This feature requires an Active Premium subscription. Sign in or register for a 7-Day Free Trial today. Click link for more info.
This feature requires an Active Basic subscription. Sign in or register for a 7-Day Free Trial today. Click link for more info.
 
By Type:

Ascending Descending
By Month:

Ascending Descending
By Keyword:

Ascending Descending

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!

Grammar: | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 6:40 pm and is filed under Lower 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.

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

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
Sindy says:

Johny boy! :lol:

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
Aguro » Blog Archive » In a sense this is a useful Japanese expression: ある意味 says:

[…] Here’s the relevant conversation from episode 331 (Second Honeymoon): よし: I think it’s sweet. In a way… さから: Uhm… In a way ね? ある意味… (笑) […]

Ian says:

Can someone explain to me the grammar point for 「新婚旅行と同じところへ」in the first line of the customer? What is going on here? Particularly with the と. Does it mean “as” here?

avatar
Hans says:

Hi Ian,

As I understand it, と同じ is a pretty common grammar construction meaning “the same as”. So, I think you basically have it.

The phrase is, “Honeymoon same as place to”, and he is basically saying “to the same place as our honeymoon”.

avatar
Mike says:

かんじ を つかえば グァム は 何 ですか
What’s the Kanji for Guam? :neutral:

avatar
Mike says:

ごめん なさぃ
グァムという言葉の音, 少しぃ日本語らしぃと思い間違った, 実は別の言語…

Guam sounded Japanese to me, sorry, looked it up myself, there won’t be any kanji related to the name, should have known,

avatar
Jessi says:

Mikeさん,
It looks like Guam in kanji would be 瓜姆島 (a lot of country names do have kanji that represent them, but are hardly ever used), but it’s almost always written in katakana like most other country names: グアム (Guamu) :smile:

avatar
Mickel says:

Hi, I just listened to this lesson and got a bit confused about the translation of
一枚もございません。
Doesn’t that translate to “There is none/there is not even one” rather than “There is one”?
Thx for any hints ;)

avatar
Mayumi says:

Mickel-san,

In this dialog, we have two situations of 一枚もございません and 一枚しかございません. 一枚もございません is translated into “not even one ticket is available” and 一枚しかございません is translated into “there is only one ticket available.” :wink:

avatar
Mickel says:

Mayumi-san, thank you for your answer :razz:

Then, if I’m not wrong, the one speaking the English-part in the audio-lesson says “There is only one” for 一枚もございません. Or maybe I’m not getting it right, no english native speaker here :roll:
とにかく, thanks again for clarifying!

avatar
Gustavo says:

I laughed a lot when i found out what ihai meant ahsduhasudhaudahduha.
Greetings from Brazil, great job guy.

avatar
fred says:

next month, not next week.

avatar
fred says:

Raigetsu is next month not next week.

avatar
Gina says:

haha, I find peter adorable & funny!! His comments are adorkable.

avatar
Mandy says:

Yes I was also a little confused abt the raigetsu vs next week part. :) ))

avatar
Jason says:

You showed an expression in one of the PDF example sentences that I’ve never seen before, and that doesn’t show up in my dictionary.

That term is もうあと.

The sentence and translation was,
あんなにあったのに、もうあと一つしかない。
“There were so many, but now there’s only one left.”

Does もうあと simply mean “now?” Can you show a couple more examples?
Thanks!

avatar
Motoko says:

Jason-san,
もう literally means “already” and あと一つ means “only one.”
In this example, these are translated as “but now there’s only one left” because it sounds more natural.
I’ll give you some examples and hope they help you!
ex)あと一週間で誕生日です。
[Ato isshūkan de tanjōbi desu.]
   It is one more week to go, then it’s my birthday.
たくさん買い物をしました。もうお金がありません。
[Kaimono o shimashita. Mō o-kane wa ichi-en mo arimasen.]
I bought a lot on shopping. So I don’t have any money, even 1-yen.

avatar
Mari says:

Hi there, I’m new to Japanesepod. I love it, but I’m still finding my way around all the resources. I couldn’t find 可能 (かのう) used in this audio though they mention it in the intro. I found that rather confusing. I’m also wondering where the transcript for the bonus track is. Can someone point me in the right direction. I gather from the comments that he’s got his wife’s ashes with him

Also need some advice about using the kanji and vocab flashcards. My listening comprehension is not bad, but I have great difficulty remembering (recognising) kanji. I’m not sure if I really want to as I don’t have a great need to read. Because I’m not mastering the vocab, I get the same ones over and over. Would you recommend just deleting them from the list? Can anyone tell me how they manage their flashcards?
cheers

avatar
Jessi says:

Hi Mari!

The bonus track transcript is the same as the transcript for the original dialogue, up to the very last line, which you seem to have figured out:
大丈夫です。彼女の遺灰は、ここにあります。

As for the flashcards, if you are not interested in learning the kanji for all of the words, you can change what you see on the front of the cards by selecting different study modes. If you click on Edit Deck, you will be able to choose different study modes that display kana and romaji. Please let us know if you need more help with this :D

avatar
Mari says:

Thanks Jessi, I’ll have a go at editing the deck.

The other question I have about this lesson is 可能 (kanō) - I heard it used in the general conversation on the audio but it didn’t seem to be in the travel agent dialogue or the transcript. Can you tell me how it would be used in a sentence.
thank you :smile:

avatar

Leave a Reply

:mrgreen: :neutral: :twisted: :shock: :smile: :???: :cool: :evil: :grin: :oops: :razz: :roll: :wink: :cry: :eek: :lol: :mad: :sad: