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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 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.
84 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #34 - It’s Not Cold! It’s an Excuse!”
Tuesday at 6:20 am
I can’t stand natto…. Bit I have found revenge! It goes like this:
“no thanks I don’t like natto… oh you insist I try it again…”
[gulp with suppressed gag]
so… [while digging out heaped spoonful] have you tried marmite…?”
:D
Tuesday at 6:50 am
Just a tip. For all of you who doens’t have acrobat reader or any other pdf reader installed, you can use http://view.samurajdata.se/ to view the files online!
Jonas
Tuesday at 6:52 am
I cannot stand marmite…I have heard of natto…I am not sure if I have tried it or not here in the UK.
Now, I am just about to listen to the podcast. Just one thing that really annoys me…maybe it is something to do with itunes. But it only downloads one podcast…and extra…as in today’s lesson, I have to save it as a sperate mp3 file…does anyone know how I get itunes to download the extra files? I select ‘update’ but it does not seem to recognise the bonus files as an update.
Tuesday at 8:01 am
Do you want to know how many (Japanese) blunders Peter make?
Are you tired of having to read endless personal comments before you get the useful information in this section? Do you want to know more about some of the words used in this podcast? Please, check http://it.geocities.com/welovehatethispod/index.htm
If you hate grammar or are kanji-allergic this site is not for you but if you want an accompaniment to japanese101.com you might like it. It is just a plain (we have no money or time for something fancier) but accurate HTML file updated daily. If you want to be able to order sushi in your next trip to Tokyo, two months of japanesepod and a couple of fast hands are enough but if you are serious about Japanese and miss something in every podcast you may find this site interesting.
Enjoy it
Tuesday at 8:02 am
Ormo-san, 久々!(ひさびさ!)
Marmite?? Haven’t had the pleasure, but if it is on par with natto…….
Please enlighten me about this fine product.
Jonas-san, thanks for the link! I am sure a lot of people will appreciate it!
Steve-san, the bonus tracks are only available here.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Right click the download, and open it in itunes, and you should be set.
And, if you tried Natto, you wouldn’t forget!
OH WAIT!!!! MARMITE!! Thick, tarry substance, your assailant claims it tastes good on bread?? I think I just had a flash back. Wow, thats a good match up!
Tuesday at 8:32 am
I have just listened to the last two podcasts. I do really enjoy listening and trying to learn the less-formal and I guess the more natural way to speak Japanese. I hope there are plans to teach more informal ways of speaking Japanese?
Can I use ‘Mou ii’ any situation inwhich I have had enough? For example, say I have been driving none stop for 5 hours, could I say to the passenger next me “I’ve had enough off driving. Can you take over” and use the word ‘Mou ii’? (sorry, I am not sure how you say “I’ve had enough off driving. Can you take over” in Japanese)
While we are in the habit of posting webpages, I thought you might like to see a work in progress. It as been a work in progress for a long time. I stopped, but listening to these podcasts as encouraged me to re-start all over again. It is not brilliant and is far from perfect. In fact my friend in Japan as noticed a few mistakes and she is going to guide me a little when she e-mails me at the weekend when she as some free time. But if you wish to take a look, please do at:
http://uk.geocities.com/sjbarnett1969/
I promised myself I would not let anyone else know about this website as it as been more of a personal thing…in the sense it as been a way for me to, kind of, study. But please bare in mind it is not complete. I have only managed to complete up to ‘Shopping’ After that all the other pages do not exist. As soon as I have completed it…and only if you like, I will let you know.
Has for the UK…or rather the part I live in…which is in the Thames Valley, I live very near to Windsor (No not Slough…Hehehehe!) 今日は天気いいです。 (ok…maybe it is a little さむい)
Oh! well, nearly time to go home.
Jaa mata
O-genki de
Steve
Tuesday at 9:02 am
Japanese student-san, thanks for the post, although a bit harsh!
Steve-san, great site! Well done! Please let us know when you finish so we can link to it! Also, if you need some help we’ll try to do all we can. Also, any questions through them out into the forum! Someone, will definately help out! Great job and keep up the good work. There is some really great stuff on your site!
We may have to borrow some of it!
Tuesday at 9:30 am
Peter-san.

WOW! Thank you for your nice comment about my web-site. I must admit I felt a little…Ummmm! embarrassed about telling everyone about it. But your words are encouraging. どうもありがとうございます。
I started the site when I was using Windows 98 and the Global IME. Recently, thanks to a member on this site (Sorry I forget his name) I discovered that Windows xp already had the Japanese IME installed…I am very grateful to that member and what with these great podcasts I could not help but feel encouraged to re-start it all over again.
Thanks so much
Now I really am going home
O-genki de
Steve
Tuesday at 10:22 am
Considering that you made an English blunder in the first sentence of your post, JapaneseStudent-san, perhaps you should go back to studying that language for awhile. You’ll forgive us if we don’t exactly flock to your Web site to be enlightened.
Keep up the good work, guys and gals.
Tuesday at 10:48 am
It’s amazing that you’re able to post so much helpful information for free. I’m trying to transition from beginner to, I guess, intermediate level Japanese, and I find your podcasts extremely helpful. Thanks!
Tuesday at 11:21 am
I eat more natto than my wife does, she can’t believe it. My wife, Kaoru-san makes a wonderful dish. it is aburage (?), deep fried tofu, like for inari. She puts the natto inside and then grills it. Umai
natto udon is also good. I like natto for breakfast the most.
I havn’t checked out todays lesson yet, stay tuned!
Tuesday at 12:42 pm
納豆!
I have only tried natto once. At first, I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat it all. But then, as I continued eating it, it seemed to just all of the sudden be gone
I would eat it again… I would love to try it in some dishes, as well. And here are today’s natto links
http://www.gaia21.net/natto/natto.htm - Learn how to make your own!
http://www.mercola.com/2005/may/17/aspirin_heart.htm - Learn about the awesome health benefits of natto!
I haven’t gotten to listen to the lesson yet, but I did give the informal track a quick listen. I have to say that I really love this feature! You guys (and gals) love bringing us practical Japanese that we don’t find in the classroom, and this is taking that a HUGE step further. Keep it up!
The corrections in the PDF file are a great idea! Just to let you know, I have the latest version of Acrobat Reader for English Windows XP, and there is no “Correction History” option that I can find, but the red-lined corrections do show up in the text. This works just as well!
Japanese student-san: You have an interesting idea for your site (expanding on some of the things that aren’t necessarily best covered in the lessons, but are still of interest to some), but your advertisement, URL, etc. are a bit distasteful. You have to realize that this show is catering to an audience much larger than yourself. The show really does a fantastic job of appealing to a very diverse group of people, as well as keeping things fun and interesting. You can always find a Japanese grammar website and have “Dave” the computer-voice read it to you. We come to JapanesePod to have a great time learning fun and interesting things as well as practical information - all with the hosts and hostesses that we’ve come to know and love (personality is a great thing). That said, a site that does a good job of supplementing with extra information regarding the material is not a bad idea - although I’m sure they would rather us simply discuss the podcasts here. Try a softer approach next time, though
I’ll get back to you all once I’ve listened to the lesson to comment on the format! Thanks, as always!
Tuesday at 12:46 pm
A friend of mine used this phrase with me today - “Nehongo-ga dekimasu ka?”
Is this proper Japanese?
Are there different dialects within Japan? For example, is there one dialect used on Hokkaido and another on Honshu? Or maybe the dialects are based on whether you are in the upper, middle, or lower classes.
Can you enlighten me?
Thanks.
Nate
ネート
Tuesday at 1:09 pm
Steve-san,
Thanks for posting your site. I think you’ve done a very nice job with it and I’m glad you shared it with us. Nothing to be embarrassed about!
Japanese student-san, しつれいですね。I think Nathan-san already said what I wanted to say on the matter.
As for natto, I’ve never tried it. I’m a bit afraid.
My Japanese teacher will sometimes treat me to dinner for helping to assist her with the Japanese 2 students, I’ll have to remember and try them next time (maybe). As for the lesson, thank you for including the informal track as well as the PDF notes. It was helpful to see it with the track changes on.
Speaking of the Japanese 2 students, tonight is their midterm, so that’s where I’ll be this evening. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
~ロンダ
Tuesday at 1:49 pm
i liked this lesson very much. My friend has gotten me hooked on them because i have been learning japanese for a year on my own and now i am competing with him so im always on top ^0^
please do more lesson where we can talk to our friends
Tuesday at 1:51 pm
Hey all! First time poster, long time listener! Looking forward to being part of this community you guys are building here. (And I will be
)
Peter, Sakura, Natsuko, and of course Kazunori, I LOVE this podcast. Unfortunately I can only listen to it at work, so I get interrupted a lot, plus I cannot repeat out loud any words because .. well.. I’m at work
I REALLY like the little ‘casual language’ supplements. I’m a lazy guy, and the casual way seems so much more efficient
Although I think it would be kinda funny to ask my close friends “Good day chaps. What would thou say to a spot of lunch at a local eatery? Pip pip!”, instead of “yo dudes. Hungry?”
Also I love your humour, I am of the school of thought that something isn’t worth doing unless you can have fun, so thanks for that, and keep it up!
So yeah hi to you all from New Zealand! I may come over to japan soon!
Ps, could you tell me the japanese word for new zealand? I can kinda guess it but would like an official response
cheers dudes!
Tuesday at 1:54 pm
Oh yes, happy valentines day all
I had mine yesterday
Hope you got some choccies peter, and I hope some thoughtful men bought sakura and natsuko some chocolates
Tuesday at 2:00 pm
Nate-san,
日本語ができますか。(Nihongo ga dekimasu ka) is proper, although there is some omitted information. できます (dekimasu) is the potential form of the verb する (suru - “to do”), and thus means “to be able to do”. Including the omitted information, it would be 日本語を話すことができますか。(Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu ka), which means “the-thing-of-speaking-Japanese can-you-do” or “can you speak Japanese”. You can also achieve this by using the potential form of the verb, e.g. 日本語を話せますか。(Nihongo o hanasemasu ka).
Regarding dialects in Japan, there are many, many dialects! In fact, when you hear Kazunori say “mecha mecha genki”, he is using words from a non-standard dialect - 関西弁 (Kansai-ben). Although there are many dialects, pretty much all Japanese should be able to speak 標準語 (hyoujungo), or standard Japanese (which is what you learn in schools and here, aside from a phrase every now and then).
Here is an article from Wikipedia about Japanese dialects:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_dialects
Tuesday at 2:06 pm
Jay-san,
Welcome to the community! New Zealand is ニュージーランド, or romanized - nyuu jiirando. Happy Valentines to you, too!
Tuesday at 2:11 pm
Nathan - awesome thanks!
I very very quickly learned katakana and hiragana about 2 years ago (ie one night of cramming to prove to my friend I could do it haha), so I’m not sure about this but: si = shi, shi with the 2 little ticks = ji, so I assume there is no “zi” ? or if there is, is it too annoying to write? (in regards to new ZEaland)
Tuesday at 2:28 pm
Jay-san,
When the s-row of Hiragana/Katakana is voiced and romanized, you have “sa”>”za”, “su”>”zu”, “se”>”ze”, and “so”>”zo”. However, “shi” becomes “ji”, as you mentioned. So yes, there is no “zi”. Keep in mind, of course, that romanization is only approximation, so the pronunciation of ジ is not truly represented by “ji”.
Tuesday at 2:32 pm
Cool, thanks nathan
Tuesday at 2:34 pm
Good morning everyone!
Nate-san: Nathan-san already covered this to some extent, but I just wanted to add some; There are houndreds of dialects in Japan. Some of them differ so much from standard japanese, that it almost seems like a different language. Like my girlfriends mother. Of course, since she lives near Tokyo now, she always speak “standard” japananese, but when she speaks her local dialect, it is really(!!) hard to understand, even for my girlfriend. My girlfriends mother is from northern honshuu, and if she were to speak with my ex-girlfriends grandmom from Miyagi in kyuushuu, they wouldn’t be able to communicate at all!! Well, unless they spoke standard Japanese.
As for sociolects, they have that too, but I would have to do some more research on it.
And Jay-san, “ji” and “zi” is the same character. If you have japanese ime on your computer, inputting both will give you the same result.
Jonas
Tuesday at 2:49 pm
I had a friend of mine tell me a story about a classmate of his who was learning japanese. This person had gone to japan for a holiday, and he had gone to a reasonably remote part. He fell in love with the place and lived there for 3 years, becoming fluent in the language. After 3 years he visited one of the main cities (Most likely tokyo) and he could not understand or speak to anyone! So he had to study “standard” japanese! poor guy
well.. not really ‘poor guy’ he lived in a place he loved for 3 years! but you know what I mean
Tuesday at 4:45 pm
I want to know how much chocolate Peter made out with this Valentines Day and what he plans to do in 1 month on “Repayment Day”. My wife happened to hear the Valentines Day pod cast and gave me a very nice box of Godiva; she even signed my card 愛しています。 I felt very Japanese.
Minty
Tuesday at 5:06 pm
Hi Podcasters!!!
Great lesson today minnasan. This is the second time I laughed
from one of your conversations. The first one was the “pick-up lines” and this time the arguement(?) from the couples.
It’s always easy to remember when you/we have fun while learning.
Hi Natsuko,
I like your spontaneity
, your comments make me laugh, in a good way.
To Podcast writers (if you have besides the hosts):
Great Job, I’ll be looking forward to a more natural and fun conversation!!!
Ja Ne!!!
Tuesday at 5:08 pm
Hi MintyFresh,
Good for you!!!
Anybody got chocolates from Valentines? huhu I didn’t…
Tuesday at 5:42 pm
Re. dialects…
here in Tsugaru (north west Aomori) the dialect (Tsugaru-ben) is crazy. when it gets mixed with the accent, especially by men, its difficult to even make out some of the syllables let alone understand anything!
My friends have been teaching me some… eg to use Jonah’s previous example of Hokkaido-ben put into Tsugoru-ben:
“oishii” is “me” and comes from a contraction of the local accent’s pronunciation of “umai”
“totemo” is “nambo” and in exclamations they put “ba” on the end to round it all off…
so…
totemo oishii desu!
- nambo me ba! (more for men)
or
- waii me ja!
sheesh
Tuesday at 6:06 pm
Hi, I come from Taiwan.
. I’ve promoted this podcast in several Apple-related forums in Taiwan. Many people read my articles and then check out the podcast. They feel the same as me, very very nice. Since I listened to it, I’ve learned a lot from this podcast and I really want to thank you very very much. Keep doing the podcast, gan ba de ne!
I’ve listen to every episode of the podcast for over 2 weeks.
I really like the podcast
p.s. I like WINE as well as japanese. Maybe you can check out my blog in Taiwan. Cheers!
Tuesday at 6:06 pm
Arigato onegaishimasu to Nathan-san, Jonas-san, and Ormo-san for the information on dialects and the phrase.
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Today’s location is Mito・みと・水戸 captial of Ibaraki・いばらき・茨城 prefecture!
A place Peter called home for 3+ years! Renown for Natto・なっとう・納豆 fermented beans, have a VERY distinct odor!!
Can anyone eat Natto? We would like a lot of feedback on the format of today’s lesson! As a special bonus track, we gave you the same conversation in “real Japanese” (defined as a conversation between intimate people used very often!) . We feel the more exposure you have to this the smoother the transition will be, but we welcome all opinions for and against. For the informal dialogues, the final two passages were corrected with correction history on, so you can see what changed if you go to TOOLS->CORRECTION HISTORY->OPTIONS->RED LINE. Do you like this? Please lots of feedback!!! By the way, 38 posts!!
Great job!!
Tuesday at 10:40 pm
なつこです。
WOW!
I’m amazed with the number of posts! It’s almost impossible to respond to each of them, but I really want to say thank you to everyone. 本当にどうもありがとうございます。
It’s great to see this site developing into a kind of a communication center for people who are interested in Japanese.
I really enjoyed today’s conversation (although I know I sound a bit too harsh to 1973-san…but that’s only an acting performance!). Please enjoy!
By the way, 今日は寒くないです。It’s pretty warm here in Tokyo. 1973-san, you’d better go outside today!
Tuesday at 10:44 pm
wooo!! you guys are getting real popular here, 30ish comments for one show! Omedetou!
I really like this episode, especially a little row between Natsuko and Kaze1973, very natural
Keep up the fantastic work guys!
Wednesday at 1:35 am
JapaneseStudent-san
There is nothing more I can add, that has not been said already. But what you have to remember is this site as the added bonus of real personalities. It is a fun and relaxed place to learn Japanese. I think the whole team do a great job. It certainly as helped me a lot and I have really benefitted from the podcasts and also the message boards / blogs which make the whole thing come together as a small Japanese learning community.
Natsuko-san and Kaze1973-san. You really sounded like a married couple. It made me laugh.
One question…seeing as it was Valentines Day yesterday. Some one once told me there was no word in Japanese for love. So to say you love someone you would say “わたしはあなたが大好きです。” But I thought that to say ‘I love you’ in Japanese you would say “愛してる” I know when you say 大好きIt implies you like something a lot / you love something. But 愛してる seems to imply a more romantic love. Is this correct?
Oh! and before you ask….No I do not plan to use it on anyone…Hehehehe!
O-genki de
Steve
Wednesday at 4:31 am
Hi guys. Just wanted to say thanks for the great podcasts, the polite and casual versions of the conversations is an inspired idea!
I have a question about the podcast today… Why is there a shi at the end of the line “Kyou wa samukunai desu yo! Kyou wa doyou-bi desu yo! Tenki mo ii shi!”
is it something to do with the mo-also bit? how do we go about using this? am a bit confused, maybe i missed it in a previous lesson. Any help would be really appreciated!
Wednesday at 6:11 am
Hi.
I enjoyed this episode - I was listening to it in bed before sleeping and the dysfunctional family really made me laugh:);)
Wednesday at 7:42 am
Steve-san,
That someone was either trying to fool you or just meant that there’s really no word for “love” in the sense that Americans (and some other cultures, of course) use it regarding the phrase “I love you”. As I’m sure you know well, Japanese culture doesn’t really promote directness when expressing your feelings. 愛してる (愛して+いる, the い is commonly dropped in speech) does indeed carry the meaning of “I love you”, but it is very direct and blunt, and therefore is not used in the same sense as we would use the phrase in America. “Show, don’t tell.” If you are going to say that in Japan, be ready for the wedding
James-san,
That’s a good question. I know of using し as a conjunctive particle, but I’ve never really seen it used at the end of the sentence. Then again, I don’t have much experience with it. Hopefully someone can enlighten us!
Wednesday at 7:59 am
Hi guys!
Nathan-san said lots about the 愛してる thing, but I wanted to add some. In my opinion, the english “i love you” has lost lots of its meaning. Americans (don’t know about other english speaking countries. Maybe the same there too.) use it all the time, to everyone. Look at an award show. Actors/actreses will say it all the time; “I love you guys!” etc. In japanese, the 愛してる has a very strong meaning, and is saved for that special occasion.
As for “し”, its very common to see at the end of sentences when stating reasons in casual speach(here, after “tenki mo ii shi”, it is implied “so there is no reason to stay in!” or “so lets go” etc). I’m sure we’ll see this topic explored more indepth in a later podcast!
Jonas
Wednesday at 8:04 am
Nathan-san
Thanks for that. Yes I realise that Japanese culture does not promote directness. I just wanted to check with someone. When I was told that there is no word for Love in Japanese, I did not believe what was said as I was aware of 愛 and 愛してる
(愛している)
Mmmmm! I have no plans to say 愛してる to anyone…I don’t think my wife would like it too much…hehehehe!
Jaa-mata
Steve
Wednesday at 8:20 am
I have seen し at the end of a sentence before…as in this line from a lyric:
sou da! hisashiburi tenki ga ii shi
Which translates as somthing like:
That’s right! It’s been a while since we’ve had such good weather.
I have actually seen 天気もいいし a lot. I think it simple just means ‘The weather is good’
Am I right is thinking し as something to do with する? So that would mena it would translate as ‘The weather is (doing) good / fine?
Wednesday at 8:44 am
Jonas-san,
I had a feeling that this would be encountered more in casual speech, which is probably why I haven’t encountered it too much. Thanks for confirming that. With that in mind, though, I would question why it was not left to the informal part of the lesson.
Steve-san,
In addition, I would point out that there is another word for love as well - 恋 (こい). This is really the more “romantic” of the two. Check this article out:
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa021101a.htm
Wednesday at 8:47 am
Aaaaah! yes…I forgot about that word. Koi. I guess it is made more romantic by the fact the kanji conatins the Kanji for heart.
Thanks Nathan-san
Wednesday at 8:50 am
Nathan-san: I’m not a native speaker, but it is not unnatural the way it is phrased now. There is a balance to consider too. Too many “desu”es, and it sounds strange.
Jonas
Wednesday at 9:03 am
Totals for V-day - 0 giri chocolate -1 (minus 1) honmei chocolate!
Tough V-day. Hope everyone else faired better!
Steve-san, as always the pleasure is ours! Very happy you shared it with us! Let us know when you’re ready to link!
KamenRider-san, thanks for posting! keep them coming!
Dean-san, you can do it! Your fellow listeners and all of us are here for you! がんばってください!
Tony-san, wow! where do you get Natto in St. Louis??
Nathan-san, thanks for the feedback! I also didn’t realize about being able to see the red lines in the PDF file!!! Yes, this will hopefully be very useful! Thanks for helping out with all the questions!! Please keep the great posts coming!
Nate-san, there are still lots of dialects, but TV and radio went a long ways to standarize the language.
Still lots of them though! Particularly hard to understand older men!
Jay-san, great to hear from you! We were waiting for a ニュージーランド representitive! Keep the posts coming!
Nathan-san, again! Thank you!!
Minty-san, congrats! That’s a great story! Godiva!! Wow! Green with envy!
I gave Godiva, as wifey holds me to American customs!
JP-san! thanks for laughing!
Yes, I liked this one in particular too!!
Ormo-san, thanks for the great info! I am going to use this on some of my friends! Please keep this great infor coming.
Ken-san, thanks for posting! Great to have you! Thank you for spreading the word!
I am not too up to speed on wines, but I ll try the Woodbridge 2000 next time I’m in Cali!
Thanks!
Chanun-san, great to hear from you! Yes, this episode I think many people can relate too! Created from personal experiences.
Steve-san, great question! I think your question has been the root of many breakups between foreigners and Japanese! We were/are planning a show on this, but others have took precendent. Maybe we’ll do some polling. We’ll keep you updated.
James-san, Sasahara-sensei will reply tomorrow.
WOW that was a lot of replying!
Wednesday at 9:10 am
Steve-san,
Actually, they both have 心 in them
Jonas-san,
Yes, I understand. There is polite, natural, and then there is polite, forced. Thanks for the information!
Peter-san,
Great to see you drop in to give us a dose of daily smilies
But in all seriousness, thanks for always responding!
Wednesday at 10:10 am
Great class today , it really refresh my memory on some stuff i’ve studied in the pass.
Saporo…… Mmmm, I’ve heard this before…… a yes!, beer Saporo beer, I had this some time ago in a sushi bar, it goes really nice with sushi, とてもおいしい。
This classes are getting better and better every day.
ヴァレンタインデーおめでとうごさいます。
Wednesday at 11:41 am
I loved this episode! The dialogue was so funny ^^ It’s great because with your acting I can usually tell what’s going on even if I don’t understand the japanese
I’d like request that you use the phrase ‘that’s an excuse’ again in future episodes (onigaishimasu!) , it’s too useful to just do once
btw. WOW, look at all the post!
Wednesday at 4:56 pm
Komento ga takusan de bikkuri shimashita! So may posts! It’s great!
James-san, here is some more explanation about “shi.” Sorry, it’s mostly straight out of this very useful book my colleague introduced to me yesterday
“Shi” is a conjunction to indicate “and” in an emphatic way.
For example, you can say “Kare wa omoshiroi shi, kakkoii shi, yasashii.” (彼はおもしろいし、格好いいし、優しい; He is fun, good-looking, and kind.) as an alternative to what we did in the pod earlier: “Kare wa omoshirokute, kakkoyokute, yasashii.”
Here are some notes.
1. “Shi” can be repeated more than once in a clause.
2. There are times when a sentence ends with “shi” in order to weaken the sentence and obscure the cause/reason, like this.
A: Ashita eiga ni ikimasen ka. (Wouldn’t you like to go see a movie tomorrow?)
B: E, ashita desu ka. Ashita wa shiken ga aru shi… (Tomorrow? I have an exam tomorrow, and…)
3. When the speaker wishes to be very polite, the clause before “shi” can be in the fomal form if the main clause is in the formal form, like this.
Kyou wa tenki mo iidesu shi, doko ka e ikimashou ka. (It’s a nice day today, so shall we go out somewhere?)
In the episode, I guess the sentence was “Also, it’s a fine day (so let’s go out.),” and the part in brackets was dropped as being obvious.
Thanks to this book
It’s Seiichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui, 日本語基本文法辞書 (A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar) published by the Japan Times.
Wednesday at 6:06 pm
さくらさん、
返事をありがとうございました。すごく役に立ちました。
Wednesday at 6:28 pm
Thanks to james for asking about the shi, and thank you for the answer sakura!!!
by the way,
how do you guys enter the katagana and kanji in the posts?
Wednesday at 6:50 pm
hi JP
for windows:
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/handson/user/IME_Paper.mspx
on linux i use UIM
http://uim.freedesktop.org/wiki/
Wednesday at 8:19 pm
Hey thanks!!!
sorry, I can’t read katakana yet!
Thursday at 1:40 am
Yep thanks guys. Sakura, you have made the し thing much clearer! I just wanted to say thanks for the hard work you put in.
I listen to the cast most mornings on the way to work in Tokyo, the trains are pretty crowded but you make the journey much more bearable!!
Its a bit embarrassing though when I notice people looking at me because I am grinning at the Jokes!!!!
Thursday at 2:42 am
Found this link about love for anyone interested.
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa021101a.htm
Thursday at 4:55 am
Peter, Nathan-san has already posted this URL above
I found it really interesting. Arigatou gozaimasu
What Japanese might say for “I love you” to a family member is, I guess, “Itsumo arigatou” (thank you for what you do everyday [what a poor translation
]). If you are lovers, something like, “Itsumo soba ni iruyo” (I’m always by your side). If you want to become lovers with someone, you might say, “hottokenai yo” (short for “houtte okenai yo”; I can’t leave you alone?). Or something like that.
Thursday at 6:18 am
Sakura-san,
Thanks for catching Peter!
Thanks for those great phrases! I think いつもありがとう is just one that in this case has so much feeling behind it that you can’t really translate the feeling. As for 放っておけないよ, perhaps something like “I can’t stop thinking about you”, or “you’re always on my mind” is a similar English sentiment, I think.
Thursday at 8:07 am
Sakura-san, using the devil face, caused me to almost cry laughing! hysterical!
Nathan-san, how soon can you get to Tokyo?
Thursday at 8:48 am
Nathan-san, your translations for 放っておけないよ are great. They are so natural! Thank you very much
Peter, I didn’t realize there was such a devil face until today. I like it very much.
Sunday at 10:45 pm
This is my first time posting, so yoroshiku onegai shimasu! Minna-san, ganbarimasu! These lessons are so helpful. I’m 16 and I’ve been studying for 3 years on my own. Sure I’ve taught myself the kana systems, and I’ve picked up quite a bit of vocabulary, but these lessons just bring everything all together! Eien ni arigatou gozaimasu! These lessons are God-sends. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude! I’m posting on this post because this is as far as I’ve gotten. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this podcast until a couple of weeks ago. I have a lot of catching up to do! Oh well. I will post on a more recent one once I’ve gotten there! Oh! Sakura-sensei, If you get this post I have a quick question. What exactly is “na no da” supposed to mean? I’ve read that they’re nonsense words attached to sentences, but do you think you can try and translate? Thank you!
Friday at 10:02 am
Hi Everyone! Konban wa. I’m still trying to catch-up, but not go too fast, because there is a lot of great stuff here to learn.
To weigh-in on the bonus track, it is most excellent–a very nice supplement to the regular learning material. Having not seen the next 68+ beginner lessons, I hope you continued to combine formal communication with the casual talk.
60 responses to lesson #34, that’s outstanding! Each lesson takes longer and longer to get through (when reading the posts too), but the extra study time is well worth it.
Oh, the main reason for posting tonight is to say that this was the best dialog I’ve heard yet. The Japanesepod101.com writers deserve a raise for this one. Natsuko & Kaze-1973’s performances were amazing!
Arigatou Gozaimasu!
Friday at 6:05 pm
Rea-san, thanks for posting and welcome to the community! no is a particle that let’s the listener know that the speaker is explaining something or asking for an explanation about something. So if you were explaining something to someone you might use this. Also, many times when one asks a question in a casual situation no is attached. Atsui no? Are you hot?
Was this helpful?
Daniel-san, thank you for posting and welcome to the community! We’re so glad to hear you liked the story! If you like this one, you’re sure to like some of the others we have. And, the informal track was continued! Will do my best to keep answering your posts.
Yoroshiku!
Wednesday at 5:50 am
in previous lessons, the word for fun was tanoshii. in this lesson, it was stated that the negative would be tanosh-kunai. but this ends in -ii… should it be tanosh-yokunai or does that apply only to ii as a separate word (as in kakkou ii?) or am i just way off base here, and it’s actually tanoshi?
arigato gozaimasu!
Friday at 12:29 pm
Erin, only the word for good, “ii” is negated using “yokunai”, (yoi being another word meaning good or well). However, I don’t think “yoi” is used in positive form, and I don’t think “ii” is used in negative form, so the combined forces of the two words allow you to say both “good” and “not good”.
“Tanoshii” simply ends in two i’s, so the last “i” would be dropped and changed to kunai. So “tanoshikunai” would be the negative. To make things confusing, sometimes the “i” sound is dropped when next to certain consonant sounds, so when pronounced, “tanoshikunai” would sound more like “tanosh-kunai.”
A solid understanding of kana helps clear a lot of these issues up, and that is why people often recommend learning it.
Thursday at 12:53 am
Hi guys… I’ve just started picking up these podcasts in the last few days (running through about 10 a day) since I’m starting year 2 Japanese classes on September 20th and need to revise year 1.
I’m loving the lessons, and I’m glad you decided to include the informal dialogue - it sounds so similar, yet so different at the same time.
You guys sound like you have a ball recording the lessons - and it’s enjoyable to learn from you.
ありがとございます!JapanesePod101はものすごくいいですよ!
Thursday at 1:03 am
Stu-san,
Welcome to JapanesePod101.com! I am so glad that you found us and that you are finding our informal dialogues useful. I’m also quite impressed with the 10-a-day pace. You should consider slowing down or you’ll be done in a week
!!!
Have you had a chance to try our 7-Day Free Trial? I think you’ll find our Basic and Premium tools and resources quite useful.
Once again, welcome to the JapanesePod101.com. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions.
Eran
Tuesday at 3:42 pm
Stu-san, Erin-san, Dan-san, Eran-san,
OK, I have been inspired to my first posting! End of August posts! I have been too embarrassed to post before now because I am so far behind! I took up JP101 in June and I am 6 months behind, but as Daniel-san pointed out above, there is so much packed into every lesson and the comments are so sugoi, I have to read them all! I have come from knowing not a smidgen of Japanese to well- let’s just say, now I know some Japanese and I am having a great time learning more! If I could just quit my job I could catch up, but I decided instead to subscribe next payday! So to Peter-san and all at JP101- Doumo arrigato gozaimasu!
Wednesday at 8:06 am
Barbara-san, I’m even more behind than you having started in December. Yes, i need some time off so I can study some more. Though already my vocabulary is improving and I usually can catch most of the dialogues now first time through. It’s great being able to listen to different voices, but Japanese people speak so quickly! ありがとございます.
Wednesday at 8:10 am
ps: I love 納豆. Can buy it frozen at the japanese grocery here in Australia!
Wednesday at 4:34 pm
I only found this website a short time ago and I’m trying to catch up. I’m about a year behind. I hadn’t planned to post anything, but then you started talking about natto. It’s one of my very favorite foods in the whole world. (Japanese people are always surprised when I say that, but I loved it from the first mouthful.) I miss it so much. In Japan and the US I could buy it, but now I live in central Norway and I can’t find it. I’ve heard there is a restaurant in Oslo where you can get it, but it is such a long and expensive trip to get there…
Anyway, I love these podcasts. I feel you are all my friends. I have such fun listening to you.
I love Japanese. I’m a bit of a grammar-nut, and I think Japanese has such a beautiful grammar. It is like physics or calculus…Beautiful.
Thursday at 8:53 am
Janiceさん, by central Norway, you wouldn’t by any chance mean Trondheim?
Thursday at 5:28 pm
No. I am living in Mære and studying at HiNT in Steinkjer. I’m guessing from your name that you are Norwegian. Do you live in Trondheim?
Thursday at 9:58 pm
Yes, I live and study in Trondheim
I also attend a Japanese class here once a week. There were more people interested in Japanese in this city than I had imagined, I guess it has something to do with the high percentage of students…
Friday at 3:50 pm
Are there many Japanese people in Trondheim? I’ve been in Norway seven years and never met any Japanese…
Also are there any stores in Trondheim that sell natto? or umeboshi? I can’t find them here.
Friday at 5:53 pm
I’ve met between 5 and 10 Japanese people here I think, mostly exchange students, at a party arranged my Japanese teacher.
About the food I’m not sure, I ate sushi out for the first time in my life yesterday. But there are at least two sushi places in the city, so maybe… http://www.sushibar.as/ is one of them.
Where are you from, btw?
Thursday at 3:03 am
I really enjoyed this lesson! Good job, guys! It’s winter here in New England USA and boy is it freeeeeezing! Now I can actually describe that in Japanese!
ここのてんきはよくないです。
どうもありがとうございます!
Monday at 11:55 am
It is VERY good idea to add an informal version of the dialogue in the bonus. I think you should keep doing it for the next lessons on as well.Thank you guys!
Sunday at 7:35 pm
Ok, who exactly is this Kaze1973 person? Someone famous? Forgive me for not recognizing the voice.
Thursday at 4:00 am
OH! I really really enjoyed the informal bonus trackt thingy! that totally sounds like something you’d hear in a dorama! hahaha and I have to admit i really really REALLY enjoy watching japanese dorama haha
とてもだいすきだよ!
I really hope we get much much more of these ‘informal versions’ in the future - because it does sound quite different to the formal way of speaking and that way one can get used to it way better.
thanks a lot again from the bottom of my heart - you guys are so much help!

Jill
love
Thursday at 9:25 am
Jillさん>
Thanks for the nice comment! Using the tags you can find a whole bunch of dialogs that use informal Japanese
http://www.japanesepod101.com/tag/informal
Have fun!
Thursday at 2:31 pm
I also like the informal track as well, although I hope there is also a transcript (ok, I am greedy)…..
Speaking of 納豆, how do I say I’ve never tried it but would like to? I guess it’s too complicated for beginner level but still it’s nice to know.
I constructed something like “納豆は試しに食べません” for I haven’t tried but it seems no one speaks like that….
Thursday at 8:45 pm
Jon-san,
“納豆は食べたことがありませんが、食べてみたいです。” would be perfect! Or just “納豆を食べてみたいです” would be fine!
Wednesday at 8:42 pm
Hi all!
Back in lesson 22, we learnt to drop “i” and add “kute” to i-adjectives when combining them together.
Here, we drop the “i” and add “kunai” to form the negative.
How do we do both - and string together several negative i-adjectives together? I saw Sakura-san’s post half way down this topic relating to “shi” - can we still use this?
Thanks.
And thanks for these brilliant lessons.
I get two hours of your lovely voices each weekday, you’ll be pleased to know.
Saturday at 4:19 am
この レソン は とても 楽しい です よ!
Thank you very much for giving me a good laugh during my lunch break. I have heard today a few things that I haven’t heard in many years. This has provided a bright spot to help offset all the ugly things going on here in Washington, DC…
ありがとう ございます!
亀
井
Saturday at 2:05 am
今日は何時に家をでます。
今日は家を出ません、ずっと家にいます。
なんでですか。
今日は寒いです。
寒い?今日は寒くないでうす。今日は土曜日ですよ。天気もいいし。
今日は寒いです。
それは言い訳です。今日は寒くないです。
今日は本当に寒いです。
もういい。私は出ます。
また明日。
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