Repeatedly listening especially after reviewing transcripts helps a lot. Again cranking up the speed up also really helps just to get the flow of Japanese and reinforce the words you really know.
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Give this doc a quick glance and see if anything catches your fancy. At your present level, probably will just want to stick around the green (and orange, if you’re feeling spicy) level of the starter pack category just because of how daunting normal podcasts/conversations can be at first without a solid fundamental. Japanese With Shun, while doesn’t include transcripts, does a good job at speaking at a Genki I/II level and utilizing said grammar points/vocab. Does speak a little slow, but probably good for a first-time listen then you can adjust speed accordingly.
A lot of people also like Sakura Tips, the transcripts on their website has both JP and ENG which can really help out at the start. At the end of the day everyone likes a million different things, so best to just listen around and see what catches your fancy 
As long as you’re listening, reading transcripts afterwards, re-listening to previous content (for both better comprehension and also to flex to yourself hahaha) then it’s all good practice! Podcasts are difficult, but then again what in this language has ever been easy? 
If something does end up working out for you, please feel free to either post somewhere about it or feel free to privately let me know! Would love to know first-hand from the Bunpro users what works for them so I can better recommend stuff to others in the future. 
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Thanks very much! I’ll take a look. At the moment I’m working my way through Teppi episodes but without any relistening or looking at transcripts (from youtube subtitles).
I think I’ll continue doing passive listening while I’m doing other stuff, but I’ll try to incorporate a bit of active listening involving a transcript - it’s not as convenient as I need to be sat at my computer. Come to think of it, it’s what I was doing before my N5 exam - podcasts on the dog walk, a cheeky 10-15min N5 drill session.
Yeah, I think this is the critical thing I’m not doing at the moment.
thanks again
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I’m also not that sure if i’m listening in the most effective way. At this point I have been listening to ‘Japanese with Shun’, and can probably understand about 75% on average (though probably ranges from 50-90% depending on the episode), and listen to it about 5 times in a row (2 x trips in the car to /from work). Besides missing some details I generally ‘get’ most of what he is saying.
Should I try stepping up to one of the ‘orange level’ podcasts from that list, or maybe just change around to a different green level (e.g back to Teppei for beginners, who speaks a little faster than Shun).
I assume its best not to try to get 100% accuracy on listening, but to be challenged while having a base understanding. I also never look at transcripts as my listening is down out and about (like jrmr50), and when I’m on the phone/computer its doing activities. Maybe a point then is to at least try to have a quick scan of the transcripts (if they are all available?)
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Part of the equation may be finding something that you have the desire to listen to more than once and prioritize that criteria over the level appropriateness of the material. Provided the Teppei audios don’t meet that criteria, the big list @EdBunpro posted may give you a jump start on that and allow you to move on to the next thing quickly if you don’t find it interesting anymore.
A more “premium” option may be to pair an audiobook with a paper one but you would need to more certain before taking the plunge.
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Hmm yeah I think you’ve already given yourself the answer that I was going to suggest. I honestly have no idea what’s even considered effective studying hahaha although I think a good general sentiment would probably be to just keep pushing yourself a little more gradually. I think given your history you can probably start to tackle the orange level content and just listen around to which one sounds like it’s giving you a good challenge. Note: From my understanding, a lot of these are also available on youtube. I know Yuyu in particular has his own youtube with a transcript playing out.
Tbh I’m not a huge fan of podcasts in general just but I understand how they can help out. I’d also maybe just supplement it with some dramas from Netflix or whatever in Japanese + utilizing the captions or LanguageReactor add-on to help force subtitles out for use of transcripts. But yeah back to podcasts, throw on some of the orange ones and let it rip. There’s some on there that are quite long per episode so it may be more beneficial for you on your commutes as well.
I’d be interested to hear also what you end up sticking with as well! Feel free to post any and all details about your journey from beginner-tier stuff to mid-tier content. (Again, no idea if this random person who compiled the list’s ranking is accurate or not but such is the internet lmao.) Happy studying and listening~
Sweeeet! I suppose having access to the transcripts on your phone may make things slightly more flexible for you in terms of being able to quickly refer to something while you’re doing something else at the same time. Looking forward to hearing any and all updates from you about what’s been working or what hasn’t with a potentially new routine! We’re all in this learning journey together and it’s nice to pick up little tidbits from each other every now and again.
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For advanced podcasts listening lots of Yoshimoto Kogyou talents have their own weekly podcasts. Honestly, a lot of the talk goes completely over my head but it’s good if your favorite comedians have their own show.
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I have a new frustration about this month’s JLPT! It probably got me COVID! Woo!
I hate being sick, so I’ve been taking extra care not to get the flu or anything else this year. No karaoke, no crazy bars or restaurants, nothing. I’ve been so careful. The July JLPT in Sapporo was held in a big conference arena; there was plenty of space and air circulation so I felt pretty okay. However, I imagine the company that organizes the JLPT was really looking to save money and so they put us in an extremely small/old building this month. Restrooms were packed, hallways were packed, classrooms were packed. More so, from what I can recall, there was no air circulation at all either. There’s about 30-40 people crammed together in these tiny rooms with all the doors and windows closed. I knew in my gut this was a bad idea but I also didn’t have a choice because it was the JLPT.
Sure enough, about 6 days later I started feeling sick and then boom, COVID. Could it have been from somewhere else? Maybe. But nobody at work had it, none of my friends had it, and I had avoided crowded areas and trains and stuff getting to the test.
If I fail and got sick for nothing I’m going to be so angry. I hope the companies that organized this enjoy the extra money they saved!
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I hate to ruin your anger, but from my experience 6 days is weirdly long for you to start showing symptoms. When I caught covid (last December, presumably part of the…omega? variant? I don’t remember, we’ve gone through so many…) I was exposed on the 19th and was already feverish by the night of the 21st. By the 23rd (so…4 days, I guess?) I was full swing fever and fatigue (and man did it hurt to swallow.)
Granted, there’s plenty of different mutations and variants going around, not to mention immune system strength, but /shrug
Either way, though, crossing my fingers that you passed!
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Average time of COVID incubation is roughly 6 days. The same thing happened to me, and I know exactly who I got it from. My coworker said they had nothing more than a “common cold” and said that she hadn’t even taken a COVID test before coming in. Soon enough, six days after that and I caught COVID with a positive result. And everyone that had worked with her got sick as well.
I am also sick AGAIN after having taken the JLPT, but I have used two at home COVID tests and they’re both negative. I think I just caught the seasonal flu, but I feel for @Devenu
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I got Covid in Japan too. My partner and I got it at almost exactly the same time after going to a fireworks festival together about 6 months ago. I actually think I got it off of her, because she had symptoms within 2 days, and I had symptoms on the 4th day after the festival.
Not ruling out that you got it from the JLPT. But it’s quite unlikely. That thing is almost unbelievably quick to show symptoms. 
My guess is that you got it from somewhere completely unexpected, like a train or conbini.
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Another video from Yuta, this time it was the N3 test with middle schoolers. Earlier someone mentioned that they had asked some kids N3 questions and that they were hard for them….well…just watch this video and see for yourselves:
Even though I got all of these correct, I still feel dumb when I consider some of these kids find it relatively easy lol. Damn, I need to study more.
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Final Yuta Sensei video. This is the N1 test. I was a little shocked by my comprehension of the questions and 文章 since I was able to understand most of the kanji, though it was still a little hard for me at my current level (I was expecting it to be way harder). Very interesting video:
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Sounds like junior high school!
Another COVID in Japan experience: I caught it during the big summer wave. School had already been out for a week or so, so I knew it wasn’t from there. Decided to go to a coffeeshop with a friend. Bam, baby’s first COVID. Symptoms came in about 4-5 days.
Been teaching at junior high schools all through the pandemic, minus 2 months when it first hit and schools closed. 25-40 kids per class depending on the school. Some kids who decided masks were either beneath them or just super handy-dandy nose rests. Taking the packed trains every morning with salaryman sniffing and sneezing down my ear. Never even caught so much as a sniffle, let alone the virus! My last cold had been at the end of 2019!
I was just a little bit (read: very) pissed off about it when it came for me.
All this to say: hope you’re feeling better soon!
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FYI
The online Test Results Announcement for the JLPT 2022(December) is available for viewing from 10:00 am on January 23 (Mon), 2023, to 5:00 pm on March 31 (Fri) (Japan Time), 2023.
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Yay! A fellow Perth Japanese learner 
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I don’t even think I’m going to look. I know I failed. Just the idea of checking is making my heart tense up!
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Where does one find the link? thanks and apologies for being lazy.
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https://www.jlpt.jp/e/guideline/results_online.html
The “Other Countries” link will be enabled in about 16 hours
If they haven't changed the page it should be this one, but right now the link fails to load
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I found the results are already available on there 
Good luck for the results to everyone who took it 
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