Japanese Pod 101: finally finished the beginner series

Well, it’s taken me almost exactly two years, but I finally finished the entire beginner series, season 1, of Japanesepod101.com. It took me two years to finish the series due mainly to interruptions in my life (moving to a new country among other things), and it really wasn’t until I decided to study for the JLPT test in January that I seriously started taking more time to listen to JPod. However, all the hard work has paid off. I got to lesson 170, and finally finished that series with a bitter sweet ending. Peter Galante, the awesome host of the show, Natsuko-san, Yoshi-san, Take-san (great voice actor), Chigusa-san, Takase-san and of course Sakura-san all made the show worth it, and my Japanese improved as a result.

When I first started the series, I really wasn’t far removed from introductions, basic verb conjugations and limited vocab, but lesson by lesson I worked through it, and finally got to the end. In truth, I actually skipped lessons 161 through 169 because my studies of the JLPT3 have surpassed these grammar points, but I really felt proud of the work done to learn the vocab, grammar points and so on. Aside from these last few lessons, I really did go through every lesson, starting with 1, listen, make a note of new vocab and lessons, and practiced with my wife. Plus, it’s been fun to see how the show flourished. First things were new, a little awkward and such, but as the chemistry increased and new people came on the show (the “Nagasaki Connection” for example), people relaxed and things got more fun and Japanesepod101.com took off. Take-san I think really helped stir in more humor to the show, due to his voice talent, and I never got tired of Peter-san’s jokes.

Silly as it sounds, I feel like these guys have been a part of my life for the last two years (albeit 10-20 minutes per day), so it’s sad to see the original series done. I can still remember being in Japan in 2007 while listening to lessons 35-40, and being proud of even staying with it that long. I made it a goal to somehow finish all the series, and I am amazed I accomplished it.

So, now I’ve gone back and started doing the Intermediate series, which I like a lot because of it’s mostly-Japanese conversation (good for listening), and overall interesting dialogue, story and structure. From there, I’ll move onto Upper Intermediate series hopefully sometime early next year.

Peter, everyone, if you guys ever read this, thanks very much for your years of hard work, and for all you did. You guys really are an inspiration.