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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today Kazunori is back, and the whole crew is excited to see him! Almost too excited, as his presence is enough to send the whole crew into a frenzy! We manage to keep things together long enough to get today’s edition out. You don’t want to miss this one.



This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 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.

68 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #37 - Quiet Night!”

メロディー says:

短期留学の話
したことがありません。

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Rhonda says:

おはようございますみんなさんー
Wow, a long weekend and I’m very behind on listening. :???: I am planning on getting caught up this morning, or tonight on the way home from class at the latest.

As for the Armadillo, I didn’t mean for him to get out. Sorry about that. It got a little cold for him here in CA. Of course, now he’s REALLY in for it, going to Japan…he only THINKS it was cold here. ;)

Nate-san and Jonas-san…
Have either of you heard of http://del.icio.us/? It’s a site where you can save all your bookmarks in one spot and you can tag them according to how you would like to file them (langugage, japanese, dictionary, etc.). The reason I mention this is that I have a favor to ask of you, that is, if it isn’t too much trouble and you don’t mind. I realize you all do so much so I don’t want to add to all you do. All the helpful links that you have been sharing, maybe you can put them on del.icio.us and then share the URL with us? Then all those links would be in one place.

Welcome to all the new members over at Japanesepod101.com! Thank you so much for all the hard work. Do you ever sleep over there???

And, I have a question: しつもんがあります。

In class, we are taught that using anata for “you” is 1) a little bit rude and also 2) it can also mean “honey” (as in sweetie, not the condiment). Is there a more formal way, or should we just ask the person’s name before we start asking them questions? ;)

ありがとうございます。

〜ロンダ

P.S. I wish we could preview our message before we hit submit. If I have any errors, my apologies.

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Peter says:

メロディーさん、台湾から来た留学生が多いですよ!文部省奨学金を貰っている人は少なくないです。 :wink:  私費留学生もいます。私はずっと私費で、たまに疲れますけど。しかし、英語を教える事ができますから、バイトは楽です。大学で留学したいですか

ロンダさん, great to have you back! We missed you! Please give the armadilloアルマジロ a copy of survival phrases for the plane! アルマジロさん is going to need them!
Nice idea! That would actually be great. I am sure those guys would be up for it! We’ll also try to get a link page going. Thanks for the suggestion!
Your あなた question, the only thing I can think of is your teacher prefers to call people by their sir name plus san. However, as I not the best with names, I do rely on this word a lot. Have yet to see the problem with it. I think it is more of a situational thing, and not the word itself. Will look into it for you.
As for the sweetie, I think any word can be used in this context, and that it depends more on who is saying it to whom. E.g. Pumpkin! My pumpkin is 5′6″. Either you’ll be calling Guiness for a place on page 45, or your talking about your girlfriends height. :wink:

Was that helpful.

P.S. the preview would give us no way out of taking responsibility for what we write! We like it that way! :wink:

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Alexander says:

As always, very good work :)
Also, you know, I think I have an A blood type, since I’m pretty much the same as the characteristics… So it was easy for me to understand Sakura with the “Urusai, Peter!” :)

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Courtney says:

Thanks so much for these great lessons! I downloaded a bunch of them this weekend and I’m really glad I can take them with me where ever I go. The lessons are very informative, but also entertaining. Thank you for offering this for free! I really love your podcasts.

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Alexander says:

Oh, and I think I know something about the “anata” question. By what I understood, one of the reasons Japanese doesn’t have many curse words is because you can insult people by simply addressing them the wrong way. If you call your Boss “anata”, he might as well fire you for being so insolent. In such cases, it is best to say his name + san/sama (depends on the position) or you can say it in an extremely polite way with “kochira sama”, which is a form of address, which can be used when you do not know the name. it means something like “the sir, who is here”.
I hope I’m not wrong, so it’s best to check more about it.

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RobGillon says:

Alexander - an interesting point. I know that there are at least 3 ways of saying “you” in Japanese which are far worse than any curse words… unfortunately I only remember one of them at the moment (which is probably a good thing) which is Kisama - though you should probably never say this out loud for fear of being killed (as it’s linked with Yakuza language) !! Though of course there are plenty of Japanese swear words, as with any language… just google it and many, many lists will appear :shock:

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RobGillon says:

I just wanted to say to Peter and Sakura - you guys seem positively giddy today - was Kazunori’s presence that exhilirating? :wink:

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jay says:

haha nice podcast today :) laughter is infectious :)

Ps I think when I go to japan I will be hearing urusai a lot also :oops:

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jay says:

Oh and one more thing, the kanji closeups are totemo omoshiroii!!
I am (well.. I consider myself) an artistic yet logical person, so the way the kanji are constructed, with that mix of logic and almost poetry are absolutely fascinating for me.

Now I just have to commit to remembering them :)

PS, fun trick:
Clasp your hands together fast!
Which thumb is on top?
left thumb on top means left-brained dominant - logical, analytical
right thumb on top means right-brained dominant - creative.

Although put as much stock in this as you like :) just like the blood types!

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Nathan says:

アルマジロさん、

Welcome to the team! I look forward to seeing more of your contributions in the near future! ;)

ロンダさん、

I’ll assume Nate is referring to myself. I’m pretty sure we have two or three Nathans here :shock:

I have indeed heard of del.icio.us before. I agree that links can quickly get lost on these pages, so I’ll see what I can do for you!

ピーターさん、

今日のポッドキャストはめちゃくちゃ楽しかったですよ!私の大好きなのですよ! :mrgreen:

Oh my! That was great! I demand that this is the new minimum standard for laughing during the show ;)

I’m sorry, Peter-san, but I can’t help but mention this quote: “prefers to call people by their sir name plus san”. Would that be “Sir Peter-san”? :wink:

Now, on the issue of あなた… I don’t think there is technically anything wrong with using this as it is proper and polite, however I know I have heard native Japanese saying that they rarely use this word.

I was searching for a good reference, and I came across this quote, which I think sums it up quite well: “My textbook described using “anata” as ’sounding like the TV’”. Television shows, advertisements, questionaires, etc. have no information about you, so they default to the polite, neutral あなた. Because of that, using this with those who you have previously interacted with could give a sense of distance, or “I didn’t care enough to remember your name”.

When you consider that there is so much information in how you address a person (their position above or below you, in-group or out-group, etc.), you can see that titles in Japanese are much more than the simple pronouns that we are used to in English. I will let you know if I come across some good information regarding this. I could be wrong!

Speaking of “you’s”, though, check out this fun article!

http://www.watanabesato.co.jp/jpculture/howmanyi/howmanyyou.html

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Nathan says:

Jay-san,

Interesting little trick! Apparently I am logical and analytical! That might explain why I love logic puzzles, Sudoku, and the like ;)

But then again, I don’t like math or science, but I love the arts. Then again, I’m good at programming and I love grammar. I guess the problem with personality typing is that people are quite dynamic ;)

By the way, if you like Sudoku, check this site out! If you don’t know what it is, check it out and be addicted ;)

http://www.websudoku.com/

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nathanfromohio says:

Hey when i was in japan last summer, in Kyoto i was positive persons in shops were saying “goziamasu” but my japanese friends assured me that i wasnt familiar with the laungauge enough to hear the arigato that was aparently spoken so quickly beforehand. But i think they are nuts!! those people had to have been just saying “goziamasu”! Who is right? Oh and when are you doing a show about sake? maybe you could drink sake while taping…although it seems like you already do :wink:

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jay says:

nathan! I think we were brothers in a past life, I’m a sudoku addict! Well I’m not so bad now, but for about 3 weeks it was sudoku sudoku sudoku.

アルマジロさん! I love that little guy! In fact I think I was born in the year of the armadillo.

nathanfromohio: re: sake during show: haha.

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JP says:

You guys are so entertaining!!! I did laugh with you(while the mp3 was playing)

Peter mixes well with Sakura ang Natsuko!!!

By the way, is Hatsumi related to Natsuko?

The howl was cute! and the Purr as well!

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JP says:

got a question:

what if you put an “ii” and “na” adjective together?

omoshiroii and shizuka for example, is there a pattern to follow on the usage of kute and de?

would it be kute or de if omoshiroii comes first? what if it comes last?

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Athara says:

Yay! Kazunori is back! :mrgreen: I have to say i was giddy when i heard him too. I don’t know why.

Anyway, I have a question not related to today’s show but something that I have noticed. I have seen the syllablle for “wa” used in two different ways and I don’t know why this is. For example, watashiwa: I have seen it typed as わたし and other times as わたし.

I just figured wherever i have seen it as は that must be a typo. It’s just that I see a little too often. :???: Is there actually a reason one would put は rather than わ?

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Rhonda says:

Athara-san,

I’m sure someone will elaborate on this much better than I can, but the “wa” you are referring to is a particle. It is written as は but it is pronounced wa. There is another one that is kind of tricky, which is を which is pronounced as “o”. You only make these written changes when they are used as particles.

What do I mean by that? See below…

From wikipedia: Particles are suffixes or short words which come after other words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, indicating a wide range of grammatical functions. Particles also appear at the end of sentences to mark questions and show the speaker’s assertiveness, certitude, and other feelings.

Again, perhaps someone can explain this better than I can and maybe give some examples?

-Rhonda

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Athara says:

Thanks Nathan for the new addiction. :roll: :wink: I like this Sudoku すどく. I’ve been seeing alot of these books in the book stores and magazine racks lately and I’ve been meaning to look it up. I can already play the Evil level with ease. Of course the “How am I doing button” helps a lot. I guess that would be considered cheating ne?

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David says:

just wanted to say cool show - i just started learning japanese at soas in london - i listen to your shows on the train ride to the lessons - it makes a big difference so thanks!

plus the show cheers me up you guys like spend half of each episode laughing ha ha ha

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JapanesePod101.com says:

Today’s location is Tsu・つ・津 :grin: As Tsu has the shortest place name in the world, it often appears in quizzes and and game shows. Tests your friends (preferably Japanese!?). Sorry for the downtime everyone! And for any inconveniences it might have led to. We just got a call from our ISP in California, telling us an armadillo went wild in the server room. No, but seriously, we blew through our monthly bandwidth limit at 2000 gigabytes/month. The growth of this site has been amazing, and it is all because of you guys! Please keep the support coming, we’ve just spoken with the provider, and they have assured us that this will not happen again. Regards from the whole japanesepod101 team. PS: apparently they’re sending us the armadillo as compensation. :wink:

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Nathan says:

Nathanfromohio-san,

It depends. Were you hearing only ございます (gozaimasu) standing alone, or was it within speech and you were simply not hearing the ありがとう (arigatou)? If it was within sentences, it could very well have been an even more polite form of です (desu) - でございます (de gozaimasu). If you were hearing it alone, most likely it was indeed ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu). This one can be super shortened! Of course, that’s generally reserved for informal speech. You would hear でございます in very polite speech.

Jay-san,

I grew up between two sisters. I think there were many times where a brother would have been quite welcome :razz: I did the same! I had a stint there for a while where I was playing Sudoku a ton! I’ve backed off quite a bit, now ;)

JP-san,

First of all, just to clear something up, they are い-adjectives (it is one “i” that is constant). Now for your question… think of で (de) as the な-adjective connector and くて (kute) as the い-adjective connector. They are only necessary when linking two together, so the final adjective stays in the original form. As for the other adjectives, the order does not matter - the important part is to use the correct connector (kute for i-adj; de for na-adj).

So for your example words, we have two possibilities:

静かで面白い (shizuka de omoshiroi) - quiet and interesting
面白くて静か (omoshirokute shizuka) - interesting and quiet

Let me know if any of that is unclear!

Athara-san,

I’m glad you like Sudoku :D I wouldn’t say that’s cheating, but it does make it a bit easier.

Regarding は (ha) and わ (wa)… Rhonda-san has the right idea. When used as a normal hiragana (i.e. in a word, etc.), は is pronounced “ha”, however when used as the topic particle it is pronounced “wa”. For example, the “ha” in Hatsumi-san’s name would be は, and if she was the topic of your sentence, you would see:

はつみさんは… (Hatsumi-san wa…)

However, in the case that you have described, it should almost unquestionably be the particle は - 私は (watashi wa). In natural Japanese, the subject is actually dropped a large part of the time, so you may not hear a lot of the は particle used this way outside of your early Japanese studies. Here’s some more haha-ing:

わたしのははははながすきです。 (watashi no haha wa hana ga suki desu)
“My mother likes flowers.”

Notice that when it is in hiragana, you’ve got four ha’s in a row! That’s one of the great things about kanji… they tell us so much more about the words.

私の母は花が好きです。

Notice now that there is only one は in the sentence - the particle, which would be pronounced “wa”. As Rhonda-san pointed out, を (wo) also sounds like “o” much of the time when used as a particle. The particle へ (he) is pronounced like “e”. This is why using romaji is so inferior to learning the native writing system.

Let me know if you need more info!

David-san,

Welcome to the community! I have to say I love the laughing, as well :grin:

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Athara says:

Wow Nathansan that was a great example. :grin: It is kind of funny to see は written so many times. At first glance at the phrase i thought, boy, he’s lost it. ははは (hahaha). Thank you very much. You are so right with kanji making the sentence much clearer. Sentences would be a lot longer and confusing if they were written all in hiragana. :roll:

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jay says:

Hmm yes nice explanation nathan-san.
And I also was brought up between two sisters!

はは! :lol:

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Jonas says:

Nathan-san is owning our messageboard :shock: :roll: Thanks for all the help Nathan-san. There will be some more adjective fun in todays lesson, so hopefully everything will be clear after listening to that.

Just a few comments/notes/corrections; Sudoku is written like this, 数独, and would be read as すうどく、not すどく. The meaning would be something close to “numbers solitaire” or something similar.

On a fun/interesting note, if you write 私はいた, it could mean both “I was there” and “I puked”, depending on if the は acts as a partical, or as a part of the verb はく(past tense はいた). (in informal japanese, some particles are often omitted, therefore 私吐いた is a valid sentence. Using kanji eliminates the whole problem with dual meanings in this case though)
Jonas

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John_Powell says:

KAZUNORI! Haha japan’s number one pimp is back! :mrgreen: Very glad to hear his voice again today. I laughed nearly the whole lesson and hard a hard time trying to pronounce everything as I was smiling so much. Thanks!

Really love the podcast this is my first comment here and boy have I been missing out by only listening to the podcasts I have to come by here every day now as well. Thanks for all your hard work and best wishes.

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JP says:

Thank you Nathan!!!

I won’t be surprised if you’ll be in the team…

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Steve says:

What a great lesson, I have never used けど I normally would make two or three sentences, but けど is such a great thing to use. and as for で you are right I have only ever seen が
Nathan-san that was a great information on the use of the particles. If there is one thing I really hate about the Japanese language it is particles. Just when I think I understand how a certain particle works, I discover there is another way, or more, to use the same particle. For example, did you know that the particle の can also be used at the end of a sentence to indicate a question (this is a colloquial usage) for example 明日は何時にでかけるの。What time you leaving tomorrow? In can also indicate a mild command such as そんなこといわないの。Don’t say that. Grrrrrrrr! stupid particles. :evil:
Anyway, great podcast Sakura-san, you were on fire…So funny :lol:
Oh! well…back to work…Happy, happy. Joy, joy.
O-genki de
Steve :-)

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Peter says:

Alexander-san, :shock: you should also enjoy tomorrow’s lesson! :wink: Thanks for the post! Sakura was very happy!

Courtney-san, thanks for the post! Great to hear from you. Please keep them coming! We’re so glad you made it! :grin:

Rob-san, we missed you! Great to have you back. Yes, we were feeling it today! Sakura is too funny! And Kazunori is awesome! We had a great session. The hay fever receding helps too.

Jay-san, thanks for the posts! Big problem, my thumb was off to the side!!! What does that mean?? :shock:

Nathan-san, great posts as always!!アルマジロさん、will be in the dog house for a while, but maybe in the future he’ll be back. :wink: Yes, today was a great session, hopefully more to come!

Nathanfromohio-san, chances are that is wasn’t said, but it was in there! :shock: Sometimes I get just masu at the company, and when I ask what they said, we said, “Ohayou gozaimasu.” Much like I tried to explain to my 7th grade history teacher, “although you can’t see the right answer, I assure you it’s in there.” :wink:
And not during the show, just up until taping! :wink:

JP-san, thanks for the great post! Yeah, we loved the howl! Which ever comes first changes. Nathan-san, arigatou!

Athara-san, thanks for the question! Actually if you saw わたしわ that’s probably a typo. :oops: Rhonda-san and Nathan-san thanks!

Rhonda-san, great to have you back.

David-san, thanks for listening and for laughing! Please keep the posts coming.

Nathan-san, great example! Thank you for all the help!!

John-san, yes, he should be showing up more and more! Thanks for stopping by and for posting! Great to have you!

Steve-san, yes, please try this out! It’s addictive!

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John_Powell says:

I’ve aslo seen Urusai translated quite often as shut up or be quiet is that also used? Or is it just your being to loud keep it down? Thanks again.

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monkeyjay says:

Peter your thumb is off to the side?!
ohh man that is TROUBLE. :shock:

John, I think I have heard it said ‘uruSEi’ on it’s own (usually shouted)? Which seems to make it more ’shut-up’. It’s usually a gangster tough-guy situation.. or am I just mishearing it?

confirm please :)

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Jonas says:

John-san: This is a matter of interpretation, but the direct translation of the word is “noisy”. But as you said, often the hidden meaning is “you are noisy, so shut up” etc.

Monkeyjay: You are not mishearing anything. In very slangy language, ai becomes ei(or just e) at the end of words. Another example is “hayai” (fast), which becomes “hayee”.
Again, as for the meaning of “urusei”, it is a matter of interpretation.

Jonas

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monkeyjay says:

jonas-san, i see i see :) so when someone is yelling it it probbaly has the intention of “shut-up”, rather than “please keep it down”.

Also I love the kanji for urusai! the flies in may :)

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Nathan says:

Jay-san,

I don’t think urusai would ever mean “please keep it down”. No matter what you’re tone of voice is, when you tell someone “you’re annoying”, it’s not going to come off as being polite ;)

But yes, by the time they’re yelling that at you, chances are they would like you to disappear :P

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Steve says:

Nathan-san.
This: http://www.watanabesato.co.jp/jpculture/howmanyi/howmanyyou.html
was a great link…Thanks :-)
Also. I love Sudoku, Been playing it for I guess, just over a year now. I have still yet to complete The Times ‘Killer Sudoku’

Steve :-)

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Sakura says:

ロンダさん、I just want to add to みなさんのvery informative answers about use of あなた。It’s a very interesting topic :razz: Here again, I’m not very good at explaining things like this, but I’ll try :oops: .
As you mentioned, あなた, while being a formal word itself, can often sound a little bit rude (or, strong, rather?) when spoken. It’s safer not to use it to persons older than yourself.
And as you said, it’s sometimes used as “sweetheart” when calling your husband (a bit old-fashioned). Like, “Anata, ofuro douzo.” (which literary means, “Sweetheart, go ahead and take bath :roll: ” [bath is ready]; as many of you know, Japanese family takes turns taking bath, and father [or the guest] has the privilege to take “ichiban buro” [first bath]).
As for me, when I don’t know the name of the other person, I don’t say “you.” For example, instead of asking, “Anata wa ongaku ga suki desu ka?” (Do you like music?), I might say, “Ongaku wa suki desu ka?” (informal: “Ongaku suki?”). And when I really have to say “you,” (e.g., “Tsugi wa dare desu ka?” (Who’s turn is it next?) and the answer is “You!”), I would hold out my hand with my palm facing up, and give a big nod :wink: and if that’s not enough, I would add “Douzo” (go ahead).
それでは、また! :razz:

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Nathan says:

Sakura-san,

Thank you for the very helpful explanation (as always)!

Here, do you think 一番風呂 could also mean the “best” bath? :wink:

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Michael D. Cassidy says:

あなた Humm I’ve a question about わたし。
Years ago [30+] I remember learning that as わたくしい。

Yes? If yes what’s the difference?

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Nathan says:

Michael-san,

The kanji for わたし is 私. This kanji also has the reading of わたくし, which is basically a much more formal version of わたし. I think you would generally hear it in something like samurai anime/movie speech, or perhaps very formal public speaking.

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DenDen says:

Hi there,

Just going through the content questions and something confused me!

“Sakura wa inu ga kirai desu ka?
Does Sakura like dogs?”

Is the English translation here correct? I though the translation would be “Does Sakura dislike/hate dogs?”

Love the site, BTW, keep up the good work!

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Peter says:

DenDen-san, thanks for the great comment! Yes, it probably should be “Does Sakura dislike/hate dogs?” Thank you for pointing that out! It has been changed.
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

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Shigune says:

Hahaha. I loved this episode.. You guys were so happy ^^ . I couldn’t stop laughing ! x’D — Anatachi wa sugoi desu!

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Olive says:

First off, you guys are awesome. i crashed-landed in tokyo like Mork, starting with getting lost in shinjuku station upon arriving from Narita airport. then once i made it out of the station sans a wheel from my suitcase, proceeded to get lost in shinjuku streets. needless to say, with an introduction like that, learning japanese had its steep learning curve … but you guys make it funny, down-to-earth, and i feel like i’m in the same room as you guys.

SO, that said, my question… what’s the difference between “kedo” and “demo”as “but”? i hear “kedo” alot, and my textbook (now abandoned since i’ve met Japanese Pod 101) said it is also used as a “softener…” maybe i’m getting ahead of myself, but can you help me out on this?

and, last but not least. as i am new to this community, WHO is this Kazunori? is he KimuTaku’s doppelganger??

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Sasquatchua says:

“demo” is more like “however” or the conjunction “but”. “kedo” is kind of more often used as a way to trail off, implying that you expect more information from the other person. For example, if someone calls you up and you don’t know who they are, when they ask “Olive-san desu ka?” you can say “Hai, Olive desu kedo…” - that trailing off “kedo” means “and?” “you are?” “what is this about?” - that sort of thing, depending on the situation. If you put “demo” there instead, the listener would expect you to follow it up with something else, like you were about to say “…but I’m about to leave.” or “…but I’m about to eat dinner” or some such.

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Monica says:

I love Kazunori’s voice! I wish he would do more lessons…

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Konrad says:

Peter-san, you asked Sakura-san in the lesson what the opposite of a dog was. Then you prompted her to say cat.

Sakura-san did not answer immediately. She hesitated, and seemed a little unsure of the answer you wanted. I think I know why.

The concept of dog vs. cat is not strictly correct. For an American, the expression is, “Fighting like cats and dogs,” which is where the idea of a a cat being the opposite of a dog comes from. But in Japanese, the expression would be a monkey and a dog that fight.

An example of the dog vs. monkey is a saying that goes, 「嫁と姑は犬と猿」or something like that. Don’t quote me, it has been too long since I saw it in Japanese. But what it means is, “A wife and mother-in-law are like a dog and a monkey.” They don’t get along.

At the same time, the Japanese do have references to the animosity between cats and dogs. This further clouds the issue.

So to the Japanese, a cat is not necessarily the opposite of a dog, but a monkey is. And it still does not mean that a cat can’t be the opposite of a dog.

Thus, Sakura-san hesitates to answer.

I wonder how she gets along with her mother-in-law.

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Hiroko says:

Konaradさん>Exactly, in Japan, the opposite of dogs are the monkeys. We say “犬猿の仲” referring to two people with very bad relationships. Great insight!! Thank you! :dogeza:

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Megan Pawlak says:

Did someone send you guys pixie stix? I’m an introvert by nature and your energy had me feeling drained! No more sugar or caffeine for any of you. XD

It was still a fun lesson though.

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Tommy says:

The additional notes on the Kanji Close-Up are really superb! I’m going to be lookiing for these going forward through the lessons.

Thanks and regards,
Tommy

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Tommy says:

A comment about the Kanji Flashcards associated with this lesson: I really didn’t see why characters such as 徳, 詞 , 形 , 素 , 容 , and 吠 are on the list of cards. Perhaps they relate to other lessons, but I could not see or recall how. Take the last one, “hoeru,” for instance (to bark or howl). Certainly there was a dog (or something) howling in the main lesson, but the Japanese word for howling was never given.

While I think the podcasts are really great, after taking my first 37 Beginners Lessons, I believe the supplementary materials are falling short of the potential they have to really tie things together and expand the learning.

Thank you for reading these thoughts.
Tommy

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Tommy says:

A slight correction to my previous note. On further reading of the Lesson Notes, I noticed a statement in parentheses which used the kanji for bark/howl. It was given as 吠え始める. Since the -hajimeru form has not been introduced yet, perhaps that is why more details were not given about it.

Anyway, I think my previous comment still holds for the Flashcards.

One additional note on the Kanji Close-Up: Note 4 relates to the characters for うるさい 「五月蝿い」. I have to ask about why this is being given. Looking at a standard Japanese-English dictionary will find urusai given only as hiragana. Would it be correct to say that the kanji form is only a matter of curiosity and should not generally be used? If so, I think there should be a note which helps learners understand this.

Regards,
Tommy

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roby says:

HEY everyone, i see here is a lot of japanese, i have a lot of questions to ask you ;D sumimasen, but u just have to answer, coz im learning japanese(by myself), and english(i know english like 1000 times better than japanese,so…), im from Lithuania ( small country near baltic sea(in Europe xD)… never mind..
I have this sentence:” Watashi wa kare ni ie made okurareta.” which means:
“I was taken home by him” COULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT “made” MEANS? what role it have in this sentence? when i use it? when im not using?
AND “okurareta” (when I use that?) it is “okuru”, right? in some other form, but tell me when i should use this form? what it means itself?
I have like 1000 of questions, but please answer this few for the start:)

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roby says:

and what means “anatachi” ????
“anata” means “you” i guess, but means???

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Mayumi says:

roby-san,

“made” in this case means “to” which is a particle indicating direction. “okurareta” is the past passive form of “okuru” which means “to take someone/something to somewhere.”

As for “anatachi,” it is “anata-tachi.” “anata” means “you” and “tachi” is a suffix to make pronouns plural. :smile:

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roby says:

Mayumi arigatou gozaimasu! ;D
I have another question, sumimasen ^__^
there is present progressive form , when you add “iru” or “imasu”.
Hirugokau o tabete iru. - I’m having lunch.
Terebi o mite imasu. - I’m watching TV.
So when I should use “iru” and “imasu”? or there is no difference?
Can i write like this? :
Hirogokau o tabete imasu.
Terebi o mite iru.
So please answer the questions, Japanese language is so hard;// But i’m doing my best ! ;D :kokoro: :nihon:

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JKid says:

Roby-san,
>> “So when I should use “iru” and “imasu”? or there is no difference?”

te imasu is the polite progressive form .

te iru is the ‘plain’ casual progressive form.

te imasu should be used to be polite when speaking with people you are not close with.

I hope that answers your question :)

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roby says:

Arigatou JKid!
Watashi wa wakarimashita!;D

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Malika says:

Mina-san konnichiwa ……..what does konya mean?

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Jessi says:

Malikaさん>
Thanks for your comment! Konya means “tonight” :smile:

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Louise P. says:

I want to tell you how much I am enjoying your site. It’s amazing!!!

However, I do have one important question. I have tried the lower intermediate level and found it to be too difficult for me yet. I was wondering how many beginner’s lessons one needs in order to attain that particular level?

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kiki-chan says:

I watched a Japanese Drama called Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, and it’s a great review for ALL of the vocabulary we’ve learned, not to mention very kawaii and tanoshii!

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Aldemir says:

Hi guys, would you clear my doubt?
In the dialog, sakura says “Haru no yoru wa dai suki desu!”
I understand that the “wa” concerns the subject, the one who performs the action, in the case Sakura (she likes) and the object would be linked to the “ga”. Wouldn’t it be like this: “(watashi wa) haru no yoru “ga” dai suki desu” ??
Am I missing something? please help me.

Thanks a lot.
Aldemir

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Kathy says:

Hi, I read the description and the Kanji for “urusai” in Kanji Close-Up and it is very interesting. Thank you!

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Mike says:

Spring is indeed around the corner. Sort of in synch with your lessons, though catching up from five years ago…
This was fun.
亀井

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Mike says:

Very funny (regarding the cassette tape reference). Of course, some of us can further confound the discussion by bringing up vinyl, turntables, and sapphire phonograph needles. Records also had a side A and B. And also could turn at three different speeds, depending on whether an LP, single, etc….
Poor Peter, getting caught up in the dreaded Kobayashi Maru scenario…

がんばれ

亀井

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Avlor says:

犬が好きじゃないけど、ラベンが好きだ。ラベンはジャーマンシェパードドッグやら可愛い。

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王凱 says:

静かな夜ですね。
そうですね、今夜静かで暖かいです。春の夜は大好きです。
素敵な夜ですね。
そうですね、今夜は最高です。
やっばり。また、あの五月蝿い犬。私は犬が好きですけど、あの犬が大嫌いです。

また、明日

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王凱 says:

静かな夜だね。
そうだね。
今夜静かで暖かい。春の夜大好き。
素敵な夜だね。
今夜は最高。やっばり、また、あのうるさい犬、犬が大好きだけど。あの犬が大嫌い。

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