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Learn intermediate Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today the gang is planning their “graduation trip.” However, there are a few surprises in store, and some of the members might not be able to make it! Itune in to find out what happens on this installment of intermediate Japanese by JapanesePod101.com.
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 24th, 2006 at 6:45 am and is filed under Intermediate 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.
98 Responses to “Intermediate Lesson #4 - Graduation Trip”
Friday at 6:45 am
Today’s location is Fukui・ふくい・福井, the capital of Fukui Prefecture.
Fukui is renowned for beautiful Mt. Asuwayama and Mt. Kunimidake.
Friday at 7:37 am
Another great show! Well done guys
Friday at 7:44 am
I am still listening to the show…but I have another…daft question…what is a ‘Pinch Hitter’? I do not understand.
Friday at 7:54 am
“Pinch Hitter” is a baseball term — it’s when the manager calls in a substitute batter.
Friday at 7:55 am
Ok…A Pinch hitter as something to do with baseball…but I do not understand what it means in the context you have used it?
Friday at 7:57 am
Oh…ok Matt-san…that is why the called the dean a pinch hitter as was there to replace…or as a substute for the others that could not come….Yes?
Friday at 8:08 am
Steve-san: correct! I didn’t know this term either, until today
Friday at 8:28 am
Right. And the phrase “in a pinch” means that you’re in a bad situation, so you call in a “pinch hitter” when the team really needs help.
Friday at 8:30 am
I’m just a stupid English-man…
I don’t understand these strange terms.
Great podcast…even though I have yet another headache….I can’t be doing with all this thinking and hard concentration…hehehe!
I keep meaning to burn the podcasts on to a CD….but have not got round to it yet, that way I can listen in the car. I also plan to print out the pdf files and sit down a listen (the the CD) and read rather than staring square eyed into a pc monitor. I especially need to that with these intermediate lessons.
I really enjoy the Kanji close up. It does seem a novel way to learn Kanji and very pratical as not only do you learn what the kanji says but what it also means. Great Idea, I have never seen Kanji taught that way before (except in a Japanese childrens book which I borrowed) But I am refering to Japanese study aids that you find in book shops.
Anyway, I did not realise that the graduation trip was such a big thing in Japan. Sounds fun.
O-genki de.
Steve
Friday at 8:33 am
Blimey!!!! my English is terrible…..I never re-read what I write..and I always notice the mistakes after I have sent my post….
Friday at 8:35 am
O hayo gozaimasu!
I’m totally lost today…it’s hard.
Friday at 8:39 am
Vicky-san: There is a reason this is a intermediate lesson
If it is too hard, wait a few weeks, listen to the beginner lessons, and go back and review this lesson later.
Of course, if you have spesific questions regarding grammar, feel free to ask!
Jonas
Friday at 8:51 am
Domo Arigatogosaimasu Jonas-san!
Yeah I just started to learn Japanese, so I’m really really beginner.
I also use a book for Japanese for busy people. Have you heard of this book? It’s pretty good I think. I’m in chapter 3 yeah!!!
I do repeat lots of beginner lessons, but also I would like to hear daily lesson so I know where you guys at although it will take a while to catch you guys.
Don’t worry I won’t give up!
Friday at 9:03 am
Vicky-san. I have just two words to say to you.
Ganbatte Kudasai
Friday at 9:10 am
Steve-san….you know I don’t know what that mean is….
but thank you.
Today isn’t my day.
Friday at 9:11 am
Marcus-san,
Welcome to the site! Wow, I really loved that Hifana clip you linked to on your site!
Steve-san,
Don’t worry! I had no idea what a pinch-hitter was either. Some of us just aren’t up to par on our baseball jargon
By the way, I noticed your site URL changed. Should I change my bookmark or will both be updated concurrently?
Matt-san,
Thanks for letting us baseball-clueless know
Vicky-san,
こんにちは (konnichiwa)! Japanese for Busy People is quite the popular book. Many people really like it. I think it’s a good idea to listen daily, even if it’s above your level. You’ll pick up new information without even realizing it, and the more exposure you can get to the language, the better! Good job on hitting Chapter 3! I think you’ve got the right attitude, so I’m sure you’ll be catching up to the intermediate podcasts soon!
Also, if I might make a beginner’s recommendation… if you haven’t already, I would suggest learning hiragana as soon as possible. Make sure you learn correct stroke orders, too. Like Jonas-san said, let us know if we can help you in any way!
Friday at 9:12 am
Vicky-san,
It means “do your best!” or “keep up the hard work!”… something like that
Friday at 9:20 am
Thank you Nathan-san!
Yeah I do study hiragana as well. I know 25 letters already, yeah!!!
I know Japanese people don’t say…have a good day.
Can they say….have a nice weekend???
it seems like samething isn’t it?
I gues I could say for now,
Genki de~~~right?
Friday at 9:32 am
Vicky-san: I know Japanese for busy people, and I am sorry to say I hated it. One of my favorites is “Genki” by Japan Times. Have a look if you get the chance.
As for “have a nice weekend”, you COULD say “yoi shuumatsu wo”, but it is not generally used, and more like… joking between friends.
Jonas
Friday at 9:46 am
Vicky-san,
Haha, I like your spirit!
Good job on the hiragana! Keep it up! I think if you want to say “have a good weekend”, you could write 良い週末を (yoi shuumatsu o). I think that maybe you wouldn’t say this if you were going to talk with the person during the weekend, though. Maybe Jonas-san or one of the crew can give us some more information.
Friday at 9:52 am
Marcus-san, great to hear from you! How is everything??
Steve-san, we’ll get you up to par on the baseball jargon!
As you guys have given us Reuters, we have to counter balance a little.
Matt S.-san, thanks for the help!
Steve-san, you got it. Yes, quite big here! Get a job, graduate, go on trip! The order can vary a bit.
Vicky-san, Yeah, the Friday classes are a bit more advanced, but you’ll pick it up in no time!
Ganbatte kudasai!
Nathan-san, as always, thank you!
Jonas-san, great to see you made the last train!
Friday at 9:54 am
Ah! Well, I guess I should make sure no one answered before I post so that I don’t look silly
Thanks for the info, Jonas-san!
Friday at 9:57 am
minasan,
I want to thank JP101 for making the change in color to the ‘informal’ deleted characters lessons. It helps a lot!!
I have another suggestion.
I have seen the romaji done this way (below). This is to practice writing the kanji. The kanji is in uppercase letters, the hiragana lowercase, and the romaji in underlined (this doesn’t show in blog). The kanji is seperated with a period, and a double period is used to end a sentence.
Also, please use kanji in names–if this is common.
This is from lesson #39
romaji:
Piitaa: NI.HON no BI.JUTSU.KAN wa HAJImete desu..
KAZU.NORI: WATASHI mo! NI.HON.JIN desu kedo, KYOU ga HAJImete desu..
SA.KURA: KYOU wa, kuroodo mone no TEN.RAN.KAI desu! YU.MEI na SAKU.HIN ga ippai arimasu..
Uketsuke: douzo o-HAIri kudasai..
SA.KURA: koko desu.. kore, kore. kono E wa SU.BArashii desu! KII.RO to SHI.RO to MIDORI no konto rasuto ga SU.BArashii desu..
KAZU.NORI: sou desu ne.. kirei de SU.TEKI de totemo SUKI desu..
SA.KURA: kore wa WATASHI no ICHI.BAN SUki na SA.KUHIN desu!
Piitaa: maa, WARUkunai DESU..
SA.KURA: yappari piitaa wa sensu ga arimasen..
Thanks again!!
Friday at 10:00 am
And now I missed Peter-san!
Good to hear from you Peter-san!
Friday at 10:06 am
I can’t win!
Robert-san,
That romaji hurts my head
As for the kanji in names, I think the only place that this would really be proper is if it was a real person’s name. There are definitely certain names that are commonly written with particular kanji, but there are so many possibilities when it comes to names. For instance, Sakura - a very popular name - could be written 桜、櫻、佐倉、作倉、佐良、作楽 , and I am sure there are a number of other ways. So while they could come up with kanji for their characters and stick to it, I think it’s probably better to keep it generic.
Friday at 10:06 am
Robert-san, interesting suggestion, we’re always looking for new things to try!
We’re going to look into this!
Nathan-san, you are the man! Keep up the great work!
We have to chat sometime, as this one for one post is not too efficient.
Friday at 10:52 am
Peter-san,
That reminds me, did you ever get my response email? I’ve been meaning to email you again… I’ll try to do that today!
Friday at 11:14 am
waaaaa kyou no kaiwa ga muzukashii desune!! ichi toshi boku wa nihongo benkyou o shite imashite dake. mada, kyou no kaiwa taihen desuyo. nandemo kandemo yokattane. arigatou gozai masu peterkun, natsukochan to kazunorikun!
~アダム
Friday at 1:16 pm
I’m sorry to say I agree with Nathan-san on robert-san’s post. Personally, I find romaji difficult to read, and alternating capitals and lower case reminds me of two things… firstly tHiS kInD oF sPeEcH and, more commonly associated with capitals, random shouting and normal speech.
However, I agree that names should be in Kanji… I especially like to see how a person writes their names, I recently met a couple of people whose names were made up of fairly standard Kanji but with rare readings associated. These are always more interesting than 林さん, 山田さん etc.
Actually I have to say that I haven’t listened to this cast yet, but rather skipped straight to the board, but as ever I am excited about listening to the intermediate lesson, even though I probably won’t actually listen to it until tomorrow now as it is getting late!
Friday at 1:26 pm
こんにちは皆さん
Hey guys I’ve been reading the posts about the 漢字(かんじ) reading, mmmm…. has anyone thought about “furigana” writing, wouldn’t this be more easy to read, of course you at least need to know the 片仮名(かたかな) characters to use this.
Oh
congratulations to Japan on their first gold medal on the winter Olympics, figure skating, Shizuka Arakawa, おめでとうがさいます。
Friday at 1:52 pm
alphonso-san, which is furigana? is that where the kanji is ’sounded out’ next to the characters? (with little hiragana) I have noticed this in the comics before.
Also I like the idea that robert had about distinguishing kanji in the romanji. but yes the capitals hurt my flow, dawg. Different colours would be ok maybe? Just like a purple or a darkish colour. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY!
see y’all!
Friday at 3:03 pm
monkey-san
Furigana is the writing of kanji with their kana pronunciation written in small hiragana on top of the kanji. This is used very often in manga books, because it help children to read the kanji.
I own the Kodansha’s furigana dictionary, check this link to see some pages of the dictionary.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4770024800/102-5429504-3256167?v=glance&n=283155
This is a very cool dictionary, and recommend that you get one.
On my last post I stated 片仮名(かたかな) but I meant 平仮名(ひらがな), sorry.
Friday at 3:17 pm
アダムさん、
JP101サイトへようこそ!中級レッスンは確かに難しいですけど、頑張ってくださいね。
Rob-san,
Actually, I’m not quite sure anymore what we’re discussing. I thought he was referring to the skit characters’ names, however I’ve just checked the PDF, and even those do in fact use kanji. I’m just going to be quiet, since I’m confused now
アルフォンソさん、
Are you talking about using furigana in the PDF instead of having seperate kana and kanji sections?
Jay-san,
Yes, furigana is the small kanji characters either atop or aside the kanji that give the proper pronunciation. They used to be vital before a common-use set of kanji was decided upon, but now they are usually left to reading material for the young ones or rare kanji. Actually, I have a handy site that will add furigana to any web site for you. Check it out:
http://www.hiragana.jp/
Friday at 3:18 pm
Today is not my day
Friday at 3:33 pm
Nathan-san
Yes, that would be a good idea, since Japanese use this to teach their young, then it might be a good idea to use this writing method on Japanese students like us.
Friday at 5:09 pm
Konnichi wa minnasan.
Went to the second hand Japanese book shop, near Oriental City, and my daughter picked up this chidlrens book. Being the person I am I read it and it made me laugh. Maybe Sakura-san and Natsuko-san will read it and find it amusing also.
It is a childrens book, and to give you a clue to what it is about, しーしー (shii-shii) is the Japanese Onomatopoeia for, Ummm! Wee, wee. I thought some of you guys might like to read it…or am I just a big child????
しーしーしー なんのおと?
ぶたさんが ぶたさんが、おしっこ しーしー、おむつで しーしー。
しーしーしー なんのおと?
たねきさんが たねきさんが、おしっこ しーしー、おきるで しーしー。
しーしーしー なんのおと?
くまさんが くまさんが、おしっこ しーしー、トイレで しーしー。
しーしーしー なんのおと?
うさぎさんが うさぎさんが、
しーしーしー なんのおと?
ノンタンが ノンタンが、おしっこしーしー。 たいへん たいへん、おもらし しーしー。
しっぱい しっぱい。こんどは さやんと さやんと、 おしっこ しーしー おまるで しーしー。
ほらね、これ ノンタンの おしっこでーす。
Nathan-san.
Yes I have changed my URL. I think it looks better. I original made the website for my own personal study, but felt encouraged by this site to complete it. so now it is:
http://uk.geocities.com/yasashii_nihongo
So please anyone that wants to, feel free to visit it….But I still feel really embarrassed by it.
But if anyone still wants to see my daughter, Sakura, pretending to be Sadako you can still see it at:
http://uk.geocities.com/doncastlehouse
But be warned, it only allows about 2 views and then Geocities shuts it down for an hour…Grrrrrrr!
Peter-san.
I used to tell him how the girls at school would play Rounders (which is similiar to baseball) and Netball (which is similiar to basketball) I used to tell him that Baseball and Basketball are just girls games with different names, where as we guys would play real mans sports like cricket and rugby…Hehehehe. Just joking mind you…it was just a bit of banter between us.
Yes please, I need updating on baseball 野球 jargon, especially as it is so popular in Japan. My uncle in America, loved baseball, so I used to joke with him about it being a girls game and that cricket was a mans game.
Vicky-san.
Yes, Nathan-san is right. Ganbatte Kudasai がんばってください。 Means something along the lines of, keep your chin up, keep at it, do your best. Japanese is a beautiful language and I have been trying to teach myself for many years. I guess on and off since I was 12 years old, which is when my interest in Japan started. Because it was when I was that age they first showed ‘Monkey’ and then ‘The Water Margin’ here on British TV and I just fell in love with them, which lead me to become interested in Japan.
I tend to agree with Nathan-san and RobGillon-san the Romaji that Robert-san mentioned is really hard on the eyes. I think it is best to write fully in Japanese and any Kanji could have the furigana on top. Furigana is really helpful as eventually you will not even look at the furigana as you will know the kanji, and then to combine that with the Kanji close up lessons on this site so you can learn what the kanji means when broken down, can only add to our own personal advancement in Japanese.
Don’t get me wrong. It is a good idea to show where the Kanji, Hiragana and katakana would be if it was not written in Romaji, but there must be another way instead of writing it in higher case and lower case…very hard on the eyes. ごめんなさい Robert-san.
So actually if it possible, I think it would be a good idea to keep to the normal Romaji script in the PDF files but when it comes to writing Japanese, just write it as normal, and any kanji use furigana on top. Rather than have two different Japanese scripts, as is the case now…if that makes sense?
Oh well…I think I have written enough…sorry to go on.
O-genki de
Steve
Friday at 7:14 pm
…as for the use of upper and lower case in romaji, this is not my idea. It comes from the book:
JAPANESE - A Manual of Reading and Writing, by Hamako Ito Chaplin and Samuel E. Martin. (Tuttle Language Library–first print 1987; ISBN 0-8048-1508-9)
This is a good book, it has an additional dictionary that has the kanji as it appears in text.
…you guys are great either way!!
Friday at 7:47 pm
steve-san, haha re: your daughters video.
I like how her hair falls off
cute
hmmm .. how come she has watched the ring! scary
Friday at 8:22 pm
みなさん、こんにちは!
Great actress! She deserves 主演女優賞! 
It’s this book, isn’t it?


Steve-san, oh my goodness! I finally managed to see Sakura-chan’s Sadako!! I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud in front of my computer
And I truly enjoyed the しーしーstory
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/book/276032/
I have a feeling that たねきさんshould be たぬきさん(racoon), おきる is おまる(potty), and さやんと is ちゃんと (properly)
And this のんたん is popular among children
By the way, the other day, Peter was talking about a plan to introduce these repetition words that express sounds or the state of things in some of our future lessons. (Like, きらきら ふわふわ ぶんぶん?) It would be interesting, wouldn’t it?
では、また!
Friday at 8:46 pm
Vicky-san, about “have a nice weekend,” we could say “yoi shuumatsu wo”(良い週末を), but just as Jonas-san and Nathan-san says, it’s not a generally used expression
. It’s obviously a direct translation of the English expression, and we use it half jokingly (because it sounds really western
). But personally, I like the expression very much, because it’s nice to say something like that
(It’s a pity we don’t have such expression in Japanese.)
What we commonly say at the end of Friday, is “Mata raishuu!” ([See you] again next week!).
Friday at 8:56 pm
ok, let me take you all through what I think are the issues here. I want to learn how to write kanji (Japanese).
So, you could just listen to the lesson and write what you hear. For me it takes too long to get the proper stroke, then I have to stop and start and therefore miss the whole idea.
So then use some sort of text; kanji can’t be used, because you end up cheating… kana can’t be used, because for me it is still reading Japanese, and therefore you don’t get to learn kana.
I also tried reading children’s book but found that I couldn’t understand them because there were too many choices for the words when you look them up in the dictionary… it is all context.
Then, I found that book: JAPANESE - A Manual of Reading and Writing.
Maybe just changing the color is good, but at least for me I can’t tell where the reading ends for one and the next kanji begins. This forces me to look it up. The biggest thing is that I want to learn to write… write… and write more–notes, comments, letters– just definitions would be a start.
With this series (JP101), it would be the best to see something implemented so that it can be used on a daily bases to practice your writing.
…you can do it! Please help me with this dilemma.
Thank You All!… and to all a good night.
Friday at 9:04 pm
Regarding the furigana, I’m not really sure where I stand. I’m not sure that it would really be an improvement, but I’m not sure that it would make it harder on anyone either. I think a lot of my decision would depend on the final product - would the furigana be easily readable, would the text still be visually appealing, etc. I think if anything, I’m inclined to say that it’s better the way it is now because:
1) Those who are reading only hiragana don’t have to strain to read the small furigana.
2) Those who are trying to learn the kanji can still refer to the hiragana section, and this extra effort probably only helps retention.
3) Without the furigana, you can try to force your brain to come up with the reading before checking. You could do this by covering up the furigana as you go, of course, but it is simpler with the two sections.
Truthfully, the only pro that I see for furigana is to save space. While it would be more convenient, I would argue that is not necessarily a pro. In fact, I would say that it would be even better to, instead of referring to the hiragana section, manually look the word up, find it’s reading and meaning, and perhaps even write it a few times in the process.
Steve-san,
That video is great! I showed all of my roommates

I also really liked that story!
And I’ve updated my bookmark for your site!
Robert-san,
Either way, suggestions are good, so keep them coming!
Sakura-san,
Good to see you on the boards
Since we’re on the subject of kanji, I am curious as to which kanji you use for Sakura - if you don’t mind, of course! Also, I think it would be really fantastic if you started including more 擬声語 and 擬態語 since they are such a unique idea to us English speakers. They can really add some pizazz!
Keep up the awesome work!
Friday at 9:14 pm
Robert-san,
I didn’t see your post before I submitted mine. I have to admit, I don’t really understand your issue too well. I understand that you want to learn to write, but I’m not really grasping your issue.
Do you already know the kana syllabaries (hiragana/katakana)? I don’t understand your comment about “kana can’t be used, because for me it is still reading Japanese, and therefore you don’t get to learn kana”. I’m not sure what you meant by cheating with kanji either. Im sorry, I’m probably a little slow tonight!
If you need some resources for learning proper stroke orders, etc. just let me know. If you’re still using romaji, my suggestion would be to learn the kana as quick as possible! Romaji is a crutch and can lead to bad habits. I’m sorry that I’m not understanding your issue, but hopefully with a little help I will and can try to help!
Friday at 9:22 pm
I agree alot of this is touched upon or reviewed in Japanese II it is great listening review and very good for increasing the recognization of the language. Todays podcast was really good too
Friday at 9:30 pm
I forget which word now but i use one of the words i learned in one of the lessons in class that was fun haha
Friday at 11:17 pm
Nathan-san: I don’t think 擬声語 is the commonly used word. Most of the time you use 擬音語 and 擬態語.
As for the furigana question, there is one more pro. It takes a lot less time to add furigana than to rewrite everything in just kana
Jonas
PS: I’m not sure about what you mean either, Robert. One thing is sure though. You HAVE to learn kana before you start on kanji.
Friday at 11:48 pm
Jonas-san,
Thanks for pointing that out! I was wondering about that. Would you say that both 擬音語 and 擬態語 could be described as 擬声語?
I’m off to sleep!
Have a great day!
Friday at 11:54 pm
Nathan-san: Yeah, I would think so… But I’m not sure. Asked my girlfriend, and she doesn’t even know the word (though she knows 擬音語 and 擬態語), so I don’t think it is generally used. Maybe linguists would use it…
Good night! (It is 5pm here, and I havent gotten out of bed yet
)
Jonas
Saturday at 1:04 am
I think Robert’s idea is to have the script written out in the style he suggests so that people who want to learn to write can rewrite it in kanji and kana.
The basic idea is that the sentences are broken down into the places where each individual character goes, be it kanji or kana, this way the budding writer can go along and replace each romaji sound with the correct kanji or kana…
Where I can see the idea and the advantages… I think it is better to learn the kanji and then practice writing without such a guide, this way you don’t become reliant or semi-reliant on something that isn’t going to be there later on. But this is a big debate that has gone on in teaching circles of all subjects for a long, long, long time… Dictionary or no dictionary, closed book or open book, calculator or no calculator, abacus or no abacus… (you get the drift
)
Basically it’s a learning tool some people may find useful…
Saturday at 4:05 am
Jonas-san,
Thanks for that extra bit of info. 5pm and still in bed, eh? Sounds nice
Ormo-san,
I think we understand the idea he gave regarding how to write the romaji earlier. The trouble I had was with his last post and the issue that is affecting him. Although it seems like he would not know any kana since he is suggesting help with reading romaji, his last post made that unclear. I do, however, agree with you regarding using romaji as a crutch. (I’m sure you were implying knowing the kana before learning the kanji
)
Rhonda-san,
As you requested, I have gone through all of the comments on JapanesePod101.com and made a collection of the links (even the odd ones that might not be relevant). I organized them as best I could, so I hope it works for you. You can find them here:
http://del.icio.us/JapanesePod101
I will keep it updated as more links are added. Let me know what you think!
Saturday at 4:32 am
Nathan-san, up so early? (If I’m right)

My name is, actually, written in hiragana.
それでは、また!
Saturday at 10:07 am
Nathan-san,
I am starting to learn the kana syllabaries, and so far I’m just trying to memorize the characters and read some of the dialogues in the pdf files. I don’t know anything about proper stroke orders yet. You mentioned that you know of resources for that. Could you let me know about some? Arigatou!
Saturday at 10:52 am
Haven;t told you guys before but I love the Kanji Closeup section you are putting out. I like looking through them and learning.
Arigato gozaimasu!
Nate-san
btw - Nathan-san who are you and how do you know so much Japanese? Arigato gozaimasu for all that you contribute to this group.
Saturday at 2:29 pm
さくらさん、
Aha… that’s interesting! I do have another question for you. I have seen Japanese whose name kanji I knew sign their name in katakana (in emails, for instance). My question is, if you don’t know the kanji for someone’s name, would it be more normal to write their name in hiragana or katakana? And yeah, extra early today
ありがとうございます!
Brenda-san,
My pleasure! This site keeps it simple and just gives the stroke order for all of the hiragana and katakana. You can even download all of the movies in a package for each syllabary:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ssatoru/other/kana/index.html
The following site just goes over the hiragana, but it gives the stroke order, the pronunciation, and a little animation that helps you remember the character. It’s done in Flash, and I’ve noticed that sometimes it can be a little buggy in FireFox, but it’s a good site otherwise!
http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/self/site/hiragana/hiragana.html
I’ll add some more links in the following post!
Saturday at 2:36 pm
Okay, now onto the games!! Here is a little flash card program for hiragana and katakana that works in your browser. It works with Flash as well, but I’ve never had problems with it in FireFox:
http://www.ichigo.se/kanaflash/
The following is an actual game for Windows that teaches you hiragana, katakana, and even kanji! It’s set up like a traditional RPG, and you play as Knuckles (Sonic the Hedgehog’s sidekick):
http://www.kicl.info/
One more link in the following post.
Saturday at 2:40 pm
Okay, this is another RPG syle game that teaches you hiragana, katakana, and kanji (not quite as many as the other game, though). I have actually played this one (haven’t tried the other yet), and it’s not bad at all. It’s a little simpler, too.
http://lrnj.com/
Hope that helps! If you need any other specific types of sites, just let me know!
Nate-san,
It’s the power of our name. You too share this name, so you can excel at anything!!! Haha, just kidding
Actually, I don’t know that much Japanese, but I like to share what I do know! (And the links I have!) Knowledge doesn’t do you much good if you don’t share it somehow, ne?
Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with!
Saturday at 4:18 pm
Arigatou Nathan-san. I have bookmarked those websites.
Do you or anyone else have books they can recommend either on learning Japanese or Hiragana. I did find some on Amazon, but not sure which ones are worth going after.
Nate-san.
Saturday at 4:22 pm
Nathan-san,
Thanks for all the ideas!!
I’ll look them up and start having fun!
Saturday at 5:16 pm
Nate-san,
Regarding books on hiragana, I would say that you could save your money. You should be able to learn the whole hiragana syllabary pretty quickly, and you can find all of the stroke orders online. The only pro that I think would really make a purchase worth it is if the book had a lot of area for writing practice. Generally, they have some that you can trace along with, and then plenty of blank boxes to get the correct proportion and shape. I recommend perhaps heading to a used book shop and finding something cheap. If I had to recommend one, I might point you here:
http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQcpidZ982447QQprZ669544
I have this book, and it gives a nice little intro, and then lots of practice. It gives a lot of vocabulary, too. My copy is actually completely unused
In fact, if one of you would like, I’d be willing to send it to you for the cost of the shipping.
I’ll leave recommending a book on Japanese in general to someone else. I think Genki is a popular textbook, and I myself use Yookoso at school, which seems pretty good. Most of my reading is online, though.
Brenda-san,
Glad I could help! Let me know if you’re looking for anything else.
Saturday at 6:12 pm
Nathan-san, I think that’s a really good question! Because I often think about it when I’m writing e-mail to someone whose kanji name I don’t know in business. Since my maiden name was very rare and impossible to come up with from only the sound of it (門叶さくら [Tokanai Sakura]; I still use this name in business actually
), I’ve seen my name written both in katakana and hiragana in e-mail and fax messages I received from different people. But from what I had been actually receiving, it’s hard to tell which is more commonly used. Personally, I prefer my name written in hiragana in such cases
(though I don’t mind at all if it’s written in katakana). Maybe because I myself had sometimes written my name in hiragana (とかない) on memos or private e-mail messages, while I had never used katakana except as the furigana for my name. Also, I guess katakana can look a bit out of place when used for Japanese names or words that are not borrowed or “new” words (you know what I mean). So, I tend to use hiragana, but I think both are used by Japanese. 
Soredewa mata!
Saturday at 9:02 pm
Sakura-san,
Thanks so much for the answer! I always feel strange writing a name in katakana if I know they are Japanese, so it’s good to know that.
門叶さくら - would that be the gates to a cherry blossom covered land where all wishes come true?
Saturday at 9:05 pm
Funny you say that Sakura, this reminds me of once when I asked a Japanese coworker on the word for trash, ごみ(gomi), I found it written in katakana (ゴミ) on a magazine, and I asked why is it in katakana since it is not a foreign word, she told me it didn’t matter it still sounded the same
, she told me not to worry, just learn both the kana syllables and your good
. I did!.
Saturday at 9:54 pm
アルフォンソさん:ゴミ is just one of those words often written in katakana. Strange isn’t it?
Jonas
Saturday at 10:03 pm
Just found this: http://pro.tok2.com/~nhg/reserch-2/reserch1-52.htm
It is the results of a questionnaire asking if you write “gomibako” or “trashcan”, with katakana+kanji or hiragana+kanji. It seems that the younger generation tends to use katakana more, and the older generation uses hiragana more. I asked my girlfriend, and she says she uses hiragana
Saturday at 10:47 pm
Jonas-san,
Thanks for that link! That’s interesting. I think I’ve seen it written in katakana much more often, myself. Another similar case is 消しゴム (けしごむ).
Saturday at 10:54 pm
Nathan-san: actually, 消しゴム’s ゴム is a loanword that comes from dutch. So it is correct to write it in カタカナ. (it seems there are kanji for this word too(護謨), but most(no?) japanese would not be able to read it).
Jonas
Saturday at 11:15 pm
Jonas-san,
Thanks for that info. Yeah, I was under the impression that ゴム was a loan word, but also noticed that it had the kanji. I figured they were just 当て字. I wasn’t aware that it came from Dutch, though. I just checked and eraser is “gom, gummi”. That’s interesting. Thanks!
Sunday at 5:29 am
アルフォンソさん、thank you for mentioning it! Wow, Gomi!
You’re right. It is both written in hiragana and katakana, and I have been using both without noticing. I wonder how the katakana version came into use. Strange, and interesting 
By the way, I never knew there was kanji for “gomu”! びっくり 
People often misspelled 叶, and wrote 叫 (scream) or 吐 (throw up)
ヨーナスさん、the questionnaire was interesting!
ネイサンさん、thank you for the nice interpretation of my kanji
Sunday at 5:37 am
Hi, just found this site last week. I’ve lived in Osaka for two years now, but with work and all my language studies have been going pretty slowly. This intermediate level podcast seems just right for my level - thanks!
Nathan, there’s lots of older loanwords from Dutch, Portugese and German in Japanese, but since they’ve acquired kanji along the way it’s often not very obvious. My guess is that at least some of the loanword kanji writings come from mandarin Chinese (where, of course, every concept or loanword gets a kanji writing from the start).
Sunday at 8:06 am
さくらさん、
That’s terrible! I think if I must misspell a name, I would try to think of the most flattering kanji I know of
Janne-san,
まいど!
Welcome to the site! I know there are a good number, it’s just always interesting to find out. By the way, I’ve read a bit of your site. Good job on passing level 3!! I’m rooting for you to make level 2 this year
Sunday at 8:11 am
Janne-san, congrats! You were pulling for Sweden, right? Did you see our hockey video? And, do you about the Asian Hockey League, with the Chinese/Swedish team? Check our blog!
I am a big fan!
Sunday at 8:12 am
More comments coming…….
Sunday at 7:00 pm
Nathan, ありがとう!
Actually, I only ever hear まいど from older shopkeepers; it’s not at all common here, though everybody else seems to think it is. But あかん, both as an exclamation and as a short for なければならない is everywhere, as is using や instead of だ. My fiancee - who’s lived in Osaka all her life - is pretty careful about using standard Japanese when we’re talking, but occasionally she gets upset or excited and rips away in her real dialect and I don’t understand a single word
But apparently Kanto people would not understand it either.
Peter, of course! I don’t watch hockey usually, but with an Olympic final against Finland, there’s really no choice anymore
Hockey video?
Sunday at 9:26 pm
Janne-san,
Yeah, as I understand it, it’s a bit like a joke to use as a general greeting
And yeah, the most recent video podcast was all about hockey! Maybe you’re only subscribed to the audio podcasts? Make sure you check it out!
Monday at 10:00 pm
hi… i’m new comers here
…..
….
walaupun tak berape paham, saya tetap suka gak nak belajar bhs jepun…..
Monday at 10:01 pm
Tuesday at 4:16 am
ida_90-san,
Welcome to the site! Don’t worry, just keep listening and you’ll be understanding a lot more before you know it! Ganbatte ne!
Tuesday at 5:03 am
umpp… watashi-no namae-wa husaini ida desu. shunssin-wa mareeshia no-kurantan desu…..
but.. i still can’t use that language(japanies) so…. i’m waiting…. who want to be a ’sensei’ for me?
Tuesday at 5:15 am
Ida-san,
よくできました (well done)
You’re off to a good start
The only thing I would change is しゅっしん (shusshin).
Your sensei are Peter-san, Sakura-san, Natsuko-san, and the whole crew
Tuesday at 7:30 am
ida, welcome!
watashi wa saraishuu yasumi ni malaysia ni ikou desu. (I am going to malaysia for a vacation in two weeks). katta kotoba wa malayndesuka? (the language you wrote is malay, right?)
Wednesday at 3:24 am
yup, i’m malaysian…. but, here i’m learning 2 language together…. (inglish and japan)…. so, ‘brother’ janne in malaysia now? can you speak malay? yup, it is… tapi, kau faham tak?:???:
Wednesday at 3:37 am
i can’t ’speaking’ or ‘writing’ in japanese…. but, i still want to do that!!
i can’t understand what do you mean from this ‘よくできました’ or this ‘っしん’ because….. i can’t read that… can you teaching me from basicly…….
Wednesday at 10:38 am
Sakura,
Thank you for the information about writting Japanese names; its usefull and interesting.
I love the intermidate dialogues; they make me stretch [work hard]. Usually i need to listen 10-15 times before they sink in.
Thanks all.
Wednesday at 12:42 pm
Ida-san,
I don’t know Malay, but I can figure most of it out if you use it. Aku boleh faham. “よくできました” is “yoku dekimashita”, which means “well done” (syabas). “しゅっしん” is “shusshin”, which means something like “hometown” (tempat lahir). The small “tsu” っ shows that there is a slight pause before the next syllable is said, which is usually written as a double consonant in romaji. Examples:
がっこう (gakkou) - sekolah
きっと (kitto) - nescaya
Hope that helps!
Thursday at 3:21 am
whoa…. you’r a genius!!… you can writing malay…. but me…
… yeah… just try it….:???: i hope one day leter, i can speaking, writing and reading japanese language….
Thursday at 6:56 pm
Ida-san,
No genius, here, unfortunately. Don’t worry, keep working hard and you’ll be able to reach your goal!
Sunday at 11:40 am
I love these intermediate lessons. Keep them coming! Please!
Tuesday at 5:24 pm
Wow its been a big jump lately.. can’t catch all those jokes from 学長さん XD
Thursday at 2:31 am
関西弁(かんさいべん)はほんまに面白(おもしろ)いんやなぁ。
Monday at 7:33 am
Just so you know, there’s a mistake in the show notes (at least the ones that get downloaded automatically as a part of the mp3 in itunes).
it says 卒業旅行 is “graduation school”
Monday at 7:37 am
Now that you mention it, futari-kiri is also mispelled in the rouma-ji right above there.
Monday at 7:55 am
アルフォンソ,
Japanese often use katakana when they don’t know the kanji for a word, or the kanji is too complex to bother writing.
The kanji for ゴミ is 塵, but that’s 14 strokes, compared with gomi’s 5. I know they don’t learn that kanji is school, I’m pretty sure it’s not a Joyo kanji, and I don’t know if most Japanese people would even be able to read it.
The most famous examples of “using kanji for kanji that we don’t know” are for plant and animal names. To use some examples of plants and animals that have already been mentioned on this podcast:
オオカミ=狼 (wolf)
ジンチョウゲ=沈丁花 (daphne)
キンモクセイ=金木犀 (fragrant olive)
And on, and on, and on.
Monday at 7:57 am
oops! should say “using kana for kanji that we don’t know”
Thursday at 10:18 pm
im hatori
im fencer im depres
beacuse today im losing
Thursday at 10:22 pm
watashi wa iran kara kimashta
dozo yoroshko onegaishemes
Thursday at 6:14 pm
This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”
Tuesday at 1:34 am
Hi,
Could you explain:
jyoutai de wa nyuujyade kinai kamo (I apologize I don’t have Japanese font on this computer I am using)?
I understand kinai kamo and understand the english translation of the phrase but would like to know the actually meanings of the individual words (if possible). Thanks.
Tuesday at 2:37 am
Actually, I get it.
jyoutai= situation
nyuusha= (become) a company member
Thus, the translation of
ima no jyoutai de wa nyuusha dekinai kamo
In the situation now (current situation) he may not be able to become a company member.
Thanks.
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