皆さん (mina-san), today’s location is San Paulo・サンパウロ! Hello to all our listeners in Brazil!
Be sure to vote for the bachelor of your choice in your comment!
よろしくお願いします。

p.s. The Kanji of the Day will be up for 2 days as this one is crucial! Yoroshiku.

Your Links are messed up.
You’re linking to the Lesson Notes with both links - there is no link to the Kanji Closeup.

Michael D. Cassidy-san.
I be you were too quick…I have done that before…check now, they are fine
Steve

That is a fun lesson…..Before we know it Natusko-san will be married…Hehehehehe!
I just saw my last post in yesterdays lesson (No. 50) and it as this written on the top:

“Your comment is awaiting moderation”

Does that mean I have written something that is not allowed?

Oooops! sorry did not see the comment at the end of the first posy from Jpod101.

And I say batchelor number 3 because his favourite word is a Kansai-ben word, which means he must be cool (one of Natsuko’s requirements) !!

> Three eligible bachelor’s, but only one Natsuko.

Guys, guys, guys… and you were doing so well! That apostrophe in “bachelor’s” is wrong. Apostrophe+s means possessive, so you’re saying “独身 の” instead.

PS: Another vote for #1, if we’re talking about a chance for a serious relationship. If it’s just for fun, then maybe #3.

Oh no I forgot I can’t use “>

Another vote for Mister #1.

Well if only he was a philosophy’s teacher that would be better than being an actor… *dreaming*
But as we’re talking about Natsuko and not myself… Mister 1 will do^^

オルリナ

Lets go with #3

I just saw my last post in yesterdays lesson (No. 50) and it as this written on the top:

“Your comment is awaiting moderation”

Does that mean I have written something that is not allowed?

Hi Steve,

Nope, you did not write anything bad. For safety measures any comment with 3 or more links in it will be flagged for moderation. This is just a safety measure to combat spam.

Your comments will show up momentarily.

Tech Guy

Natsuko wa tanoshii you desu ne. Dating an actor might be fun ne.

Hello Japanesepod101!
I ‘d like to say hello to all the friends at japanesepod101: Sakura-san,Peter-san,Natsku-san,Kazunori-san,Takase-san,
Jonas-san,Favianna-san,Sahara-sensei,and to all the members of the community.
Thanks for mentioning São Paulo as today´s location, guys I know this is not the right place to say about the photos,but I was really happy when I saw them yesterday. All of you laughing and so happy that I even showed them to all my friends and family. They were so happy too. I’d like to know if you guys have decided to make some T-shirts with the japanesepod101 crew and logo on them. That would be pretty nice because everybody loves japanesepod101. Also, if you need any help with some Portuguese,as Peter-san said on Sunday News,I’d be glad to help
Thanks so much again. So nice to see you all again

From São Paulo state,
Marcos

Natsuko-san has an expensive “hobby,” thus ruling out 2 and 3.

Hopefully, No 1 is successful and also not “chibi” “debu” “hage” –the dreaded combination for any Japanese suitor.

Ayu: “haraheta” means hungry, but it’s probably not polite, at least I’ve never heard it in a polite situation. “Onaka ga suita” (spelling?) is probably more polite.

Hmm…I think of the three of them, #1 would be best!

I like tall guys, so my vote is for number two! And going for drives and rock climbing sound like fun.

I think Natsuko can find someone better, but if I have to pick, I agree: Number 1 is the best. My only problem with him is, she wants a guy who is smart and how smart could you be if you play the lottery? He does sound like someone who likes to have fun, her second requirement.

Her third requirement was that he should be handsome. But we don’t know how handsome any of these guys are!! Number 2 might be handsome. At least he’s tall! Number 3 is too young and I don’t like his favorite word “Akan”.

Good luck, Natsuko-San!!

Rob: Maybe he’s a ’seiyuu.’

CP-san - Even better, they’d have the same job! They could work together and start an office romance, and Japanesepod101 could turn into a great (read cheesy) rajio dorama!

checked out the link kindly supplied by Sakura yesterday- at last I’ve found something that is just about down at my level!
I liked especially the kanji bit and have downloaded the E-card as it’s my wife’s birthday on saturday

Can’t wait to show my nine year old daughter the picture of children sweeping their own school~incredulity will no doubt reign.

Sad I may be but such little things make me happy I am. (sad is that geeky?, nerdy? Sorry don’t know the stateside equivalent of a Mancunian sad which, in this context, is not necessarily uhappy)

Arigatou gozaimasu

Rob-san, I didn’t realize that Jason-san had answered already on yesterday’s entry. We clashed a bit on the first one - I might be wrong, and I’m sure he knows better, so go with what he said unless someone lets us know otherwise

Marukomo-san, the nito was number 2! and number 2 had the saying 弱肉強食!

GO NUMBER 2!

Nathan-san, I knew you’d pick the same as me. haha.

ps. is 弱肉強食 a saying that would be used in an evolutionary context? (I know that the saying is a bit misused, but one of my most intense interests is evolutionary theory!)

Hey Nathan-san, nice to see you too. Thanks

Current stats on the votes;
#1: 9
#2: 5
#3: 3

Vote from me added to #2
Vote from Dave added to #3

The following has not been added as a vote, because of unclear language (and #1 already has many votes )

Tayirbiz Says:

March 23rd, 2006 at 9:03 am

Natsuko wa tanoshii you desu ne. Dating an actor might be fun ne.

Nathan-san - Thank you for your answer. The only reason I double posted is because I didn’t realise I posted yesterday when today’s was already underway. His answer was good, and so was yours, even though they’re slightly different. I think it must be a construction that you have to get a feel for, rather than something which can be fully explained. I asked the same question to a number of native Japanese speaking friends, and they all said that they had no idea how to explain what it means! So thank you for your input, it is something that I hear all the time, so I’m sure I’ll get a good feel for it soon… maybe Peter and the gang could slip it into a lesson somewhere, either なんて or なんか ?

Have a look at this…a robotic snake…..And yes…it was made by clever people in Japan.
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000957073583/

But it is nothing new…I had a plastic snake I use to hold by the tail and it moved just as well….Hehehehehe! (does anyone remember those?)

Tayirbiz-san, I understood you from the start! Jonas-san is studying law.
Number #1 - 10 votes

Doumo arigatou!

Thanks,Jonas-san. I will do that .

Even though I have voted for No 1. The one thing that does strike me is that all actors seem to have their heads stuck up their…Ummmmm! own….errrrr…bums and seem to love themselves and go on about how great they are….But number 2 is out of the question as he has no job. and No 3 is too young…unless of course Natsuko-san wants a Toy-boy.
So I hope No. 1 is a rare breed of an actor and is down to earth…Anyway, I will stick to my decision and vote for No 1 (Please don’t count this vote, I already voted for No.1 earlier on)

Meh none of them start a scandle and date the host!

or No3 because no 1 has too many votes.

We wan’t pictures of the date too. I want to see at least 30cm gap between you at all times and absolutely no heavy petting!

I think it must be a construction that you have to get a feel for, rather than something which can be fully explained.

Yes, it is. And that’s what my answer was based on. なんて’s meaning and nuance changes somewhat with where it occurs in the sentence and, as always, tone of voice is also important.

I asked the same question to a number of native Japanese speaking friends, and they all said that they had no idea how to explain what it means!

This brings up an interesting point: sometimes native speakers aren’t the best source of info about their own language. Some may know how to use it because they’ve been exposed to it enough, but they haven’t really studied the language’s workings. At least not well enough to explain it to a gaijin. I know there’s plenty of native English speakers who couldn’t explain what a relative clause is. To me, being a guitar player, it’s kinda like a guitarist simply playing by ear and feel and not knowing a lick of music theory. Knowing theory certainly isn’t required to be able to play well, but it certainly helps complete your understanding.

Ayu, like the others already said, はらへた is a very colloquial way of saying “I’m hungry.” It litterally means “my belly’s in bad shape.” I wouldn’t use this when talking to your boss if I were you.

Ayu, like the others already said, はらへた is a very colloquial way of saying “I’m hungry.” It litterally means “my belly’s in bad shape.” I wouldn’t use this when talking to your boss if I were you.

Just to clarify this, it’s not that はらへた is rude, it’s just very informal.

など essentially means “etc.” or “so on” or “things like (what preceeds など).” The difference between など and　なんて and なんか is that など is very neutral compared to the others and is considered “standard” Japanese rather than colloquial. など doesn’t really have any extra possible implications like the other 2.

Japanese people love to be indirect. So sometimes it’s also used not so much as a “hard”, literal “etc” but more as a way around mentioning something directly, especially if it follows only a single thing.

スポーツなど好（す）きじゃありません。
“I don’t really like sports (and such).”

でも is often used in this same kind of way as well:

お茶（ちゃ）でも飲（も）みませんか
“Would you like some tea (or something)?”

BTW, the idea behind this is that if you said “お茶を飲みませんか” it sounds, to the Japanese ear at least, that tea is the only thing you’re offering (even though it’s not explicitly stated here in the sentence). So using でも instead helps express a willingness to offer other things in case tea’s not to the person’s liking and would prefer something else (or something in addition to tea).

Also, is this the same など as a や… や… など construction?

Yes.

彼など詳しいと思いますよ

Are you sure that shouldn’t be なら instead of など?

Thank you again, I now have a good, well-rounded picture of the three constructions. Perhaps that last sentence was a little confusing without the context, it was preceeded by この機械に詳しい人はいませんか, which I translated as “Isn’t there anybody who understands this machine?” answered by “I guess someone like him could”, does that make more sense?

And thanks for the でも construction as well

It’s from the 完全マスター2級 日本語能力試験文法問題対策. Even though it’s for that exam, it’s full of constructions which are commonly used in daily life, though some of them are a bit more forced… apparently this is one of them Which doesn’t really help with a confusing (at least to me) construction

Bachelor #2 has my vote… though no job kinda worries me but an actor who plays lottery sounds too risky to me and a 19-years-old is just too young to understand what a woman needs/ wants.

When I met my fiance, he was a student with no job as well… but things turn out for the best. He now loves his job and still hikes, runs, and climbs so I’m hoping the bachelor #2 is in a similiar situation.

^

大変（たいへん）失礼（しつれい）いたしました。ものすごく悪（わる）い序段（じょだん）でございました。お許（ゆる）してくださいまし。 m(_ _)m

Hehe.

NEET stands for Not in Employment Education or Training. It started in the UK as a goverenment term and has spread to other countries.