Nihongo Juku – A resource for students of Japanese

Another excellent podcast, but this one is aimed at intermediate and advanced students of Japanese. While Learn Japanese mixes wry English commentary with samples of Japanese conversation, Nihongo-Juku is an all Japanese affair. Narrator Rieko discusses common mistakes and areas of improvement garnered from her efforts teaching her American husband to speak Japanese. The material is relevant and practical – for example, how to accept compliments, what pronoun to use when talking about yourself and in my favourite episode Rieko lists the phrases which male learners of Japanese should avoid if they don’t want to sound like 16 year old schoolgirls, and even provides the more manly equivalents. Each podcast is short – all are under 6 minutes and most are under 3 – making them perfect for when you (a) don’t have a lot of time or (b) can’t psych yourself into listening to a 20 minute news segment from the Yomiuri Shinbun. Sound good? There’s more – the companion blog has full transcripts of each podcast and for those too lazy or procrastinatory to install rikaichan or LiveDictionary you’re in luck – the transcripts come complete with vocab lists of the meatier expressions. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]