Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today, two friends are talking about last night’s Azabujuban matsuri. Apparently there was yuki in the middle of summer? Tune in to find out more! Today we continue our series of revolutionary Japanese lessons geared to prepare your ears for informal Japanese speech. We also continue to look at differences between feminine and masculine Japanese. Stop by JapanesePod101.com for the bonus formal audio track, and be sure to leave us a post!
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Beginner Lessons. 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.
101 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #114 - Snow in Summer”
JapanesePod101.com says:
August 24th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Mina-san,
Today’s location is ミネソタ・Minesota - hello to all of our listeners in Minnesota, U.S.A.!
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
gillian says:
August 24th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Frist today!! But what’s up with the Learning Centre??
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
ジリアン
Liz says:
August 24th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Gillian-san!
You’re alive!! 
Haven’t heard from you lately!! 
The Learning Center works fine for me.:???: (Note the American spelling 
)
Daniel Beck says:
August 24th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Since when are you greeting entire states? Don’t you all know any cities in Minnesota? 
Michael D. Cassidy says:
August 24th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
For some reason Brits always spell things funny; they have sometype of creeping ‘r’ syndrome: theatre for therater etc
Daniel Beck says:
August 24th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Nathanさん、
Yes. I learned that in elementary school. Don’t they teach that information in Texas? 
Liz says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Eran-san,
Something has changed here. Under “Leave a Reply”, my name used to pop up, but now I have to type it. Just so you know . . .
Mina-san,
Don’t forget to vote for our Sølvi! And listen to her music, Episode 5, Round 1, under the picture. Sølvi is the third one, so you might want to download the mp3, then fast forward to about a third of the way before the end. You won’t miss anything. The other two musicians are bad.
http://www.creamofthecrop.cc/
rudyryu says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Minnesota kara Ohayou gozaimasu, minna-san!
JapanesePod101 sugoku miha ya na!!
Watakushi no namae wa Ryuu desu. JapanesePod101.com atarashii membaa desu. Jibun de Juu-go nen mae kara nihongo o benkyou shite iru no desu. Sankagetsu Ousaka ni sunde imashita.
Shuushin wa Minneapolis de, Minnesota no machi ga ooi nan’ no. Demo koko ni wa motto ooi yori no ga mizuumi desu! Mou 10,000 mizuumi soo desu.
Kono web site wa nihongo o benkyou narau tame ni hontou ni subarashii desu yo. Erai ya na!
Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu!
JapanesePod101.com gambatte kudasai!!
-Ryuu
psycho013 says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
I’m glad to hear these informal conversations. One question, though: I was sort of expecting the guys to use “sugei” instead of “sugoi” in their version of the dialogue. I see this in movies and tv a lot, and it’s usually just the boys. Too slangy for Japanese Pod 101, or am I misunderstanding something?
Mark says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
Hi Mina-san, hope everyone has a great day. 
So, informal lessons now? Gotta go back and listen to all the informal tracks that I missed out on before.
Liz-san, are you on a different computer? Or did you erase cookies? That might explain why the form fields were not prefilled.
Nathan-san, I guess Ryuu-san answered that question.
Welcome Ryuu-san, good introduction!
Sølvi says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Yeah, Lizさん, beware before you become the new cookie monster… 
rudyryu says:
August 24th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Thank you!
This is a waaaay cool site.
I am very impressed.
Why didn’t we have this 10 years ago?
I think it would be awesome to have this model for all languages, like Spanish, Chinese, Arabic….
I hope JapanesePod101 keeps on going!
Rei-kun says:
August 25th, 2006 at 1:21 am
whoa! Ryuu-san, anata no website wa sugoku kakkoii desu ne!
on another note, anyone know how to create “User defined functions” in a SQL database? i’ve tried searching for stuff but i’m approaching a plateau on my progress. kanashii T.T
JPod101 crew, doumo arigatou! atarashii no lesson wa omoshiroi desu yo!
Mark says:
August 25th, 2006 at 2:01 am
Rei-kun,
This is a little out of my area, but I’ll link to an article that could be of help. I’m not sure if the syntax for UDFs in SQL vary by SQL product (i.e. MS SQL, Oracle, DB2, etc.).
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=31673&seqNum=1&rl=1
Alan says:
August 25th, 2006 at 2:09 am
That was very useful. I didn’t realise that guys could use ‘no’ in questions. I’m really looking forward to the next lesson
@rudyryo-san: There is a chinesepod website.
@psycho13-san: After yesterdays posts, I was expecting a change in pronunciation for sugoi too. However if ’sugoi’ works for Yoshi-san, then who am I to argue.
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:01 am
Interesting Kanji here
戌年 いぬどし
surprising that it is not
犬年 dog year.
Japanse always seems logical, and then something like this happens.
ジョン
Alan says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:15 am
@John Briggs-san.
The zodiac animal kanji are all different from the regular kanji:
十二支 = The twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac
子 = ne(zumi) = the Rat, the first of the twelve animals of the zodiac.
丑 = ushi = the Ox, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
寅 = tora = the Tiger, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
卯 = u(sagi) = rabbit = the Rabbit [Hare], one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
辰 = tatsu = the Dragon, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
巳 = mi = hebi? = the Snake, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
午 = uma = the Horse, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
羊 = hitsuji = the Ram, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
申 = saru = the Monkey, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
酉 = tori = the Cock [Rooster], one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
戌 = inu = the Dog, one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
亥 = i(noshishi) = the Boar, as the last of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.
Vicky says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:46 am
Alan-san, I’m tora. Any good sign from that animal? Hope it’s a better than Noodles story.
Jason says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:47 am
The other two musicians are bad.
ひどいなあ。
Johnさん, if you look at them closely, it looks very much like 犬 could be simplified version of 戌. I don’t know that for sure though.
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:01 am
Vickyさん、
Tiger people are sensitive, given to deep thinking, capable of great sympathy. They can be extremely short-tempered, however. Other people have great respect for them, but sometimes tiger people come into conflict with older people or those in authority. sometimes Tiger people cannot make up their minds, which can result in a poor, hasty decision or a sound decision arrived at too late. They are suspicious of others, but they are courageous and powerful. Tigers are most compatible with Horses, Dragons, and Dogs
John
Rei-kun says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:17 am
three things.
shouldn’t the horse kanji be (馬)?
Can someone explain how (戌) or (犬) came to represent dog? unlike most Kanji’s this doesn’t seem to make sense. @.@
~Mark-san
arigatou gozaimasu!
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:44 am
Was it just me, or did Chigusaさん sound like she was in a hurry in both languages? Did she have a flight to catch after the recording? Or does it come from talking a lot with a NYer?
Talking a which:
Peterちゃん、
What is a “yuge float”?
psycho013さん、
Yeah, すげい is pretty darn informal. There was a discussion of this on yesterday’s thread. And since we’re on this topic, we can add ウメー for the very slangy form of delicious.
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:46 am
Lizさん、
I have to disagree with you about Cream of the Crop Episode 5. I thought the other two acts had good production values and catchy tunes. Not my taste, but I don’t think your assessment is fair.
But, more to the point, I think it goes against the spirit of the show to encouage people to vote without listening to each artist. And, it weakens the integrity of this community, IMHO. And, I would guess that Sølviちゃん would rather win because her music was liked than because a bunch of Cookie Monsters™ went on a binge.
So, that said, I think Sølvi was the best of the three. And I encouage people to listen to all three, and then vote; once a day preferably.
Sorry for preaching. I’ll step down from my soapbox now. 
Belton says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:49 am
rei-kun
According to my dictionary its a “stylised derivitive of a pictograph showing a dog with pointed ears standing on it’s hind legs barking” !!!
There was a picture of the original pictograph. There’s a LOT of simplification going on. Probably because it might have been used a lot.
It is interesting that it’s not derived from 人 （ひと） 大 （だい）although it looks as though it is. It’s a radical in it’s own right. 犭 -> けものへん symbolising beast. seen in another kanji for dog 狗 which is the one I see used by Chinese.
I’ve no idea why the zodiac symbols are so different from the ones in general use. 午 looks too much like 牛cow but it’s noon, probably once the hour of the horse.
JockZon says:
August 25th, 2006 at 4:57 am
Ratto-sama… I agree with you, however, the other two artist obviously do the same thing and then I think it is ok for us to help sölvi and vote many times. As I see it, you could ask for votes but of course should the voters be able to choose on whom the should vote.
I haven’t listened to lesson yet but I will later…. Ciao
Belton says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:02 am
Daniel-san
vis voting
I tend to agree with you. Has anyone looked at the other contest? it had only 1/10 the total amount of votes of the Sølviさん one. I think we’re driving a lot of traffic there.
And you’re right about integrity. There was a web vote on a national radio show here in UK that an interest group “hijacked” that led to a minor scandal. OK a better mechanism other than cookies should be in place, but maybe it’s best to stick to the spirit of things.
I am in favor of supporting friends and members of our group and I hope Sølviさん wins… but you know what I mean?
Also apoligise for straying a bit off topic. gomen.
oh and Danielさん we use さん here apparently as someone keeps reminding us!
Vicky says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:34 am
Mina-san, I understand both side of you guy’s opinion. I think we are trying to show our support to Solvi-san own our ways. And, I’m sure Solvi-san knows and saw that she got our full support. Let’s not talk about Voting anymore. It doesn’t mean we are stop voiting for her. It goes until September 1st, so it’s a long way to go. Just do your ways to support her until then, please?
Daniel-san = Ratto-sama, I like this new name.
I haven’t eat any cookies yet, and you called me the Cookie Monster™. If your postcast becomes voting issue, I will eat all kinds of Cookies to support your site as well regarless you like me to eat cookies or not. That’s how we are….supporting each other.
John C. Briggs-san, thank you for tora information. I noticed that I do deep thinking everytime I’m posting here. I guess it’s coming from one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac????
As the lesson goes, everyday passes by I need more time to study than before. It’s good that I’m into it also it’s bad that I’m running out of time and it’s killing my sleeping hours.
Love you all, and be good! 
katie says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:35 am
My sign is the dog
which means Vicky and I should get along well!
Chirstmas Cake and New Years Noodles….I think that sounds like one delicious dish!
Vicky says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:39 am
Katie-san!!! Don’t forget, I’m New Years SPICY Noodles!!! Which means, it’s a better than regular.
I saw email from Mixi, haven’t read your comment yet, but I didn’t like the title you left. You shouldn’t feel that way. I promise you, you will be okay.
Smile Katie-san!
Liz says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Millions of New Yorkers say “yuge”!! Shall we tell them all they are wrong? Let’s take it easy on Peter.
And, in regard to listening to Sølvi’s competitors, I did not mean to discourage listening to them. What I mean to say is that I did listen to them and I thought their music was very run-of-the-mill, unlike Sølvi’s, which is very original, so people could save time and get to the good stuff!
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:48 am
Beltonさん
Yes, I think 12:00pm is the hour of the horse.
There is an exercise discussing this exact point in Japanese For Busy People. The details escape me right now.
The general idea is that there are 24 hours in a day and 12 animals in the Zodiac. So the first animal represents 12:00am-1:59am, and the second animal represents 2:00am-3:59am. and so on.
Interesting stuff. I will see if I can look this up when I get home.
じゃ また
ジョン
sean somers says:
August 25th, 2006 at 7:10 am
japanesepod101 team,
Thank you very much for specifically addressing the ‘no’ issue in this lesson! Your attention to these small details of usage, as questions arising from your listener base, is really the mark of an attentive, interactive PodCast. I always appreciate getting the verdict from a native speaker’s mouth.
Much obliged to your considerate heedfulness.
Michael D. Cassidy says:
August 25th, 2006 at 7:41 am
These last two lessons have been fun; I’m still digesting them.
I never learned any informal 30 years ago; it was in the text book but we crossed it out and wrote whole ‘mus’ senetneces in their place.
I’m on vacation next week so you guys need to vote keep the voting up for Solvi!
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 7:42 am
JockZonさん、
Who is Ratto-sama? はっ？ I think he only exists on IM, like Little Man. Let’s leave them there.
Oh, just to keep the facts straight, the others’ votes did not escalate until after “ours” did.
Lizさん、
I have no problem with your opinion about the artists. I just think it’s not fair to vote (especially in a cookie-eating binge) w/o having listened.
Oh, shall we tell NYers they pronounce “huge” wrong? By all means! I think you think Peterちゃん is a lot more sensitive than he is. 心配（しんぱい）なく。
Belton様、
Thank you for the reminder about using さん. Duly noted.
Vicky says:
August 25th, 2006 at 8:06 am
Daniel-san, you are wrong. I was there when the # got eaten up. That’s right I came for alert sign. I’m on my vacation this weekend too. Please take care of Solvi-san’s voting!!! (/ ™)
Will you guys miss me? 
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 8:14 am
No Our Vickyちゃん、
I’m not wrong. I followed the early voting pretty well.
But, that’s enough of that here. Let’s get back to 日本語。
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Beltonさん、
Here is the Chinese Zodiac information
Hour of the Rat: 11pm-1am
Hour of the Ox: 1am-3am
Hour of the Tiger: 3am-5am
Hour of the Rabbit: 5am-7am
Hour of the Dragon: 7am-9am
Hour of the Snake: 9am-11am
Hour of the Horse: 11am-1pm
Hour of the Goat: 1pm-3pm
Hour of the Monkey: 3pm-5pm
Hour of the Rooster: 5pm-7pm
Hour of the Dog: 7pm-9pm
Hour of the Pig: 9pm-11pm
So 午 as in 午後 actually means after the hour of the horse. Or afternoon.
Thanks
John C. Briiggs
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:07 am
みんなさん,
Now we all love Peter. In fact we love him enough to tell him to get his act together and say huge rather than yuge. This is a form of “tough love” but if we persist, we can save him.
I myself am from Boston, and when I was young, the accent was very thick and often confusing to people outside of the area. Will time and effort, I put the “R’s” back where they should be.
Peter is trying to teach us Standard Japanese 標準語 ひょうじゅんご, so he should be using Standard English. Just because most Americans can decode a NY accent, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t confuse some JPod listeneｒｓ.
So. Peterさん practice
hyooj
slowly please
hyyyooooj
and one time fast
hyooj
very, very nice.
じゃ また
ジョン
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Well, In the interest of complete disclosure. The following is from Dictionary.com
huge /hyudʒ or, often, yudʒ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hyooj or, often, yooj]
Sindy says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:52 am
I’m rat子 = ne(zumi) = the Rat, the first of the twelve animals of the zodiac. So I don’t know with who I get along but with Katie and Liz have get along very well so I guess rat gets along with dog now what we need to know is what’s Liz-san, Peter-san, Yoshi-san, Chigusa-san, Sakura-san, JP101-san, Jason-san, Daniel-san, Rei-kun, John C briggs, Alan, Sean Somers, Michael D Cassidy, locomode, solvi, Vicky-san etc because I like them very well they seem really interest and nice people!
ohh well now that locomode gave me an idea here is my introduction about my self!
Hello Mina-san I’m Sindy Rodriguez, I’m 22 years old, I’m from Mexico City and I live in New York City Brooklyn!
I have six e-mail accounts, Mobile and a home telephone!
I found JP101 by my brother Luis one day I tell him if I could barrow his ipod and when I turn it on I was looking at all the podcast and I found JP101 first lesson downloaded in his ipod the first lesson was about introducing ourselfs and how we say I’m from america in Japanese that’s when I hear Sakura-san and Peter-san voice for the fist time I thought they had a radio show but then later on I found they make podcast and when they gave the website (http://www.Japanespod101.com) I decided to check it and guess what the lesson I found when I open was the world cup lesson and that’s when all begins and all you know from now (misunderstoods, bad comments, angryness, madness, fearness, shocks, have fun, cryness, sadness, happyness, likeness, dislikeness, etc all this feeling Jp 101 has made feel in almost three months and I thank them so much and to mina-san for making me understand that I was wrong and that what I say hurt me and other people so now I would show my self has I’m truly are and not has i wanted or pretended to be just because I was jealous Yes that was the true I was jealous of Vicky-san but now I understood that is not good to have those feeling for people I don’t know but anyway I came here to learn Japanese that is my major dream and travel to Japan someday and meet the JP101 staff and that hot people Japan has I also have Japanese friends and they have teach me alot I love them and Japan forever and if things come well I plan to move from New York City and live in Tokyo until my lasts days of my life and I’m really working harder to make my wish come true! When I died I will incinerate my self and divided my ashes into three parts USA, Mexico and Japan! because that’s were I belong well I have say alot of me and if you like me or not I still invite you to be my friend by IM me, Calling me, e-mailing me, which ever you prefer to communicate your welcome aboard because I don’t descriminate I’m a very friendly and nice people I just made the wrong impression of me! You decide my friends S_R_C
e-mail: Sakuraeagle84@hotmail.com
mobile: 347 743-7674
Instant message: Shaoraneagle84@aol.com
Max says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Don’t forget that the new year begins at a different time each year, usually around February. So if you were born in January or early February, you might not belong to the animal that is next to your year.
For example, I was born in January so I belong to the Chinese year before the physical year in which I was born.
JockZon says:
August 25th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Daniel-san, I followed the voting when you didn’t even know that it existed. I can’t say that it is our fault that it went like this.
JockZon says:
August 25th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Btw, sindy, you shouldn’t give out you phone # just like that.
Alan says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
@sean-san
I foolishly decided to translate that.
My effort: ‘In the middle of the sea’s exquisite cloud, undulates the firefly squid.’
I’ve got so far to go (sigh). ’sea’ and ‘cloud’, I really ought to know. Squid was tricky as it’s literally ‘crow bandit’, but was mentioned as a special reading. I wasn’t too happy with ‘firefly’ in a sea setting either, but my electronic dictionary turned up ‘firefly squid’ (watasenia scintillans). I guess this is one of the pretty ones with scintillating colours. I saw a tv program on these once.
Anyway, this seems a touch off-topic. Did you just have a wild urge to post that for no reason
Alan
Alan says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Thinking about ’squid’ being ‘crow bandit’ is too ‘Osaka’-like for comfort. I’ll be looking for bubbles in my eyes next.
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
John C Briggsさん、
Loved your post on “tough love for Peterちゃん。
Yeah, let’s save Peter!!! The Save Peter Campaign™ 2006.
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Sindyさん、
Please keep your self-incineration plans to yourself.
Belton says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
On what zodiac year you were born in.
Which do the Japanese follow since they moved New Year to sync with western calender? Do people still follow the old lunar calender for this?
Also do they have the system of further ascribing elements to the animals. for instance I’m a wood snake. (and I remember fire horse women were seen as very bad news! feisty. )
on accents.
Peter has a very mild accent, more a bit of a twang.( I have relatives whoose accent I can’t understand at all in English) I like accents. I like the way foriegners speak English and find it a little odd when they have American accents (except when the foriegner is American ). English can cope with a lot of varience in accent.
And as we keep on talking about English (not American) shouldn’t the gold standard be received pronunciation ?
Can we get Peter to speak the Queens English?
(Before the flames start I’m Irish, we have our own style of English again. )
Peter says:
August 25th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Briggs-san, now that’s funny! But everybody outside Boston knows the “h ” is silent.
Perhaps I should throw out the My Cousin Vinny DVD I use to keep my accent sharp.
Alan says:
August 25th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
@Sindy-san,
I guess the direct approach (like the self-introduction) works for speed-dating, where you haven’t got time to mess about, but usually friendship builds up more slowly. In the online world it works better to join an existing topic of conversation, providing information when you know the answer, or adding queries when you don’t, all in a relaxed and non-confrontational manner. If you come across as interesting and helpful, people will ask about you, at which point you can provide more personal information. Communication is a skill, it grows with practice. Good luck
Daniel Beck says:
August 25th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Peterちゃん、
No no no. My Cousin Vinny is off limits to you! Remember, we have started the Save Peter Campaign™ 2006. We don’t need to have you saying “yutes” on JP101.
“Now Mrs Riley, and OOONNNLYY Mrs. Riley, how many fingers am I holding up?”
Man, what a great movie!
Vicky says:
August 25th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
i-yah you guys!!! Don’t be so tough on Peter-san please. I have yyyuuuuge accent, and everybody makes fun of me. But the end, everybody wants to talk like me. Accent is personality it makes us different and unique things to have. That’s who we are…..
I used to be bothered about my accent and always wish that I speak a good English, but now I am happy that I have an accent. It makes me I’m special.
So who cares!! ( like yoshi-san) Gambatte Peter-san, I’m yyyyuuuuge a fan of jppod anyways.
Sølvi says:
August 25th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
皆さん、
今日、引越しする。未だ、新しいアパートはインターネットが有らない。
That doesn’t mean I’ll be away from the site, I just won’t be able to read or write Japanese characters on the computers at school.
About the voting:
Thanks a lot for all your votes and nice words about my music! It really means a lot to me. But, I don’t want you to spend so much energy voting. Whoever wins the contest is going to win because his or her fans have the biggest stomachs and can eat the most cookies… You know what I mean. And I don’t want to be that person. The comments on the site, though, they’re priceless! Where have you read about Norwegian polar bears? I’ve never seen any… 
Maybe on Svalbard, though, but that’s more like… Hawaii. Islands far away. I see mooses all the time, though. They’re beautiful and scary at the same time, walking around in our gardens…
John C. Briggs says:
August 25th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
OK, sure, accents are charming… until people cannot understand what you are saying. Then the fun is over.
When I realized people could not understand me (and I have trouble spelling words that I have been mispronouncing), then I took action.
I know the Boston accents are thick when I have to translate what the locals are saying to people from out of town.
katie says:
August 25th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
I used to live in Providence, Rhode Island and I have one word when it comes to the discussion of accents….and its CRANSTON
Valentine says:
August 25th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
Hi all Gomen ne for intrusion, just wanted to let you all know I absolutely enjoy the lessons and the comments here, you’re all so well-informed and writing informative things
Belton says:
August 25th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Briggs-san
Charming accents.
I can remember a school inspector getting annoyed at me because (like a lot of Dublin people I pronouce th as t ) And I also remember a family friend (moderately famous oscar winning actor ) getting really wound up by me doing this. I was only a kid!
But then I get exasperated when a Japanese friend complained why couldn’t I speak in an American accent so she could understand me better.
If I could do that I could be an actor.
What’s my point? Mostly people can’t help their accents. and I prefer the richness. I’d hate it if we all spoke like 1950s BBC radio presenters. You just have to take the time to tune in usually. That’s when the fun starts to begin.
Michael D. Cassidy says:
August 25th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Belton where in Ireland? My grandmother was born in Monaghan.
I was there two years ago; I also ‘toured’ Belfast.
Sølvi says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
About accents: I’ve moved a bit inside Norway, and my dialect is totally messed up as a result. I’ve had to modify it to make people understand what I’m saying, but now I’m really sad because I can no longer speak the way I used to, and people from my home town think I’m not proud of where I come from anymore. But I guess it’s just a thing that has to happen, I can’t expect everybody to understand my old dialect… I just wish I could still remember how to speak it.
Hugo says:
August 25th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
It is true the accent issue some times can be a problem to understand a conversation, but I think the same thing what Belton-san I prefer the richness in the lenguaje to.
Peterさん, you have all my support!
John C. Briggs says:
August 26th, 2006 at 12:13 am
OK,OK.
I never have trouble understanding Peter, so the accent is charming. But if it were bad enough that I could not understand him, the charm would be gone.
locomote says:
August 26th, 2006 at 12:42 am
I’m with sean - thanks for the の hints. I keep hearing that の is feminine and I’m trying to wean myself out of feminine speech as much as I can. As, I think it was Peter (is it not weird for anyone else to refer to gaijin as “san” while you’re speaking English…speaking Japanese, ok…Japanese people, ok - but other gaijin? Is there anyone who gets offended if it’s left off?) who said, it’s kinda natural for a gaijin guy to start off with a bit of a girly sound.
I just watch a lot of manga/Sarariman Kintaro — plenty of masculinity to go around.
But the の always seemed to fit for an informal question. I’m glad to hear that it’s ok for a guy…just feels right for some reason. Thanks!
Nate says:
August 26th, 2006 at 1:38 am
Chigusa-san,
I just love listening to your voice. Arigatou gozaimasu for letting us listen to it more often.
ネイト
Belton says:
August 26th, 2006 at 2:07 am
@Cassidy san
I’m from Dublin. Lived in Cork for a while in my teens. Been in London now for quite a while. As a result my accent is a bit mixed up.
@locomote-san
The matter of us using san.
At worst it’s an affectation. It also could be like the “cargo -cult” goings on I see at the local Aikido club. But I think we choose to do it because it’s the sort of thing we do in Japanese class to reinforce that it’s something you should do when speaking to Japanese. It’s no worse than us dropping in Japanese words or complete Japanese sentences when we have perfectly adaquate English in common. It’s all part of the game we choose to play and the roles we’ve chosen to adopt.
I like to think it’s one of those things that makes this site a nice place without people being abusive or flaming. No-one is offended if it’s left out. That’s a bit of a joke with Daniel-san. I quite like it that I’m know as Robaato-san to my various friends I’ve made through studying Japanese. (even my deaf nephew’s sign name for me is Japan-guy !! )
But it’s
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