Why You Should Learn Japanese

2/17/2020

Anyone with an interest in Japan should learn a little Japanese. Travelers need to know a few survival phrases; correct expressions for greetings, daily shopping, asking direction and suchlike. When you know few key phrases the daily life is easier and more pleasant.

If you start studying Japanese language before traveling to Japan, you are steps ahead because with learning the language you learn about the culture as well.

This gives you the advantage of blending in faster and easier once you are in the country, whether for work and living or just sightseeing tours.

3 Reasons Why You Should Learn Japanese

Travel to Japan When You Can Experience It - Every situation is an opportunity to meet new people and experience a new culture. A few Japanese survival phrases can help you find better places to eat, better prices, and eventually have a better experience while traveling.

Get More Cooperation From Locals - Have you ever been approached by a foreigner who didn’t know any of your native languages? If you can learn a basic Japanese greeting and memorize just a few survival phrases, then you can connect with locals and make them understand what you are looking for. In Japan once people know what you need, it is commonly known that they go out of their way to help.

Emergency Situations - No matter how much you plan and prepare, the unexpected may happen when traveling. That’s why it is best to learn a few basic Japanese survival phrases in case of an emergency, such as: How to ask for help – How to call police or emergency services – How to ask direction if you get lost – How to order food properly if you have allergies…!

World Major Languages

If you list world major languages, it includes English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Persian and Russian. Japanese language recently has joined the club for obvious reasons including declining population which has led the country to relax visa requirements for accepting greater numbers of entrepreneurs and workers.

Nowadays, Japanese is one of the most popular languages to learn, not just because Japan needs more active people to fill-in the positions in different industries, its cultural aspects attracts more international visitors every year. Japan is known for its popular tourist destinations, attractive ancient traditions and Onsen among many others.

Sound Natural When Speaking Japanese

For learning Japanese like any other languages, not only you need to learn reading and writing, but you must learn to converse, and to do that properly you need to hear correct pronunciation, and practice by talking to someone to develop a more natural speed in your spoken Japanese.

Especially for those living far away from native speakers, podcasts bring real-time exposure to the language and culture of contemporary Japan.

If you need to learn Japanese for any reason, you need the right resources. And, if you lead a busy life and need a flexible solution that fits in around your schedule, then online Japanese lessons could be best for you.

Online Japanese lessons can be a great way of guaranteeing regular conversation practice each and every week, learning at your own convenience and pace. These courses are 1–to-1 which suits those who are short of time or want more personalized lessons.

Introduced by the Japan Times in 2006, the JapanesePod101 is a popular language course podcast-style that makes learning Japanese fun and easy with their complete language learning system. They teach the language within a bilingual environment and aim to suit all learners by providing a good amount of audio and video lessons.

The audio and video lessons are short and sweet, just 3 to 15 minutes long. Videos cover all kinds of interesting content, from Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana to walking around the streets of Japan engaging in casual conversation with people. Some learners love the podcast audio lessons, which are generally small talks between two hosts where one host is asking the other one questions in natural Japanese that you will actually use to communicate. They are all downloadable so you can store it on a listening device and listen to them at your convenience.

From the beginning, you learn practical expressions in the natural context of native speech. Most lessons start with a dialogue and continue to explain the cultural context, in which the dialogue takes place. The vocabulary and phrases you learn here enables you to get engaged in conversation smoothly.

The lessons rang from absolute beginner to a low advanced level of Japanese. It focuses on common phrases and practical topics, rather than grammar. The PDF version of the lessons is available. You can download and print them for your future reference. Some of other tools and materials that you have access to as a member are, the common word lists, Kanji dictionary, vocabulary lists and flashcards, as well as a forum to ask questions and communicate with other members.

With Japanesepod101 resources you will learn useful Japanese and have access to materials that will take you to an advanced level.

Sign-up Is Free And Easy

To Sign-up fill-in your Email Address and select your level; Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced.

Complete the registration and be sure to verify and confirm your email address to activate your account (you will receive an email for verification). You will be welcomed by a discount offer which you can accept or just skip by pressing next and get started.

Subscription & Pricing

By signing-up for a free account you will have access to limited audio and video lessons. You can choose one of four subscription levels which fit your learning needs; Free, Basic, Premium, or Premium Plus. Subscription can be for 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24 months.

From the moment you sign-up, you will get:

A 7-Day Premium trial to be able to experience the entire JapanesePod101 learning system
The first 3 lessons of every single series, to get a taste of what the series have to offer
The most recent lessons from the past 3 weeks - Every new lesson released is yours free
The Japanese Word of the Day delivered directly to your inbox
The Innovative Language 101 App for the Android, iPhone, and iPad for on-the-go learning
The 100 Most Common Words List to get a head start on learning vocabulary
Vocabulary and phrase lists for topics, themes, and holidays which constantly are updated
Throwback Thursday lessons - Learn with a random lesson for free every Thursday
Bonus resources and mobile apps in the Japanese resources section

The main difference between Premium Plus and others subscription levels are;

1-on-1 access to a Teacher: Personal instruction from one of the Japanese teachers via "Premium Plus My Teacher".
Personalized Learning Program: A study plan tailored to your specific goals, strengths and weaknesses. You also have the option of "My Teacher", where you can request assistance from a Japanese native teacher.
Ongoing Professional Assessment: Get a personal assessment by one of their highly experienced Japanese specialists.
Assignments: Get weekly assignments covering speaking, reading, writing, listening and more.
The flashcard feature is also very useful. Basically, you can add terms from any lesson and use their built-in flashcard program to study them later on.

Payment

Payments can be done via PayPal or credit cards; Visa, Master Card, or American Express. If you would like to use an alternate payment method, you can communicate with support team through contact form or email.

For your convenience your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your term. You can easily cancel your membership and stop it from auto-renewing any time, online, by clicking on subscription setting in your account to stop from auto-renewing.

Although the JapanesePod101.com’s day-to-day operations and recordings occur in their Tokyo offices, but its parent company Innovative Language Learning LLC is based in New York. That’s why the prices are paid in U.S. dollar. But you don’t need to worry about the details, as banks will take care of the exchange and remittance.

Money-back Guarantee

You get refund the full amount of your membership within 60 days if you are unsatisfied in any way.

The JapanesePod101 FAQs, on the website answers all you need to know. If you can’t find the answer you are looking for, contact the support team by the email provided on the website.

Want To Learn Other Languages?

Innovative Language Learning LLC., provides courses for some other languages including; Arabic, English and Persian. The procedure from sign-up to payment and guarantee all are the same.