Today we introduce you to the big, bad telephone! It is another Power Friday, as we tie this weeks lessons together. For those ituning in everyday, you don’t want to miss this one. For those just ituning in, welcome; and jump right in. Also, it’s never too late to go back and review.
Check about this lesson on your ipod for key vocab! Let us know if you can see them, and if you like this!
This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2006 at 4:30 am 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.
26 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #19 - Moshi, Moshi! You got a Call!!”
Peter Galante says:
January 13th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Mina-san, Konnichi wa! Hello Everybody! Hope everyone is enjoying the message board! This is just the start of many new and exciting things to come here at Japanesepod101.com. We would like to thank everyone for their support, as you are the ones that make this possible.
Mina-san Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu.
皆さんどうも有り難うございます。
Peter
piculum says:
January 13th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Seems the site is growing. Good news.
And the podcast is getting more and more interesting (that’s quite against some laws of economics 
. Keep it up!
And thanks again for the show.
Athara says:
January 13th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
OMG I love this podcast! Speaking as someone who has been studying Japanese on my own this is awesome because it is quick, simple, fun, and practical. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. And to have this podcast to look forward to everyday!…I have no words. This will really help me stay focused on learning Japanese in a fun way. I really like the dialog and Peter your Japanese is great so stop saying its poor. 
I can’t wait to come to Japan someday, it’s my dream. Ja ne! ^_^x
Peter says:
January 14th, 2006 at 7:19 am
Piculum-san, that is one of the funniest things I have ever read, as both my degrees are in economics. Thanks for the laugh. そごく面白かった！
Athara-san, thanks for the Sugoi post! In the coming months, we’re going to have some really good stuff! In the meantime, check out the JCC series and survival phrases, as they contain a lot of stuff about Japan, all useful stuff for when you get here! 
Ganbatte Kudsai! Thanx for the confidence booster and keep posting!
馬鹿(baka)4Areason-san, 面白い名前！笑っちゃった！
Keep the posts coming!
Jude says:
January 24th, 2006 at 8:03 am
First off, great lesson!
That said, I know it’s not my place, but I feel I should remind you guys(or at least, remind you to remind the listeners) of the important of using ‘dewa arimasen’ and ‘dewa nai’ and now, ‘ja nai’. I worry that a lot of people hearning these words from you are going to use ‘ja nai’, the most casual form, with people they’ve just met, or maybe even notable citizens. Will you please do me a favor and add somewhere in later lessons that it’s really important to be careful of who you say these casual forms to? I would sleep easier at night.
- Jude
japanesepod101.com says:
January 25th, 2006 at 2:57 am
Jude-san,
Point well noted. We plan on doing a lot more on situational Japanese in the coming weeks. We’ll make sure to make a point of this in the upcoming days. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.
Please keep the posts and comment coming as you help to make Japanesepod101.com better.
Joey says:
February 5th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Hello,
First of all i would just like to say that i am greatly enjoying listening to your lessons.
I am having a little trouble understanding the word ‘ima’.
for the question: “ima doko desu ka”, could you add “anata wa” in the beginning like, “anata wa ima doko desu ka”, even if that isn’t the way it is commonly spoken is that how you would add “anata wa” in the question?
Also, what other statements could you use “ima” in?
Could you say “kyou wa ima samui desu” and have that mean it is cold now today?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
arigatou gozaimasu
Peter says:
February 6th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Joey-san,
ima doko desu ka”, could you add “anata wa” in the beginning like, “anata wa ima doko desu ka”, even if that isn’t the way it is commonly spoken is that how you would add “anata wa” in the question?
Yes! Exactly! However, as we try to introduce you to very practical Japanese, and therefore, the anata wa is dropped. But from a technical point of view you are 100% correct.
“Ima” can be used in many situations:
Ima samui desu. Now it’s cold. (today and now, don’t go well together , one or the other. )
Ima 5-ji desu. Now, it’s 5 o’clock.
Use it just as you would now in English.
Please keep the questions coming! 
Did this help?
Joey says:
February 6th, 2006 at 11:31 am
thank you Peter-san that answer is just what i needed
doumo arigatou gozaimasu!
beth says:
February 13th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
when calling your girlfriend/spouse/etc. do Japanese still say mochi mochi??
Peter says:
February 13th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Beth-san, yes, everyone gets moshi, moshi, but remember, at first the calling party says moshi, moshi, while the answering party says hi. This is the proper usage, but in reality, both parties often say moshi, moshi. In the case, there is bad connection, or something similiar, anyone can use moshi, moshi to verify if the other party is still there.
Was this helpful?
Peter says:
February 13th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
A bit more, in the world of cellular phones the caller knows who they are calling and the person being called know who is calling, so they may and often do jump right in to the conversation. I usually don’t use moshi, moshi when I call my close friends on the cell. Also, friends might have a different word they use. When I call my best friend, I say Wa-sa-bi, based on that WA-SA-BI commercial a few years back.
Was this helpful?
beth says:
February 13th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Most helpful, yes thanks. I clearly need to work on my pronunciation/writing skills before I get myself into trouble!
Laura says:
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Can anyone explain a bit more about how “(desu) kedo …” is used? I read somewhere that you can use “kedo …” to ask for something indirectly.
“Denwa wa suki tsukaimasu kedo ….” (gomen. watashi no Nihongo wa kawaisou ;;)
“I would like to use the phone, but ….”
rather than
“Can I use your phone?”
Is that right? What are the nuances?
Laura
Jonas says:
April 2nd, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Laura-san:
What you probably want to say is
“denwa wa tsukaitai desu kedo”
directly translated, it would mean something like “i want to use the phone but…” but it is used as an open question, so a better translation would be “Could I use your phone please?”
Since japanese people love indirectness, so the “-tai desu kedo” is a very normal pattern for asking for permission in a sort of indirect sort of way (if you drop the “kedo”, the sentence becomes kind of a statement, just stating that you want to use a phone, and doesn’t have the question nuance to it)
Jonas
Laura says:
April 6th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Thanks, that makes sense. I hadn’t heard of -tai until you answered, but since then I’ve been hearing it all the time. This really helps it stick.
L
marichi says:
December 3rd, 2006 at 7:35 pm
when Peter gives sakura a call,he doesn`t tell who he is..is it not usual to tell who you are too?even if you are friends..:???:that was just something i realized in the lesson notes and how would it sound if Peter would tell his name after sakura?
well,anyway-thank you so much for this!it`s really great!
arigato gosaimasu!~^-^~
Brett says:
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:20 am
I’m a bit confused by the use of moshi moshi. In the lesson it’s stated a few times that moshi moshi is only used by the person making the call but I’ve seen numerous examples in Japanese movies where people pick up a ringing phone and say ‘moshi moshi’. So is it okay to use it this way? Does it depend on the situation?
Kennerz says:
October 5th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Brett if you are still there lol! Yes you can use moshi moshi when you pick up the phone no matter what! It’s just not very common! Not that this is any use to you now!
SkyDiver says:
November 6th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I think this is one of the few times where Sakura-San is actually wrong, because even if you are the one receiving the call, you can still say moshimoshi. Most Japanese people will tell you the same.
SkyDiver says:
November 6th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Btw the way I also think that JapanesePod101 needs to add this to the PDF, since it’s quite a big mistake. Even textbooks tell you the same thing.
Carla says:
February 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Konnichiwa
Anyone interested in Portuguese, visit this site for a Portuguese translation of this lesson.
http://aprenderjapones.blogs.sapo.pt/2008/02/07/
Doomo Arigatoo
Leave a Reply
Subscription Information
Course Information
Technical Information
Feature List
Video Guides
Privacy Statement
Category: Beginner Lessons |
Function: making small talk, wishing someone a happy new year | Topic: telephone | Politeness Level: Polite
Share This