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December 5th, 2006 | help Need help?

Learn intermediate Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today, Yoshi has aged quite a bit, but he’s still just as much the romantic as always. Join Yoshi as he makes a visit to the ryokou gaisha, or travel agency, to book a special trip. Tune in to find out more! And after listening, make sure to stop by JapanesePod101.com to pick up the bonus track! Today’s grammar point is shika nai - a construction you’ll need if you plan on being THE HIGHLANDER!

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Voice Actors: Chigusa, Yoshi | Hosts:
Category: Lower Intermediate Lessons |
Grammar: | Politeness Level:
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 6:40 pm and is filed under Lower Intermediate 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.

48 Responses to “Lower Intermediate Lesson #5 - Second Honeymoon”

avatar JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san,

Mina-san, today’s location is 地盤・jiban - hello to all of our listeners on… the ground (it was shaking while we were in the studio)!

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

avatar John C. Briggs says:

Bonus Track listeners, I puzzled over this one, so let me put the kanji here for you. 遺灰.
ジョン

avatar John C. Briggs says:

I have heard other explanations for the grammar point. しか can be thought of as “but” or “only”. It can be used as an emphasizing word in a in sentences with numbers. Compare:
There were as many as ten people
 十人もいました。
There were ten people.
十人がいました。
There were as few as ten people
十人しかいませんでした。
So in each case there are the same number of people. But in the first case it seems to be an unexpectedly large number (も) and in the last case it was an unexpectedly small number (しか).
また ね
ジョン
P.S. Jasonさん’s corrections might soon follow.

avatar Charley says:

遺灰 いはい was a tough word. It’s not in any of my dictionaries. I’m guessing that it means “ashes”, since the first character sort of feels like “precious”/”bequeath” and the second like “ashes”/”cremate”. I did find 位牌 a sort of memorial plaque. I see in the pdf that that isn’t that one that he said.

I think it is very sweet that he’d take her ashes with him on a 50th anniversary visit to the place that they honeymooned!

avatar John C. Briggs says:

I can’t find 遺灰 either. It is notably absent from the JPOD dictionary!!!
ジョン

avatar John C. Briggs says:

cremated ashes

avatar Claudenir says:

Hello, mina-san,
As always, these lessons really make us like we can learn anything! It’s a awesome job.
By the way, I was wandering through the archive and I saw some months ago, a calling for Brazilian listeners. I was away in the time it was made, but I would like to be at your disposal. I would like to make anything I can for the JapanesePod101.com. Well, till next time!

Claudenir

avatar Bjorn says:

Hi guys,

as far as I know Atami is on the Izu peninsula, even though it is located quite up north. It’s often the last stop on the Tokaido line, so it’s quite easy to get there from Tokyo.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Atami,+Japan&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=9&ll=35.200745,139.402771&spn=1.501418,3.47168

よろしくお願いします、

ビヨン

avatar rdesiree says:

ただいま!I don’t know if this is the right place to put it, but, anyhow…
flew to Rome for the JLPT4. Lots of thanks to everybody who patiently answered my bunch of stupid grammar questions in the forum, (particularly Bueller and Jason, thanksthanksthanks :lol: ), without you I would never have made it.

I tried lots of past years tests, and there were no surprises in the 1st and 3rd part of the JLPT. For the listening section, I had only rather bad-quality recordings of last tests and didn’t understand much on those, and thought I had to make it without points from the listening part. Surprise at the real test: hey, I understand what they’re talking about! Very very nice feeling.

Weak points?
Obviously: I don’t take japanese courses and didn’t even bother to buy books because there is so much stuff on the web and in the learning center here. I just stumbled upon jpod last may, to learn a new language.
So, of course, verb forms are a problem: you need to drill those, which I didn’t until when cramming. It was Ok for the test but remains definitively a weak point.
Maybe some stupid program to rehearse those forms would be cute in the learning center.
The grammar bank is fine, but some entries labeled as JLPT3 are actually level 4. More extensive explanations for the constructions would be better, but I guess everybody else here has some actual real teacher to give those… (but luckily there are our grammar gurus here :mrgreen: to help me).

But I think the real achievement of jpod is NOT to get all of us safely through the JLPT (though, just for extra-safety, keep your fingers crossed :wink: ).
It is rather that people like myself, who were not in particular thinking of learning japanese, get interested in the language, but also the culture, the people, life “there”. Independently of how much japanese they will know later on, they will know about other cultures, other people and maybe bring that knowledge even to others. That is far more difficult to achieve. I tried even the test, but so many more people here will just listen in on the podcasts, maybe never post but still have fun, get to know some little (or big) piece of japan. That’s really great :razz:

Oh yeah… did I mention I got a whole bunch of level 3 study material from a guy next door at the JLPT :mrgreen:

avatar John C. Briggs says:

rdesireeさん,
Thanks for your detailed report on your experiences at JLPT exam. Like you, I am studying on my own without a sensei.
じゃ また
ジョン

avatar rdesiree says:

:razz: Hey John, that’s so nice - then I don’t need to feel lonely :smile:

avatar Sindy says:

:twisted: RE: That being said, I too would love to see something on 二級.
BTW, some of us are not counting their chickens before they hatch. Waiting for March.

:evil: We aren’t chickens waiting to hatch ok so don’t call us animals, we are human beings like everyone else! so watch your words! Don’t provoce me and make me say your truths to you too! :lol: S_R_C

avatar sean somers says:

Is it necessary for the ojisan’s English bit to be spoken with a bizarre fake accent? Just plain delivery is fine.

avatar JockZon (JZ) says:

Tadaima. I am back from my abscence. I have not really been gone though, just lying low and watching you all comment :cool: Excellent lesson, but I don’t really get it. Some more examples would be nice. In addition, I would like to know why “hyakunin shika hito” was used and not only “hyakunin shika”?

Jya, mata.

avatar Liz says:

JockZon-san,
Okaeri! Ohisashi buri desu!

avatar ヴィッキ says:

John C. Briggs-san, don’t forget to wear the special glasses I gave you. It works pretty well sometimes. Especially today’s comment. :wink:

Here is 6 pm badly checking today’s lesson. Can’t wait. How we are going to live without jppod eh??? :mrgreen:

avatar Sølvi says:

Vickyさん、 I could use some glasses too…

avatar Daniel Beck says:

Seanさん、

I think you may have hurt some feelings with that one. :wink:

I have to agree though. It was more distracting than entertaining.

avatar JockZon (JZ) says:

Tokorode, nice Sean Connery impression :twisted:

avatar Alain says:

Google is your friend
Pour ihai 遺灰, on trouve par exemple:
遺灰ダイアモンド which seems to be a diamond made with your loved one’s ashes. It can also be your pet’s ashes!

http://www.ihai-diamond.com/

avatar Dan R says:

I’m with Sean and Daniel B on this one - the put on voices didn’t really add anything.

The function of the English is simply to help understand the language, it is not part of the performance that makes the Japanese bit so fun.

Given that some people here are learning a language through the medium of one that isn’t their own, I think the English should be as straight forward as it can be.

avatar JockZon (JZ) says:

Dan R, Sean and Daniel B >> I could agree at some people may consider the accent annoying. I must say though that as a non native english speaker, it wasn’t harder nor easier to understand.

We shouldn’t get too angry with them becaue it was only this once there was an accent.

avatar Alain says:

No problem with the accent, it’s part of the show!
I wouldn’t again get some boring university style japanese lessons .

avatar Troy says:

I’m with you guys. Too bad it wasn’t Peter giving the native English speaking voices. The fake accents were overly distracting. Hopefully Peter doesn’t miss any more. :(

avatar John C. Briggs says:

Here is my two cents worth.
Accents are fine and wonderful (Japanese or Engrish), but only to the point were it is difficult to hear what people are saying. I think the accent in question was getting close to being difficult to understand. I think that is why people objected. There is a previous show where Peterさん trys to do a voice of an old man or old woman. It was difficult to understand, and therefore I think it is more of a problem.
Whatever the accent, it needs to be clear.
In a similar sense, I find Natsukoさん’s and Sakuraさん’s voices too similar to be used in a skit together. I cannot tell them apart easily. Therefore I prefer them to be matched with other voice actors. Of course, Yoshiさん has such a range, it is easy to separate him from the other voices.
Please don’t get me wrong, I love both Natsukoさん’s and Sakuraさん’s voices. I just don’t like them paired together.
じゃ また
ジョン

avatar Sindy says:

:lol: ヴィッキ with or with out your glasses no one can win with my truths ok! :cool: :mrgreen:

Solvi-san you don’t need Vicky-san glasses ok your fine! :wink:

Alain-san I agree with you google is our friend but only until certain point ok so don’t get confident! :wink: S_R_C

avatar ヴィッキ says:

For me, I was confused with Nathan-san playing 2 different voices. I had to double think that, wait it was English or Japanese. Sometimes when you understand different languages, you get confused which one was which. :roll:

I think we are so used to hear Peter-san’s structure so it gets confused when it changes made.

Peter-san, stick with us!!! :mrgreen:

PS. Solvi-san, when you become a target, I will pass that glasses to you. Right now, let’s John-san has it. He is on target right now. LOL.

avatar Sindy says:

I will NEVER target Solvi-san, you ( ヴィッキ) or other listeners. I can see and recognize the real good listeners of JP101 that are worth it and I’m proud of them too ok! :wink:

I’m not blind and if you keep supporting the non good listeners by sharing your glasses, they will always be fake and will never get to see the truth (reality)! :grin: S_R_C

PS: Its your choice ヴィッキ, so do what ever your heart tells you to do ok! :wink:

avatar ヴィッキ says:

:cool:

avatar João Paulo says:

Hello everybody.

Is anybody having the same problem???

When the transcripts come in Kana, my iPod hasn’t been able to recognize it. It all comes in some strange symbols. I use a Mac computer and have no problems with Kanas nor Kanjis. I don’t know what is wrong.

Is this just with me??? Is there any way of fixing it up???

Thanx

avatar Daniel Beck says:

Our Vickyちゃん™!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

avatar Sindy says:

:wink: I can make a list of all the great real good listeners of JP101 that are worth it and I’m proud of them! but its too large to post here! :smile:

You should know who you are if not I’ll tell you ok! :grin:
Thanks! :wink:

PS: JP101 staff have also great people out there worth it too! :mrgreen: S_R_C

avatar Jason says:

P.S. Jasonさん’s corrections might soon follow.

Nope. No corrections here.

Is anybody having the same problem???

What kind of ipod do you have and how old is it? I have a 1st generation Nano, and it displays kana and kanji just fine.

avatar João Paulo says:

Jason-san

I use the video iPod (the 5th generation). The problem is that my iTunes has also shown the same strange symbols.

I’ll copy bellow what appears when I select the “lyrics” lable:

Kana:
≠Ä≠ñ≠¢≠ñ™F≠¢≠ç≠Á≠µ≠á≠¢≠Ü≠’™B
≠«≠á≠–™F≠ç≠¢≠°≠Â≠í≠∏≠µ≠Ì≠¯≠Á≠±≠ñ≠T≠O≠Ë≠ñ≠«≠Ë≠ñ≠Ñ≠Å™B≠Â≠Ü≠Æ≠¢≠Á≠µ≠å≠É≠µ≠ñ≠±≠ñ≠è≠å≠±≠€≠Æ≠¨≠È≠¶≠Æ≠±≠ë≠Ö≠à≠€≠¢≠¿≠Ç≠¢≠«≠∏≠¢≠ñ≠Å≠·™B

It’s really strange because I didn’t have this problem before.

I’m using the latest version of iTunes. I think this is when it all started. But anyway, in other programs, when kana is used to introduce words that are translated, they appear normally.

Example:
Vocabulary・Goi・ごい・語彙:
Hisashiburi・ひさしぶり・久しぶり – Long time no see, It’s been a long time since…,
Hisabisa・ひさびさ・久々 – Been a while!

Any clue about what is going on???

Thanks for your help

avatar Jason says:

I just checked in iTunes myself, and I have the same problem. Some show up fine and some are just garbage characters. For example, Lower intermediate 5 is gibberish, but JCC 29 is fine. For some reason, it seems the characters weren’t encoded properly when they were entered into certain files.

avatar João Paulo says:

Jason-san

The problem is not just me then. Anyway, thanks for helping me out.

Yorishiku onegaishimasu!!!

avatar mikuji says:

For all its worth, I am not a native English speaker but I found the accents extremely clear :shock: although I do not consider them necessary.

rdesiree-san et al,

I do not have a teacher either, never had, and I think if I did ever have one I would now have a very clear idea of what I want to learn and how ambitious I should be to learn the language to a high level of comprehension and use.

Thanks JPOD101 for making me this bold!

So many times we come across books and sites that discourage the learner with ‘Japanese is difficult, don’t even think of learning the writing etc..’ Thank you for giving me the confidence to go on learning and learning and learning…

I had doubts when the informal language was presented at first but what a great idea! I can now understand a great deal of DVD in original language when they speak of ordinary subjects (some anime are too specialised for ordinary comprehension) and I am starting to learn from TV shows directly (watched on Youtube - search for dorama).

Half a year with JPOD101 and I jumped several levels of ordinary classes.

Thank you! :grin:

mikuji

avatar marky says:

i agree about the accents on this one. they were a tad distracting…

as for Atami (熱海), i was excited to hear it mentioned in this Podcast. i’ll be staying in a Ryokan in Atami for Christmas! woo-hoo! 楽しみだぜ!(笑)

マーキー

avatar Lambrix says:

While I have to admit I enjoyed the Sean Connery-ish English for this lesson, overall I don’t like the fake accents and prefer the straight English. It helps me trying to listen to the nuances in the Japanese instead of relying on the English, even though my Japanese comprehension if very poor.

avatar EvilTeaCup says:

I found the accents humorous. Although I agree it should not be used everytime, it makes it feel like the Jpop cast enjoys themselves. Work such as that, always feels more refreshing than the “serious and professionial approach” That is not to say Jpop is not professional or serious, just not as uptight has everyone else.

avatar Tim says:

Hi all,
I’m new to the site. I’m really enjoying all jpod has to offer. The podcasts fit perfectly into my commute time to work and they are so much fun to listen to. I have a question/comment on this lesson. In the dialog, the phrase
一枚もございません was translated as “there is only one ticket”. My understanding of this is that with も the translation is “not even one ticket”.
Just looking for clarification.
Back to studying!

avatar John C. Briggs says:

Timさん,
Let me give this a try.
いちまい is one ticket
も is more than
ございません is like ありません and means doesn’t exist.
So
one ticket, more than, doesn’t exist.
In other words, there is only one ticket.
Hopefully this is right.
じゃ また
ジョン

avatar Tim says:

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. I follow your thought here. Before I go any further, I have to admit to getting my wifes help last night (she is from Tokyo) after posting my note. She saw the puzzled look on my face and saved the evening!
Looking in the Japanese dictionary (with my wife’s help), I found that the particle も followed by a negative (in this case ありません) means “not even” or “全然” (zenzen). So 一枚もございません should translate to “not even one ticket”.
“More than” would translate to ~よりも多い.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. 失礼します
Tim

avatar John C. Briggs says:

Timさん、
Sorry for my error.
After discussing this with Jasonさん, I have discovered that this is really a mistake in the PDF. Probably the Japanese didn’t come out as intended.
Now I see in the lesson that there are actually three times that this type of phrase occurs in the dialog
 1) そのひは きっぷ が いちまい しか ございません
 2) そのひは きっぷ が いちまい も  ございません
 3) そのひは きっぷ が いちまい しか ございません
and the translations are
1) only one ticket is available
2) only one ticket is available for that day as well
3) only one ticket is available
So probably in the second case, the も was intended for the day rather than the number of tickets i.e. そのひも. Perhaps they may have intended the Japanese to be.
2) そのひも きっぷ が いちまい しか ございません
So your translation of も is correct, but I think Jasonさん discovered the more likely intended meaning of the authors.
じゃ また
ジョン

avatar Tim says:

Johnさん,
Yes, that makes sense. It definately reinforces the しか ない  point of the lesson.

どうも有難う,
Tim

avatar SagaNick says:

Just started listening to these lessons.

Is there a mistake in the translation of next week as rai getsu?

cheers

avatar crackerjacksoul says:

Awful. This lesson was about 6 minutes of real content and the rest was just fluff. Also, the stupid Scottish accent made me cringe. We are all dumber for having heard it. I award Jpod101.com no points and may god have mercy on your souls. I knew I’d regret paying again for a membership with this site.

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