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First impressions are everything! And in this episode we show you how to do it right. We cover self introduction and certain nationalities. We are slowly building up your base, and by week’s end, we plan to have you conversational! Don’t miss this episode.

Learn how to introduce yourself in Japanese.

Grammar: | Function: | Topic: | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2005 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Beginner Lessons . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

132 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #1 - Self Introduction”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Sorry to be of bother, but may I ask how you pronounce Eikoku (England/Britain/UK). Sorry if it is spelt wrong, I have only just started listening. Ive never listened to a podcast before either so its a new experience there aswell.

It’s been fantastic so far, and hopefully I do pick up the basics as I would like to be able to speak other languages as the career I am planning towards in some ocassions, needs the use of other languages.

Domo Arrigato? :smile:

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Jonas says:

Michale-san: Guess nobody noticed you! :shock: Sorry! I’m not a native english speaker, but I`ll do my best to explain. First of all, in conversational japanese, England is refered to as “igirisu”. Eikoku is a more formal name. It is pronounced as eh-koh-ku. “Eh” as in “eehh… what are you talking about?” or “_E_mbasy”. “ko” like “_co_mmunication” and “ku” as in “_Qu_iz”… More or less…

Good luck with your studying, and hang in there! It isn’t easy in the beginning, as with any language, but it is lots of fun when you start getting the grasp of it!

oh, and “Domo Arigato” or “Domo Arigatou” is the usual spelling in romanized japanese :)

Jonas

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Chris says:

AWESOME! This is really cool. Now when I click the link it says lesson 2. And the recording mentions elements from a previous lesson. Have the lessons been reordered? I want to start from the beginning :)

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Gary says:

Duomo arigatou for these lessons.

But in this lesson there was a phrase that was not in the lesson’s pdf: onegai shimasu.

And this phrase is especially interesting because when spoken the final u is dropped. Some discussion about this phenomenon would be very helpful.

Please keep the lessons coming.
:smile:

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Joey says:

sorry for no one answering for a long time, okay like a month :shock: , but to answer your questions:
Chris-san, the first lesson recorded was survival phrases #1, making this the 2nd lesson, and so for Gary-san, survival phrases #1 is where they talk about onegai shimasu. And about the dropping the ‘u’ in pronounciation: I think that the ‘u’ sound is not completely gone, but just supressed by the ’s’ sound and is said much quieter to make is sound as if it isn’t there. And i think that the amount of suppression varies from person to person or region to region so that some people pronounce the ‘u’ more, like i think that Hatsumi-san pronounced the ‘u’ in ‘desu’ more than anyone else that i have heard. I am by no means an expert on Japanese pronounciation and the information i just gave is based upon my own understanding so you should probably get someone with a better knowledge of Japanese pronounciation to answer this one before you put this knowledge to heart :grin: .
Hope this information helps
Yoroshiku negai shimasu!

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Joey says:

*onegai shimasu*

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Jonas says:

Joey-san is correct in his explanation, and there is not much else to add to it… Some people barely pronounce the last “u” at all, and some does it quite strongly… Having the “u” sound at the end makes it sound a bit more polite though, but be aware that when adding sentence ending particles like “ne” and “yo” (like “desu yo”) the “u” is almost not pronounced at all.

Jonas

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Milda says:

Great site! I have started my Japanese class recently and these lessons helps me to improove what I’ve learned and learn something new.

Milda

P.S. Smagu sutikti tautietį tokioje svetainėje, Jonai. ;)

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cedric says:

Wow… what a website! I just found it reading a magazine in Tokyo.
Learning Japanese is not easy. Your method will surely help me. I thank you in advance.
Again… I am very amazed by your work. CONGRATULATIONS.

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hang says:

hii!! thank you soo much! i wonder how do i read pdf file?? cause everytime i download the note and i open it they dont have anything but symbol.. can anyone help?

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Eran says:

hang-san,

Welcome to JapanesePod101.com! In order to be able to access and view the PDF files on our site, you first have to be signed up to our 7-Day Free Trial, a Basic subscription, or a Premium subscription. To learn more about the various subscription levels please visit our Subscription Information help page.

To view the files, you must also have a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or FoxIt Reader installed on your computer. Finally, you may want to check out our New User Introduction Page as well as our Feature Guide to learn more about what the JapanesePod101.com Language Training System has to offer.  

If you have followed the steps above and are still having a difficult time viewing the PDF files, please contact us directly via email at support@japanesepod101.com.

Eran

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Donovan says:

i believe my prayers have been answer i been looking for a site like this for a long time. DOUMO ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU

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Eran says:

Hi Donovan-san,

Welcome to our exciting, fun, and innovative language traning program! We are so glad that you found us and are here to answer any questions that you might have along your quest to learning the Japanese language and culture. You may want to check out our Introduction page as well as our Help Center, as both are great starting points for new users.

Once again, welcome to JapanesePod101.com!

Eran

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Melody says:

hiii! i love this site a lot. :D D
my teacher makes me listen to it, but yah ;D i woulda even if she didn`t make us. this is an awesome site! arigatou gozaimasu :D

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Eugene says:

Katagana? You mean KataKana, right Peter?

Also, is it such a good idea to teach beginers to say Watashi wa… Watashi wa… Watashi wa… ad nauseum like that? To most Japanese that would sound pretty awkwardly self-centered.

From my own experience, it would be more proper to introduce yourself like “Hajimemashite. (Name) to moushimasu. Dozo yoroshiku. (country)-jin desu.”?

It might also get beginers of the language off on the right foot to mention how Japanese often avoid speaking in full and complete sentences, omitting details that are assumed to be known by both the speaker and listener (another reason, other than the self-centeredness thing, why most Japanese wouldn’t keep saying the “Watashi wa…” part over and over again).

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Belton says:

I understand what you’re saying Eugene-san,

however it’s probably best to talk in “complete” sentences to begin with so you are aware of the structures, then when you get some experience you can start to omit the watashi wa ’s. (but then there’s a tendecy to go too far in omitting an explicit topic, :smile: ) language instruction at such an early level is artifical by neccessity I think.

It is noted in the pdf that watashi wa can de omitted.

I can’t remember when the podcasts click over to more fluid speech but they do.

(for me anata instead of X-san sounds more strange in the early episodes)

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kobu says:

konnichiwa… may i know how to translit “i’ve 3 siblings” in japanese?

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John C. Briggs says:

Kobu san,
I am not the best person to tell you, but let me try and we will see if someone else can correct me.
First, in English, if there are four children in your family, you would say you have 3 siblings. However, I believe, in Japanese you would say that there are 4 siblings. You include yourself in the count.

kyoudai ga yon nin imasu.

kyoudai = sibling
ga = particle
yon = four
nin = counter for people
imasu = to be (for animate living things).
jya mata
John

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Brandon says:

I just want to say thank you to everyone at japanesepod101.com! i have always had a strong fascination with the japanese culture and language. because i do so much driving, listening to these in my car on cd is PERFECT for me. hopefully in the next year or so ill be ready enough for my first (of many i hope) trip to japan. ^_^

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Brandon says:

also… i cant seem to find it elsewhere. so how would i pronounce my name in japanese?

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Belton says:

I’m guessing that it’d be Burandon ブランドン
Bu Ra N Do N 5 syllables.

And Good Luck with learning Japanese.

ganbatte ne!

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ANM says:

This site is very comprehensive and simple to follow. I just started listening and I truly believe that this eight dollar a month subsctiption was money well spent! :lol:

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John C. Briggs says:

ANMさん,
Welcome to JapanesePOD101. Please feel free to post if you have questions about the lessons.
John C. Briggs

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fabrizzio says:

WOw this is amazing,

im going to japan in a couple of months has a foreign exchange and this will help me alot :grin: !!!

I dont have enought money for the japanese classes since i used it all on the 1 year foreign exchange program.

Thank you very much :mrgreen:

Fabrizzio

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Chris G. says:

First, ARIGATO GOZAIMASU for making such a easy-to-follow and easy-to-listen-to series of podcasts. I tried Pimsleur a while back, but got frustrated with it because it was hard to listen to. I really feel like I have a little better grasp on the language even after just a few podcasts.

Second, is it better to start with the Beginner lessons, or the Newbie lessons? I started with Newbie, but I’m only on #3, so it wouldn’t be difficult to switch, if it’s better. Thanks again!

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Joey says:

Konnichiwa! Chris-san! welcome to the community! :grin:
As for whether to start with the newbie or beginner i think you would be just fine with the beginner series as you obiviously have some background studying Japanese with Pimsleur, so douzo!

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HatakeSage says:

:sad: where do u people seem to get teachers?! LOL…wait…ROR! (er…Kinda racist :sad: ,… i am sorry.)
Anyway, Where do you people get teachers?
I can’t seem to find one, i never did ether!
I had to teach myself with the PC. TT^TT’ How sad…

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Caz says:

:mrgreen: WHAT A GREAT LESSON!
i must say at some parts i was quite confused but i have began to trust that even if i dont understnad Peter will eventually explain! :grin:

If i didnt have the vocabulary list in Romanji i may not have felt as confident as i do now :)

thank you very much :lol:

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Kevin says:

hello everyone! Hajimemashite!

I’ve listened to the first week and quickly listened to the second week, and I have definitely learned how to say hello to someone for the first time. However, can anyone give me one (or more) greeings to someone I’m already familiar with? Even just a simple “hello”??
thanks so much.

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Gregg says:

Thank you for offering free seven day trial. materials appear high quality.

Gregg

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Joan says:

What’s my name (joan) in japanese :)

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Usagi says:

Konnichiwa “the BOMB team”, Peter & guys! :cool:

Well, could you help me to clear my doubts with 2 questions only:-

Q1) When I click on Kanji Flashcards, I realized there are 2 types of reading for the Kanji:-

a) Kun Yomi &
b) On Yomi

Could you explain the meanings of these two? And must I learn the reading of these two or just only one of them?

Q2) “Add to my Kanji Bank”, if I add chosen words to my Kanji bank, can I print it out?

If Yes, how do I go about printing it out. Please tell me step by step as I am computer nuts.

Thank you so much!

Peter san, your lessons are really a “BOMB”, I enjoy it everyday. :razz:

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JapanesePod101.com says:

Joanさん、
in Japanese your name is ジョーン!   :wink:

Usagiさん、
kanji is not originally the Japanese writing system. It came from china in the 500’s.
So it has 2 readings, a chinese reading and a japanese reading.
(keep in mind, people were speaking japanese before they learned kanji)

音読み ONYOMI
this is the japanized pronunciation of the chinese characters. this is the closest japanese gets to chinese.
when you put two or more kanji together in one word, you usually use 音読み (ONYOMI).

訓読み KUNYOMI
this is the japanese reading. like i said before, people were speaking japanese before they had a writing system. so they had to use a chinese system to write their own sounds.
when you combine kanji with hiragana, usually you will use 訓読み (KUNYOMI) 

:mrgreen:

marky

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JapanesePod101.com says:

one more thing about kanji……….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji
wikipedia is always helpful :cool: :cool: :cool:

and yes, you can print out from the word bank!
i do it all the time:
at the top of the screen you can see this:

My Word Bank
My Word Bank Flashcards | Show Printer Friendly Version

click on Show Printer Friendly Version and it will print a clean version of your word bank.

:mrgreen:

hope this helps!!!

marky

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Usagi says:

Dear Marky san :smile:

Thanks for clearing my doubts and I am really getting more & more in love with Japanesepod101.com because of you people…Marky san, Peter san, Natsuko san, Sakura san….etc…(sorry for not listing out all the namesl) gomen ne! Once again, you people are really a GREAT TEAM!

Marky san! thanks for your promptness in answering our queries and I really appreciate it!

Happy Hanami Day! :wink: (while watching TV at the same time writing this comment to you).

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Kelly says:

I must say I am really impressed! I have always wanted to go to Japan and have the worst time learning languages. I find this webcast to be exciting. How would I pronouce my name in Japanese? And how would my name be spelled in Japanese?

Thanks a lot!!!

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Joey says:

Welcome Kelly-san!
I think you could write your name as: ケリー (Kerii) (English pronouciation: Kehree). In Japanese the L and R sounds are kind of smashed together.

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JapanesePod101.com says:

thanks usagiさん! thanks & welcome kellyさん!
we’re just trying to have fun with japanese! it’s got a reputation as being difficult or something, so we want to take a different approach!

:nihon: :kokoro:

marky

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Ryan says:

How would u say my name in japanese???

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Joey says:

I think it would be ライアン (Raian)

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Seb says:

Thanks guys!

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Brenda says:

My name is Brenda. How do I pronounce my name in Japanese? :smile:

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JapanesePod101.com says:

brendaさん、 your name would be written ブレンダ (burenda) in japanese.

by the way guys, be sure to check out our forum!
we have an 11 page thread about names in there!
:nihon: THE NAME THREAD: http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=778

the main forum link is here:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/

marky

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Brenda says:

thank you.. ^^ Arigato!

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Gabriel says:

Konnichiwa Mr. Galante and associates, and special hello for Ms. Natsuko. This is my first day in here, and so far its been great. I’ve been wanting to learn japanese for a long time, ever since I saw gozira movies back when I was a young’ling. Any ways I think its gona be a fun ride learning the language and the nihon culture. Im passing the word to the rest of my class mates.

I bid you a farewell for now.
Sayoonara…

PS.. sorry for any misspellings im not to good at english… Watashi wa mekishiko-jin desu.

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Carmella says:

hi there, guys! I’ve been listening to your lessons just last October and its really great because learning japanese in your site makes it easier to me than to read a bunch of japanese-english books specially if those books were thick in appearance… I love hearing your lessons and repeat it every now and then so that the japanese words would really stick in my mind :kokoro: …I found your site thru skype.com and I was interested to learn japanese through listening to your pod cast… omedetou gozaimasu for making this site and for having your amazing hosts… :grin:

I just have two questions. First, how can I renew my subscription because my account is already expired just 2 days ago and what (or who’s) website will I write when I want to join the affiliate program?

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Eran says:

First, how can I renew my subscription because my account is already expired just 2 days ago

Carmella-san, you can easily upgrade your account by clicking on the “My Account/Subscribe” menu item in the header. From there you can register for a Basic or Premium account.

what (or who’s) website will I write when I want to join the affiliate program?

To learn more about our affiliate program and to join when you’re ready, please visit the link below:

http://www.japanesepod101.com/affiliate-program/

Should you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email us at contactus@japanesepod101.com.

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Shane says:

I also wanted to know how my name would be written in katakana and pronounced, if it is different.

I can’t think off the top of my head how an a as in “hay” sound is made.

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maro says:

hajimimashite, i wanted to start with that since its my first time posting , in the lesson you were saying country names , so how would you say i come from syria or i am syrian
watashi wa ??????????jin desu :wink:
domo, mata ne

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Nihongone Crazy says:

I’m confused. I’ve gone through the entire ‘Newbie’ section and I was expecting the ‘Beginner’ section to be more advanced than ‘Newbie,’ but I find that this lesson is completely trivial in comparison.

Am I wrong in assuming that the level of difficulty goes ‘Newbie,’ ‘Beginner, ‘ ‘Beginner 22, ‘Intermediate,’ and ‘Advanced?’

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Sasquatchua says:

You are assuming a bit more science involved than there actually was. When JapanesePod started, there was Beginner, Survival Phrases, Culture Classes, and Intermediate. Beginner was for absolute beginner. As time went on and things made it to the second year, beginner had progressed to a point where an absolute beginner couldn’t just hop on board. So Newbie was created to fill the gap and be like a Beginner v2, and Beginner Season 2 got started as a refresher for people who’d done all of the Beginner episodes up to that point.

The whole thing is kind of always evolving, so I wouldn’t expect a grand master plan where everything fits together all nice and clean like a set of language workbooks.

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Carla says:

Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Carura desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Watachi wa Porutogaru jin desu :cool: and I am enjoying so much hearing and learning japanese with japanesepod101 lessons that I made a blog where you can read what is said in the lessons with the meaning in portuguese.

Anyone interested in Portuguese, visit the above site for a Portuguese translation of this lesson.
http://aprenderjapones.blogs.sapo.pt/2008/01/14/

Doomo Arigatoo

Mata ne

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Nik says:

Konbanwa, Peta-san. Yoroshiku!

I am an advanced-beginner in Japanese, and it is my dream to move there, and write for a manga. I am going to be listening and learning as much as I can from you, thank you very much.

Maido okini!

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cardea says:

:mrgreen:
AWSOME,
I’m stationed in Guam and there are ALOT of japanese tourist that come out here. I personally wanted to learn to better myself and to be able to make my way around japan too.

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Anna says:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Anna to moshimasu. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!
Domo arigato Gozaimasu. :dogeza:
Just thanks for starting these lessons, they’re so easy to learn and to understand. :kokoro:
Wakarimasu! :eek: no way!!! :grin: kakoii!!!
By the way, I think ‘ uso’ means, ‘no way’. :???: I know it’s a weird question that doesn’t really have anything to do with the lesson, but is this true?
Arigato! :smile:

p.s. apologies for any japanese I got wrong in this message.

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kitty-chan says:

Uso means “a lie.” :grin: :grin: :grin:
So if you say, “uso!” it’s like “no way, you’re lying!” :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Eva says:

boohoooooooo!! It does’nt work!!

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rusty says:

こんにちは・・・Hallo from Indonesia ….
I love JapanesePod101 .. :kokoro:
Its so easy to understand. Especially for people new to Japanese.
In my office we usually have a Japanese class every Saturday. One day i try to use one of the material from JapanesePod101, and my friends said that it was really great material. They can easily understand it and they can practice their listening.
So thank you very much and please keep up the great work :razz:

O yeah, i think i will put JapanesePod101.com in my website so each of my friends can access it and learn some more …

Thanks .. :hachimaki:

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Aleksey says:

Hi teachers!

I need your help!

I have just started at the beginner section, all is OK
but explain where it is noted how to draw KANJI?
I am sure to learn correctly one should know where to start
drawing the sign and how to end it

Many thanks!
Yoroshiku

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Laurent Griot says:

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for the shows and all the most excellent quality you are providing.

I have been trying to learn using your site, and the talking and listening coming along nicely, my kanas are already good too, but I have huge problems memorising the kanjis.

I basically need something that will remind me where a kanji comes from, some sort of “logic”, or mnemonic.

For e.g. in the first lesson, I can easily see why 人 would be a stylicized person, and why 日 should be the sun, why 木 would be a tree, and therefore why moto 本 shows the root or the tree, or by extention the origin, so ni-hon makes “origin of the sun”, where the sun rises.

And when looking at other kanjis, I can see a stylicized moon in 月, I can see someone speaking in 言 (mouth with wind coming out of it), and some mountains in 山.

But for the more complexe ones, I am desperate for some explanation.

名 meaning “name” is a combination of evening and mouth, why? Is there somewhere an explanation?
Also why is 夕 the evening? Is it a stylicized moon?
for 私, I have no clue why it should mean “I” or “me”.

Do you know any website that explains the origin of the kanjis or gives mnemonics for them?
Have I missed a page where this is described on this site? Or are you planning to do that yourselves later?

I really feel I won’t be able to memorise any of the complicated ones otherwise.
You made the speaking easy, I am not used to learn the hard way any longer! :-)

Many thanks.

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Mayumi says:

Laurent Griot-san,

Have you checked “Kanji Mnemonics” in our JapanesePod101 blog?
http://blogs.japanesepod101.com/blog/category/kanji-mnemonics/

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retropunk says:

Laurent Griot-san,

First and foremost, you’ll need to know that the current Chinese characters have changed a lot over the years.

名 is name probably due to historic conventions.

1) When a child was given a name, his father would go out at evening of the child’s birth and tell the child the name he has chosen.
2) When you want to identify yourself during the evening, you’ll need to call out your name.

Whether it’s 1 or 2 for the Chinese character, I don’t know. #2 is more of a mnemonic and #1 is a more of a historic convention by different cultures, but you can think of it as a mnemonic.

私 is a combination of grain and selfish/private radicals. This is probably another character based on historic interpretation, and could use the mnemonic “This grain belongs to me.”

夕 is probably a pictograph of a crescent moon.

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maxiewawa says:

I have a lot of experience with Kanji (I read/write Chinese) and have never found mnemonics much use.

This is how I memorise things:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=V6AisYnJ8yU

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retropunk says:

I believe mnemonics may work if you don’t force them. The same can be said about looking at the radicals, pictographs, and ideographs.

However, I do recommend using flash cards in the long run. Its format doesn’t matter, but an electronic version on your ipod/phone/pda would be a good idea since you can take it anywhere and not bring too much attention to yourself.

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Monica says:

Hello! I have a question about this: http://blogs.japanesepod101.com/blog/category/kanji-mnemonics/
Is this really Japanese? Or is it Chinese? I dunno but it looks like Chinese to me.

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Naomi says:

Monica-san

It looks Japanese to me.

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maxiewawa says:

Monica, Chinese also uses Kanji, the writing system used in kanji mneumonics. It’s like saying that French looks like English. They both use the roman alphabet, so they should look like each other.

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Monica says:

maxiewawa,

So it’s both Chinese and Japanese??

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Sasquatchua says:

Monica-san,

Yes, the characters that make up the kanji writing system come from China. Just like how Mandarin and Cantonese use characters with identical meaning but are pronounced differently, making them two separate languages, Japanese kanji have the same meanings as the Chinese origins but are pronounced with Japanese words. In fact, to get extremely technical and accurate, in Japanese, Kanji generally have multiple prounciations - some are considered Chinese readings and some are considered Japanese. For example:

四 - the number four. It can be pronounced both “shi”, which is the same as the Chinese say, or “yon”, which is of a Japanese origin.

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Monica says:

Oh I understand now. ^-^ Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu Sasquatchua-san! :]

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Monica says:

Oh I have one more question. I noticed that the symbol for the wa in “Watashi” is different from the wa when it’s by itself. And the symbol for wa by itself it also the symbol for ha. Can anyone tell me what’s up with that?

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markystar says:

hi monicaさん、
you might want to try this question out in the forum. the irregular use of kana for particles has been discussed at length in there, and the everybody will be happy to help you out.

the short answer is the character は (normally “ha” in words) is read “wa” when used as the topic marking particle.
(this was probably included in the pdf as well).

hope this helps! :nihon:

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Monica says:

Hello markystar,

Yea it does help ^^ I wuz just a little confused there. Doumo arigatou! :kokoro:

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Ahsan says:

Love it!
It was really difficult to learn Japanese in busy life. Japanese Pod 101 made it ‘Asa Mashi Mai’

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kath says:

Konichiwa,

I’m a fresh new to this lesson. I had few question to check:

a) Hajimemashita used only first time meeting? Or each time when you meet the same person, you can use the same phrase?

b) What should I say in japanese that my nationality is Singaporean and I’m chinese? Watashi wa ______jin desu.

c) I intend to take JLPT examination. How should I learn from the lesson to prepare my test. Beginner lesson for JLPT4?

d) For the Kanji, I still confuse of onyumi and kunyomi. Onyomi sound like chinese and kunyomi pronounce as hiragana, is this what you mean? So what normally Japanese pronounce kanji, onyumi or kunyumi? Should I memorise both for the test?

Thank you.
Kath

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Naomi says:

Dear Kath

Thank you for putting questions!!

a) You can use Hajimemashite only for the first time meeting.
b) Do you want to say that you are Chinese Singaporean? If so, that would be 中国系シンガポール人です。Watashi wa Chuugoku kei Shingaporu jin desu.
c) If you want to prepare for JLPT4 Newbie Nihongo Dojo “Welcome to Style You 1″ is the best place to start.
d) We use both Onyomi(Japanese reading) and Kunyomi (Chinese reading). So, you need to check both readings when you learn a new Kanji. For JLPT4, it is said that you should know about 100 Kanji.

Good luck!!!頑張ってください!!Ganbatte kudasai!! :wink:

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一 (ハジメ) says:

NaomiさんとPeterさん、

三十百万ダウンロード!

おめでとうございます!

ありがとう for answering comments on almost 3 year old lessons.

JapanesePod101が大好きですよ。

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nhisan says:

Hajimemashite everybody!
Watashi wa Nhi.Watashiwa Betonamujin desu. Sorry if I made any mistakes. I am Vietnamese but living and studying in Michigan now. I love Nihon and Nihonjin, so I hope I will have a chance to visit Japan someday. I learned Nihonjin before,then I stopped , now I want to start over again. I love this website.I love to hear Peter’s voice. Sayoonara!

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Mayumi says:

nhisan,

Your introduction in Japanese is perfect! I hope that you will have a chance to come to Japan! :kokoro: Ganbatte kudasai!

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Megan Pawlak says:

初めまして。メガーンです。音楽は聞きません。でも毎日仕事にJapanesepod101が聞きます。私の犬は白くて可愛いです。私の初心はアメリカのチカグです。日本語が好きです。どうぞよろしくお願いします。

I hope that’s mostly correct. :dogeza: I have to love the Japanese dictionary you guys provide that shows the kanji. :grin:

I’ve listened through all the Newbie lessons so many of the beginner lessons are way too easy. But some of them have new vocab so I listen anyway. And yes, I listen to your files all the time I’m at work: roughly 8 hours. It’s amazing and funny. And I’ve learned more in the last couple weeks than in 3 months of taking a formal Japanese 1 class. I mostly want to learn Japanese because I like to watch Anime in the original Japanese when I can. This is really useful for me.

Keep it up!

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Mayumi says:

Megan-san,

Thank you for your introduction in Japanese!! :dogeza:
I guess that “私の初心はアメリカのチカグです。” would be “私の出身はアメリカのチカグです” which means “I’m from チカグ in the US.” Is that right?
Keep enjoying our programs!! :kokoro:

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Corey says:

I have a quick question. I was looking at the speech bubble above and noticed that the word(s) “watashiwa” was spelled out like わたしは. Logically the phrase “watashiwa” contains two instances of “wa” but in the speech bubble different characters are used in both “wa”s. I took a quick glance at a hiragana chart and noticed that they had the characters listed as わ=wa and は=ha. Why would the phrase have a “ha” character for a “wa” sound? Shouldn’t it be spelled out like this? わたしわ

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一 (ハジメ) says:

Coreyさん

This is a very common issue for beginners. (I myself had this problem. :smile: ).

The topic marking particle は is pronounced “wa”. So the subject “I” is correctly written

わたしは and prounounced “watashi wa”.

Another common problem is the object marking particle を. This is most often pronounced “o” instead of “wo”.

がんばって。 よろしくおねがいします。
(ganbatte) (yoroshiku onegaishimasu).

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Kristine says:

How do i pronounce my name (kristine) in Japanese ? :mrgreen:

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一 (ハジメ) says:

Kristineさん、

はじめまして!(hajimemashite)
よろしくおねがいします (yorishiku onegaishimasu)

One of the wonderful things about かたかな (katakana) and your own name is that you have some freedom in developing the exact characters to suit your preferred pronunciation. For example, 私の妻の名前 (watashi no tsuma no namae, my wife’s name) is Theresa. This is traditionally タレサ (ta-re-sa). However, she wants to pronounce her name “Ta Ree Sa” so her かたかな is タリサ instead.

Your name has one problematic sound in it. There is traditionally no sound for “tee” in the Japanese language. But there has been an accommodation in かたかな for this. Some characters are used as a “diminiutive”. When written they appear smaller than the regular characters. So the “tee” sound becomes ティ (te i), but notice that the second “i” character is smaller than the first “te” character. When “te” is followed by the diminutive “i”, it is pronounced “tee”.

So, in Japanese, your name would normally be pronounced: ku-ri-su-ti-n, (ku-ree-su-teen) which is spelled クリスティン, but once again, note that the ィ character is smaller than its surrounded character so it has a pronunciation influence on its surrounding characters (in this case the preceding テ).

Finally, you see this diminutive character influencing pronunciation in “regular” Japanese quite often, for example with the character “tsu”, or つ. When tsu is used used as a diminutive, it causes a slight pause and an emphasis on the following character. For example, ちょっと (chotto)、meaning “a little”. Actually, in this example, there are two diminutives, the first one ょ turns “chi” into “cho” and the second one creates a slight pause and makes the “to” sound have a slightly heavier emphasis. You will hear this word often in the lessons so don’t worry about it right now.

Sorry, that was probably way more information than you were asking for.

クリスティンさん、ようこそ!(Kristine-san, youkuso). Welcome!

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Antonyo (DJ AH) says:

:cool: This is great I started on this a couple of days ago with itunes and it has been very useful. My school does not have japenese just chinese which is fun also and I take the class also its my second year in it. Now I am learning Japenese which is so cool. Oh well thank you and sayonora.

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Bybeammapsems says:

Hello

As newly registered user i just want to say hello to everyone else who uses this forum B-)

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Mayumi says:

Bybeammapsems-san,

Hello! Welcome to JapanesePod101.com!
Please enjoy learning Japanese with us!

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Yuki says:

クリステリンさん(Christine-san)
これからもよろしくお願いします! :dogeza:

Antonyo (DJ AH) -san,
Antonyo-sanもよろしくお願いします!! :dogeza:

にほんご、がんばれー! :hachimaki: :hachimaki:

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mnorgovudkka says:

Hy my name is mnorgovudkka
Im from mongolia
Buy

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MoonPrincess says:

Thank you guys
i love this site
so much
it help so much!!!
lotts of love
:kokoro:

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JKid says:

mnorgovudkka-san,
Welcome to Japanesepod101! :)

MoonPrincess-san,
Thank you for your kind words. Glad to hear you are finding the site useful! :)

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Scott Lehner says:

Does the Japanese pronuciation change the way American names are said or does it keep the same pronuciation? I’m curious because it sounded like Peter was modifing his names pronuciation.

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kenken says:

konnichiwa! i hope i learn more from this resourceful site! :kokoro:

i want to learn step by step so i can follow-up with new lessons :wink:

i hope this site last-long and ARIGATO GOZAIMASU to all members of this site! :dogeza:

i really love this site!! japanesepod101 ROCKS! :grin:

sayonara!! :wink:

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Mayumi says:

kenken-san,

Thank you very much for your nice and warm comments!
Ganbatte kudasai! :dogeza:

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J0cker says:

Doesn’t Hajimemashite mean “How do you do”?
What’s the difference between hasimemashite and yoroshiku?

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Mayumi says:

J0cker-san,
That’s right, Hajimemashite means “How do you do” or “Nice to meet you.” :nihon:
When we introduce ourselves, we usually say “hajimemashite” and your name, and then “yoroshiku,” or just say your name and “yoroshiku.” Both of them are a set phrase of greeting to mean “Nice to meet you!”

Hajimemashite. Mayumi desu. Yoroshiku! :nihon: :kokoro:
Mayumi desu. Yoroshiku! :wink:

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Ironic says:

Konnichiwa!
Watashi wa Samedin desu. Hajimemashite. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

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Jessi says:

Ironicさん>
Hajimemashite! Great introduction :mrgreen: Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

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killakitty says:

I am very grateful for these! Just one question, how do i upload these to my ipod? as podcasts? I am very confused as to how to add things to my ipod for on the go. I dont want to randomly subscribe because it starts at a random lesson that isnt for begginers. I want it from lesson 1!

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Rhees says:

I am looking to become an exchange student from australia, how would igo about this and how much japanese would i need to know ?

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Jessi says:

killakittyさん,
It would be best to use iTunes to download the podcasts to your iPod :smile: Click on the Basic/Premium Feed graphic on the right-hand side of the main page!

Rheesさん,
Have you looked up exchange student programs online? It would be good to know basic Japanese before you go - the more you know, the better! I would recommend the Newbie series and Survival Phrases series!

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Rhees says:

Arigato I am watching japanese animes to better my japanese

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Mayumi says:

Rhees-san,
What anime do you like best?

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Rhees says:

Bleach and Deathnote and Fullmetal Alchemist and my other reason for doing japanese is cause i really like this girl but mainly cause i really wanna be a exchange student

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Scott says:

Nice good luck with that girl.

I do want to give a word of causion to learning from anime. You need to make sure that you know what form is being used because nihonjin languge has formal and informal versions. So what you heard in the anime might be a rude way to say something and you would not know that with out studying the regular teachings.

Oh by the way “Bleach Rules!” lol :)

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Jessi says:

Good advice Scott! I’d be careful repeating anything heard from anime unless you really know how it sounds/what it means first :smile: And Rhees, being an exchange student is really fun! Definitely do it if you get the chance!

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Caroline says:

Domo Arigato.

Fabulous lesson.

I began learning Japanese a few years ago, but having two children delayed my learning. I am pleasantly surprised how much I knowledge I retained as I understood everything in this lesson.

I found the format very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend to others.

Caroline

PS: My youngest daughter (just over 2) started to pick up some words too, much to her grandparents confusion.

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Pallin says:

I don’t know if you still see this comment, but I would really like to know my name in Japanese. My name is Efrain and I think it is derived from the name Ephraim. So please tell me my name in Japanese. This is an awesome site and I really love it. In fact I already know some words. :grin:

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一 (ハジメ) says:

Pallin-san,

はじめまして (hajimemashite)

It is said that the last freedom a person has in Japan is how to spell their name. :grin: See my post above to Kristine for a bit more information.

Two possibilities are:
エフラン (E-fu-ran) or
エフレン (E-fu-ren).
The ‘u’ sound between fu and the next syllable would be contracted so it sounds fairly similar (but not identical) to your name when spoken naturally.

Since there are other possible spellings, you should go to the Forum section, the first “sticky” conversation topic in “All About Japanese” is about how to say / spell your (non-Japanese) name. I would post in the forum there.

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Pallin says:

Thanks, that sounds right to me. I’ll go to that forum too. :dogeza: arigatou gozaimasu!! or so I think that’s how I say thank you very much. :smile:

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Scott says:

I belive that is correct for thank you very much. I think I will take that advice and check out that forum section myself.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!

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Markkai stone(maakai suton) says:

Konbawa desu. i was wondering why in japan they say san,kun, dono, things like that after they say the person name? what does it mean?

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一 (ハジメ) says:

Stone-san,

Hajimashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

-san is an honorific suffix that is very commonly used. -kun is another suffix but is fairly different because only someone with higher social status can use the suffix when addressing someone of lower social status. This is fairly complicated stuff and safely ignored right now. The most important two suffixes you should know right now are:

~san
~sensei

The latter one, I am sure you know, means “teacher”. As in Naomi-sensei.

~san can be roughly translated as “Mr.” or “Ms.”. The somewhat confusing thing is that once you hear ~san as a suffix for a 3rd person, you cannot tell if that 3rd person is male or female. So a somewhat long translation is “honorable person”. But “Mr./Ms.” is a better translation. It’s like the difference between saying “This is Smith” versus “This is Mr. Smith”.

As you go through the lessons, you will learn more about the “social status” impact on the language. Right now, don’t worry about it too much.

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Naomi says:

一 (ハジメ) -san
Thank you very much for the great explanation!!!! :razz:

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Dj says:

To be honest… I got Hajimemashite and the others but it kinda confused me. I don’t know… I don’t get it… :oops:

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LYLE says:

Hajimashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Can you tell me how to say my name in Japanese?
Its ………. Lyle

“Domo Arigato”

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Caleb says:

I just started using japanesepod
よろしくおねがいします。

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Jessi says:

LYLEさん,
Hajimemashite! Your name would be ライル (Rairu) in Japanese :smile:

Calebさん,
Welcome to the site! よろしくお願いします。

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Duality says:

Just a quick note! The Kanji-Closeup lists one of the kanji meanings as ‘one-sieded’. Unless I’m crazy, that’s a spelling error? =O

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Jessi says:

Dualityさん,
Thanks for pointing that out!! It has been fixed :cool:

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Scott says:

I’m not sure I fully understand how the Japanese language alters our name. I was just reading some of the post about what their name would look like and be spoken as in Japanese. Could someone explain that a little?

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Vipin says:

:grin:

A very nice website because I was looking for some resources to start with so that I can give JLPT 4 this december.

Hajimemashite

Watashi wa Vipin desu

Watashi wa Indo jin desu
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu
:oops:

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Naomi says:

Vipin -san
Konnichiwa! Yoroshikuonegaishimasu. :grin:

If you want to learn grammar systematically, I recommend that you start with Newbie series season2 after you listen to some beginner lessons.
Newbie series season 1 and Beginner series season1 are mainly focusing on set phrases and there isn’t enough grammar explanation. If you want to learn only conversation, those courses might be OK. However, if you’re planning to take JLPT4(this would be New JLPTN5), Newbie series season2,3 beginner lesson 4 and 5 would be good.

We also have JLPT prep course so please check that course! :grin: I’m sure that course helps you to prepare for the test. :wink:

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Benito Finito says:

Came to learn easy Japanese but got my brains blown out in the first few lessons. Got anything simpler?

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Jessi says:

Benito Finitoさん,
I’d recommend our new Basic Japanese videos! :grin:

#1) http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/08/video-1-basic-japanese-1-self-introductions/
#2) http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/15/video-2-basic-japanese-2-basic-greetings/
#3) http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/01/22/video-503-basic-japanese-3-basic-greetings-2/

They’re presented in an easy to understand format and only introduce a couple phrases in each video :mrgreen: Please try them out!

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janis says:

i just subscribed to the premium membership and tried to download the lesson .pdf. However, everything in it was blank. I went to the Beginner Lesson #2 and the .pdf on there works fine. Just this lesson, there’s nothing in the .pdf

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Mayumi says:

janis-san,
Thank you for subscribing our premium course! Could you try to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader, if you don’t have it yet? Beginner Lesson #1 has our new version of lesson PDF format, which needs the latest version of Acrobat reader. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, please email us at contactus@japanesepod101.com. Thank you! :wink:

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tony says:

the introducing was easy but my sound just carried off
i really know all of these already but im just practicing but thts really nice knowing these……………. :mrgreen:

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bram says:

初めまして。私はブラムです。よろしくお願いします。
Nice to meet you. My name is Bram. Please be kind to me.

Great site. Just started on the lessons.
I’m from Indonesia, how do you write “Indonesia” in 方仮名if I want to say my nationality?
ありがとうございます。

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Mayumi says:

bram-san,

Welcome to JapanesePod101.com!
“Indonesia” is written as “インドネシア” in katakana. :wink:

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