EASY JAPANESE Japanese Podcast (Beginner) - Ep1: はじめて
That is exactly what this first episode of the "EASY JAPANESE" podcast gives you. The host opens the show by walking you through the genuine reason the podcast exists: listeners were already learning Japanese from his regular-content YouTube and podcast channels, so he made this dedicated easy-Japanese channel. He's not performing "your teacher voice." He's talking to you like a person who happens to be speaking Japanese — because that is what actual spoken Japanese sounds like when there is no class to teach.
What makes this episode unusually good as a first shadowing target is the density of connective tissue. On every other line, you hear the host stall, hedge, reframe, and self-correct the way a real speaker does — not the way a textbook voice actor reads a dialogue. 「そうですね」「まあ」「あの」「っていうか」「なんていうんでしょう」 are not interruptions; they are the shape of thinking out loud in Japanese. If you have only ever shadowed scripted audio, this episode will recalibrate your ear. And the core vocabulary is deliberately modest — the host even jokes about 「維持していく」 being a hard phrase, then immediately rephrases it as 「キープしていく」「そのまま」 in real time, modeling the exact repair skill that separates a textbook reader from a floor holder.
There are three structural rhythms to isolate while shadowing. First, the explanatory ～んですけれど / んですけど chain — this is the podcast host's bread-and-butter sentence ender, and if you can't produce it on reflex, you can't hold a casual conversation. Second, the effort form ～ようにしています / ように思っています — "I try to," "I'm making an effort to" — the speaker uses this four times in the first five minutes alone to describe what he is trying to do: keep it simple, avoid English, post daily, use natural language. Third, the ～みたいな pivot — "like a diary," "like that feeling" — used three times in succession near the end when he describes the show's format. Each of these is N4 or easier, but stacked at natural speed, they are the exact cadence that self-learners drop first. Shadow this episode until the rhythm sticks.
📚 Grammar Breakdown
Meaning: "You see / because." Short form of のですけれど — explanatory ん + けれど (but). Used as a sentence-ending or mid-sentence connective that softens statements and adds a "the situation is..." feel without explicitly asserting a conclusion.
In Text: 冬なので結構寒いんですけれども (It's winter so it's cold, but...) / 10年ぐらい前ですかね…なかったんですけれども (About 10 years ago — they didn't exist back then, but...) / そういうチャンネルは結構あるんですが (There are channels like that, but...) / やっていきたいなと思っているんですけれども (I want to keep going). Also used 20+ times as なんですけれども / という事なんですけれども.
Note: N4. This episode is a textbook case for ～んですけれど mastery. In real speech, the れど part is rarely pronounced fully — it slurs into んですけど, んですけれど, or even just んです. The function is not "but"; it's "I'm giving you a reason and trailing off so you fill in the rest." Self-learners who learn only 〜から ("because") or 〜が ("but") sound clipped when they should sound open. The んですけれど form keeps the statement open — the conclusion is shared, not announced. Shadow the んですけれど at the end of explanation lines; this is the most common sentence-ending pattern in spoken Japanese that textbooks never call a grammar point.
Meaning: "I make an effort to ~ / I think (I will) ~." Verb dictionary form + ように + しています / 思っています — describes a habitual practice, a deliberate effort, or an intention one is consciously maintaining.
In Text: 難しいことは言わないように (I try not to say difficult things) / できるだけ簡単に — 毎日投稿できるようにしています (I try to post every day) / 日記みたいな感じでお送りしたいなと思っているので (I'd like to deliver it in a diary-like feel) / みんなさんのお役に立てればいいなという風に思っています (I think I hope it'll be helpful to you) / という風に思っています (I think of it this way).
Note: N4 (form) / N3 (implication of sustained effort). This grammar appears five times in this episode alone. ようにしています signals "I have a rule I follow," which is exactly how the host describes everything he tries to do with this podcast — keep it simple, avoid English, post daily, be natural. Compare: 難しいことは言わません ("I don't say hard things" — flat statement) vs. 難しいことは言わないようにしています ("I try not to say hard things" — effort, not perfection). Self-learners who only know 〜つもりです ("I intend to") miss the nuance of sustained effort; those who pick up ようにしています sound like a person describing a practice, not a transcript.
Meaning: "Like / sort of ~." Noun + みたいな — soft comparison, less formal than 〜のよう. Used to describe something without committing to exact similarity.
In Text: 日記みたいな感じですね (It's sort of like a diary) / みたいな、なんかそういうナレーションが (Like that, that kind of narration) / 今日は私は何を食べましたみたいなね (Like "what I ate today").
Note: N4. Compare みたい (casual, spoken) vs 〜ようだ (written) vs 〜らしい (hearsay). What makes this episode a good shadowing target for みたいな is that the host uses it 2-3 times in succession at the end while explaining the show's format — 日記みたいな感じですね → とか 〜みたいな → みたいなね. This repetition within one thought is how real speakers use みたいな to feel out a comparison before committing. Self-learners who only know 〜ようだ from textbooks rarely pick up the softer みたいな form; those who do sound more natural in casual register immediately. Shadow the 日記みたいな感じ chain as a unit.
Meaning: "And so / for that reason / accordingly." ～という + こと + で — a flow word that signals "OK, based on what I just said, here we go." It's not strictly causal (だから) and it's not strictly sequential (それから); it's more like "with that understood, let's move forward."
In Text: ということで始まりました (And so we began) / ということで早速、第1回目の収録をしていきたいなと思います (So right away, I'd like to get into today's first recording) / 英語で調べたりとか — そういうことで (Look things up in English — that kind of thing) / という風に思っています (I think in this way).
Note: N3 (as flow word) / N2 (as discourse management). This is the glue word of unscripted Japanese, and this episode uses it more often than だから or それから combined. Self-learners hear ということで but don't recognize it as grammar — they hear it as a wordy filler. It isn't. It serves an actual speech-management function: "reset." After the 〜んですけれど explanation trail, ということで tilts the mic back toward action — "OK, that was the explanation; now let's go." Without it, self-learners who try to start a new topic sound abrupt. Shadow ということで as a unit; it's the most useful topic-transition tool in spoken Japanese that no one teaches as a grammar point.
Meaning: "Do things like ~ and ~." Verb た-form + り repeated, ending with します — lists representative actions rather than an exhaustive sequence. Like "among other things, I did A and B."
In Text: 英語を勉強したりとか スペイン語を勉強したりとか (I studied English, and studied Spanish) / あの、YouTube とか あのPodcast、まあそういうのはまだ無かったですけれども (Um YouTube or, well, podcasts — well, those didn't exist yet) / リクエストいただければ それはまた嬉しいな (If you'd be willing to request).
Note: N4. The repetition of たり in this episode is clunky in text but entirely natural in speech — the first 「英語を勉強したりとか」frames it as "studying English and such," then the second 「スペイン語を勉強したりとか」extends the list with the same rhythm. The とか after each たり is what keeps it casual — without it, たり sounds like a textbook list-pop example; with it, it's a spoken recount. Self-learners often overuse て-form chaining and underuse たり; those who mix both start sounding like narrators rather than actors. Shadow 「英語を勉強したりとか」and 「なんかそういうのは」 as a unit; they are the rhythm of self-reflection in spoken Japanese.