Well, I have had no chance to test it…Not many Japanese people where I live….maybe when I go to Oriental City next I will try it. But what a great phrase, I really hope I can use it one day.
Steve

You actually ask people on the train how you read stuff? Never tried that. I can read most of the common kanji(the joyo ones) but sometimes theres irregular words（当て字）, like 山羊（やぎ）, but then I have my trusty electronic dictionary, and my PocketPC.

But just like you, I always read the commercials on the train! hehe.

Another one I sometimes use is “—- tte dou iu imi desu ka” (well, I usually ask friends, so its more like ナニナニってどうゆう意味？)

PS: You should rename this lesson to “nanpa phrases”

What a great (and timely) lesson!

The Japanese 2 students have just been given a special assignment.

They are to choose a place to find Japanese speaking people (we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so there are quite a few places) and make observations, as well as make attempts at conversation. I’m going to let them know about this particular lesson and I’ll print out the lesson notes for them as well (if that is ok for distribution to them?)

I think this lesson will be very useful for them, and help give them some tools to “strike up” a conversation and let them practice. Another useful phrase might be, “Please correct my Japanese.”

ありがとうございます！

〜ロンダ

Hi Japanesepod friends,

I love Survival Phrases! They will definitely help us when we need to find the way in Japan later this year…. my fiancee and I plan to visit Japan this October and we are thinking about going north all the way from Tokyo to Hoikkaido. However, a friend who visited Japan twice told us that Japanese in northern Japan don’t really “like” foreigners… Is this true? He said that the people in southern Japan are friendier and more willing to help foreigners… Mmmmmmmm…. Any comments on this? We are a bit concerned and we don’t mean to offend anyone. Thanks.

Lily

Hi Japanesepod crew,

First of all, thanks again for the great podcasts. I walk around Duke’s campus listening to your ‘cast and muttering to myself in Japanese every day now.

I’m wondering if you could do a show on summer language programs in Japan. If I return for a visit this summer I would like to take 2-4 weeks of lessons… but it’s hard to know how to pick a school! I’m sure your audience in Japan and abroad would appreciate any insights you have.

Mari

Hi Lily.

I dont think you need to worry yourself too much. Most japanese I’ve met are really nice. I lived for half a year in Sapporo (Hokkaido), and I had no problem what so ever. My girlfriends mother is from Yamagata(I think… or somewhere in that general area, hehe) and she also says most people are hospitable. Hokkaido is actually famous for its hospitality, and they most people there are probably used to foreigners, since there are so many russians there.

In the big cities like Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka etc there is a foreigner at every corner , so no problem there either.

And don’t worry about offending anyone. It’s pretty hard to offend japanese people(when you’re a foreigner, that is. If you do something stupid, it just gets attributed to you being a foreigner).

Actually, some japanese are too hospitable.. You ask something, and you just want a simple answer, right? Like, I asked someone in Hokkaido about where I could find a cheap hotel, and I just wanted some directions, but the guy followed me to the hotel, and helped me book in and stuff….

Jonas

Jonas-san, the asking people to help me read is low on the list of surprising things I have asked people. Up near the top is when I asked the first person I saw on the top of Mt. Fuji, “Where is the elevator down was?”

Rhonda-san, glad you liked the lesson. Yes, again I draw so much on experience, and this one is at the top of the useful phrase list! Please let us know how this turns out, we’re very interested. Great idea for a lesson, and by all means, please feel free to use the notes. We are quite flattered! Correct my Japanese, thanks for the great idea!

JP-san, thanks for the great post! We are so happy that you are making the most of it! The Monbunsho….yes, I am quite familiar with this, as many of the students around me have this. I don’t. Been paying my way through school here. However, the silver lining to the cloud is not having the monbusho gives me a lot more desire to succeed! Plus, real life experience, through working, is priceless. Whenever I need extra energy, I draw on the fact that I got here myself! So while the monbusho is great and all, you can show all of the monbusho people how good you get on your own!
Ganbatte kudsai!

Lily-san, thanks for the great post! Great to hear that you’re coming to Japan! Your question is not the first time we were asked this, and I think many people would like to know this. I think it is best answered by luck of the draw. There are great people and not so great people every where in the world. And usually what makes a trip great is the people you meet along the way! I personally travel exclusively in the Northern Honshu, and so far nothing but aces! However, twice in the town I was living in, I had bad experiences with drunken old men, who were not to happy to see me. At the same time, in NY, I had good and bad weekends! Sometimes I would meet great people, the next someone would say, “what are you looking at?” I chalk it up to luck of the draw.
Jonas-san had a lot of good points. Japan is not like the Japan of 30 years ago when there weren’t many foreigners, there are a lot of them here, and many Japanese want to meet foreigners. As I always say, 9 times out of 10 if you make the first approach trying in Japanese, it will be recipricated 10 fold.

Mari-san, thanks for your post and thanks for listening! Great to hear your using this the way we intended! In the near future we plan on adding a lot more stuff, and one thing we plan to do is find a school that we can recommend. This will take a bit of time, because here we pride ourselves in our knowledge being practical and useful, and to recommend a school on someone else’s recommendation goes against our principles. So please give us just a little longer.

チャナンさん、please let us know how that works out!

Jonas-san, thanks for the info! Would be great to trade stories one day!

Ormo-san! great to hear!! I can imagine! We took the local train from Ibaraki to Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, and finally Ibaraki, all a 5 day all-you-can-ride local train pass for 10,000 Yen, (USD100)! Amazing trip, and yes, we used that phrase all the time too! Very cool place you live! The people were really nice!

Lily-san, thanks for posting! Definately let us know; we have some great info for you! I personally love Northern Japan, so just let us know when your coming.

I’ve been listening non-stop for three days
I may only be 14, but i have serious japan-involving plans. I’ve tried a lot of things to learn, but this is by far the best.