New audio seems to be way too fast

[Big_Paws]

I know there is an option to slow it down, however, I don’t think it was recorded for beginners in mind so it doesnt help (and the quality is butchered after slowing it down)

Voice just rushes through the sentence, doesn’t really stop at particles (which seems like every other source for beginners does that - breaking up longer sentences - and speak way slower in general) and i just feel like I listened to the wall of sounds not even being able to pickup words i should already now.

Advanced users probably dont mind, but jlpt5 or 4, i dont know

[Jake]

Thank you for pointing this out. Once we find a good way to decrease the speed without distortion we will update the audio.

[Kumi]

If you’re doing it yourselves rather than using a package then fourier transforms are good at that. However it would probably be easier to just find something already written.

[Jet]

I would like to offer my input here as well. I think the audio on this site is great as it is. Yes, it is difficult to understand as a beginner, but slowing it down is a crutch. It’s better to be pushed with real native speed and pronunciation. This is what real Japanese sounds like and the sooner we are exposed to it the better.

[arisingfire685]

While it is good to push yourself, I strongly disagree.

When a mountain has easy to climb steps, anyone can make the journey. A steep wall will make any but the most masochistic say “f this”.

I am here to learn grammar. Anything in the way of that is bad.

[The111]

My native Japanese partner thinks the audio is way too fast.

When I hang out with her and her friends, I don’t think any of them talk this fast. The recordings aren’t just fast, they’re also kind of slurred. I do enjoy the challenge in a masochistic way, but I don’t think it’s right for the target audience. Also FWIW, the JLPT audio isn’t nearly this hard to understand, at least from the one level I took (N4).

[llama4u]

Agreed, it’s not just the speed but also the delivery (primarily the male voice but the female voice tends to be much quicker).

I don’t buy into the argument that it’s good to be prepared for native speed because the use case is different from things like Satori reader which is about broader comprehension.

The text and associated audio snippets are there to help you understand the grammar of vocab in context, that should be the only objective and that means clarity - even if you can happen to understand the language when spoken quicker, slower and more emphasised is always better so you can focus on the grammar.

I honestly don’t think there’s any processing that will help, only new recordings designed for learning with that clarity in mind would improve the situation. Similarly some example sentences are way too long, going beyond demonstrating the grammar in question even in N4 content.

[thomas1985]

@The111

Also FWIW, the JLPT audio isn’t nearly this hard to understand, at least from the one level I took (N4).

That’s a great point. Since most people are here for the JLPT, why not mimic what the JLPT sounds like? Though it’s a little too robotic for me to hear every day…

@llama4u

The text and associated audio snippets are there to help you understand the grammar of vocab in context, that should be the only objective and that means clarity - even if you can happen to understand the language when spoken quicker, slower and more emphasised is always better so you can focus on the grammar.

The sentence audio in the “Core 2.3k” Anki deck I found online is very good at this.

[The111]

@thomas1985

That’s a great point. Since most people are here for the JLPT, why not mimic what the JLPT sounds like? Though it’s a little too robotic for me to hear every day…

Wow, you responding to my 6-month old comment just gave me a massive confidence boost. While I do vaguely remember writing that comment… I’m not sure I consider it to be true any more. I.e. I don’t necessarily feel like Bunpro recordings are “way too fast” or super difficult to understand any more. They’re definitely not slow, and they definitely do make me work, but I’ve gotten used to the challenge I guess. I’ve also listened to countless JapanesePod101 episodes in the past 6 months (because my failure of the N4 exam last year made me realize how much my listening skills sucked), and I play every single Bunpro review sentence at least once (or as many times as required for me to feel like I can read along with it at real speed), and usually I force myself to read it out loud both before and after playing the recording. This makes Bunpro reviews take a long time… but I think it generates far more bang for the buck. I.e. Bunpro is ostensibly just for learning/practicing grammar, but when I use this painful approach I just described… I’m actually simultaneously practicing reading/kanji, vocab, speaking, and listening. I absolutely love it when a kanji I just learned in WaniKani shows up in one of my Bunpro reviews (or vice versa when I get a “new” kanji in WaniKani but realize I already know it from Bunpro). I often feel like I’m not pushing myself hard enough at real native reading (I’ve been struggling through the same manga for months now, like a page a day), but Bunpro sentences make up for that I think.

My point being less about bragging about my improvements, and more about the fact that maybe the Bunpro speed isn’t as bad as I once thought. Lean into it, and if you get to where you can understand it, then presumably that will make the JLPT speed feel much easier. Which is a good thing, because my stress level in the JLPT test room is 10x higher than what it is when sitting on my couch doing reviews, so it’s a good thing if the former seems “easier” (and making the latter “harder” is one way to ensure that).