Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. Find out what’s going on at JapanesePod101.com this week with the weekly news update. Find out about our newest feature, captions for Microsoft Media Player 10! Plus lots more to report in this weeks news edition, so be sure to itune in.
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 7:26 am and is filed under News. 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.
35 Responses to “News #10 - Captions Anyone?”
japanesepod101.com says:
March 5th, 2006 at 7:38 am
皆さん(Mina-san), hope everyone had/is having a great weekend wherever you are! Here is an amazing group of links put together by Nathan-san! ありがとうございます Nathan-san! 
http://del.icio.us/JapanesePod101
RobGillon says:
March 5th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Hey Japanesepod team,
I heard you say in today’s show that you take our idea’s into account when thinking of new shows, and I have a request, hopefully you’ll be able to fit this in somewhere.
I’m really not sure what to say at the post office, and I’m sure I’ll be using it at least once when I go to Japan in April. I’d love it if you could do a show with an everyday situation whereby someone wants to send a package by airmail, and it’d be great if you could fit it in before April…. お願いします I’m sure this will be helpful to many listeners also, as many people from here will be wanting to go to Japan, and a suitcase is only so big!
Thank you!
Angie says:
March 5th, 2006 at 8:32 am
はじめまして!! ジャパニスポと101 (sp?)
im Angie from Indonesia…
本当に有難うございます..
i’m still a beginner because i will be taking some japanese class 2 days more…i can read hiragana and katakana well, but my problem is..I don’t understand the meanings of the words…i loved anime but I can’t sometimes understand what are they talking about without seeing the subtitles…
i was just randomly searching something when i found JapanesePod101.com…so I tried to subscribe, it turned out to be very helpful!!…i loved it!!
even my friends were also listening to you guys..
I really missed Hatsumi-san… 
hope she came back soon…
can i ask a question? how to say “what are you doing right now?” in japanese?
umm…that’s all i wanna say…
Wish I could go to Japan one day… 
PS..keep up the good work!!
じゃんね!!
Angie says:
March 5th, 2006 at 8:34 am
oh i forgot to ask…
Why does things in Japan are very costly??
有難うございます。。。
股下ね!!
Peter says:
March 5th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Rob-san, great to hear you’ll be coming to Japan! That is a definately possibility! We’ll look into it! 
Angie-san, こちらこそ！初めまして！ピーターです。よろしくお願いします！ Great to have you and thank you for posting!! Yes, we miss Hatsumi too! Hopefully, she’ll be back!
What are you doing right now. -> Ima, anata wa nani wo shite imasu ka?・いま、あなたはなにをしていますか・今あなたは何をしていますか
It would be great if you could get here one day! We’re looking forward!
As for the costly question……..that could days to answer, let me get back to you on that.
Fabi says:
March 5th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Hi Japanesepod101 Team! 
My name is Fabi (ファビ）. I’m living in Leipzig (SN, Germany) and found your podcast on saturday evening. Your page and podcasts are really great and I like to enjoy it very much! It improves my Japanese (I started to learn bymyself in November 2005) and my English (I study it since 3rd year at school, but I can not speak well 
). Thanks very much to provide this special service! 
Fabi
Scott says:
March 5th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Peter, the Mac-guy, I’ve got a question for you! But then again, I guess anyone else could answer this as well.
I’ve always been a Windows user, but I’m planning on switching over to the new MacBook Pro laptop. I went to the Mac store last night to demo it. One of the things I tested out was how it handles Japanese. I went into the options, enabled the Japanese input feature, and I was able to switch between English and hiragana by clicking on an icon on top.
This was great, but I also wanted to switch between to the languages via a keyboard command. Looking at the menu bar, it told me I can do this by typing ^, an up arrow, and a semi-colon to go to English, and then a ^, up arrow, and a J to go to hiragana. Well, I didn’t have a clue what this meant, so I called over a sales rep to explain it to me. Even he couldn’t figure it out! So I left the store not knowing how to switch between languages using only a keyboard.
So Peter, or anyone else who types in Japanese on a Mac computer, just how the heck do you switch between English and Japanese from the keyboard?!?
Matt says:
March 5th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Well, I’m not Peter, but I think I can answer your question.
The shortcut to change the language can be changed easily. I think it defaults to off, actually, so that might be the problem. Just get into System Preferences, go to International and click on Input Menu. Make sure you have one of the Japanese Input Methods checked (I have Hiragana and Katakana under “Kotoeri” selected) and then look under the list of Input Languages to the Keyboard shortcuts. It should say whatever it’s currently set to in that box, but you can change it by clicking Keyboard Shortcuts. Then just go to the Input Menu subsection and assign your own shortcuts. I assigned Apple-K and Apple-L to go back and forth. Now I can switch to ひらがな and カタカナ on the fly. Hope this helps!
Also, I have a questions about adverbs. I’m sorry if this was already asked, but if I were wanting to say “You are always busy,” would it just be あなたはいつもいそがしです? or do you have to do something to the いつも？
Kristina Rimpley says:
March 5th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Scott-san,
Odd that your Mac guy would know the answer! It’s actually very easy. You just hold the command key (that’s the one with the apple on it, right next to the space bar) and press the space bar and it toggles between English and Hiragana (if that is how you have it set up).
Peter-san,
Hooray for Macintosh users! I knew that you were すごい but now you take the cake!
RobGillon says:
March 5th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Angie-san - I think the reason things are more expensive in Japan is simply because the average rate of pay is higher than other countries. Just like in countries where things are very cheap, you have to consider, they are cheap because people are being paid less. If things are expensive, it’s because people are being paid more… I think it’s as simple as that.
Matt-san - In Japanese, “always” isn’t an adverb, but rather a time-marker, however, there is a small mistake in your sentence - あなたはいつもいそがしいです (you missed off the extra い after し).
Peter-san, that’s great! Thank you very much! And yes, I’m really looking forward to it, only 26 days to go now! 
Gevorg says:
March 5th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Mine also switches to Hiragana when I press the Apple Key + Space Bar.
Yay !
Matt says:
March 5th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
What version of OSX do you (people who can use Apple+Space) have? When I do that, it brings up Spotlight. If Scott-san is buying a MacBook Pro, then it might not work for him.
jay says:
March 5th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Hey dudes. I have an idea. a crazy idea. but.. it… just.. might .. work!
I propose that we set up a ventrilo room for the jpodders. Ventrilo for those that don’t know is like a chatroom with voice. You all log into it and just start talking with your mic. the problem is it costs to set up a server thing (I’m not sure how to do this though) . There are free ones, but they are not as good (delayed sound, only one voice at a time etc).
I have noticed a few people talk about not having anyone to talk to about this, or practice their japanese. I think a ventrilo room would be awesome! I would be willing to donate some $$ to get one, see how it goes.
Does anyone think this would work? I know it may be dangerous as we could pick up bad habits (speaking-wise) but I for one would welcome somewhere to practice SPOKEN japanese, even to kinda quiz other people etc. (ie “ok say ‘Do you like this green dress?’” etc.)
Any thoughts jpodders?
jay says:
March 5th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
PS. I noticed I didn’t use one single emoticon in that last post. so here: 
ahh that’s better
jay says:
March 5th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
PS in ventrilo you can set up ‘moderators’ and ‘rooms’. so you could have a beginner room, a japanese only room etc. also of course there is text chat to accompany the voice if you want to write or copy/paste japanese.
Steve says:
March 5th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Jay-san.
Me personally…I am not sure it is a good idea…Yes I agree it would be good to practice what we learn…But I personally think…speaking to someone in person is much better (even though I am always too nearvous to do just that, as I lack confidence)…after all 60 percent of our communication is body language. I actually hate the idea of chat rooms…etc with or with out voice. My wife uses an IM programe to chat with her family including voice chat. So maybe if you have friends that are studying Japanese you could do that. But as for a chat room be it typing or voice, on this site..I have to say I disagree…Sorry!
Mmmmmm! Jpod101…..I think you need to do a whole news show dedicated to Nathan-san…he more than deserves it. I am jealous of his Japanese talent and knowlegde. Maybe one day, when he is sleeping I will sneak in and swop our brains…Whah, Ha ha ha! 
Steve says:
March 5th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
If anyone is interested…I have started my own blog. I guess I started it out of boredom and the fact I am having a problem sleeping tonight, for some reason.
Anyway this is it:
http://only-me-fatboy-steve.blogspot.com/
Only one blog so far as I only started it tonight (Sunday 5th March) But I thought I would end each blog with a Japanese word of the day. I might also eventually write a small blog in Japanese.
Oh well, I am fed up looking at this computer.
Dewa Mata
Steve
jay says:
March 5th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
steve-san
yes I see what you are saying, it’s just that for a lot of people it is just not possible (or practical) to find native japanese speakers. Especially if they are self-learning japanese.
And yes I am aware that 70% of communication is non-verbal, but I would rather communicate through just voice than just text, and both of those are better than nothing!
jay says:
March 5th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Just to add: I did not mean that JPOD should set up a ventrilo room. I just meant somewhere casually set up by one of us. It would be purely a casual thing for those of us who have zero access to native japanese speakers or others learning japanese.
Mike says:
March 5th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Hello,
I have just started to listen to these podcast lessons. I am at #5 and they are great. I have one question. Maybe it’s just my speakers, but the male voice Kazunori seems to have a bit of a lisp when he says an “s” like in “desu.” Is this the usual male speech pattern and something I should try to imitate? Thanks.
Nathan says:
March 5th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
Everyone,
Hope you all had a great weekend! It’s nice to be back at home. Thanks again for the mention in the news, but once again - it’s the least I can do for such a great group. I’ve just finished adding all of the links that were posted while I was gone
Steve-san,
You definitely over-estimate me! There’s nothing to be jealous of here, and to prove it, I’ll give you permission to swap our brains. I’m sure you’ll be wanting yours back soon enough
Jay-san,
The Ventrilo idea is a good idea in theory, but in practice I’m afraid to say I don’t think it would be very successful. There are a couple of reasons. Our user-base is spread out across the globe, so time zones are an issue. Many would probably be too shy to get into a chat room and speak, much less speak a language they don’t know very well. And then there are the server issues you mentioned. I think a better option is to stick to one-on-one conversations through something like Skype or Google Talk. That’s much easier to coordinate and it’s free
Mike-san,
Welcome to the community! I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to as a lisp, but Kazunori-san is a fine role-model for speech
steve says:
March 6th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Mike-san.
I think Kazunori-san speaks like most males in Japan. I am not sure if it is a good example…but when I watch Japanese films, I find the women much easier to understand than the men (not that I understand much Japanese) I think maybe Japanese men speak a lot quicker, were as Japanese woman…Maybe speak a lot clearer?!?!?! But I think Kazunori-san is a fine example for all us men to follow when it comes to speaking Japanese more natural. I swear that a lot of Japanese text books teach a more feminine form of Japanese.
Also another thing to remember, Japanese is much more mono-toned compared to English and other European style languages which can make it hard, sometimes to listen to…If that makes any sense?
O-genki de
Steve
Agus says:
March 6th, 2006 at 2:27 am
You guys are so great. It is the first time for me to hear a Japanese lesson that is actually so fun. You should be thinking about putting all these podcasts into a CD and selling them. Sakura, I love your voice
Please please continue your good work !
Ayu says:
March 6th, 2006 at 2:55 am
Angie!! I’m from Indonesia too
I’m a begginer too…My friends are soo much more advanced than me because they watch anime more than me–at least they know all the bad words >
steve says:
March 6th, 2006 at 6:08 am
Mmmmm! Here is a stupid joke. I placed it on my blog…but I thought you might like to see it…
A Bear, a Lion and a Chicken…
The Bear says “When I growl, the whole forest goes quiet”
The Lion replies “Well, mate, when I roar, the whole of Africa is scared”
The Chicken responds “Hah! That’s nothing. When I sneeze, the whole world trembles”
Well, it amused me anyway.
Mike says:
March 6th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Sorry by “lisp” I meant the “desu” sounds slightly like “desth” to me from Kazunori, but sounds like “dess” from Peter and Natsuko. I heard another male talk this way so it must be a correct way of speaking. Thanks.
monkeyjay says:
March 6th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
ok fine ventrilo out. haha
Mike I think I know what you are referring to. I find when I practice speaking by imitating kazunori that my tongue makes the ’s’ sound a lot closer to my teeth than normal. same with the ‘r’ sound, seems to use a lot more front teeth tongue action in japanese, so it almost could become ‘l’ or even ‘d’.
I am a total beginner so I could be wrong, but I am also pretty good at imitation and this is how I found my voice to match kazunori’s better.
There is most likely a natural tongue placement for the japanese sounds, nathan you got a link?
Todd says:
March 7th, 2006 at 3:41 am
Peter, when you guys finally get that armadillo problem worked out:
http://www.exotickitchen.com/recipes/recipes3.htm
Alastair says:
March 7th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I thought you guys might be interested, japanesepod101 was mentioned on the planet japan podcast.
http://www.planetjapan.org/podcast.html
Keep up the great work!
Nathan says:
March 7th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Jay-san,
Yeah, actually I do You’re talking about phonology, and there’s a pretty good Wikipedia article on it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology
As it mentions, the Japanese “s” is a laminal alveolar consonant, which means that the tongue is placed close to the backs of the front teeth and the airflow is constricted with the blade of the tongue, rather than the tip. In other words, it can have a slight lisp sound, yes. It’s good to keep in mind that we’re all individuals and thus our speech can vary slightly and still be correct.
Matt says:
March 10th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I would like to request a show for DISNEY characters and how you pronunce some of the DISNEY movies and characters in Japanese.
Dave S. says:
March 11th, 2006 at 6:58 am
I love the news episodes where you thank everyone. Awesome stuff.
Dave S. says:
March 11th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
Peter mentioned that someone composed a song just for JapanesePod101. When do we get to hear it?
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