Comments on: Newbie Lesson #2 - Essential Greetings There is No Excuse Not to Know

by: Kat

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:31:41 +0000

Anders-san,
Thank you for your comment! We’re glad it helped

Jason-san,
We’re glad you like Peter’s calming voice! Everyone here is passionate about Japanese, so it must come through…

Jennie-san,
Your kind comment means a lot to us. Thank you ! Many of us here have also tried to learn second languages as students without much money, so we sympathize!

Garrett-san,
Thank you for taking the time to stop by and comment ! Thanks to all of your feedback, we’ll continue to try to make the lessons more interactive.

by: Garrett

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:10:31 +0000

I definitely appreciated the thinking exercise at the end of the lesson. The active participation provides a much more meaningful interaction with the vocabulary. Thank you.

by: Jennie

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:32:55 +0000

I just wanted to say that the exercises are very helpful. For financial reasons, I am only a basic student. I appreciate this website very much. Most of the other online language study systems are beyond what I can afford. I don’t care for Rosetta Stone. There are no explanations. JapanesePod is the perfect system for people who are comfortable with language study and need to study at their own pace. JapanesePod is the highest quality of all the different languagepods that I have visited. Thanks a lot.

by: Jason

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:42:59 +0000

great website, the host from new york has a nice voice, kind of sounds like he’s always talking to children, it’s enjoyable and easy to listen to. He also sounds like he’s always really into it. The lessons are also very well organized and easy to consume.

by: Anders

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:04:47 +0000

I liked the exercise in the end of the Audio clip. Made me think a little more.

by: Motoko

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:27:18 +0000

Erik-san,
Thank you for telling us your questions!
Daijobu! Any questions are welcomed
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.

by: Erik

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:43:27 +0000

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

by: Motoko

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:50:44 +0000

Benjamin-san,
“asa” means “morning.”

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

by: jessica-san

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:52:11 +0000

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

by: Benjamin

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:18:25 +0000

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

by: Karri

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:35:55 +0000

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

by: Motoko

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:09:28 +0000

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.”

by: Matthew

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:25:21 +0000

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!

by: Melissa

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:11:03 +0000

I loved it! Arigato gozaimasu.

by: Naomi

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:21:37 +0000

Yaira-san
Thank you so much for your feedback.
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.