shizukuxp

Everyday, I listen to his voice and I think I may be slowly falling in love with him..   Hmmm.. u know what i mean.. It's just that for 3 years I had been a frustrated student of Japanese and I got laughed and teased by everyone cause of my so-called "stupidity" and stubborness--

Anyway, I really love Japanese podcasts cause 1) it's convenient, 2) it's effective, 3) it's free, and 4) it's fun. I would say that I've learned more from Peter in less two months, than with all of the textbooks and all of the nomikai's I've attended for 3 years combined!

Sometimes, i also tune in to the rival "Jpod of Bev and Alex" and Chinese Pod by "Ken Caro and Wo jiao Jenny Chu" but their lessons are not so fun. For instance, Ken sounds very "business as usual" and wanted to drowse off afterwards, while Alex' style is so casual.

I guess, the reason why Peter and the gang of Jpod101 is so effective is that Peter is a language teacher himself. On plenty of occassions he tells his experiences on learning the language and his difficulties on living in Japan, because of finances matters-- something which I can totally relate to.

Needless to say, I think, the reason why I find it hard to learn Japanese, besides the fact that I'm very conscious of speaking is that because I can never afford to pay for Japanese language lessons. And unfortunately, I've been with people who virtually have no patience to teach me.   Most people just tells you that "きさま
" is something very vulgar in Japanese, without any explanations of what it is. It's quite unfair considering the fact that I've devoted so much time teaching English while I just get a measly 3500yen/per hour in return, and whenever I try my best to speak out, they'll just ask me to say it in English.

Oh fu*k! I wish I were Cambodian, so my English would be so bad that no one would dare do that to me, and just bear my Japanese.

In the case of Peter, he really pours in lot of time in researching the etymology of words. For example, on a lesson on likes -- "konomi" 好み, he explained how the  delicacy お好み焼き got it's name. Neat, isn't it?

And his insights are really funny and he has a great sense of humour. For instance, he asked his co-host for the Japanese translation of "scalper," which is "dafuya" ダフ屋 【ダフや】, which his co-host described as someone who buys ticket for cheap price and sells it for a higher price. Peter interjected, "Oh, in English, that is called a CAPITALIST!"

For me, the most important lessons I've gotten from Peter is the using the appropriate replies during conversations. For example, "omoshirosodesune" 面白そうですね。 is often use for accepting invitations, like "going to the movies or seeing a baseball game." Most teachers would stop teaching at that point, but in the case of Peter, he adds a very important point, "Of course, it's strange to reply that way if someone ask u to come visiting a sick grandmother in the hospital?" でしょう？

 Yow! Peter Galante -- I love you! Thanks a lot for the lessons and I'll tune in for the next few years or so. More Power to Japanese pod 101. If I will have money in the future, I'll try to subscribe so I can show my gratitude to your podcasts.

Currently listening to: Jpod101
Currently reading: Ate pairings
Currently feeling: working