About our Printer-friendly lesson notes
Follow along to our award winning lessons with detailed PDF Lesson
Notes! These easy to print notes take a closer look at the grammar
point and vocabulary words presented in the audio lesson. Plus,
read more about
language101 cultural topics related to the lesson.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the PDF Lesson
Notes today!
Kanji Close-Up
Take a closer look at the kanji characters used in the lesson
Dialogue with the Kanji Close Up Practice Sheets! You'll learn the
meaning, readings, and stroke order of each character. Plus,
improve your writing with kanji stroke order practice sheets!
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the Kanji Close Up
Practice Sheets today!
About our Review Audio Tracks
Listen and repeat with the Review Track. Hear the lesson
vocabulary and main phrases and repeat after the native speaker -
it's the best way to perfect your pronunciation!
Upgrade your account to access The Review Track and start
perfecting your pronunciation today!
About our Lesson Audio
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
The audio lesson is a comprehensive, easy to use lessons that
makes learning Japanese fun for anyone.
Each audio lesson contains can be downloaded in seconds
to your computer, iPod, phone, or mp3 player so that you can learn quickly and be speaking Japanese in no time at all.
The audio lesson is your ticket to learning to speak
Japanese with confidence and accuracy, and from your very first lesson!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
Don't have enough time for an entire lesson today? Listen to the
Dialogue Only Track to hear the native Dialogue. Listening to a
little bit of
Japanese everyday, no matter how much, will greatly improve your listening
comprehension. Guaranteed!
Upgrade your account to access the Dialogue Only Track and other
Premium Tools today!
About our Grammar Audio Tracks
Tackle grammar head on with the lesson Grammar List. We break
down the grammar piece by piece so you fully master the structure
and formation.
Upgrade your account to access the Grammar List and other
Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
About our Learning Center
Listen and read the line-by-line breakdown of the lesson
conversation with this Premium Tool. Listen to each line as many
times as you need until you fully understand the conversation and
pronunciation. Line-By-Line Audio Transcripts are the perfect way
to improve your comprehension - fast!
Upgrade your account to access Line-By-Line Audio Transcript and
other Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 10:27 pm 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.
41 Responses to “Intermediate Lesson #29 - Riddling Ruffians”
Friday at 10:27 pm
Mina-san, Omatase shimashita! We hope you enjoy this one! What did you think about Yoshi’s snake voice?
Have a great weekend! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Friday at 10:33 pm
There I was really looking forward to hearing the next installment of Ryuta’s story… Oh well, never mind. The last updated mukashi banashi about the poor Aibo-chan was a classic, so I’m sure this one will also be entertaining. Time to boil the kettle, settle down and have a listen…
Friday at 10:35 pm
Airth-san,
The next installment of our on-going epic is definitely something to look forward to! But I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one, too!
Friday at 11:07 pm
Well, I’m absolutely speechless! I think Yoshi-san just put in an Oscar winning performance; I’ve never heard anything like it before in my life. Bravo!
まさに抜群の演技を見せていただきました。
masani batsugun no engi wo misete itadakimashita.
Nathan-san, I wonder what you have in store for us next time. One week sure is a long time to wait.
Friday at 11:32 pm
Hi Airth-san,
Thank you! Thank you! Spank you!!!
No, yes, no, I mean thank you very much for your comment. Well, that could’t have been done without the support I got …from you listeners!
Well, I’d like to accept this award in my left hand. And I’d like to wave my right hand to my family and friends who should be watching right now… “Hi mom!” Oh my got I’m crying
Anyways, I just wanna say thank you and I love you all. And life is beautiful! Believe me!
Yeah, so, well, that’s really my dream to be a great actor, and I’m learning a lot from this also. I hope you can see me on the big screen someday in the near future. Thanks again!
JapanesePod101.love,
Yoshi
P.S. I long to see your face under the moonlight.
Saturday at 12:46 am
Yoshi-san that is priceless!
Let me be the first to congratulate you on this well deserved award. To be honest I feel quite emotional seeing you standing there at the podium, I can hardly hold back the tears.
Just be careful you don’t get swept off your feet with the flood of acting offers that are bound to come knocking at your door. And don’t forget all the wonderful talent surrounding you in the studio; where would you be without the JPod team? The question is are you going to let Peter touch the award?
P.S. I’m watching out for that spanking hand.
Saturday at 12:50 am
Folks!
I’ve found a wonderful tool. It’s called Rakaichan–it’s a plugin for Firefox that automatically defines Japanese kanji & phrases when you hover the cursor over a Japanese word. It’s great! Learning through context is the way I learn best, and I’m sure others of you out there are the same. Spread the word (though I’m sure most of you probably know about this).
Saturday at 1:07 am
Rob-san
Yes, many seasoned Japanese learners know about the fantastic power of Rikaichan - but does everybody know that you can switch it on and off at will by right clicking the mouse and activating or deactivating the Toggle function?
I find that it is better to activate it after I have had a go at understanding without it.
Yoshi-san - what a performance on the comment site !
I am looking forward to hearing you on the podcast.
mikuji
Saturday at 1:08 am
Yoshi-san!
Now I know why I am in love with you!! What a great comment! (Are you drunk, though?
)
Oh my god you are fun!!!!!
Rob-san,
So glad you mentioned rikaichan plugin for Firefox. I have just started using it for the comments, so I might be able to understand a little more now!!
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
Saturday at 1:26 am
There is even a button to have rikaichan on and off more easily (one click less) You can place it with the rest of the browser buttons. Its name is FireFoxMenuButtons
Saturday at 2:05 am
I think Yoshi is drunk again ^^
Saturday at 2:06 am
The translation of the first riddle is missing though! Peter just repeats his previous line. What is the riddle that has the answer “a frying pan”?
Saturday at 2:11 am
Oh. The PDF.
“What is a pan that is too hard to eat, even though you use it for cooking?”
That doesn’t make much sense in English. It’s a pun though, right? “pan” is katakana for the French word for bread.
Saturday at 3:02 am
I also noticed the repitition there. Luckily I caught the meaning.
Yes, it’s a riddle with a play on words. The word “pan” is bread, but also is in “furaipan” or frying pan. 面白いなぞです。
Thanks for another great lesson.
Saturday at 3:19 am
pan is not French but Spanish
Saturday at 3:32 am
It’s similar in many languages… they all have the same latin origin.
Saturday at 3:49 am
A bit too hard for me. I gathered that the old man was going to the supermarket and talked to Chiro and had a smoke and there was discussion of scary things, but most of the rest past me by. It’ll be a while before I know enough vocabulary for a serious attempt at these intermediate lessons. Going to look at the PDF now…
Saturday at 4:12 am
Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi… blah blah blah…
Liz21さん、
Please contain yourself.
Yoshiさん、
Did you just get back from one of Sindyさん’s social parties?
Saturday at 4:39 am
BTW, bread came to Japan via the Portuguese missionaries, so I’m guessing パン is from the Portuguese language, not Spanish.
Peterちゃん、
Indeed, what happened to that first riddle?
And how did なっちゃん not notice?
Saturday at 4:41 am
Yes パン is a Portugese loanword, not Spanish.
Saturday at 4:46 am
Yoshi’s OROCHI(a big snake) was amazing! It reminded me of the sound of crawling.
The riddle; First it stands on fours, next on twos, and on threes at last. What’s that?
Could you all find the answer at once? Me? I…could … not.
フライパンとそばは簡単に分かりましたよ。
最後になぞなぞをひとつ。
「世界の真ん中にいる虫はな~んだ」
Saturday at 5:10 am
蚊
Saturday at 5:33 am
I finally heard the hanashi banashi!
It was quite difficult for me since I am a Beginner. But I recognize the story. It’s like our American folk tale of Bre’r Rabbit, who says, “No, no, no! Whatever you do, DON’T throw me into that briar patch!!” And, the briar patch is just where he likes to be!
Saturday at 5:35 am
Alan-san,
Can I call you “Riddler II” from now on? Of course Riddler I exists in the film “Bat Man”.
Saturday at 5:36 am
Ah, Yoshi you forgot to say “and remember kids: Stay in school!” haha!
Saturday at 5:43 am
チロと蛇は。。。本当にバカなやつらだな。
Alanさん、蚊ですか。
Saturday at 5:46 am
Miqueさん、
We have the same kind of riddles in English too. I hope I don’t meet the same fate as Riddler I.
Saturday at 6:09 am
アランさんは悪人のリドラーではありませんから。
どこの国でも人は同じように考えるものですね。
Saturday at 7:14 am
よかった。
人の世は考え方が同じでしょう。
Saturday at 8:55 am
I have proof that Peter-san was nowhere near the studio when Natsuko-san and Yoshi-san were reading the dialogue.
We all know that it takes very little to set Peter-san off, in terms of laughing uncontrollaby
(especially with Yoshi-sa, who seems to do the best job of making Peter laugh
) There is NO WAY Peter-san could have been in the studio while Yoshi-san was doing those parts!!!
Saturday at 12:49 pm
Hi Minasan!
I forgot to say one more thing! and remember kids: stay in school yo! Well, I didn’t know about Sindy-san’s party!!! Where was I? And guys! You think I’m some kind of a drunken manster? NO! I quit drinking 10 years ago! Now I go to AA meeting every night! Even when I’m drunk!
Liz-san,

Thank you! I hope you don’t mind a drunk man.
And Mina-san else, again, thanks for your lovely comments!
I long to see all your face under the moonlight,
Yoshi
Saturday at 5:04 pm
Liz21さん、
Where is your proof?
I can believe he wasn’t in the studio when Yoshiさん was doing his dialog, but if you listen to Peterさん’s English, it certainly seems that なっちゃん is right there.
Yoshiさん、
Re: the comment about Sindy’s social parites here:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2006/08/28/survival-phrases-36-the-wheels-on-the-bus-ii/#comment-10471
It was my euphemistic way of asking, what are you smoking?
Saturday at 6:06 pm
Mina-san, thanks for all the comments! And, thanks for pointing that out. We’ll be sure to take care of that.
Yoshi, what a performance! The snake voice in the original story was also amazing! Good thing I was in the studio to watch it first hand.
For anyone thinking of approaching Yoshi, we’ll be signing him to 10 year contract Monday.
Saturday at 7:29 pm
Daniel-san,
Now I know what you all are talking about! But unfortunately I don’t smoke anything…
Peter-san,
Thanks for your comment!
Sunday at 11:04 am
Loved it! Strange stories with weird voices are two of the main reasons I started learning Japanese.
No, really. You know, Anime/Manga stories with weird talking animals, robots etc. I’ve been interested in them since kodomonokoro.
Sunday at 9:05 pm
Sorry this one at ~9:40 was not translated the edit was of the previous sentence.
いくぞう~料理に使うけどかたくて食べられないパンはとなぞかけしました。
Lets go! What kind of pan can you make food in but can’t eat? He gave as a riddled.
Monday at 1:10 pm
Wow! Yoshi played both the old man and the gangster! And so this time, Yoshi played not only Bre’r Rabbit, but Bre’r Fox as well.
And yes, the word play simply does not translate into English for the riddle.
Wednesday at 8:58 pm
Regarding the riddle in the informal track.
This is a very famous riddle in antiquity, which we from around the Mediterranean know as Oedipus’s riddle - supposedly asked by the Sphinx. Sophocles (born 495 b.c) uses it in the play Oedipus Rex, one of the most important in Ancient Greek literature and in the history theatre in general.
I’d like to know how it travelled to Japan, as it is unlikely to have originated independently. Does anyone know ?
mikuji
Tuesday at 10:59 pm
Dear Audio editor,
I think this has already been mentioned, but there is an editting problem with this file.
At time 9:10-9:15 there is an English explanation.
At time 9:30-9:35 the same explanation is repeated.
At time 9:16-9:29 there is a Japanese sentence about a riddle about a pan that is too hard to eat. There is no English translation.
Thanks
John C. Briggs
Tuesday at 6:10 am
Does anyone know if there is a transcript of the original traditional story that is the bonus audio?
Tuesday at 12:29 pm
I think a bonus track is just that: “bonus.”
Leave a Reply