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Introducing Mirai Japanese Podcasts…
Mirai Japanese is proud to present free podcasts of its beginner-level course – iStart Japanese! – to Japanese language learners.
iStart Japanese! – Step 1
- Lesson 00 – Prologue to the Program
- Lesson 01 – Basic Pronunciation
- Lesson 02 – Introducing Verbs
- Lesson 03 – Basic Time Expressions
- Lesson 04 – Watching TV
- Lesson 05 – Reading the Newspaper
- Lesson 06 – Asking Questions
- Lesson 07 – Going Places
- Lesson 08 – Here, There, and Over There
- Lesson 09 – Playing Sports
- Lesson 10 – Places in Japan
“iStart Japanese!” – iPhone / iPod Touch Application
The material covered is similar to the material in the iPhone app. However, the iPhone application offers many more details on how to write Japanese, vocabulary details, and a full quiz, in addition to the Tutor section (dialog between native English tutor and native Japanese pronunciation guide) featured in the podcasts.
About the “iStart Japanese!” Program
Mirai Japanese’s “iStart Japanese” is a full beginner-level course which comprises 20 Steps. Each Step contains 10 Lessons. So in total, there are 200 Lessons in the “iStart Japanese!” beginner-level course.
When you have finished all the Steps of “iStart Japanese!”, you will know both Japanese syllabaries (katakana and hiragana), and about 100 basic Chinese characters (kanji). Your speaking ability will be around “survival level”, meaning you will be able to function in very basic situations in Japan. Since we introduce five new vocabulary items each Lesson, you will have a total vocabulary of about 1000 words. You will know enough to pass the widely recognized Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 4 (the levels go up to Level 1, which is competent fluency).
Other Programs by Mirai Japanese
Note that Mirai Japanese creates courses for the following levels:
- Beginner Level (JLPT 4) – our “iStart Japanese” Program
- Lower Intermediate Level (JLPT 3)
- Intermediate Level (between JLPT 2 and 3)
- Upper Intermediate Level (JLPT 2)
- Advanced Level (JLPT 1)
The higher level programs will be available from this website soon!
Get iStart Japanese! on the iTunes App Store Now!!!

Comments
Great iPhone release. Can’t wait for the remainder of beginner & the higher levels to be published. I have also started with Rosetta Stone but am finding your method much more aligned to the way I learn. Would it be an idea to put a question into the iPhone app to ask how many people would wish to commit or are likely to commit to the next and future higher levels? In that way, you’d have an understanding of potential revenue from unique users. Obviously I’m biased, because I want you to assign more resources to production so I can learn more quickly!
Thanks for all the work so far and I look forward to the next releases.
Comment by Jon on January 2, 2010 at 4:52 pm