You may be interested in reading some of the comments that we have received about these lessons. Please feel free to add your own remarks by using the box at the bottom of the page.
Please note that there are additional comments at the bottom of the How to Read Japanese page.
Hi! I can’t connect to your ftp even though I already had Filezilla CFTP Client.
Hi Ciely,
Thank you for telling me about this. I was surprised to find that I myself could no longer connect to the FTP Student Downloads using the credentials that I’ve provided on the Free Downloads page of the site. I just called my web host, and they discovered that I was being blocked by the firewall, apparently because I’ve tried to connect to the site too many times. They “allowed” my IP address, and then I was able to connect. They also showed me how to “allow” other IP addresses, and I have done that for your IP address.
Please let me know if this fails to solve your problem. Also, if anyone else is having difficulties connecting to the FTP files, please send me a message and include the IP address of the machine that you are using.
Can’t believe how helpful these lessons are. Even though I am not a native English speaker (Arabic is my first language), I find your lessons extremely beneficial. Thank you for your hard work!
Thank you for writing, Marwa. I do worry a bit about whether people who don’t speak English as a native language are able to use the lessons effectively. It’s good to know that they are working for you.
Thank you for this great work
You’re welcome! Thank you for your encouragement.
Thank you so much for these lessons.
You’re welcome. It’s nice to hear from you!
Hi Roger,
Wow! What a wonderful site! I’ve been looking for something to further my studies after using iStart Japanese and Human Japanese. In many sites I’ve found, the dialogue is too fast and my brain can’t keep up! However, with your wonderful audio and transcripts I am much more confident in speaking Japanese which is the main reason for learning a language rather than just learning vocab and grammar from a textbook without the aid of a speaker to help!
Your audio files are clear and I love your commentary on what form of speech to use. It brings Japanese to life and gets you speaking naturally very quickly. I put them on when I go to bed and let the language seep into my brain as I drop off. When I wake and listen to them again, I have remembered so much more!
With the aid of the internet, language learning is so much more efficient and fun.
I am a musician and composer and learning the kana was a lot like learning the musical notes in the different clefs. This I found very easy and I mastered Hiragana, Katakana and about 80 Kanji quite quickly. I would strongly recommend anyone coming to these lessons to learn the syllabaries well before you continue and maybe learn the absolute basics from something like iStart Japanese for iPhone before beginning these audio flashcards. Your transition into building a workable Japanese skill-set will be enhanced if you understand the absolute basics before you start here. Having said that, just immersing yourself in these lessons, at least the first few will help.
It is very easy to get discouraged when starting Japanese. Even beginning to understand a native Japanese speaker takes a long time. You pick out odd words or phrases but remain ignorant to the overall meaning. However, with a language like French or Spanish, it is easy to pick up meaning from speakers quickly, at least if you speak a European language! Japanese is SO different to anything that is natural to western ears and needs commitment and a deep understanding of Japanese culture. Anyone coming to Japanese must have a love for Japanese culture and manners. You need to cast off everything you knew about language and re-wire a part of your brain to become Japanese. But I think this is part of the fun. To love another culture is to love life and life is all we have. Studying a language is life-affirming and anything that does that can only be good.
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for such a wonderful resource!
Thank you, Kit, for your fascinating comments. “To love another culture is to love life.” I couldn’t agree more.