"Japanese with Kanako" Podcast for Japanese Language Learning

The "Japanese with Kanako" podcast is a beginner level Japanese language learning podcast that you can use to practice your Japanese shadowing skills.

Kanako speaks both Japanese and English on this podcast. She opens each episode with a short dialogue in Japanese, but then will speak mainly English during the episode introductions. The goal of this podcast is to learn Japanese words and how to pronounce them, by shadowing Kanako after she speaks. Each episode is basically Kanako speaking a word, or short phrase in English, and then repeating it in Japanese. So you will learn some vocabulary, and short phrases, while learning how to pronounce Japanese.

Each episode focuses on a certain topic, or an area of grammar, and Japanese language. Examples of topics include: greetings and salutations, expressing time, numbers, counters, weather, etc. All the basic vocabulary you would learn from a beginner textbook. Sometimes the episodes will focus on grammar, or parts of grammar, like: “A” is “B” sentence structure, verb tenses, adjective tenses, the short form of verbs and adjectives, and more difficult sentence structures.

Kanako began releasing episodes of the “Japanese with Kanako” podcast in November of 2021, and she currently has 83 episodes. The frequency of episodes is sporadic, but she releases about 4 to 6 episodes each month. Each episode is around 10 minutes long, and can be anywhere from one or two minutes shorter, or longer, than 10 minutes. As mentioned earlier, Kanako will usually say a word or phrase in English, and then repeat it in Japanese. After that, towards the end of each episode, she will repeat the words and phrases in Japanese only for a little additional practice. This also helps with seeing if you can recall the meaning of the Japanese without her saying the English right before or after.

I think this is a very good podcast for practicing pronunciation and learning new words, especially for beginners. You can find the “Japanese with Kanako” podcast at the following links:

Spotify: Japanese with Kanako

Apple Podcasts: Japanese with Kanako

Check out my list of Japanese Language Resources.