Patrick Kenny's blog

A big project that I'm not quite ready to talk about yet has been keeping me very busy; I'm sorry about the lack of updates. This week I added an article on shadowing, which is an effective technique for making your speech sound more natural.

In other news, the Sony Japan store is still down. I do hope they get it back online soon, but as they haven't announced any concrete plans yet the prospects are not good.

Today I updated all of the pages in the speaking and listening section. Unfortunately, many of the podcasts I used to enjoy are no longer being produced, but I added a few new alternatives to make up for the losses.

I'd love to hear your tips for helping beginners get started with speaking and listening. Recently I've found it's hard to go back mentally to the time when I didn't understand Japanese.

This week I rewrote my articles on how to start studying Japanese. I started studying Japanese eight years ago, and it's interesting for me to consider what I would do differently given the chance.