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Why JapanesePod101.com? Our approach is way ahead of any other learning approach. What does this mean for you? With over 1.5 million downloads per month by listeners just like you, we know you will learn Japanese with our system at any pace you want. You want to go faster? Great! Slower? No problem. Perhaps you want to learn some phrases to talk with a Japanese friend or co-worker. No problem. Want to learn less? Or want to learn more? Just the core parts of the language to get you by? Or even expert Japanese to understand movies, music and manga. Whatever your goal, this system was designed first for you, and only if you want to do you take things to a higher-level. Again, we don’t want you to just take our word for it though, please see for yourself. Be sure to leave us any feedback you have. Congratulations on taking your first, make that second, step towards fluency in the fastest time possible.

Learn Japanese Greetings

Grammar: | Function: | Topic: , | Politeness Level: ,


This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Newbie 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.

145 Responses to “Newbie Lesson #2 - Essential Greetings There is No Excuse Not to Know”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, Don’t miss this opportunity to save 50% on any one-year subscription! :grin: Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

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sayo says:

こんにちはみんなさん
このwebsite葉一番好きなですね
ぼくは フランス人です
がんばって
au revoir!!!

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sayo says:

葉 = は
ごめんね

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Liz21 says:

Japanesepod101.com,
Please excuse my stupid question. :roll: But, does this special offer refer to new subscriptions only? My subscription is still good for several more months

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Eran says:

Liz-san,

A teacher once told me that no question is a stupid question :wink: If you currently have a subscription you can still take advantage of the offer. Your new subscription will start AFTER your current subscription ends (assuming you are paying with a credit card). So, for example, if you currently have a 12-Month Premium with the following dates:

07/04/2006 - 07/04/2007

You can sign up for another 12-Month Premium using the 50% offer and the dates of this new subscription will be:

07/04/2007 - 07/04/2008

Note: This is the only the case if you use credit card as your payment method as PayPal does not support future dates for subscriptions.

I hope this helps.

Eran

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Stewart says:

I like the new interaction very much. One of the reasons I took advantage of your distcount offer is to upgrade so I could get flashcards, quizs, etc. The more interaction I can get the better.

Thanks for all you do. すばらしいです!!!

Stewart

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John C. Briggs says:

The talking back feature is very nice. It makes you think about the phrases and be an active participant rather than a passive listener.
ジョン

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Nate says:

Peter-san, Sakura-san, Yoshi-san, Chigusa-san, and all of the awesome people at JPOD101. Sorry I missed the big anniversary, but I wish you all the best for the coming year and a BIG arigatou gozaimasu for all of your hard work in making JPOD101 the best thing to come along since sliced bread.

Have a great 2007!

ネイト

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Janis says:

Happy Belated Anniversary from me too and thank you very much for your special offer - I was waiting to re-subscribe until after the holidays and planning to only going to get a basic subscription because (unfortunately) there isn’t enough time in my life to take advantage of all the Learning Centre features. BUT I love the line by line audio transcripts and was going to be so sad. You guys do great work and I’m looking forward to another year.

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Courtney says:

Happy birthday J-pod 101! You’ve come so far in a year! Congratulations! :smile:

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Ted says:

Mina-san,
Could the particle で instead of は be used in the sentence:

ニューヨークはよるです?

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Sindy says:

ohhh I forgot Thank You for the SKYPE tips again I already download it since the last time (ilove video 4 where Yoshi-san was talking to Mike-san). :mrgreen:
I love it and enjoy it very much but they would soon going to charge us a fee for using it, too bad! Remember “Nothing is free in this world” :wink: S_R_C

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Jean-Michel says:

I am playing around with the features in the learning center and I cannot find how to access the audio contents (formal, informal) from the lesson specific area. Do I need to leave the learning center for that? Perhaps I just missed something.

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Eran says:

Hi Jean-Michel-san,

The audio content (formal / informal) can be accessed from the Lesson Directory within the Learning Center. While this is not the most ideal placement, I can promise you that the new and much, much improved version 2.0 of the Learning Center (due to roll out in the not so distant future) is going to make things a whole lot better.

Eran

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Jean-Michel says:

Thanks Eran-san
The problem is that if I go to the Lesson directory, I have to again select the lesson I am interested in… Also the “Lesson directory” and the Vocabulary list (or whatever it is called there) seem to be misplaced since their scope is not limited to the currently selected lessonl. I am quite confident you are going to adress it all in the new version!
BTW, do you know when the MacOS iTune 7 instructions for the iLearning center are going to be released ?

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Brian says:

I really like the interaction of this lesson. It helps me to think about and own what I am saying much more than only repeating what I just heard. Great feature!

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Frank says:

I love the drills but I am thinking it may be better to have them in a operate bonus track versus having the drills combined in the lesson audio.

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Paul says:

Making me talk back to my iPod - great!!!! :grin:

I really like the quizzing - it makes me think quickly and I actually got most of them right. I think some of this is actually sinking in!!

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Adam says:

This is the greatest way ever 4 me to learn japanese, arigatou gozaimasu for helping me a young boy from the UK be able to interact with new people in a way i never thought possible when i was younger. I am now learning from these newbie lessons and have had a few chats with a friend who speaks a bit of japanese herself. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and can’t wait for the next one.

P.S. Put some more drills in your later podcasts, I enjoy looking silly on the bus and while walking my dog (sometimes play this one at school as well). :grin:

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Sindy says:

Hearing at the lesson audio again I’m surprise to be learning all about politeness of the Japanese students and teachers I didn’t knew all that! :shock:

Now I know that not just the beginners lessons but I also need this Newbie lessons too. WOW! :mrgreen: S_R_C

PS: Hey thanks for the drills and for mentioning New York City my actual home sweet home now. Keep it up! :wink:

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Lulu-chan says:

ピーさん、
lesson drills大好きです!(^。^)そして、有賀とございます!

also, thank you for pointing out something to me that i always shy away from and avoid: PRACTICE SPEAKING! My japanese friend, that i tutor with says i have to speak it more. not to mention, write and read it more too. But, speaking is definitely a weakness. Thanks for rallying us all to remind us to USE what we are learning whenever we can!

:grin:

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Newbie #2: Long Distance Skype | PodLearner says:

[…] Newbie Lesson #2 starts by going back and covering 「お早う東京」, which was introduced in the previous lesson. […]

Robin Powell says:

Just FYI, the notes do not include the words for “morning” or “afternoon” in the vocab section.

-Robin

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Robin Powell says:

Also, “konichi wa” was missing too.

-Robin

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MetallicaBand says:

Hello. I have a question. Yamaguchi says the name first and then the greeting: “Watanabe-semsei Ohayo gozaimasu”. But Watanabe says the greeting first and then the name: “Ohayo, Yamaguchi-san. Why is this? I am new and my guess is that it has something to do with a formal/informal sentence structure. Like the first sentence is formal so the name is first or something maybe? I don’t know.

I am new at this language and I love how everything is set up here. Thanks for everything.

- Michael

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DIMSOMMERS says:

Hey Michael,
You’re question about word order is a good one. In Japanese, those two sentences actually mean the same thing–it’s equivalent to “Hello, Professor Smith” and “Professor Smith, hello (how are you doing)”. The word order just gives slight emphasis to whatever part comes first, but for practical purposes, those two sentences are identical in meaning. It has nothing to do with formal/informal language, but good guess, because so much of Japanese does deal with formal/informal relationships!

Brian S.

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Muriel-san says:

I know it has been a while since this audio was first posted, but I thought I would let you know that the drill at the end was a great format. (Although, I had to pause it to make sure I knew the vocab beforehand since it jumped right in!)

Arigato!

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Moh says:

Hi .. I know this lesson is pretty old but it seems the iLearning center Notes are not pointing to the correct audio file name. The “Play entire lesson” is pointing to “Newbie Lesson #2 - Long Distance Skype” while the mp3 file name is only “Long Distance Skype”. I manually modified the text file titled “FullLessonLink.txt” to point to the right mp3 title and that fixed the problem. I have also seen the same problem with other lessons.

Cheers,
Moh

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JapanesePod101.com says:

Moh-san - This is actually a known issue which we have to have resolved in the near future. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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kea says:

hey!jpod peolple! love the drills.

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kuni says:

boot yoshi chigusa we no like his voice!!!!

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エミリー says:

who’s we?!

WE like him! :roll:

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Jack says:

Comments on the lesson:
shitsurei is really hard to say.

When Watanabe-san introduces himself, he says “hajime mashite, sensei no watanabe desu”
Could you explain what the “no” means. Help me understand why he doesn’t introduce himself as “watanabe-sensei”

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maxiewawa says:

“No” is the possessive particle.

“Watanabe-sensei” is a title. When you address that person, you might address him as “watanabe-sensei”.

But by waying “sensei no watanabe” he is saying “a teacher called Watanabe”. You probably wouldn’t address him that way.

I hope this makes it a little clearer!

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GameboyKnight says:

Wow! I love this way of learning! I am actually challenging myself to not only remember vocab, but how to appl it in a situation. Something books have never taught me. Thanks to my friend…I mean Arigatou gozaimasu Tenshi-san!

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Dean Collins says:

Konnichi wa!
I’m slightly new to Japanese, but their lessons are very good. They stick in my head, when other sources are hard to memorize! This lesson is great about the daytime, when I had to greet the person in the peticular way– lovely! More stuff like that would very nice.

Arigato-gozaimasu!

Dean Collins

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Magharabi says:

Just posting because you asked us to let you know what we think of the drills at the end of the lesson. I loved it! Please, keep doing that!

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jhjeong80 says:

:dogeza:
ohaiyo gozaimasita.
Thank you for your informative lesson. I’m listening to Newbie course over and over. It’s really helpful for me.
I’ll master Japanese.

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Sakura says:

OMG I REALLY LOVE THIS WEBSITE,

Peta-san,
how come you always say ‘Yoroshiku onegai shimasu” at the end of all your comments, i thought it meant “please be kind to me”?

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i love ゲーム says:

it’s translated as be kind to me, but it is a common phrase meaning “please” or other things you can’t Translate into English. think of it as You All Come Back Now (but more polite in this Case!! :nihon:

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Jones says:

Konban wa!
I liked the drill, but i think that you should have more time, when i was supposed to say “Yamaguchi-san” i got stressed and said “Tamaguchi-san” :oops:

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jet says:

:dogeza: this site is really amazing! i always thought japanese would be very tough but with japanesepod’s help, it gradually became fun and easy!

merci

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JapanesePod101.com says:

great to hear!!

we hope you enjoy all the lessons!! :dogeza:

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jet says:

oh, you bet. you see, i am very much fond of japanese anime, especially naruto so i thought learning japanese would be much more comfortable than reading the english subtitle.

i really enjoyed every lesson. i wonder if Yamaguchi-sama is single. :mrgreen:

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gabz says:

it was a bit fast, 3 seconds wasn’t enough

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sam says:

i know this is old and this comment wont shape the curriculem (spelt wrong?) but ive been learning japanese just from your site for about 3 days now and ive got a basic volcabulary of about 30 odd words and i can write abit of hiragana so this helped so much and thanks for the help…im sure japanesepod101 is probaly better than any lesson ill find in my area (im 13 so i cant get lessons yet) this helped so much so thanks alot!

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Lonearcher79 says:

May be a silly question but where do i download it to itunes? I love these and need to listen to them on the go. Thank you.

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kcgt says:

Just a question regarding the use of the two ways of saying excuse me that have been introduced in Newbiw Lesson 1 and 2: When would I use ’sumimasen’ (in its apologetic connotation) and when would it be more appropriate to use ’shitsurei shimashita’?

Thanks!

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Mihara-chan says:

I loved the format of this lesson. It was very helpful, especially the review!

Mihara-chan

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Mayumi says:

kcgt-san,

You can use “sumimasen” in most cases where you want to apologize. But, when you behave in bad manners, “shiturei shimashita” would sound more natural. Because “shitsurei” is made up of “shitsu” which means “to lose” and “rei” means “courtesy.”

Mihara-chan-san,

Thank you for your warm comments! :dogeza:

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Shidone says:

Wow this site is great! I’m using it in coordination with my Japanese I class and it is truly helpful!

Thank you so much! :mrgreen:

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Fitch says:

I’m really loving the teaching style so far. I’ve loved the Japanese language since I was about 13, but never got round to learning it. There is only so long I could go without delving into it though, and this site is proving to be the perfect way to get me off the ground!

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JKid says:

Fitch-san, Yes, you’ve certainly come to the right place! :)

Keep on studying, Japanese really is a beautiful language. Don’t forget to take full advantage of the great community here by posting on the forums and continuing to post comments. :)

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Scott says:

I have been on this website now for 2 days and i am very impressed with the way lessons are structured. I started off using books sugested to me by a friend, but i didn’t feel that i was getting much back out of them.
I happened to stumble across Japanesepod101 while searching for other learning alternatives, and so decided to try it; I feel that i have learned more from the website that i ever managed from the books!

Arigato-gozaimasu for all the hardwork you guys have put in.

Scott

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JKid says:

Thanks for the kind words Scott. :)

がんばってください!

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BrianS says:

I actually stumbled across your website since I am trying once again to learn Japanese. I am an American but have a whole other half of my family living in Japan - one could say I am a “NISEI”.

Ironically, I haven’t been taught by my mother as a child growing up as she was too concerned with English immersion and trying to fit in here. This made my correspondence and phone conversations with family members difficult as my mother is the mediator.

It will be very awkward when the day comes and I can not rely on her to interpret any longer - now I am left to trying to teach myself the language.

I’ve tried many times with different systems and looked into some of the college courses (but time is a factor and college days fall on work days - hence I didn’t learn).

Glad I found your site - am currently getting the feel for the free Ipod and definitely consider signing up for at the very least the Premium and push myself daily.

Thanks for your site.

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JKid says:

BrianS-san,
Glad you found us, keep at it. :)

がんばってください!

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Dave says:

First, thank you for these delightful lessons. I have recently joined a church with a large Japanese population, and while there is certainly no pressure for me to do so, it seems that the courtesy of learning at least some of the language of my new friends would be appropriate.

I don’t know if it’s too late to let you know about this, but there is a typo on the Kanji close-up: The word “gratitude” is spelled “graditude”.

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SteelGolem says:

In the podcast you guys asked if i liked having an ‘interactive’ drill. I liked it, but 3 seconds wasn’t enough time for me - I had to use the pause button to get more time :mrgreen: With practice I’m sure I’ll be able to do it at that pace.

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Jessie says:

I very much enjoyed this lesson. I’ve heard 失礼しました before but never understood the meaning until now. I like the sound of this expression very much, it has a nice ring to it. Thanks once again :kokoro:

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Mayumi says:

SteelGolem-san,
Ganbatte!! :wink: I hope that you can do it at that pace very soon!

Jessie-san,
You can say “失礼しました” to apologize when you caused any trouble or convenience to someone by accident. It can be used almost in the same situation for “ごめんなさい” but it sounds more polite.

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Jessie says:

Thank you Mayumi-san, I appreciate the feedback. It is a good thing to know when 失礼しました is most useful. I have also been able to pick up on simple sentence structure well enough so far, it is in a way a joy to discover these things about the Japanese language. I have never enjoyed learning a language as much as I have Japanese. :mrgreen:

Even though my knowledge of the language is still limited, I find it a great strenght that I learned hiragana a few years ago, this gives me a big confidence boost when going over material and remembering vocabulary. Your Kana Recognition Practice Tool has been a wonderful refresher for those less commonly used kana. Thank you again. :dogeza:

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Taha says:

:smile: thankyou verymuch im a newbie here at japanese POD101 and i love it already i just wanted to show my appreciation to such nice people arigato gozaimasu

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JKid says:

Taha-san,
Thank you for your kind words! Glad you found us and are enjoying the lessons - best of luck with your studies! :)

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J says:

I like the drills; thanks for this lesson.

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Mayumi says:

J-san,

Thank you for your nice comment! We have tons of lessons! Please enjoy learning with us!

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San. says:

Hello. :D
I have question.
Then we say Konban wa and konnichi wa, we use “wa”. But in ohayo, we don’t say ohayo “wa”. Why? :D D
Because, in morning we too lazy to say wa? XD jk

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Jessi says:

Sanさん,
The “wa” in konnichi wa and konbanwa is actually the particle wa, so in the past they were actually saying something about “today” and “tonight” - for example, as a greeting they might say “Today is hot, isn’t it?”, which would start with “konnichi wa~”.
In the phrase “ohayo gozaimasu”, though, they aren’t talking about that morning, so I guess that’s why there isn’t a “wa” :smile:

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Amanda says:

I love the way that the word 失礼しました is pronounced by the speaker in this lesson. I need to work on that to get the first word just right. Thanks.

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Shane says:

I’m learning to write hiragana and this lesson the symbol used to write the syllabal “wa” is diferent that the one I learned( which the symbol they used was for “ha” and not “wa”). Is there a reason a diferent symbol was used or did I learn the wrong symbol?

If anybody knows I would sure apperciate it.

Domo arigato gozaimasu.
Shane

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Jessi says:

Amandaさん、

がんばってください :mrgreen:

Shaneさん,

Don’t worry, you didn’t learn anything wrong! Usually, wa is わ and ha is は; however, when writing the topic-marking particle wa (As in “watashi wa…”), the character は is used, and it is pronounced “wa”. :smile:

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ほぜふ ぱありす says:

Hey there, Love your site. A lot more fun and id say faster than my copy of Rosetta stone. Anyways. On newbie lesson season 1 lesson 2. In the lesson notes where やまぐち says, “わたなべせんせい、ニューヨークはよるです。” Why does she say, “わ” yet the notes say, “は”? Is this an error? I’m fairly certain this isn’t an error, but why is this? . Sorry to waste your time keep up the good work .

ほぜふ ぱありす

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Jessi says:

ほぜふ ぱありすさん,
Thanks for your comment! The particle “wa” is actually written using hiragana は (ha), even though it is still pronounced “wa”. は is pronounced “wa” only when it is a particle. It’s just one of those rules of Japanese you have to remember :grin:

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Nicola says:

nicolasharples.
ADD ME ON SKYPE! :)
i love japanesepod101. :D

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Hilda says:

Ohayo Gozaimasu!
I am loving the lessons! Keep up the great work! :mrgreen:

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Naomi says:

Hilda-san
Konnichiwa!
We’re glad you liked our lessons!! :grin:

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Iwakura-san says:

Ohayo gozaimasu, minna-san! (btw, I love it how you can suffix -san to ‘minna’. Like ‘Everyone-san’)

I’m really enjoying this course! Even though I’m only at Lesson 2. I tripped several times over the pronounciation of ‘Shitsurei shimashita,’ but with this course I finally feel I might actually be able to learn Japanese!

Watashi wa Mark desu, Anime otaku desu! (Hope I got that right! I’m such an extreme noob!) Meant to say I’m really crazy about Anime (which is why I want to learn Japanese). Actually I know otaku has a somewhat negative connotation in Japan itself, but it’s the only word I know to use for now. So, dozo ‘break’ onegai smimasu! (How’s that for “Give me a break, please!” LOL).

Anyway, I did miss the words for ‘hiru’, ‘asa’, and ‘konichiwa’ in the accompanying PDF. I hope that doesn’t happen too often, as my brain really needs to see the visual Romaji words too for now (kinda like traning wheels). Otherwise, excellent course!

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Mayumi says:

Iwakura-san-san,

Thank you for your nice comment! Glad to know you are enjoying our lessons! Have you checked our forum? If you haven’t, please be sure to go to “Japanese Anime & Manga” session in our forum. :wink:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10

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Steve says:

Hi,

Really enjoying the lessons, finding learning Japanese using your system, combined with a 1 hour work out on a treadmill every day is awesome for mind and body.

Just wanted to re-iterate what Iwakura-san said, which is, missed Hiru and Assa from the romaji word list in the vocab. I am sure they will turn up later, but for me at hte moment trying to absorb everything from every lesson, it is really good to see the words in English.

Thanks again, great site, can’t believe how much Japanese I am able to speak after only being on Newbie Lesson 2 and Survival Phrases 3, Incredible how much I already know!! iwakura’s post actually made perfect sense, a week ago it would have meant nothing!

Kanpai!

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Jessi says:

Steveさん,
Thank you for your kind words!! We’re really glad to hear that you are enjoying the lessons :mrgreen: I have added “asa” and “hiru” to the vocab list of this PDF!!

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Kat says:

Iwakura-san,

O-hisashiburi desu (long time no see)! :mrgreen:

>Watashi wa Mark desu, Anime otaku desu!

You’re right about the negative connotations (and I got a good laugh out of your “Nihonglish” sentence:dozo ‘break’ onegai shimasu”! :mrgreen: -> Try saying “Kanben shite kudasai yo”, which I will guarantee you is in no Japanese textbook, and is the real Japanese for “Give me a break!” :wink: ). Please try to avoid using “the o-word” in Japanese when referring to yourself, though… It is a highly pejorative term in modern Japanese. Better to say “anime ga daisuki desu!” (I love anime!)

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Steve says:

Ohayou goziamasu Kat-sensei!
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

(I actually know what all that means, incredible really :shock: )

Is the O word for Americans/Europeans like the N word for certain ethnic groups…while it would be highly offensive to be used AT them by some people, being used BY them would be ok?

For instance, I am white and from London, I never say the N-word, as there is no situation where i feel my repeating that word would not be offensive if over-heard by someone else….but saying that, I live in a poor part of London and I hear the word an awful lot spoken by youths speaking to each other.

While it is highly offensive and pejorative as far as I am concerned, for the group themselves they don’t seem to see the word that way.

Is the O word like that?

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Steve says:

Dōmo arigatō Jessi-sensei

I did check the PDF and they are there! Thanks again for that.

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Iwakura says:

Katさん,

Sou nan da! Shibaraku desu ne! :) I wasn’t really gone, actually. I simpy decided I wanted to learn hiragana first (which I did) before stumbling onto more words whose pronunciation I couldn’t look up. I’m still a newbie, of course; but thanks to you, and all other folks at japanesepod101, at least I’m now well past my “Dozo ‘break’ onegai shimasu!” phase. I understand now why you use ‘ga’ with ’suki’, and ’suru’ with ‘kanben’. So, thank you all!

In fact, I was just experimenting with ’suru’. Would the following be correct?

Anime wo miru no wo totemo tanoshimi ni shite imasu!
I’m totally looking forward to watching Anime!

I realize an extra NO needs to follow ‘miru’ here (verb + ‘tanoshimi ni’ phrase). And the ‘wo’ following the ‘no’ should be correctly placed, too. I’m just not entirely sure on the first ‘wo’ after ‘Anime.’ I think it kinda needs to be there, as ‘to watch something’ generally goes with ‘miru’ + ‘wo’.

Korekara osewa ni narimasu!

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Jessi says:

Steveさん,
No, I wouldn’t say the word “otaku” is highly offensive or a taboo word. I believe what Kat meant by pejorative is that while this word is used with a positive connotation in the West (With people saying “I’m an anime otaku” to mean “I’m a huge anime fan/I love anime”), in Japanese it has a negative connotation and conjures up images of someone who is an overly obsessive fan and has no life other than anime or whatever it is that they’re into. Most people would probably not take well to seriously being called an otaku. In that sense, it would be a bit strange to go around saying in Japanese “I’m an anime otaku”. (Although some people will use it to refer to themselves in a humorous way) I recommend going with something like “Anime ga suki desu” like Kat said.

Iwakuraさん,
Jessi desu! Hope you don’t mind if I tackle your question :smile:
Speaking of anime… :mrgreen: Your sentence is perfect! Great job!!
I’m amazed at how quickly you seem to be picking up the grammar. Keep it up!

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Kat says:

Steveさん
Ohayou gozaimasu! Thanks for your comment! Just to back up what Jessi said - I should have been clearer that I was saying “the o-word” in an ironic way (tone of voice never comes across very well on the internet, does it?! :roll: )… It’s nothing like as offensive as the n-word in English, but is more like calling someone a “nerd with no life outside anime”… and hence when you say “otaku desu!” to refer to yourself (or indeed someone else), you’re simply dissing yourself (or that other person) :shock: ! Sorry for the confusion! :oops:

Iwakuraさん
Wow, your grammar is really coming along at a rate of knots! :shock: Ganbatte kudasai! Jessi and I were amazed & delighted at your perfect use of “miru no wo” which is actually quite an advanced usage (you could also say “miru no ga”). :cool:

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Iwakura says:

Katさん,

Thanks! :oops:

I think I’ll use your “miru no ga” from now on, in cases like these, as two times the same particle, so close after each other, just looks a bit ugly to me anyway.

Funny thing about the grammar: I always bemoan the lack of explanation in the Lessons; but oddly enough, simply by having us use it, I’m picking up a lot of it nonetheless. I’m at Lesson 29 now, which was full of interesting constructions too. And I look up everything I don’t know yet; or ask here, if I don’t understand. So, thank you all again! You’re obviously doing something right with your site! :)

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Dipterix says:

しつれいしました、just practising… :roll:

ぉはよう、Tokyo. :smile:
こんばんは、Moscow. (Moscow はよるです.)

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Jocelyn says:

I really enjoy these lessons! I would like to see more drills like the one on the end of this lesson. It was very helpful!

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Jessi says:

Dipterixさん,
Good work! :mrgreen:

Jocelynさん,
Glad you liked the drill! We’ll be including more in future lessons :wink:

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Anais says:

皆さん、こんばんわ。
Can someone tell me what is the key on the keyboard for “ー” in “ニユーヨーク”?
I’m trying to type Japanese with the English keyboard.
Any help will be much appreciated.

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Steve says:

Anais,

If you are using Microsoft IME Japanese then it is simply the - key that is at the top of the keyboard after the numbers and before the = key.  You have to place the keyboard into Japanese, then choose Full-Width Katakana and then use the dash key…

テーブル

te-buru

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Anais says:

Thanks Steve. :grin:
I use MAC but the input method is similar.
So “—” is just a dash? What does it mean(how to pronounce)?
I thought it’s one of katakana but I couldn’t find it in my Japanese dictionary.

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Steve says:

I think the Large Dash is simply an elongation of the vowel sound.

テーブル

te-buru

In this example you would “say” Teeburu ….remembering that in Japanese the Te sound is Teh with the E as in Edge.

That is my understanding of it anyway and as you can imagine as I am on this site, I am just a learner too.

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Anais says:

どうもありがどう!

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Naomi says:

Steve-san
Thank you for helping Anais-san. You’re right. :grin:
Anais-san
Here’s some examples of long sound.
English word → Japanese pronunciation → writing
art → aato → アート (you should type “A-TO”)
keyboard → kiiboodo → キーボード (KI-BO-DO)
sweater → seetaa → セーター(SE-TA-)
suite → suutsu → スーツ(SU-TSU)

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Anais says:

直美さん
:wink: わかりまして。ありがどう!
(Did I say it correctly?)

Another question, so when we use hiragana, we don’t use “—” to indicate long sound, is it right?

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Iwakura says:

Anais-san,

Nearly correct. You said ‘wakarimashite’. ‘Mashite’ actually *does* exist. It’s the -te form of the auxiliary verb ‘masu’. You’ll find it in expressions like “Dou itashimashite!” (’itatsu’ is the humble form of ’suru’; so, instead of ‘itashite imasu’ it becomes ‘itashi + mashite’: doing; like ‘hajimete imasu’ -> ‘hajime + mashite’). But it’s a fair bet you really just meant: わかりました (wakarimashita) -> “I understood.” Or just わかります -> “I understand.”

Indeed, in Hiragana the “—” isn’t used to elongate vowels. Instead, you add a ‘u’. Like: どうぞ (= douzo).

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Iwakura says:

Anais-san,

While we’re at it, it’s not こんばんわ (with a ‘wa’), but こんばんは (with a ‘ha’). Like こにちは.* That は at the end indicates that, at some point in time, it must have been the particle ‘wa’ (’konban wa’), but later it just became one word.

This is actually illustrative of why it’s a good idea to start learning Hiragana as soon as humanly possible: it’s these little things you miss out on in Romaji.

* Seems こにちわ is a valid spelling too, according to the dictionary.

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Iwakura says:

Jesse-san & Kat-san,

While i’m in this thread anyway, remember above? I had made the following sentence:

“Anime wo miru no wo totemo tanoshimi ni shite imasu!”

Lately, however, I’ve been experimenting with ‘koto’ a lot, as an alternative to nominalizing verbal phrases. Like:

Nihongo wo hanasu koto ga dekimasu.
I can speak Japanese.

Or,

Ebi wo tabeta koto ga arimasu ka?
Have you ever had shrimp?

So, likewise, it seems I should be able to rephrase my above sentence as follows, ne?

Anime wo miru koto wo/ga totemo tanoshimi ni shite imasu!

Or even just,

Anime wo miru koto ga totemo tanoshimi desu! (little less formal)

Thanks for your time, as always.

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Greg says:

Peter-san, Yoshi-san, and Chigusa-san

arigatoo gozaimasu.

program anata set up is sugoi.

boku know a little japanese from talking with boku-no friends ryoko, yaminski, and others. how ever they tried and taught me quite a bit this program lets you see the words and translations while the audio is playing. the lessons are short but very informative and this is so much better than paying a arm and leg for language software that only claims that it helps. this site allows a grace period to get you interested and shows its capabilitys. so from this bottom of my heart Arigatoo gozai masu. I will be refering this site to friends that wish to learn japanese as well. :grin:

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Mayumi says:

Greg-san,

Thank you so much for your nice comment!
Great to know that you liked our lessons. :smile:

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sailor_sisters says:

I love how this lesson had an interactive section toward the end as a way of review and practice. Helps so much to get it “drilled” in. Thank you so much! Domo arigatoo gozaimasu!

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Azriel says:

I really liked the interactions a lot, they were fun (=^_^=)

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Nigel Manunure says:

:razz: you guys are legends. this is helping me so much. thanx.

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Sora says:

イムは残念ひどい日本語を勉強しにしています。
だから、遅い学習者のためのポッドキャストの事を行うことができます?
OFTO

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Gorkem says:

毎朝: mai asa: every morning
毎夜: mai yoru: every night

I got it, thanks japanesepod.
ありがとう ございます.

I wanna ask what the difference is between 先生 and 教師. By the way the first one means “mister” or “husband” in Chinese

戈霽凱

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Naomi says:

Gorkem-san
In Japanese, 先生 means “teacher”, but it can also refers to someone whose occupation requires a lot of knowledge, such as doctors, lawyers or politicians. And this word 先生 can be used for both female and male.
教師 means “teacher” or “qualified teacher” and is used for both genders.
Since 先生 has respect feeling in it, when referring one’s occupation 教師 is preferable.
So if you want to say “I’m a teacher”, “Watashi wa kyoushi desu.” sounds more natural than “watashi wa sensei desu.”

I hope this makes sense.

Once you learned basic greetings, I recommend that you skip Newbie series season 1 and start listening to Newbie series season 2 3 4 and 5.
Because the Newbie season1 is pretty old series and the grammar is not well-organized. :wink:

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Gorkem says:

Naomi-san

Thanks for the explanation. That was pretty useful for me.

And I am going to listen to your advise about jumping to season 2 3 4 and 5. These are just warming ups for me :)

By the way I am totally new to japanesepod, would you recommend something else for an absolute beginner?

For example how should I study verb conjugation and grammar?

Arigatou gozaimas Naomi-san

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Naomi says:

Gorkem-san
In Newbie season 2 and 3, you can learn verb conjugations and grammar.
Newbie season4 and 5 are more situation-base lessons.
So if you want grammar-oriented lessons,
Newbie season 2(#1-25) →Newbie season3(#1-25) →Beginner season 4(#1-50) →Beginner season 5(#1-25) →Beginner season6(starting next year)→Lower Intermediate season6 (starting next year) would be enough to cover basic Japanese grammar. :wink:
Once you finished up to Beginner season 5 or 6, I’d recommend that you listen to particle series too.

We also have video lessons.
Please check video lessons called Basic Japanese hosted by Hiroko.
That will give you bit size information and it’s really easy to follow.
Maybe if you watch this video before Newbie season2, that would be perfect. :wink:
If you’re not yet familiar with Kana, Kantan-kana video series hosted by Chihiro is also good. :grin:
If you’re a serious learner, learning Kana is must. :wink:

I hope this helps :grin:

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Roger says:

Hi Peter-san, Yoshi-san, and Chigusa-san,

I love the audio lesson very much, but I still have difficulty on pronouncing shitsurei shimashita… :wink: Thanks very much.

Cheers,
Roger :grin:

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Kaitlyn says:

I’m so happpy this episode had a drill in it; it gives listeners a chance to practice what they’ve learned and be less passive and more involved in what they are learning. Really helpfull :mrgreen:

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Tom says:

Arigatou Gozaimasu, I have completed the checklist and am now moving on to lesson 3. This is working so much better than high school classes. :razz:

Still having trouble remembering all the Kanji, but i guess that will come in time!

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アンデレアス says:

こにちはーhow can I get/learn the stroke order for a Kanji characters quickly.
I use Rikaichan but still I use to lockup the stroke order here:
http://japanese.about.com/library/blkodindex.htm

It would be great if anyone could turn me on to a plug-in or an app that can show me the stroke order.

Thanks - アンドレアス

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Jessi says:

アンドレアスさん,
We have a kanji page that features animated stroke orders here :grin:

http://www.japanesepod101.com/learnkanji

It’s still in beta, so it’s not perfect yet, but you’ll be able to find the stroke order for any kanji you need to! ;) Enjoy!

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Shaun says:

Is it possible to put the stroke order on the Kanji Close-up sheets? As a total newbie to Japanese and the Kanji it would help very much!

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viviene says:

very interesting. i like the drill. i was lost at first. i had to think for a few seconds.. but it was really good!

I just couldn’t understand the “excuse me” Shimeishimashita. I hear a ‘t’ and ‘r’ sound somewhere..

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Abby says:

when I click on the Lesson notes, why do they show me a money back guarantee premium thingy? :(

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Jessi says:

Abbyさん,
Do you have a Basic or Premium subscription? You will need one of those to view the Lesson Notes. If you are on the 7-day trial, note that you can only view up to 10 PDFs.

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Casey says:

Thank you. Good lesson.

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nesma says:

the lesson is very useful , and the activity as well.
thanks for your effort :smile:

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Mickey says:

The drill was awesome

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Cassia says:

Loved the drill! It really helps!

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Ana Lucia Umpierre Leite says:

I love the class, it’s the right speed for me and I have been able to memorize the words and sentences well.
I still don’t know where to start to learn the alphabet or how the words look like. Which one should I learn? I

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Lita says:

So a few years ago one of my Japanese friend told me the word “Yahoo” can be used as a greeting. Is this expression still popular among Japanese teenagers? I assumed that it is a slang and is mostly used by high school students.

Great lessons by the way :D

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Lita says:

So a few years ago one of my Japanese friend told me the word “Yahoo” can be used as a greeting. Is this expression still popular among Japanese teenagers? I assumed that it is a slang and is mostly used by high school students.

Great lessons by the way :D

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Naomi says:

Lita-san
You mean “やっほー![Yahhoo!]” ? (It’s not the same pronunciation as “yahoo” as in yahoo search engine.)
I guess… some female students might use this. But to me it sounds very animeish or sounds like the expression use by girls who are really into anime or manga. :grin:

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aSrGN says:

Konnichiwa!

I have recently started to take Japanese course and I decided to use Japanesepod101 as a sidekick to give me more practice chance. Thanks Japanesepod101 team!

My question is; I am having a problem with this lesson’s vocabulary flashcard. Whatever option I choose (English, audio etc.) they won’t show up. I didn’t encounter such thing on the website before. Has this lesson got no vocabulary flashcards?

Domo arigato gozaimasu!

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Jessi says:

aSrGN-san,
Are you able to use the flashcards for other lessons? Is it only this one? I tried out the flashcards for this lesson and they show up okay, so I’m trying to figure out what the problem may be. What OS/browser are you using?

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Kristin says:

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I think there is a typo in the Hirigana on the PDF. After the Kana version of “New York” there is a “wa” that follows in the Romaji translation, but it is “ha” in the actual Hirigana type.

Is it supposed to be like this? I’m just now learning the Hirigana Charts and it caught me off guard.

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rica says:

hello . is there no problem using the greetings either in the beginning or in the end? like “OHAYOU GOZAIMAS, WATANABE-sensei” and “OHAYOU, yamaguchi-san”..

can it be “konnbanwa,rica-san” and “rica-san, konnbanwa”

before and after..is it ok or possible?

about the shitsurei shimashita which is excuse me..
wats the difference btween that word and sumimasen?

peter said on the audio dat shitsurei shimashita literally means “i was rude” so if i say shitsurei shimashita..it means sorry if im rude?

on the previous lesson can we use shitsurei shimashita in exchange of sumimasen.. or in short — sumimasen is formal and shitsurei shimashita is informal? pls i need this to be clear .. :sad:

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Wes says:

Another user pointed this out some time ago, but it was never corrected: there is a misspelling in the Kanji close-up. “Graditude” should be “gratitude.”

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王凱 says:

お早うございます。
今日は
にゅよくは夜です。
失礼しました。今晩は。
お休みなさい

まだね。

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Yaira says:

so. you wanted a comment on the drill. here is it: as a non-native ENGLISH-speaker (my native language is german) the tempo of the drill is too fast, the time to digest 1. the SUPER FAST SPOKEN english orders 2. the FAST SPOKEN japanese words too short. i am saying this with a little experience in listening to japanese and a lot experience in listening english. (lived in the US for one year…)
thanks for noticing.

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Naomi says:

Yaira-san
Thank you so much for your feedback. :razz:
Since this lesson (Newbie series season 1) is very old lesson, new lessons and new lesson’s drills are improved and they’re more effective. I recommend that you start listening to Absolute beginner series.

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Melissa says:

I loved it! Arigato gozaimasu.

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Matthew says:

Hello! I was just wondering…Sensei Watanabe used the phrase “shitsurei shimashita” to say excuse me to Yamaguchi-san, could he have also used “sumimasen”? Are the two interchangeable or is there a difference?

Arigato gozaimasu!

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Motoko says:

Matthew-san,
Good question.
You can change Shitsurei shimashita in this dialogue into sumimasen.
These two are mostly interchangeable.
But some people might think “shitsurei shimashita” is less polite than “sumimasen.” When I make a mistake, I prefer to say “sumimasen” as “I’m sorry,” and When I forget a consideration, like watanabe sensei, I say “shitsurei shimashita.” :smile:

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Karri says:

Ohayou gozaimasu! A! Herushinki wa yoru desu. Shitsurei shimashita.

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Benjamin says:

What does “asa” mean? Opposite of night? Be more specific please.

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jessica-san says:

konbanwa from florida my name is jessica san i love all of the lessons and i hope to one day live in nihon one day

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Motoko says:

Benjamin-san,
“asa” means “morning.” :grin:

Jessica-san,
Konbanwa! Enjoy listening :wink:
By the way, we use -san just after someone’s name :grin:

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Erik says:

I tried using reference materials–>hiragana chart with audio/video. When I got to wo or “を” there was no numbers for the kana stroke. I am also not sure the best way to learn hiragana/katakana, there’s a lot of them and there’s no videos on them? I am also confused about some. What is the symbol ” that is added to some of them? It changes the sounds like ku orくbecomes guぐ? Did I skip a lesson about where to learn hiragana where people teach you?

I also can’t find the sound that replaces the “L” in English. Like in Nelson, I would pronounce as “Ne-??-so-n”? You have to use katagana for names I think is that correct?

Sumimasen :sad: , lots of questions I have. I wish(negau?) I could type all of this in Japanese.

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Motoko says:

Erik-san,
Thank you for telling us your questions!
Daijobu! Any questions are welcomed :grin:
For stroke order of を, I’ll fix it but for now, please look at the video on hiragana chart with audio/video. It help you to learn the order.
If you like to have hiragana lessons, we have the video lessons, “Kantan kana”.
These 25 lessons cover hiragana, katakana and “&○.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/07/09/video-s2-1-kantan-kana-1/
As a quick answer, ” changes sounds like this;
“K” → ”G”
“S” → ”Z”
“T” → ”D”
“H” → ”B”
Unfortunately Japanese language doesn’t have the equivalent sound to “L”.
Instead, we use ら・り・る・れ・ろ for “R” and “L” as well.
Nelson is spelled as ネルソン and pronounced “Ne ru so N”
Your name Erik is エリック “E ri k ku” *Small tsu between ri and ku.
I hope this helps.

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