Mina-san,

We now return to our normal programming! Don’t forget to vote as today is the last day! We’ve also begun receiving a few video submissions - keep them coming!

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

Wow! This one came out so early!
The Intermediate story is getting very interesting. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Thank you for explaining the “n ja nai ka na” phrase. It’s something that troubled me a lot in reading various manga. Sometimes in Japanese the negative is used to express an affirmative thought, and it can get confusing. But this has really cleared it up for me. Thank you!

I will definitely be voting for the last time today!

Keep up the great work, everyone!

やった！Grammar!

でも、あいかわらずクエスチョンがあいます。
Firstly. What is the difference between てだすけをする and 手伝ってくれる？

Secondly. Could you translate んじゃないかな I think/I am almost sertain that… 明日の天気は雨んじゃないかな/明日の天気が雨とおもう.

Maybe that is not the case or maybe you could only use that in that case when it mean I think/I wonder.

Well anyway, it was a great lesson! I will defenetly use this expression.

usagi-san

Good luck wth your kanji learning.

The following is may preferred method - I apologise if it is not news to you:

1) learn the meaning first - rely on making stories involving the radicals (which have a meaning of themselves) that make up the kanji- include some reference of the order of the radical appearance (e.g. left to right) in the story

2) then find words you know that contain an example of the kanji with the pronunciation of each sound (on and kun yomi)

3) always put these word in context if you can - picture a situation in which they would be used- knowing the meaning will help a lot.

Let us know what kanjis you are studying and whether this helps.

Gambatte ne.

mikuji

.. sorry I meant to spell it as ‘my’ preferred method

cheers

mikuji

John-san,

Thanks, I will google that now. Is it expensive?

Mikuji-san,

Great ideas. Reminded me a bit of Heisig when I read your first point. I am using cards at the moment; handmade and I got some Kumon cards for children with pictures on them!!
Using example sentences works best for me at the moment but I always forget the stroke order for some of them!!!!

Thank you !!

Usagi-san you could remember the stroke order by learning a few rules. The basic ones is left to right, top to bottom. Wakatta?

There are some rules when you write boxes and so on but I can’t remember them now.

Usagi-san,
KingKanji is $25 (www.gakusoft.com). I have been using it for a couple of years on my PocketPC (also works on Palm and Windows).

You can setup the software to quiz you in a variety of ways. e.g. meaning to kanji, kanji to meaning, etc. The unique feature (in my experience) is that it can give you feedback on stroke order to make sure you are writing the kanji correctly.

More recently, I have been using the Genki series (excellent by the way), and I have been inputting the vocabulary into the proper format for use with KingKanji. This allows me to practive writing kanji and hiragana. Really excellent.

However, KingKanji does not help with the stories or memory tricks. For that you will need Henshall or Heiseg.

I have spent a lot of time learning isolated Kanji and feel this is not the best approach. For me, it is really important to connect the Kanji to one or two simple words. I often use Henshall, but unfortunately, the example words are too complicated for me. I would be interested in a listed of very simple words associated with Kanji.

My current approach is to study the kanji along with the vocabulary for the Genki series. This works for me, but may be too much for a beginner.
Jya Mata.
ジョン

John-san,

Excellent advice. I think I need to buy KanjiKing. When you say the Genki series do you mean the books by Eri Banno? That is what I am doing also You seem to be learning them the same way as I am. Also, the Kanji texts at the back of Genki is helping me.

Hontoni arigato John-san.
Very inspiring ideas

Everything is clear to me know all my doubts are answer I don’t need anymore information I know it all! what a surprise I never thought about it! and its been two months I been here and I finally know the true what a pity surprise to know the true! I thought more hight of you JP101 but its real and I’m not dreaming!

About today’s lesson Intermadiate I just understand some not all but I heard Giants that must be New York football Giants right! Go Go Go Giants
Also tomorrow is Red Bulls game against Barcelona I’m with Red Bulls has I was with my team Club America on wednesday but it was a draw but a great game! S_R_C

Vicky-san,
I can PM you, but I do not have skype/Ichat. I wish you all a lot of fun. I am sure you already enjoy all this.

Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Sindy-san,
I could just be confused - your post sounds as though you are upset or sad about something. Hope everything works out for you. Have a nice weekend.

Jockzon-san, John-san and Mikuji-san,

I just re-read all the posts and just have to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you. Excellent advice.
Now I just need to switch off the computer and get back to my books.

ohh No I’m Not upset its nothing don’t worry its something always wanted to found out and finally found it but it was too much for me but I finally got an answer after two months of figuring out that’s all! thank you for caring! S_R_C

Takaseさん、

You rock! Looking forward to the reuniting of the Nagasaki Connection and the 2nd Nagasaki-ben episode!

Peterちゃん、

はっ？

Mina-san,
To explain what Vicky said: When she said she “met” some people in our community, she meant audio chat and/or video chat, email or Personal Message through the Forum. I have made a number of friends this way. Or should I say, “virtual friends”? She did not meet the people in real life!! I hope that clears it up.

You can follow Vicky’s directions to talk to her or any other member of the community or at least email or PM. Find their names in the forum. Hint: for speedier finding, go to the URL at the top and replace the number with a higher number.
Do you understand?

Also, Skype is great, free program which allows to talk to people in other countries completely free!! You can add a camera to do Video Chat. What fun! Thanks to Vicky for showing me how to do this!

I did my final Voting. Hope jppod wins!

Go Jppod!!!

Jasonさん、

Hope you are talking about 漢字。

(The technology curse of not being able to connect via iChat/Aim. Maybe Skype will work.)

We want to invite everyone to join us.
This makes our learning even richer. For example, using video Skype, one community member was able to write Kanji with magic marker on a large pad and the other community member was able to correct it!! In another case, two community members practiced the dialogue, using Audio Chat!! So, I feel these comments are appropriate here.

Lizさん、

My name was singled out, and the information was for one person:you. So, I have to disagree.

Thank you So much Katie I know it doesn’t matter because no one is indispensable in this world and if you want to know the answer lies within and here so search that’s all I can say! ohh god thanks to Dream Theater a great band that went to make a concert in tokyo two or three years ago Bundai! Listen to their songs carefully the are alot of truths there too! So you know I’m a person that loves the true and search for it and when finally I get things clear I learn more and more! Philosophy my friends that’s all! S_R_C

awesome, i was right, i didn’t understand any of that

sindy, what kind of drugs do you do when listening to death metal and dream theater?

Sindyさん: Thanks for appreciating Norwegian music

あやしい=suspicious. you heard wrong

at 1;10 in talking about yoshi she(natsuko?)says ” あたま　ほんき　だと思います” anyone want to explain that? also the male speaker around the same time (1:00) uses an (i think) onomatopoeiatic phrase to describe yoshi’s face or expression: “poka~an”. anyone care to take a stab at that? Does anyone know if in subscribing to premium you also get transcripts of the commentary? This is often more relevant and colloquial than the dialogue. Or is premium just a bonus of drills and stuff?
thanks

also at around 45 seconds at the begining the speaker says”よしは　かんぜん　に　ちぐささん　に　まけてました” does that mean”yoshi lost completely to chigusa”?

oh and if anyone is feeling bored enough to answer all these questions, at around 6:20 does the speaker , in referring to people like ryuta, use the word “uchuujin” ? meaning “space alien”?