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This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2005 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 1 . 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.
71 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #5 - Who are You?”
Friday at 5:10 pm
Not sure about this considering i am new to the language. But i was reading the the notes on this episode it looked like some of the hiragana was wrong. Instead of “wa” and “mo” and had “ha”. But other then that I am loving the show. i just started listening 3 days ago and i feel like I am learning alot.
Friday at 7:46 pm
Well, the particle “wa” is written with the hiragana for “ha” but is still read as “wa”. But your right, one place, someone has been too quick copy-pasting
at “SAKURA [1:37]”, where it should be “mo”, they’ve written “ha”.
Jonas
Friday at 9:21 pm
Tim-san, thanks for the post and pointing that out!
Jonas-san, thanks again! You the best!
The notes have been corrected, and are ready to be downloaded. Thanks again!
Yes, the romaji (roman alphabet) wa and the hiragana は, yes, we’re going to get something up on the page about this in the near future! It threw me for a loop the first time I came across it!
Great to hear your taking up the language! There is so much to like about it, and please, please let us know if there is any way we can help. We really care about students of Japanese, and will do everything possible to help you in your studies!
Thank you again.
よろしくおねがいします!(Yoroshiku O-negai Shimasu!
Monday at 6:29 pm
in this episode you say that “anata wa dare desu ka” is not the way you would ask someone, “who are you?”, so what would be the polite way to ask that question?
Thanks in advance
Monday at 7:49 pm
Joey-san, great to hear from you! Well, the question itself is fine, but we just think directly asking someone, “Who are you?” is a bit rude in any language. However, if the situation did call for it, and there are cases that it may, one should go with:

Dochira-sama deshou ka?
This is the same as Anata wa dare desu ka? just all dressed up!
Dare -> Dochira (the politer form)
sama -> most polite suffix (higher than san, usually used for customers or business relations)
desu -> deshou (a little more vague, making it more polite)
Again, same phrase just dressed up in a tux. You’ll here this if you show up to the front desk of place of business.
Was this helpful?
Monday at 7:49 pm
That would be “anata wa donata sama desu ka” or “shitsurei desu ga, donata sama desu ka”, depending on the situation. “donata” would be the polite word for “dare”.
Hope this helps!
Jonas
Monday at 8:30 pm
Seems me and Peter-san posted at the same time! Just wanted to say that both “dochirasama” and “donatasama” has the same meaning, and they can be used interchangeably (as far as I know. I can’t think of a situation where you can’t)
Jonas
Monday at 8:44 pm
sama is more polite than san… in that case, arigatou gozaimasu Peter-sama and Jonas-sama, this information has cleared up my question. I am a bit behind on the lessons, only at lesson 25(?) where Sakura-san and Kazunori-san team up for the first time and i just have to say that these lessons have just gotten better and better with every one that i listen to, especial with the review lessons you have, those really tie the concepts togther well for me, again arigatou gozaimasu!!!
Thursday at 2:00 pm
Awesome guys. So far I’ve been doing this for two days. I listen to lessons on my way to school and to work. I feel I’m learning a lot. Keep up the awesome work!
Sunday at 7:35 am
I concur completely! So far, I’ve been doing this on-and-off for 3 months, and I am only on Beginner lesson 23. However, this was mostly to a slow start and a business trips to several places. I found the archive of blogs today, and they are just as useful as the podcasts. There is so much here, I hope JP101 stays around for a very long time!
Thank you so much for this wonderful service!!!
Wednesday at 5:55 am
How do you spell out “Who is he?” and “Who is she?”
Wednesday at 6:53 am
Hi Ricky-san,
From my memory banks (and beginner lesson 23):
Who is he? - Kare wa dare desu ka?
Who is she? - Kanojyo wa dare desu ka?
Good luck with your studies!
Daniel
Wednesday at 6:58 am
To be more polite, you can also use:
Kare wa dochira deshou ka?
Kanojyo wa dochira deshou ka?
Even more polite could be:
Kare wa dochira sama deshou ka?
Kanojyo wa dochira sama deshou ka?
-mentioned earlier in this message thread.
Daniel
Wednesday at 8:49 am
Thanks I forgot that…
Guess my memoery is as good as I thought.
Tuesday at 4:44 pm
I was wondering how would “deshou” be literally translated?
What verbal mode is it?
Wednesday at 6:05 am
I think it’s an alternate spelling of desu. No?
Friday at 9:17 am
Kathy-san and Sergiu-san
deshou is the polite presumptive form of the copula da (to be).
desu is the polite form of da.
darou is the plain presumptive.
It means “is probably” “will probably”
can also be “I suppose”, or sometimes be translated as “isn’t it?”
deshou ka could be “I wonder”
As such it softens assertions and questions and hence is a bit more polite than desu.
BUT, at this stage I’d stick to just using desu and desu ka
deshou makes it’s first offical appearence in Beginner #101
Wednesday at 7:35 am
Tuesday at 6:05 am
Great lesson. Very fun with the celebrity names. Tanoshii-desu!
Friday at 10:12 pm
Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Porutogaru jin desu 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/2008/01/17/
Doomo Arigatoo
Mata ne
Thursday at 6:28 am
Kon’ichiwa. Watashi wa Dwarika Gerard desu. Watashi mo Amerika jin desu. Great lessons. Thank you. You speak great English Sakura.
Monday at 8:35 pm
konichiwa sensei, Jane desu.
watashi wa nihon no kougi futsubun wo sagashite imasu. watashi wa furansujin desu ga, kougi no eiko wa muzukashii narimasu.
Pita san wa doko ni jane san ga kono kougi wo tabun mistukemasu ka.
Arigatô gozaimasu, sensei.
kiseisutte kudasai.
just to be sure, hi teacher, i’m jane and i’m french that’s why i’m searching french lessons of japanese. it’s becoming hard to learn in an other language that nmy own.
please correct my attempt.
i thank you very much for these lessons.
Monday at 8:22 am
Ohayou what does ohayou zaimas means?
Monday at 10:55 am
Carla san> Obligato and Arigato sound kinda similar
Gerard san> arigatou gozaimasu
tanoshinde kudasai! Please enjoy learning Japanese with us!
Jane san> Please try our Forum with the comment! There are many many talented people from different background and I’m sure you will find the answer there
Malika san> My guess is that some Japanese say Ohayo (go)zaimasu so fast that you miss the (go) part. Some sounds like Haizaimasu, cutting the front “O” and “yo”part sounds like “i”….. does that make sense?
Monday at 11:16 am
Ohayo Hiroko-san
I sometimes read and heard that arigatou may come from the portuguese Obrigado like pan (bread) comes from pão. The pronounce is similar and the meaning is the same.
I don’t have much time free to keep learning japanese and don’t have anyone to practice with and help me, but this site is from far the best one I found in internet to learn japanese.
Arigatou gozaimasu mina-san
Jaa ne
Monday at 11:11 pm
Ohayou gozaimas.
Domo arigatou Hiroko-san.
Tuesday at 3:50 pm
Carla, I said that to a Japanese friend and he laughed at me! Apparently the Japanese have been saying ありがとう for long before Portuguese contact.
The way Japanese uses ありがとう reveals this: we can conjugate ありがとう into ありがたい (and other forms, although they aren’t used much), but other loan words (from ANY language) are NEVER conjugated in any way.
I also heard that パン came from Portuguese pão. And to anyone who hasn’t heard Portuguese spoken, they do sound similar. ‘pão’ almost has an ‘n’ on it.
Tuesday at 7:26 pm
maxiewawa-san
Maibe its the portuguese word obrigado that comes from japanese word arigatoo lol, I dunno, that is why I said “I sometimes read and heard that arigatou MAY come from the portuguese Obrigado” They kind of have similar pronounce and same meaning, but pan i know it really comes from portuguese word pan, like tempura (tempero, tempora) and tabako (tabaco) do also. You can see here more japanese words take came from portuguese words http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_words_of_Portuguese_origin
At the ends of this article they say the same thing that you did about arigatou
Thursday at 9:56 pm
On the Kanji Close-Up for this lesson, there are two footnotes — one for family name and one for female given name. It might be nice to put some parentheses after these two notes and put the kanji for them and the hiragana readings. I suspect that we visitors to Japan will see these characters on immigration forms, hotels, and other places. Also the lesson (if any) in which these characters will apper.
Just a thought…
Tom
Friday at 8:48 pm
(Adding note so this will show up on my managed posts lists.)
Tuesday at 4:32 pm
Why did you guys only mention Caucasian actors in this lesson? I have noticed how in most Japanese lessons its only white or Japanese…whats going on lol? Couldn’t you guys have spiced it up with people from different ethnicities?
Wednesday at 10:20 am
so how come they don’t start with the japanese or kana alphabet. ps how do you get your computer to write in japanese that is very neat
Thursday at 12:32 pm
I am also wondering this as well, jesse-san. I have looked all over the site for “Please note that you should know katakana and kiragana before beginning the lessons.” But I haven’t found it anywhere and it’s used profusely throughout the lessons. It’s a good thing I’ve learned most of them prior to joining the site. There is a tutorial on how to get your writing like this 恥目まして。in the forums.
You can most likely figure it out if you’re computer savvy by changing your keyboard settings in control panel and adding Japanese IME to your keyboard languages then you can change your lanuage by hotkeys or by using the language bar thats activated on your taskbar.
Thursday at 12:50 pm
I just realized that the japanese I used wasn’t right…heh. My apologies. ‘Gotta remember to use bigger font.
Thursday at 1:59 pm
jesse-san and Terry-san>
If you have a Premium membership, you have access to the hiragana/katakana charts with audio. If not, it’s another great reason to upgrade
Here’s a link to the forum post that covers how to type in Japanese on your computer:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9
Tuesday at 2:07 am
I have a question and a comment. I am going through basic membership and I have made it to this lesson.
First the comment. In the Kana translation, it appears that it is written ‘Zuzuki’ instead of ‘Suzuki.
Also. I have been going through the Kanji notes document and I wondered as to why we do not show the stroke order on the practice sheets? I don’t want to write them in an incorrect format, so the stroke order would be most helpful in using this document.
Thanks again for everything.
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.
Tuesday at 9:21 am
Nicholas Sumas,
Thank you for your comment and feedback! The stroke order would indeed be a good idea for the kanji notes - we will look into it!
Saturday at 6:36 pm
Haha. These lessons are great! It is great how things from previous lessons are put in here so I can build upon what I learned before. I like the fact that we are focusing more on grammar. It is hard to speak a language when you only know little words like “neko” and “ringo”.
I’ve had bad teachers in the past… So thank you very much, Japanesepod101!
Ganbatte kudasai!
Monday at 4:02 pm
Jen-san,
Thank you for your great comment!
Tuesday at 1:04 am
I think I’ve found a mistype in the Lesson Notes PDF for this lesson. The “Suzuki Sakura” is misspelled in the Hiragana board. It reads “ずずき さくら” (zuzuki sakura), instead of “すずき さくら” (suzuki sakura).
Great work, Japanesepod!
Tuesday at 4:43 pm
Quick question. If “anata wa dare desu ka” is not advisable what should we use then in asking “who are you”?
Tuesday at 6:51 pm
Jet san> usually “どちらさまですか?” (Dochira sama desu ka?) is used and it’s polite.
Wednesday at 8:03 pm
Thank you very much Hiroko.
Saturday at 6:36 am
this session isnt working i have click the audio and it wont play and i have tired numeras times to down load the knaji but ist dosen’t appear on the printing screen? can someone help me
Tuesday at 3:03 pm
wolf8288-san,
You need to login the site as a basic or premium member to listen to the audio and download the pdfs. Please let us know if you still have a problem after logging in.
Tuesday at 2:13 pm
HI,
A quick question. Is anyone else having issues with the basic lesson pdf?
Its full of ‘boxes’/squares for me! (all the other pdfs I have downloaded work so I dont think there is an issue with my system)
Thanks
Tristan
Tuesday at 5:16 pm
Tristanさん,
What system are you using? Please try the Lesson Notes Lite version and see if you can see the text.
Thursday at 6:50 am
Hello Tristan,
My Name is Rob, I work in support at JapanesePod101. Are you using a Mac? If so the issue is with Preview, the default PDF reader. I’d suggest doing as Jessi said, the “Lite” doesn’t reflect a lack of content but rather a smaller file size that also works in Preview typically.
If not, you can always download Adobe Reader 9 and open the PDF there. If this doesn’t work feel free to email me at contactus(at)japanesepod101(dot)com
Wednesday at 9:22 pm
Hi everybody,
I’ve already written, that this lesson are great. But I’m very inquisitive man, so:
1. I’m confused of 2nd task in Content Expansion Tests - How should I understand that: Q. Yproshiku onegai shimasu. A. San. ????
2. There are switched spellings of statements in the grammar section concerning “dare”.
That’s all for today.
Merry Christmas !!!
Tuesday at 7:49 am
hajimemashite, watachi wa amerikan jin desu. ive only been listening to this for a day or to and its amazing how quick ive learned it. even if all my friends do think im weird when i try to speak to them ^_^…
Tuesday at 10:01 am
This is great! I’m fourteen and been listening to these pod casts for a week now. I can’t believe that I’ve really learned so much! I’ve gone to many websites and have to say that Japanesepod101 is real good, but you forgot to mention what “sumimasen” means. Thank you!!!
Tuesday at 6:27 pm
Cin-san,
Welcome to JapanesePod101.com! Please enjoy learning Japanese with us! We have many lessons about sumimasen. Here is one of them. Can you check it out?
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2009/08/03/all-about-5/
Friday at 10:23 am
im a lil good at this
Thursday at 10:18 pm
Hey there,
when I tried to open lesson notes, I found them blank.
Could you please correct that?
Thanks and cheers
Tine
Thursday at 10:52 pm
Thx to previous notes I solved my Adobe Reader problem.
@robmorton: Thank you for your post.
greets Tine
Friday at 12:15 pm
2010.7.22 - Yoroshiku onegaishimasu…. is so important!
There is a spirit of declaring cooperation and kindness to be exchanged.
When I say it, I bow slightly and glance at the floor.
A humble stance.
I also have heard people say this if you have to leave a group early.
But there is a phrase for that specifically.
Saturday at 5:45 pm
Y’know, I came back to this lesson after just ONE day and realized that there were many kanji characters I forgot! I think its easier to recognize than it is to write. Does anyone else feel this way?
I plan on taking the JLPT at some stage so I figure I need to know kanji but whats more important? To read or write?
Monday at 9:34 am
美恵さん,
Yes, it is definitely easier to learn how to read/recognize characters than it is to write them. If the JLPT is one of your main goals, then I would just focus on being able to read the characters, since you are not tested on how to write them on the test
Tuesday at 2:27 pm
No BS and written well, ty for the info
Friday at 3:52 am
this is most intricate!
Friday at 7:01 am
Hmmm… It seems Somthing is wrong with the .mp3 file. It won’t download and gives an error message.
Sunday at 10:50 pm
guys can you guys share you account with me cause i wanna to know what they said in lesson 5..it said i need to upgrade it but i don’t have money cause it US money i’m malaysia .please reply to me someone we share our learning together that will be fun..
Friday at 8:48 am
I signed up to this website simply for the audio, so I can practice comprehension, and within a day all of the free audio has disappeared. Is this normal? I really only signed up to this because it said it was free. I know you need to make money, and if you say up front there is a charge for lessons, then that’s fine, but to say it’s free and then take all that away within a day just urks me. I’m always skeptical of websites that have a big sales pitch, but I was happy with the first day of lessons, and didn’t expect to get as much as people who do fork out for notes, etc. If it’s not free, it’s best just to be up front about it.
Friday at 9:08 am
Willheminaさん,
Thank you for posting! Are you on the 7-day free trial? If so, you should have access to all of the audio for 7 days - after that, you can only access the free audio (which is the audio for the most recent lessons, and first 3 lessons of every series). If you are still on the trial and it is not working properly, please e-mail us at contactus@japanesepod101.com and they will be able to fix it for you.
Monday at 6:24 am
おはよう ございます。川本さんはどこですか。川本さんは忙しいです。一徳さんは何処ですか。一徳さんも忙しいです。貴方は誰ですか。私は鈴木さくらです。 じゃね。
Sunday at 12:53 pm
I so appreciate the friendly voices and the clear explanations of Japanese. I hope everyone at JapanesePod101 and your families are all right after the Tsunami. My grandfather was from Midorii, Japan; Okada Terunobu deshita.
Saturday at 9:06 pm
Arigato! This is making it so much easier to learn Japanese
I’m memorizing it easier. Its helpful that your breaking down the words so people can understand it more
I had trouble pronouncing Watashitachi because the pronunciation sounded like Watashtachi. But I’ve got it now
Thanks for all the help JPod
Monday at 12:23 am
please translate me the sentence: ANATA WA, DARE DESU KA?
I can’t listen to this record…
Monday at 12:25 am
But I’m enjoying this site, it’s amazing! It’s making Japanese so much easier!
DOMO ARIGATOU! DOMO ARIGATOU!
Tuesday at 12:56 pm
deshou actually means right. It not the polite form of desu. Being anymore polite than desu would be overkill anyway…
Thursday at 2:04 pm
I have premium and it says I don’t have any membership.

. Well now I cannot learn Japanese
. These lessons are awesome.
Well I am decent at Japanese. And Iwas about to show this site off to my 生かand classmates but I lost membership so there is nothing to show
Well ぺ他亜 and 桜 有賀と。 I live in the USA and I like to impress my Ladies
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