’s humor, but mostly relegated to the culture lessons and times when a non-native perspective is needed. Besides, I have a thing for the New York accent.
I haven’t checked out JPod101 in a while, so things have probably changed.
Indeed, it appears JapanesePod is not coming any time soon. 🙁
Too bad about JapanesePod. I, too, stopped listening to JPod101 because Peter was such a dork. I’m sure he means well, but it’s just painful to listen to him.
Just found this blog by chance, and was so happy I wasn’t the only one… I haven’t listened to JPod101 and haven’t visited the site for some time either, because I’m tired of Peter, the chattering (not only Peter) and the higher levels aren’t challenging enough for me.
Another thing I don’t like with JPod101 (as well as their ChinesePod101 and KoreanClass101) is their LOOOOOOONG newsletters with little substance. But maybe what bothers me the most is whenever they have a new offer or feature to hype they always tend to write too long with too many superlatives and with too little concrete information about the deal. A friend of mine recently made her own accound on one of these sites and immediately she got this 2-3 pages long thing about an offer to buy a number of episodes on CD and DVD for maybe a third the original cost. It took us forever to find what it would cost and then consider wether we thought it was something for her or not.
So I really think that ChinesePod is way better! Good structure on the podcasts, short, simple and relevant information on the site, and nobody reminds the subscriber to buy buy buy these “amazing, unbelievable, great latest features” all the time.
I really really hope there will be a JapanesePod and KoreanPod soon!!
I lived in Japan for six years and my Japanese is still terrible. The reason why is because I was always around people who spoke english. I bet the same goes for Peter. I actually talked to the guy and he was cool. Other English speakers are always critizing people who try to speak or teach Japanese. A lot of dorks like Japan. I love Japan and I am not a anime nerd. I run into a whole lot of people fasinated with Japan but they have never been there. I say go see the place for yourself. Don’t base your life on opinions base it on experince.
This thread is a bit old but… I too hate Peter. He says things that aren’t even jokes and then laughs, it just sounds like he’s nervous or trying to make up for a total lack of humor by just laughing. The Japanese people go along with it and laugh but I’m sure they feel that they didn’t get the joke. He irritates me beyond belief. He always seems to be trying to dominate the situation. And the way he says ‘that’s about it for today’ quickly at the end like he’s some kind of awesome DJ makes me want to slit my wrists. I’m so pleased I’m not the only one.