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Archive for April, 2013

Fond Farewells at Innovative Language

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! 

Hello everyone! Motoko here. Did you know that March is one of the most important months in Japan? That’s because it’s farewell season.

Schools and companies start new academic and financial years in April. This means their years end in March, and that’s when graduation ceremonies are held in schools. Here, we have interns who are college students, and some of them leave us in March. This March, we said goodbye to two student interns and one full-time staff member.

But we will see them again someday; we didn’t actually say “good bye”, but “see you again” then saw them off.

 

We hope that all three enjoy their new adventures!

 

(March, 2013)  

Announcing the Lighter, Faster and More Mobile-Friendly Lesson Notes

Monday, April 8th, 2013

Why do language learners keep coming back to our 101.com sites?

For our fast, fresh and fun audio and video lessons, of course!

But did you know that an important part of our lessons is the PDF lesson notes? These printable lesson notes are a crucial part of our online learning system. For visual learners, they’re a must! So that’s why we embarked on a long journey to improve the PDF Lesson Notes so that you, our valued listeners, will have the very best language learning experience.

So what’s new? Glad you asked!

Here’s what you’ll find with the updated PDF Lesson Notes:

  • Completely Mobile Friendly – View with no problems, both iOS and Android
  • RIP Lesson Notes Lite – PDFs now display reliably across different viewers, so there’s no need for Lesson Notes Lite
  • Download Them Faster – PDFs are now around one quarter the file size
  • Full Character Support – Problems with incorrectly displayed characters have been fixed
  • Read with Ease – Clean new look, designed to be easy on the eyes
  • Better Organization – New radio-style dialogue layout, line numbers for quick reference, clear vocabulary and sample sentence tables, and full season and lesson number and lesson name on every page

Put simply, the new PDFs are FASTER, LIGHTER and just plain BETTER!

Ready to check out the new PDFs? All Basic and Premium members have full access to every one of our lessons and their PDF lesson notes. Sign into your account and click on any lesson to see the new Lesson Notes.

Looking to upgrade and gain instant access to our entire lesson library and lesson notes? Use coupon code PDF15OFF to save 15% on any Basic or Premium subscription!

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Giving Thanks and Sweets at Innovative

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! 

Hi all! Motoko here. It’s been a while since my last post!

But today, I’d like to talk about one of the most popular events in Japan. It’s the day that we say “I love you” and “thanks” to the people we spend the most time with.

This day is Valentine’s Day, on February 14th. It originally came from European culture, didn’t it? And people usually give presents or flowers to the one they love on that day. I’m guessing that in your country, it’s the men who give presents to their partners. But in Japan, ladies give chocolate to men!

It’s the only chance each year when ladies can declare their love to the men they love. They usually make or buy chocolates and give them to the men.

Recently, however, most people have been giving chocolates to their colleagues and friends. On Valentine’s Day at Innovative Language, the ladies brought sweets they had made or bought to the office. Also, Peter gave boxes of chocolate to each of our team members. The men and ladies in the office all enjoyed these sweets together. Though no one declared their love, it was a day for us to say “thanks for everything!” to each other.

So if Valentine’s Day is for men, did the men of Innovative Language do anything in return? Well, in Japan, this happens on White Day, which falls on March 14th. This is an event that is well known in Japan and also in South Korea. The men who received presents on Valentine’s Day return the favor to the lady they got the chocolate from. Some return the declaration of love to the lady too! And some give sweets and snacks to their friends in return. At the Innovative office, most of the men brought boxes of sweets for the ladies. The boxes said “Happy White Day! Only for Girls!!” (Unlike on Valentine’s Day!) The guys looked sad about this because they love chocolate!      

What happens in your country on Valentine’s Day and White Day?

(Feb - Mar, 2013)