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This entry was posted on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 at 5:39 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.
79 Responses to “Intermediate Lesson #5 - Okinawa”
at 5:39 am
at 6:24 am
It seems to work fine on my Computer.
at 6:51 am
Formal PDF works fine for me, too. Great podcast!
at 6:59 am
Today’s location is London・ロンドン
at 7:11 am
Great podcast today ! There is a story in Japan Times about learning Japanese with podcasting which mentions japanesepod101.com. Here is the link: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20060228a1.html
at 7:23 am
Ummmm! now the formal PDF file works…..
London….I live near there….Horrible, horrible place I try to not to go too…except for when I go to North London to go too Oriental City.
I love the sound effect at the beginning…You sound lucky to have walked out of that with no injury
I really enjoy these intermediate lessons…but now… 頭がいたいです。(Atama ga itai desu) It is strange…as I know the Japanese as individual words, and even some of the sentences but when spoken at the typical Japanese pace it is almost impossible for me to understand. That is another problem I have being able to make out what is being said..I guess I need to be able to hear Japanese spoken everyday to get used to that. Does anyone else have a similair problem? When I read the PDF files…I normally can understand what is being said….but when spoken..I struggle and it goes *WHOOSH* right over my head.
My uncle married a Japanese woman, who was from Okinawa. This was back in the 1950’s…he was in the US Military and he was stationed there. They divorced before I was born…My uncle is dead now…I am not sure if she is still alive or not…I really would like to meet her…After all, she is my auntie once removed…if that is the correct term?!?!?!
Anyway..a great podcast…I seriously believe these intermediate podcasts are what I really need….it is just a struggle for me that is all….But, who knows…in 20 years time…I shuld be good at them.
at 7:29 am
I have a Question about Japan… But it’s kinda off-topic… Is it Okay to ask it anyway ?
at 7:35 am
Steve,
She is your Aunt, or your Aunt by marriage.
A first cousin once removed are the children of your first cousin, who are second cousins of your children.
As for the intermediate dialogues going through my head with little understanding, yep. Its takes several listenings be fore they dent the stone I have there; however its why I like them. They force me to stop trying to translate word for word like I did Latin.
at 7:45 am
Michael D. Cassidy-san.
She was my aunt by marriage…So she is not my aunt now. I got my terminology mixed up. But I would still like to meet her…she must be in her late 60’s to mid 70’s now. I would have thought….
Oh! yes, Gourd…My wife is Asian and I remember her family cooking it once….I did not really like it that much…it tasted like ear-wax.
But my wife insists that it can be cook in different ways which takes away the strong bitter flavour. But so far she as not tried.
at 7:50 am
Thanks for another great lesson! I really enjoyed this one.
Steve san, for me it’s like this: when I hear the intermediate level conversation the first time in ふつう mode, I understand no more than 10%. When sentences are repeated in ゆっくり mode, it’s about 30%. These numbers are slightly higher when it’s a conversation using formal speech though. I just listen to them again throughout the week as many times as needed to reach 100% comprehension. 勉強がんばってください。
at 9:16 am
Wow, you guys are in England! How come you’ve been travelling around so much in the past 3 days? Where are you off to next?
Gevorg-san, I’m sure no-one will mind you asking a question about Japan.
I loved this lesson, I thought it was at a good level, challenging but still understandable - though Kaze’s accent is a little hard to understand at times, though that’s normal for most Japanese men I think.
The only thing I’d like to bring into question is the てみる construction you used. I apologise beforehand if this sounds very nit-picky. Here’s how I see it. When you said ぜひ一度沖縄へ行ってみます, I’d translate that as “you should go to Okinawa at least once (in your lifetime)” whereas the translation given “please try to go to Okinawa” gives me more of an impression of right now, or soon. What do you think?
Also, while I’m raising questions about what you’ve said, a number of times you say ちゃんと出します, which you translate as “properly hand in”, which I agree with as a literal translation… but the English doesn’t sound very good, as in, from that example, I wouldn’t know where to use ちゃんと with another verb. I don’t suppose you could come up with a more natural English translation… does it mean something like “It’s all done and dusted”? Can you use it with other verbs, or is ちゃんと出します one of many set expressions?
Thank you, and I hope my post sounds ok, I’m afraid I may come off sounding bad when I really mean well - my excuse is I have dyslexia so my writing’s not great!
at 9:43 am
Not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but I just noticed my playlist with (nearly) all of your videos, podcasts, and extras recently passed one gigabyte!
寿
at 9:49 am
A question reading the notes, I do not undertstand the ‘へ’ in
沖縄へ行つてみてください。
I would have thought it would have been に or え.
at 10:13 am
Gevorg-san,
Feel free to ask away, although I probably won’t be the one answering, since I’ve never been…yet!
Michael-san,
I’m going to give this a try.
へ gets used for motion verbs (i.e. いきます/きます/かえります)
So in this instance 行って is the “Te” form of いく (to go) and that’s why the へ relational is used.
I can go into more detail if I’m not helping.
-Rhonda
at 10:34 am
Mina-san, thanks for all the comments! Will be back in the morning to answer properly, in the meantime…..

100% comprehension of this lesson is very, very high-end 中級. 
Thanks!
オハラさん、thanks for the help.
Steve-san, you were too quick for our upload!
Gevorg-san, feel free! We’re looking forward!
Piet-san, while we say 中級 Kaze’s voice is very, very difficult! And done so on purpose. Will elaborate more tomorrow.
Rob-san, hang on until the morning.
Michael-san, に is often used with a purpose, while へ is more general.
John-san, wow!
Rhonda-san, thanks for the help!
at 10:50 am
Nice lesson, I love these podcasts, they make me really Natsukashii for Japan though!
Kaze’s voice is perfect, he sounds like he’s trying to speak while not opening his mouth, just like a few kyoto senseis I’ve worked with. It’s great listening practice.
Michael, although the particle is pronounced え it is written as へ (kind of like how wa is written as ha)
at 11:00 am
Hey all,
Just stopping in real quick to let you know I’m heading home (56k modem, slow PC) for a couple days, so I probably won’t have a chance to check in until Sunday evening. If anything is left unanswered, I’ll do my best to help out then!
Have a great weekend all!
at 11:14 am
Michael D.-san - to add to what people have already said, you could replace へ with に in that sentence and it would still make sense. For the most part, you can see them as interchangable, but they do have slightly nuanced differences. You can see the へ and に sections of this page: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/particles2.html for more information. Here’s a small extract from it:
The primary difference between the 「に」 and 「へ」 particle is that 「に」 goes to a target as the final, intended destination (both physical or abstract). The 「へ」 particle, on the other hand, is used to express the fact that one is setting out towards the direction of the target. As a result, it is only used with directional motion verbs. It also does not guarantee whether the target is the final intended destination, only that one is heading towards that direction. In other words, the 「に」 particle sticks to the destination while the 「へ」 particle is fuzzy about where one is ultimately headed.
It may sound complicated from that, but basically, use に if the end place is definate, and へ to indicate things both definative or vague. For example, 沖縄へ行ってみてください。The nuance of へ here is that you may wish to visit other places as well as Okinawa, you may not go to any particular place in Okinawa, or not have a definate plan, much further than you just want to go to somewhere in Okinawa.
Actually the difference between them could be quite a big topic area, so my advice is to just treat them as interchangable.
If you like, consider the difference between the following in English - “I’m heading back home” (へ) and “I’m going home” (に). Reletively speaking, whether you say 家に帰ります or 家へ帰ります, the difference is so subtle it really doesn’t matter for every day conversation purposes.
That was quite a long ramble ね!!
at 11:27 am
Nathan-san - have a great weekend.
Peter-san - taco-rice sounds interesting. I will have to try it. I just love spicy food. Speaking of food (as if we didn’t do that often enough as it is) do you miss New York style Italian food? When was the last time you were home? Also, how long have you been in Japan and what prompted you to go in the first place?
To the rest of the gang - do any of you have any recommendations of books for studying hiragana, katakana, or kanji? I saw some posts on using flash card, but it doesn’t sound like they get used other than the initial few uses. I have found a couple of books on Amazon.com by Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura. She has one on Hiragana and one on Katakana. Has anyone heard of her? Is she respected, accurate? The reviews are pretty good from what I have seen.
Anyway, I must get back to work.
Mata Ashta!
ネいと
at 11:46 am
Peter-san, my tennis??? It’s tomorrow morning~~~
Gevorg-san, I don’t think I will know the answer,but wondering what’s the question would be…
I have a Japanese class today, but haven’t study much…should I skip it?
Mata raishuu-
Sakura-san is that correct?
at 12:02 pm
Oh Peter-san, I got your comments! Thank you so much, I think I can use it.
at 12:15 pm
I really like the intermediate lessons. I wish there were more of them.
at 12:51 pm
Thank You ^_^.
I turned 16 last week, and I’m very excited about studying in Japan ^^.
I was wondering if it’s possible for a Foreign Student to go to a Public Japanese School ?
I would really like to find out ^_^, as it might greatly improve my Japanese Skills, and just thinking about life in Japan already excites me.
If anyone could answer on this question, I’d be very happy.
どうも ありがとう。
Gevorg☆。
at 12:59 pm
By the way; Nate-San !
I recently bought a new book to learn Kanji, and I’m very happy with it ! It teaches you the right stroke order, and the pronounciations. Everything You need to know ! The book is actually meant for young children, but it also works with older people ^^.
It’s called ” かんじのれんしゆう “. But of course, you already need to know Hiragana to be able to read the pronounciations ^_^. It has cute pictures in it, what makes it even more fun to learn !
Gevorg☆。
at 1:09 pm
Wow Gevorg-san….tough call!
I was the other way, I came to study in US from Korea. But I was much older though.
We need to think about your issue. Got so many questions for you….
Got me think!
at 1:16 pm
Vicky-San !
Thank you for your attention to my Question ^^ !
Yes… It’s a strange, and complicated Question @_@, No one I asked could answer this Question, so I taught the nice people at JapanesePod would help me ^^.
Oh, I would also like to add that I’m not US Citizen… I’m from Belgium ^^. If you know where that is… It’s Very small.
Thank You for your help Vicky-San !
Gevorg☆。
at 1:27 pm
Yes Gevorg-san I know Belgium. Black, yellow, red something like that or the other way…in Europe.
What are you doing in US? Are you alone at here or with famaily?
You should tell us about yourself and we all can think about it.
I’m not sure, but Peter-san is from NY and went to Japan…..
at 1:33 pm
When you use the word “karada” for “body” only 体 is used, not 身体.
That would be prounounced “shintai”!
at 1:35 pm
Thanks all.
My brain was/has turned to stone; maybe I should run for political office.
After redaaing I remembered that ‘へ’ was pronounced like ‘え’ in these situations.
Also I bought a book when I was San Francisco on business two months at City Light Book Store, it is one of San Fransicso’s highlights, anyway the book:
Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia by Hiroko Fukuda is great. I highly recommend it. I can’t until my Japanese gets stronger so I can start using many of them.
Besides many Japanese onomatopoeia its has many funny situations.
at 1:52 pm
The “redaaing” should be reading. Sorry.
at 2:50 pm
I’ve been thinking of walking up to Rockfella Center and buying some Japanese children’s books. Does anyone think reading children’s books helps?
at 3:16 pm
Micael D. Casiidy-san.
I have some Chidlrens Japanese books…or rather my daughter has. I think it is best to buy Japanese childrens books that teach Japanese, especially Kanji. But a lot of Childrens Japanese books has some very child like Japanese…which may be fun to read…bnut very good for every day life if your an adult. But by all means buy as it can help to teach simple sentence structure. Mya daughter as an Anpanman (アンパンマン)book that is aimed at teaching English to young children….but it as also helped my little girl to learn some Japanese as well as it as the Japanese and English. I even love that book. I also have a Studio Ghibli Manga book of the film 天空の城ラピュタ。(tenkuu no shiro rapyuuta) Laputa, Catlse in the sky, Which my little girl, when she was not quite three years old, decided to draw all over…Grrrrrrrrrr!
I did borrow some childrens books which they use in Japanese schools to learn my Hiranaga, Katakana and some basic Kanji from and some very simple sentence structures. This did actually help. But again they were aimed at children, so nothing complex or too deep…which is what I personally need.
I must go now…I need to collect my wife and daughter….they went out..and I am stuck inside…NOT FAIR!!!!!
O-genki de
Steve
at 3:31 pm
Nate-san and Peter-san: Taco rice is great, but as a big fan of goya I recommend that anyone interested in Okinawa try goya champuru - a mixture of goya (bitter gourd), spam and scrambled egg. Very nice!
at 3:46 pm
Vicky-Chan,
I’m still living in Belgium ^^, I’m not in USA.
I’m happy you now where Belgium is ! You even know our flag ! Haha !
*Claps*
But yes, I’m a Belgian Citizen living in Belgium.
Thank you for Wanting to Help me !
Gevorg☆。
at 4:37 pm
Abou yesterday’s lesson. How popular is GO in Japan now, is it getting more or less popular? When i was there during the summer, i saw one GO parlor but it was closed at the time. i am a huge fan, im in a GO club and play in tournaments, although im not highly ranked. But the word is that it is getting a stronger folllowing now that some top japanese players are winning the major matches.
at 7:05 pm
Cassidy-san: I got Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia too! It is a good book, but some of the words in there are rarely used. And I have a hard time remembering those kinds of words!!
Nathan(From Ohio)-san: I play go (or igo as it is called in Japan) too! Unfortunately I dont have the time to play lately. Been to some go parlors, but mostly old(40-50 and all the way up to 70ish) are playing
Jonas
at 11:21 pm
Hello to all in this lovely community,
Again a great lesson by JP101 gang.
I too being a learner of japanese have
really a difficult time understanding where
exactly 「に」、「へ」and「で」is used in conjunction
with place.
Thanks for the site BobGilon, where a good amount
of stress is given on these topics.
Peter must be thinking about a pod on this
topic specifically ! What say ?
at 3:11 am
Nate-san:
For learning Hiragana and Katakana I recommend the books “Let’s learn Hiragana” and “Let’s learn Katakana” both by Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura, they’re fairly straight forward and simple to follow. When you first start, you may find it helpful to come up with mnemonics for yourself, for example, the way I remembered き (ki) was that it looks kinda like a key!
For Kanji, I recommend Basic Kanji Book 1 and 2, both by Chieko Kano, that’ll get you started on the first 500. If you do one lesson per week then you should know that many in about a year! Good luck!
Gevorg-san:
I don’t think it’s possible for a foreign student to go to a Japanese school without passing level 1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (very very hard!), but you will most definately be able to go on an exchange program if you go on to study Japanese at University - most places will send you to a Japanese University on exchange for a year, which would be great for you! Though like I said, as it’s a Japanese university, chances are you will be taught in mostly Japanese, so you have to have a good grip on the language before you go.
If you don’t want to study Japanese at university, then there’s always the JET programme, where you don’t need to know any Japanese, and you get to stay in Japan for (usually) a year in exchange for being an English language teacher there.
By the way, I think don’t think Belgium is a very small country, especially when you consider it’s right next to Luxumburg!
Cassidy and Jonas-san:
I also have Jazz up your Japanese with onomatopoeia, I thought it was quite good fun, but like Jonas said, a few of the phrases are very unhelpful, and I can’t think of a situation where I would ever use “my wife always bawls me out because I’m no good at pinching pennies”!!
at 3:35 am
Rob-san, I haven’t forgot about your post, but we’ve been working on techincal issues all day!
There will be something about it on the blog soon. Just give me a bit longer.
Will be back to address all the posts shortly.
at 4:35 am
Haven’t got my japanese IME working in xfce yet, only gnome, and I’m too lazy to log into gnome, so bear with me on the romaji…
The particles “ni” “he” and “de” are all location particles, meaning they come after a location where something happens. “he” and “ni” are directional, so you use it when something moves, like “Tokyo ni ikimashita” or “uchi he kaerimasu”. “de” is used when something happens at a location, e.g. “kouen de asobimasu” (play in the park). “De” is used for “tools/means of doing something”, for example “terebi de eiga wo mimashita” (I watched a movie ON the TV).
The two verbs “aru” and “iru” always takes the “ni” particle, so you say “watashi ha kouen ni iru”, and NOT “watashi ha kouen de iru”.
This was just a simple explanation, but I hope its understandable, and that you got a bit more understaning about then usage of these particles.
Jonas
at 12:14 pm
Yes… It’ll probably be better if I wait untill my Graduation. Untill then, I can save some money ^^. I want to go to 岩手大学 ( Iwate Daigaku), because it seems such a nice place.
Anyway, thank you for your help everyone ! I appreciate it ^^ !
Gevorg☆。
at 3:41 pm
みなさん、こんにちわ。
How is everyone? It’s great to see all the comments!! There seems to be a great community spirit here!!
I have a query about Kaze san. Listening to kaze sans speech in this podcast I really noticed his pronounciation and accent were a little bit more stressed than usual. What do you all think of this statement?
かぜさん, おじさんきたみたいよ。 (Kaze san sounds like an old man!!) (*^o^*) Go Kaze san!! P(^^)P
みなさん、からだにきをつけてね!(Please take care everyone)
シャノンより。
at 4:08 pm
Thanks very much for the lessons. I’ve just found this podcast, and these lessons are great–amazingly professional. You’re definitely filling a gap with the 中級 material, I hope it continues!
at 9:35 pm
Nate-san,
Thanks, I can’t complain yet
Regarding the hiragana/katakana books, did you see my reply a while back on that issue? And as for flash cards, you could always make your own
Vicky-san,
How was tennis? Did you try any of your phrases?
And I say never skip Japanese class!
Gevorg-san,
I came across a couple links for you. I know there are High School exchange programs, but I am not familiar with the policies in Belgium, of course
I think you should check these sites, and feel free to drop them an email, as I am sure they would be able to address your questions:
http://www.asse.com/new_latest/english/home.html
http://www.flsas.com/index.html
Let us know what you find out!
Nathan-san,
I’ll assume you’ve seen Hikaru no Go… if not, you should definitely check it out! It’s great even if you don’t already like Go. By the way, there are a number of ways to play Go online. Let me know if you want links.
Sim-san,
Welcome! And thanks for the link… it looks interesting. I’ll give it a read tomorrow when I have more time
Tiroth-san,
Welcome to you, too! I think it’s safe to say we all hope it continues a long, long time!
at 2:41 pm
Hi guys,
Got a question, this maybe late but I just listened to the Podcast lastnight.
Is yatte = do (literal) and suru = do (helping verb) ?
in this podcast, shunukero yatte mitai na, how is this translated in enlish word for word?
can we also use shunukero shite mitai na?
at 4:19 pm
I’ve been trying to understand what sounds like:
otoko no naka no toko deus ne
Its in the second intermidate lesson.
at 5:30 pm
Hi Michael,
I believe that is ALPHA MALE in Nihonggo. In romaji, Arufameru.
at 1:24 pm
JP-san,
やる (yaru) has many meanings, but in this case it is just a more colloquial form of する (suru) - both meaning “to do”.
シュノーケルをやってみたいな。
(”snorkel”) (d.o. marker) (”to do” + “want to try”) (sentence ending particle “na”)
want to try (to do) snorkeling (emphasis/agreement seeking)
“I want to try snorkeling.”
Or, to try to show the effect of na…
“I’d really like to try snorkeling.” / “It would be great to try snorkeling.”
シュノーケルをしてみたいな (shunookeru o shite mitai na) should work fine.
Michael-san,
JP-san is correct. It is 男の中の男 (otoko no naka no otoko), which would more literally be “man among men”, or a man’s man… the alpha male. The 外来語 (gairaigo - borrowed word) would be アルファメール (arufameeru).
at 1:37 pm
Thanks.
I knew it was refering to the alpha male comments, for some reason naka was coming out as inside in my brain………..
at 2:54 pm
Hello Nathan,
Thanks. I just need to listen to more conversation to absorb the more colloquial japanese. I think I need more patience.
if ever i’ll use ~shite mitai, how would I sound?
This is so late but I hope somebody looks into this.
Last night, I was trying to understand the “in between conversations” of Peter, Kaze and Natsuko with sentences using “Yatte Miru”
Peter: Iso Hoki o yatte mimasen ka
Kaze: Yatte mitai desu
Peter: Konshu matsu…
Kaze: ??? (can anybody fill-in Kaze’s response?)
…one more
Peter: Saikin zenzen yakyou o yatte mimasen
…how is this translated in english?
at 6:27 pm
Michael-san,
中 can indeed mean “inside”, as well as “middle”, “among”… they all have a similar meaning, really
JP-san,
You’ll sound perfectly fine saying してみたい, assuming you use it correctly
ピーターさん:アイスホッケーをやってみませんか。
Piitaa-san: Aisu hokkee wo yatte mimasen ka.
Peter-san: Wanna give ice hockey a try?
かぜさん:やってみたいですね。
Kaze-san: Yatte mitai desu ne.
Kaze-san: I’d like to try it out.
ピーターさん:やってみましょう!
Piitaa-san: Yatte mimashou!
Peter-san: Let’s try it!
かぜさん:やりましょう!
Kaze-san: Yarimashou!
Kaze-san: Let’s do it!
ピーターさん:今週末…
Piitaa-san: Konshuumatsu…
Peter-san: How about this weekend?
*かぜさん:お同意します。(I’m not sure about this one.)
*Kaze-san: Odouishimasu.
*Kaze-san: I approve.
*I’m not sure here. It actually sounds more like odorishimasu, which wouldn’t make much sense, but it could be 小躍りします (koodorishimasu), which would be “I’m jumping for joy” (about playing this weekend). Then again, it could be something completely different
I’m not sure where your last sentence is in the lesson, but I’ll assume yakyou is yakyuu, in which case it would mean “I haven’t tried to play baseball at all recently”.
Hopefully someone can fill us in on Kaze-san’s elusive speech
at 7:11 pm
Nathan-san: Hehe, it is hard to get whe you are not used to japanese speach patterns, huh? You did pretty well though. He actually says 「お断りします」(okotowarishimasu) which means “I refuse” or “I decline” (in a very polite manner).
Jonas
at 7:14 pm
Oh, I forgot. Peter says “Saikin zenzen yakyuu wo yatte imasen” which translates as “I haven’t played baseball at all recently”
On a personal note, I’ve never played baseball in my whole life
Jonas
at 7:29 pm
Jonas-san,
Thanks for clearing those up! Wow, even knowing what he said, I don’t think I can make my ears hear all of that
I played baseball as a kid, and I have to say… it was so boring
at 9:29 am
Baseball: To get into baseball you need concentrate on the tension/drama between the batter and pitcher.
at 11:41 am
I just want to say thank you for making some lessons using “real” Japanese, not textbook uselessness!
I lived in Japan for 2 years, and since moving back I can feel my (modest) language skills just slipping away… now I can hear Japanese in the car on my way to work, yay!
So many audio lessons are too easy and torture to listen to - keep it up with the intermediate level!
at 9:47 pm
Nathan and Jonas,
Futari wa saikou desu! Pardon my spelling on “ou”, “uu” or “uo”. They just mix up intermittently.
Thanks for clearing it up. Funny
I even reduced MediaPlayer’s speed to “slow” just to understand him and whew, I just didn’t get it.
Thanks To You All!!!
at 8:38 am
Hi, everyone!
I’ve been taking university-level Japanese for a little over 2.5 years, and I just want to say that the Intermediate level lessons are right on my level and a great complement to what I’m studying in class. I can usually understand about 60% the first go-round, and the slow breakdown makes it crystal clear! I especially love the colloquial phrases that are taught–we don’t get much of that from textbooks.
Keep it up, this is great!
at 12:53 am
かぜさんの学長(がくちょう)はすっごく面白(おもしろ)いですね。そんな学長がいたらいいよなぁ。羨(うらや)ましいぃ。
at 1:27 am
Steve,
Yes. Being able to listen “fluently” requires a lot of familiarity which you can only get by hearing it everyday. Speaking is the same way, which is why it’s my weakest area. I can usually follow most of the dialouge pretty well the first time, though I do have a harder time with Kaze-san’s accent (but I still love it
). I guess it comes from my watching a lot of anime (probably too much…) both with and without subs.
As to what Rob-san was saying about ちゃんと, I understand why they make a point to put it into the translation since you need to actually learn the word and how it’s used first before you worry about a cleaner translation. IMHO, ちゃんと is one of those words that, depending on the sentence (and the verb in particular), may be best just left out of the translation. Take for example:
宿題(しゅくだい)をちゃんとやり直(なお)しなさい。
I would personally translate this and leave in ちゃんと, “Redo your homework properly/correctly.” But with a sentence like:
宿題(しゅくだい)をちゃんと出しました。
I would just leave out ちゃんと out of the translation completely, “I turned in my homework”, because even though the concept of turning something in properly makes sense, it’s just not something we usually say in English. So it sounds weird if you leave it in. This is probably nitpicky, but if you were to say “I turned in my homework properly”, to me at least it sounds like the emphasis shifts from action of turning in to the fact that you actually did it right. I would expect this to be more of a response to someone asking if you turned it in right rather than a simply stating that you turned it in.
Ok, this post is too long and nitpicky already. I’ll stop now.
at 11:35 am
I disagree. You want a more literal translation, though it sounds awkward in English, it gets you thinking in the target language better.
As an example:
“Genki desu ka?”
“Hai~! genki”
Many will translate this:
“How are you?”
“Fine”
But then the Hai is confusing. a more literal translation is helpful in knowing what is actually going on.
“Are you well? Are you fine?”
“Yes, I’m fine”
This is a simple example, but translating extra words like “chanto” can be very helpful, even if it doesn’t get translated like that in English.
Thinking in Japanese will GREATLY help comprehension
at 12:30 pm
For beginners, yes I definitely agree. That’s why I said I understand why they would leave the translation for ちゃんと (and most everything else too) in. But once you advance a good bit in the language, you want to start trying to put things into better English (or insert your target language here) while preserving the content and the spirit of the original. In which case, a more literal translation usually isn’t good for that.
at 12:34 pm
(continued)
You may not want to stop *thinking* about the sentences literally, but you’d definitely want to move away from pure literal translation when you write it down or say it. Once you know all the words and grammar and such that you’re translating well enough.
at 12:59 pm
True enough, however… we don’t really have a structure like that in English.
I’m all for a more literal translation, even if it sacrifices fluency in my native language, and let my brain do the actual translation, rather than leaving it out…
It’s actually a slightly different nuance in the language.
at 1:29 pm
Well, that would work fine for when you’re just translating for yourself, but if you’re translating something that others are going to read then readability is important.
at 8:58 pm
So far, been enjoying on catching up with all the previous podcast that I’ve missed. It’s interesting and a bit “natsukasii” as I have once lived in Japan myself. Would like to comment about the word “goya” used in this podcast “Okinawa.” Peter said that a “goya” in literal translation would be a gourd. A gourd is a pumpkin-like looking vegetable. You usually see them during Halloween. It looks like a squash with wart-like bumps and comes in a green, yellow or orange colour. Now, in Okinawa, a ‘goya’ that you referred to in the text, in English, would be called bitter melon. It’s bitter. And has an acquired taste to some. A gourd is not a bitter melon. Sorry, Peter, but would have to correct you on this.
at 4:30 pm
zen zen katte iru. can anyone elaborate on this phrase? what is the literal meaning. kugite kudasai.
at 12:11 am
Markさん、
Let me try here.
zenzen = not at all
katsu = win
katte = win, -te form
katte iru = win, present progresssive, on going.
So I think
zenzen katte iru
is
Can’t win at all.
Thanks
ジョン
at 2:19 am
Can someone help me out here.
At time marker 3:12 there is some conversation like
がくちょう ぽっく ない よ ね
そう ですか がくちょう ぽい ですか。
What is the ぽっく and ぽい words mean?
thanks
ジョン
at 4:21 am
〜ぽい and 〜ぽく are similar to 〜みたい. They mean “~like” or “~ish” as in “that is not like him” when you mean you expect him to act differently.
at 4:39 am
Beckさん,
どうも ありがとう ございます。
ジョン
at 11:08 am
Poi is a very casual form of mitai. But be careful when speaking of Okinawa and poi- poi is also an island food- this mushy ansty stuff - they also eat in Hawaii
at 11:25 am
Markさん, ありがとう。 ジョン
at 1:48 pm
I’ve enjoyed this postcast!
But still, it’s hard for me to catch up what Kaze 1973 was said sometimes.
では、また!
at 4:12 am
at 7:11 pm
Hello,
When I download and open the Lesson Notes pdf, there is no content. Are the Lesson Notes Lite available for this lesson?
Thank you,
Scott
at 10:20 am
Hello Scott,
I’m sorry for the delay in my reply, but the Lesson Notes Lite PDF
is now available for this lesson.
Jessi
Team JapanesePod101
at 8:07 am
いつか 沖縄 の 旅行 へ 行ってみたい、そして ゴーヤチャンプル を たべってみたい。
Someday I’d like to try a trip to Okinawa and try the stir-fried Goya.
at 4:10 pm
Gerryさん、
ゴーヤチャンプル!私も沖縄で本場のゴーヤチャンプルを食べてみたいです!!
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com