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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com!Learn about Japanese grammar, as today we get our hands dirty and check under the hood to see just exactly what is going on with the mechanics of the language. This is one giant step toward fluency, so you don’t want to miss today’s important lesson. For all you Japanese grammar junkies out there, this in combination with our special bonus grammar track, may be just what you’re looking for! Be sure to stop by JapanesePod101.com, and be sure to leave us a quote!

Grammar: , | Function: | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 at 6:30 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.

62 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #32 - To Eat or Not to Eat?”

Jonas says:

You made a mistake!! omg!
Sorry :P During your “english grammar review” you say english is an SOV language, but it’s Japanese that is SOV, and english is SVO.

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Peter says:

OMG! :oops: Our whole editing team has been fired, and I just called Natsuko to get down to the studio ASAP!!!! I don’t know how that happened, but we owe everyone a big apology!

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Peter says:

Problem rectified! Apparently my SOV was copied twice during the editting! :shock:
深くお詫びしたいと思っています。
Sincerest apologies for any inconvenience.

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Jonas says:

Wonder if anyone else even noticed :wink: probably not, hehe. Just me that have a special interest in linguistics, so I notice stuff like that right away. The podcasts are generally superb in quality, and it is human to make mistakes… So dont fire ALL of your editing staff… Leave atleast 1 person (笑

Jonas

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ロンダ (Rhonda) says:

Oh, sure…blame it on the editors. ;) I noticed it too, as I was listening on my way in to work.

Good lesson, and I learned a new word きもち. Nicely done on the verbs as well. I wish I had started learning verbs using the stem form first. In our textbook, we started with the ~ます form, then ~たい (which, granted, uses the stem form and then adding ~たい and then went to ~て. The textbook I’m reading at home (yeah, I know…I’m weird) starts out with ~る (たべる). I think I might have been less confused. Learning ~て gets tricky. That’s what the J2 students are learning now.

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Nathan says:

Thanks! I have to admit I love grammar :D

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Nathan says:

Ah, I also forgot to mention… thanks for mentioning my name in the last news update!! Sakura said it perfectly, too!

どうもありがとうございます :mrgreen:

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Diego says:

Just stopping by to say hi, as you guys use to say… :mrgreen:
I’m Diego and I’m writing from my hometown, Milan, Italy.
Thanks to your daily lessons I’m both improving my japanese a lot and keeping up my skill in english language.
Thank you! I think your method is very useful, and also… entertaining. :smile:

Keep up the good work!
Bye! ^^/

[Maybe this was not the right place for such a message. If it’s so, I’m sorry, but I’m at work and quite in a hurry!]

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Peter says:

Jonas-san, thank you! Thanks for letting us know, but it is indirectly your fault! :shock: You should be here working with us, and should have caught that before it went live. :grin: We’ll take it out of your future pay. :wink:
But really thank you!
ロンダさん、yeah, Japanese is funny like that. Same here for me! I even recall trying to look up -masu words in the dictionary! :shock: Yes, with the exception of the irregulars suru and kuru (and perhaps some other less known ones) almost all Japanese verbs have some sort of base, but the ichidan verbs or class 2 are unique in that there stem is constant throughout, which is related to their name ichidan (one-row). :wink:

Nathan-san, let us know if you like the bonus track. We need as much feedback as possible.
It was our pleasure thank you for all the posts! :grin:

Diego-san, Hajimemashite! Peter desu! Great to hear from you! Our first post from your great country! Thank you! :grin: Here is place for anything, so please feel free to share anything with us! Great to hear from you and thank you for listening! :grin:

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Marcos says:

Hey there!
I downloaded the podcast,but I didn’t listen to it yet because I was a little busy at work. I am listening to it right now. Nice work again guys! I can’t wait to practice Japanese verb conjugation with the bonus lesson. I think you should employ Jonas too Peter because he is a whiz guy :grin: But, please don’t fire anyone :shock: Jaa matta

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japanesepod101.com says:

Bonus track just released, and this time we left English grammar to someone who knows something about it……NATSUKO! :shock:
Don’t worry about the editting staff there all alright, but we’ve got our eye on Peter. :wink:

Just kidding! :grin: But truly apologies for any inconvenience.

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Marcos says:

mama mia :shock: :grin:

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Brenda says:

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu for the grammar in today’s lesson and in the bonus track. :grin: I’m a grammar junky so I was very excited. The bonus track opens up so much of the language in just one lesson! I’ll look forward to the other two bonus tracks on verbs.

Mata atode!

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Rhonda says:

I just noticed through iTunes that JapanesePod101.com is listed as #8 on the Top Educational Podcasts. Congratulations! Well deserved!!

おめでとうございます!

〜ロンダ

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JapanesePod101.com says:

Today’s location is Gifu・ぎふ・岐阜 is capital of Gifu prefecture famous for three popular Japanese pastimes: hiking, skiing and hot springs. :grin: Hello Jonathan-san! Bonus track will be out shortly! :grin:

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Peter Galante says:

Marcos-san, keep up the great posting! :wink:

Brenda-san, yes, this is a tricky topic, so we were waiting for our pro, Sasahara-sensei! I think once we introduce all 3 tracks, this will really fall into place. Plus, we’ll be doing a lot more grammar, but as you see it really needs its own lesson. Thank you for the feedback, and please keep it coming! :grin:

ロンダさん、教えていただいてありがとうございます! :grin: As we say, this is a reflection of you guys! So thank you everyone.

Finally, we’ll have PDF for the bonus track soon! However, the double lesson yesterday was rough! So please give us just a little bit of time. :grin:
よろしくお願いします。 :grin:

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アルフォンソ says:

Aaaahhhh, yes, conjugation!, mmmm, I’ve been practicing for a while to conjugate verbs, but I haven’t been able to get it right, It looks simple but I can’t seem to get it lodged in my head.

I look forward to more classes regarding conjugation, should be very interesting and fun.

メキシコからこんにちは。

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Sakura says:

Many of you seem to enjoy grammar :razz: たまにやると楽しいですよね。
Nathan-san, I’m glad I said your name right :grin: やった!
Diego-san in Milan, konnichiwa! Thank you for listening. Doumo arigatou gozaimasu :grin:
ロンダさん、情報ありがとうございます。#8! Sugoi. Bikkuri simashita :shock: みなさん、どうもありがとうございます!

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Diego says:

Peter-san, Sakura-san, minnasan, konbanwa! 9.30 pm here…
I’d like to thank you all for your warm welcome! Arigatou gozaimasu!
I really enjoyed this lesson. It’s true, Japanese conjugation is quite simple. Now I understand why my japanese friends are going crazy trying to study italian grammar! ^^”
I can’t wait for the next lesson!
I use to listen to you while driving to and from my law firm, so: “see” you tomorrow morning!
Mata ashita!

PS: Peter-san, your surname tells me your’re a little bit italian, too. ^^

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アルフォンソ says:

どうもありがとう for mentioning me in your news podcast.

Hey 桜さんとペーターさん, I just remembered, when I began with Japanese, one of the first things I learned it’s that the “L” sound does not exist in 日本語, that is why “Alfonso” is pronounced “arufonso”. So in my mind Japanese people have trouble pronouncing words with “L” in them, how true is this?, because when 桜さん spoke my name, it was pronounced correctly in スパイン語、僕の母国語, and I was expecting arufonso which is the Japanese pronunciation, “すごい、 よくできました”.

ティファナメキシコからこんにちは。
がんばって下さい。

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Sakura says:

アルフォンソさん、ありがとうございます!ちゃんと発音できてよかったです :grin: You are right about らりるれろ sounds in Japanese. The consonant is kind of inbetween “R” and “L” (it seems to be called alveolar lateral flap). The tongue is not rolled as in “R,” but not touching the back of your upper teeth as in “L.” The tongue touches the bump behind your upper teech, or the alveolar ridge.
So it’s very hard for we Japanese to make the distinction between “L” and “R” when we learn English :grin: Thank you for your comment!

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Joey says:

I was just wondering, what is the difference between saying “tabemasen ka” and “tabemashou”?
Thank-you guys for the continuing quality of these podcasts. Each episode i listen to has better and better dialogs and they keep getting funnier and funnier. Ganbatte kudasai!

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Jonas says:

I was just wondering, what is the difference between saying “tabemasen ka” and “tabemashou”?

For the most part, these two expressions are semantically equal, but the difference lay in the way you convay the question/invitation. As a rule of thumb, negative endings, when used in an invitation, are more polite than positive endings.

The -mashou form of the verb is generally translated as “lets -verb-”, so “isshoni tabemashou” would be “lets eat together” and “isshoni tabemasen ka” would translate as “Shalln’t we eat together?”

-mashou forwars your opinion in a stronger way than -masen ka.

Hope this helps!

Jonas

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Joey says:

Arigatou gozaimasu for the quick and informitive reply Jonas-san. Thank-you, this clears up my questions about the two forms. :grin:

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Renee says:

Hi, I am new to your podcast and I love it!

I keep trying to download the bonus mp3 for this lesson but it says there is an Error with the file. :cry: Is there anyway to fix this problem?? I would really like to have the bonus lesson. :smile:

Thanks!

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Tintin says:

食べませんか。 Won’t you eat (with me)?
食べましょう。 Shall we eat (together)?

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Sophie says:

Hi, thanks as always for the excellent podcast… I’m catching up (I hope :) )

A question about the pdf notes, when there are questions like なんでですか, you add a question mark at the end. Is it appropriate as the か is already here to say this is a question ?

I’ve seen question marks in my lessons, so I know they are used in japanese, like in お酒?, but can you clarify when we should write them ?

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Erin says:

i know i am chotto osoi, but i only started these lessons two months or so ago. i just wanted to say that this is a monosugoi podcast, not only with the presentation of new words and interesting dialogues, but the way every lesson pulls the others together. benkyou ni narimashita! arigato gozaimasu!

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Chris says:

Peter & Natsuko,

I have now listened to your podcast for a week and I have learned more about basic Japanese than after spending 5 weeks with the “Genki” textbook my wife bought at Kinokuniya in Los Angeles. I have no idea why so many academicians think throwing a mass quntity of information at a student is the best thing to start out with.

This is particularly relevant in the study of Japanese, as so many of the words sound so incredibly similar. Your methodical, fun lessons are wonderful and exactly what I was looking for. Plus, I can tell you are all very nice people!

My wife’s grandfather lives in Tokyo and does not speak any English so I am trying to learn so we can communicate a little better. He was an ace pilot in WWII so I have a lot to gain by trying! He is also very funny.

I’ll post some more as the lessons go on but I finally wanted to get something up. Peter, you deserve a lot of props. Maybe I can buy you an Asahi when we show up in the land of the rising sun.

Mata Ashtanee,

Chris in NYC

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Darren says:

Is there any difference in use or meaning between
0-hiru no jikan and O-hiru-gohan?

Cheers
Thanks to you all for a great site.

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Sasquatchua says:

Technically, hiru no jikan translates to lunch time, while hiru gohan means “lunch” - the meal itself. However, there are a lot of situations where you could use either, I think… but not all.

I don’t think you could say “hiru no jikan wo tabemasen ka?” to invite someone out, for example.

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マイク says:

Fantastic podcast, and the bonus material is very informative. I’m getting back into the podcast during winter break from my college Japanese class, and it is helping me greatly for reviewing and learning new vocabulary. Keep up the great work!

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Megan Pawlak says:

I think Japanese gets a bad rep in United States because we think everyone should speak english and bow down to us.

Also, For some people who speak English, they find it a hard at first to switch around the verb and object. Romance languages are mostly SVO so they find it easier.

I tend to disagree though. Japanese has way less exceptions. Pretty much once you know it all other words conform (kind of like Japanese culture, no?). There’s no such thing as subject verb agreement as English speakers know it (she and it GOES, but we and I GO). I find learning Japanese fun though. :lol:

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Mihara says:

Could you say “desen”?

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Yuki says:

Megan Pawlak-san,
本当ですか!? :shock:   Since I started teaching Japanese, I always find some exceptions in Japanese grammar.. I guess any languages have exception everywhere :hachimaki: I always discuss with other Japanese instructors about it :lol:

Mihara-san,
“desen” は なんですか?:???: I’m not familiar with hearing that vocab.

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Mihara says:

Well, “desu”? Could you say “desen”?

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Yuki says:

oh like the negative form of “desu”? It’s ではありません(dewaarimasen)
“desen” doesn’t mean anything.

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Mihara says:

Ah, arigatou gozaimasu. :)

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Mihara says:

Oh, and was the object marker o or wo? It is hard to tell…

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Hiroko says:

Mihara san> It sounds like “o”, but in writing, you type “wo”. :dogeza:

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Mihara says:

Arigatou gozaimasu, Hiroko-san! :dogeza:

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Foxy says:

Hello!

I just wanted to tell you that the audio just loops over and over again with the opening theme song and Peter telling people to go to the website and will not go to the lesson. Thanks!

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Jessi says:

Foxyさん>
Thank you for the comment! Did the audio file download correctly? Could you tell us how you are listening to it? I checked the audio but didn’t come across the problem you described.

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Tiago Silva says:

Summimasen, I was hearing the lesson and I came out with one doubt.

In begginer lesson number 21, “meshi” was introduced as “meal”, in the “asameshimae” expresion “piece of cake”.

But at this begginer lesson 32 you say meal is “gohan”.

Are both of these meal, and if yes, when should each be used?

Doumo arigato gozaimasu japanisu podo ichimaruichi.

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Kat says:

Tiago Silvaさん

Actually, both “meshi” and “gohan” mean “meal”, but “meshi” is a very vulgar/slangy male term which I do not recommend using… well, ever, while “gohan” is the standard word.

Actually, you can see that both “meshi” and “gohan” use the same kanji, which means literally “cooked rice”:

飯 = meshi
ご飯 = gohan

The pronunciation of the kanji changes depending on whether it has the honorific prefix ご (go) in front of it. :smile:

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Joey says:

Okay, so I have a question: what the difference between the “ga” particle and the “wo” particle? It seems like they’re both for objects, I can’t quite figure it out!
By the way, thanks for everything you do and for bullying me into getting the basic package, it’s awesome!

Joey, from Geneva

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Jessi says:

Joeyさん,
The “o” particle is used for objects:
Asagohan O tabemasu (to eat breakfast)
Hon O yomimasu (to read a book)

The “ga” particle is used for the subejct, or the one doing the action. I hope this helps! :)

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Joey says:

Thanks for the response! But, er… when you say “nihon ryouri ga suki desu.”, the “nihon ryouri” is the object, because the subject is “watashi wa”, isn’t it? That’s why I’m asking, because it seems like it’s used for objects sometimes.
And if it is only for the subject, then I need to understand the difference between “wa” and “ga”!

Any help is appreciated! Yoroshiku! :smile:

Joey

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Joey says:

AAAAHH!!!! I finally get it! I was confused because I thought that “suki” was a verb!
Now I realise it’s an adjective, so it all makes much more sense (even though suki is a weird adjective!)
Now the question remains, what is the difference between the “wa” and the “ga” particles? Does it have to do with animate and inanimate subjects or is it something else?

Onegaishimasu!!!!

ジョヰ

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Jessi says:

Joeyさん,
The difference between “wa” and “ga” is actually a complicated one, and something that a lot of learners struggle with!
To really get a handle on the differences, I recommend listening to the Particle series that is currently running. Lessons 1, 2, 9, 10, and 11 in particular go over how to use “wa” and “ga” (as well as the upcoming Lesson 19). :grin:

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Joey says:

Domo arigatou, Jessi-san!

ジョヰ

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James says:

Hi JP101 team,

Firstly, i just want to say thank you for such a fantastic job at teaching us the Japanese language. Your engaging and practical lessons form part of your linguistic pedagogy. More success to you all!

I was listening to the Bonus Grammar track which mentions the informal way of conjugating class 2 verbs. The example mentioned the informal negative form of ‘iru’ and ‘taberu’ as ‘inai’ and ‘tabenai’ respectively.

Is there an informal positive form?

Many thanks

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Juan says:

“Nani tabemasho ka” I keep hearing this from my gf, is this correct? or will “Nani tabemasu ka” be correct? What will it be if I want to say, “What do we eat?” if we are outside with numerous restaurants to choose from? Thank you.

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Mike says:

Wow!!! This lesson was absolutely outstanding!!! It also triggered some stuff that’s apparently been hanging out in long-term memory. For whatever reason, I didn’t tumble to this at the first exposure at Lesson 30. It could be because the context wasn’t right; contacting anyone not at home and without bulky radio equipment was impossible at the time in question. But I digress… What I recall is that “chotto…” in the right context meant the same as actually saying chotto matte kudasai. Is this still the case or has the idiom changed? Hmmm, this also reminds me of the tune “Chotto Matte Kudasai” by The Sandpipers in the early 70’s, maybe 1971. Your mention of Gifu may also have energized this, as I remember going to Gifu and staying in ryokan there for a couple of days in 72 or 73. There was a castle that I think we actually went into. I don’t know if that is possible now; there are places in America that used to be open to the public but are not now. Oh, and a trip on the river in a boat at night with a small bonfire going in the eyes of the boat, fishermen, and cormorants. This one lesson has done more to unlock the hidden fount of distant memory. どうも ありいがとー ございました。

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Ben says:

ピ–タ–さん,

I noticed you pronouncing the を in this lesson as “wo” and Sakurasan wasn’t. Would this be attributed to an accent thing? I really want to speak the language with as little of an accent as possible and was wondering if “wo” is just as accepted as “o”. Just curious.

ありいがとう ございます
Ben

Also, just a pointer to anyone trying to learn Hiragana, the symbol を is only used as a marker for the subject as Peter described here. All other instances would require the お symbol, is that correct, Peter?

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Ben says:

Juan,

“Nani o tabemasho ka” means “What should we eat?”
“Nani o tabetai desu ka” means “What do you want to eat?”

I think if you wanted to ask where, you could say, “Doko ni tabetai desu ka.”

I could be wrong as I’m just learning, so if anyone can clarify/verify, that would great.

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Ben says:

Gomen Nasai. Wanted to correct my last post in referring to Sakurasan when it was Natsukosan. Gomen Natsukosan. :oops:

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おう says:

今、十二時ですよ。お昼の時間です。ピーターさんはお昼ご飯を食べますか。
いいえ、今日は食べません。
何でですか。
今日はちょっと気持ち悪いです。
大丈夫ですか。
大丈夫です。有難うございます。

また、明日。

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alex says:

hey can anyone help me download these podcasts :sad: when i try it just gose to an all white screen with a player in the middle. Admitedly im pretty retarded with tec so any help would be wonderful as i want to listen to these on the go :mrgreen:

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Motoko says:

alex-san,
Kon’nichiwa.
This will help you to download;
http://www.japanesepod101.com/helpcenter/getstarted/downloadhowto
When you have technical questions, please check out help center as well :wink:

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alex says:

thanks so much as this was annoying me :oops:

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Motoko says:

That’s alright, alex-san!
Enjoy listening :grin:

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