Which Japanese audio learning resources would you recommend?
Of course, I could just push myself and learn Kanji. OR I could start off by gaining an understanding of sentence structures and grammar by listening (and speaking). Only then continue with real text reading. I am also going through ''Remembering Kanji'' tho, which is just about meanings of the hieroglyphs without knowing how to pronounce them.

At least that's my plan that I've come up with for now since I've been stuck at the beginning stage of learning with this language for quite some time.

Duolingo sort of helped me start off with French, but there is not Japanese there, and I do not really like Memrise. I've tested Pimsleur's lessons. I did, actually, learn from those faster, but is there anything more... lively?

Question

Which Japanese audio learning resources would you recommend?
Of course, I could just push myself and learn Kanji. OR I could start off by gaining an understanding of sentence structures and grammar by listening (and speaking). Only then continue with real text reading. I am also going through ''Remembering Kanji'' tho, which is just about meanings of the hieroglyphs without knowing how to pronounce them.

At least that's my plan that I've come up with for now since I've been stuck at the beginning stage of learning with this language for quite some time.

Duolingo sort of helped me start off with French, but there is not Japanese there, and I do not really like Memrise. I've tested Pimsleur's lessons. I did, actually, learn from those faster, but is there anything more... lively?

Answer

The NHK does beginner Japanese podcasts and things. They also have the NHK Easy which is easy news videos with transcripts and stuff. I've never personally used them but I hear them recommended once in a while. There's also always japanesepod101 (certain podcasts are free).

Just out of curiosity, do you know hiragana? If not, you should learn hiragana before kanji. Most Japanese resources you're going to run into beyond the most beginner levels will be in hiragana. It's only 46 characters so you can do it in a solid month if you work hard at it. The general learning order is hiragana, then katakana, then kanji.

Answer

Thanks! Funny, though. I stumbled upon the FSI a few days ago, and it felt so... military. And the iTunes thing? Maybe those audio books are available in Latvia, but iTunes itself is definitely not compatible with Ubuntu LOL.

Answer

Latvian to Japanese? I have not seen anything like this.

iTunes -> iBooks has some good Japanese Audiobooks. Not sure they are available in the Latvia's iTunes store though.

For English to Japanese, search "lifehacker FSI".

Answers · 5

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!