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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 6:30 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.
30 Responses to “Lower Intermediate Lesson #11 - Postcards”
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Mina-san, Take this chance to use your Japanese and write a Japanese friend a postcard! (Or send one to JapanesePod101.com!) Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Tuesday at 9:28 pm
Sumimasen ga,
As the slash beetween japanesepod101.com and learning center is missing, the link to learning center leads to a 404 error page.
http://www.japanesepod101.comlearningcenter/lessons/lower_intermediate_lesson_11/
should be
http://www.japanesepod101.com/learningcenter/lessons/lower_intermediate_lesson_11/
Tuesday at 9:34 pm
Sumimasen again ga:
There is no line by line audio or ipod sond file in this lesson,
and also in the lesson 374 tokyo traveblogue #6.
Tuesday at 10:13 pm
Alain-san, thank you for pointing that out! Everything should now be in order. 宜しくお願いします!
Tuesday at 10:21 pm
Great lesson! Thanks to you all, I feel more confident to write my Japanese penpals. I write to them in Japanese and they write back in English and we correct one another’s mistakes.
I have a question. Although we have been writing for over 6 months, should my Japanese always be in polite form. We have long been acquainted and I feel that my Japanese is too formal and “stiff”. I asked my penpals that question and didn’t get a response. Since they are replying back in English, I do not have anything to reciprocate back with.
If I remain writing in polite form, does this convey a sense of not wanting to get close.
Stan
Wednesday at 4:26 am
Speaking about the weather, I love the winter and the snow
is my favorite type of weather. Very useful lesson as always!
Wednesday at 6:50 am
I really enjoyed this excellent lesson.
The polite prefixes threw me off the scent on initial listening, so I’ll need to work harder.
There’s quite a lot (28 pages!) about letter writting in ‘Japanese for All Occasions’ by Anne Kaneko, published by Tuttle. One of the suggested closing phrases seems rather suitable for me:
乱筆乱文お許しください。(ranpitsu ranbun o-yurushi kudasai)
Please forgive my terrible handwriting and poor grammar.
There’s also lots on how to address envelopes & postcards.
Wednesday at 6:58 am
Oh, you missed いよいよ in the vocab. I guess that translates to “at long last”?
Wednesday at 7:22 am
Thank you for the 377 sound file.
But the lesson_374-audio file seems to be empty.
Wednesday at 10:50 am
Alainさん,
I just downloaded the audio file for 374 and it seems to work. I also played it on the site and played it in a pop-up without problem.
ジョン
Wednesday at 10:56 am
Interesting lesson… I should really send more letters and postcards, rather than email.
Just wanted to add that 出張 doesn’t have to mean a big trip… it can just mean leaving work early for a meeting on the other side of town. (I’m shuccho every month when I teach at a school for sick kids, rather than at my normal school)
Wednesday at 1:17 pm
ちょっとおかしいと分かるけど、私は話し言葉より書き言葉が分かりやすいです。
なぜかと言うと、誰でも数年間日本にさえ住めば日常会話がちゃんとできるようになるが、日本語を読むのは「経験を経つ」ものではなく「学ぶ」ものですからこそ、日本人と話すチャンスがあまり少ない外界に住む学生も漢字を見て意味をすぐに取られます。
ですから、悪いながらも、私は新聞とか雑誌を読むとき意味が分かるのに読み方が分からない漢字がよく出てきます。
漢字の意味も読み方も全部覚えるのは学生の最チャレンジですね。みんなさん頑張っています!
But anyhow, sorry for rambling.
About letter/postcard writing: Somehow, no matter how informal Japanese people are when speaking, they always seem to switch over to formal language when writing (and by writing, keitai emailing doesn’t count here). For students of Japanese, this might seem intimidating at first… but actually, the formality of letter-writing makes the whole process easier–just stick to the proper format and swap words / phrases as fit!
First, when in doubt, just talk about the weather. The podcast gave a good example of a typical winter phrase, but if you don’t get around to writing your postcards until spring, this page has some weather openings for each season: http://www2.maruni.co.jp/life/html/jikou/jikou.html . If you’d like to search on the web for more, try looking for 「時候の挨拶」.
Now what about format? It’s pretty hard to convey how to format a letter via podcast, but this site provides the format for both a vertical and a horizontal letter: http://www.midori-japan.co.jp/letter/ . Notice the parts. (1) is opening word / greeting. (2) is the weather “aisatsu.” Next you talk about the recipient’s fate / state and your own situation. Only after you’ve gone through these things can you get down to the meat of the matter. Afterwords, you can’t just simply sign your name and be done with the thing. You have to include some sort of “musubi aisatsu,” i.e. concluding compliments (health and weather are, again, safe bets). Then you can end with your choice of concluding words.
The site also provides a list of opening greetings 頭語 (とうご) and conclusion phrases 結語 (けつご) and the situations in which you use them.
ふつうの手紙 — ordinary letters
改まった手紙 — serious / formal letters
前文を省略する場合 — literally, “when you shorten the preamble” though I’m not entirely sure about this one…
急用の手紙 — urgent letters
返信の手紙 — reply letters
重ねて出す場合 — when you’ve sent many / multiple letters
初めて出す場合 — first-time letters
Lastly, the site includes its own list of seasonal greetings, as well as the formal ways to write the months. For example, you might have heard of songs about sakura that refer to the 弥生の空 ^_^ Happy writing!
Wednesday at 1:24 pm
Alanさん、Now that you mention it, 「許してください」 is probably a good phrase to remember in general ^_^ . Probably sounds too formal for everyday conversations, but good for writing perhaps?
Wednesday at 1:45 pm
JapanesePod101.com Crew and Listeners!
Hugo-san!
I agree with you, I LOVE WINTER AND SNOW!
Imagine if we have this weather forever!
This world would get CRAZY!
Stan Soehlman-san
I agree with you too I’m tire of being always polite and them to me specially when we (Japanese people) are closes friends of mine!
Would they ever just talk normal or informal someday?:???:
Annie-san
Me too I sometimes send greeting only on special ocassions or birthday’s! I always reply by e-mail, text message, chat, in person, on the telephone, etc!
JapanesePod101-san!
Great Idea, I’ll sent out a postcards to ContactusatJapanesepod101.com so be sure read them out loud!
S_R_C
Wednesday at 1:50 pm
JapanesePod101.com Crew and Listeners!
Oohh out of the topic but I forgot to mention Windows Vista is out already and WOW! I recommend it very much, I LOVE IT!
S_R_C
Wednesday at 1:55 pm
Oh, it’s fun to learn how to be so polite!!!
As to Saitama, I was lucky enough to visit there two years ago and I saw the John Lennon Museum there — not to be missed!! It’s on the 4th and 5th floors of the Super Arena.
Wednesday at 3:36 pm
Liz21さん、
Um, unless you can’t stand the Beatles I guess.
Wednesday at 10:12 pm
Sindy-さん
Definitely out of the topic! We all know you love Redmont (れどもんと??) and all the great people there. Others prefer the Linux ペンギン or the Apple 林檎. Please don’t ignit this boring OS war again
Jean-Michel
Thursday at 7:09 am
Sindy-san!
I agree 100% with you. For this type of weather for example I wish to go to Hokkaido
Thursday at 10:19 am
Jean-Michel-san
I was just reminding Maxiewawa-san about changing his mind here is a good link Mixiewawa the truth is there!
S_R_C
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16873608
Hugo-san!
Thursday at 5:51 pm
皆さん
フランスでは、あんなに丁寧なひとがいないでしょう
聞かれたことがあるかもしれないけど、「あず」と「あない」はちがいますか?
ありがとうございまいす!
Daniel
Thursday at 11:06 pm
Daniel-san,
In regard to the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, one does not have to be a “Beatles fan” in order to appreciate the elegant beauty of this magnificent exhibit. One does not have to be a “Beatles fan” to understand John Lennon’s ultimate historical significance, not only because of his beautiful and powerful compositions, but also because of his anti-war stance and for his role in creating curiosity about Asian things among young people in the West. When the Beatles went to India to study mysticism, for example, it had a great impact on many young people of the time. When John Lennon married Yoko Ono, he also embraced the Japanese culture. The John Lennon Museum in Saitama reflects all of these qualities.
Friday at 8:27 am
Liz21-san Rules she’s right!
The beatles Rules!
S_R_C
Friday at 10:43 pm
Hey, why is Peter no longer doing the English translations….?
Nothing against the girl!
But Peter has the most most most pleasant voice ever.
Friday at 4:37 am
これは難しいですね!初めてで、まるで分かりませんでしたが、今ちょっと分かります。きれいな言語ですね。
日本語が下手ですから、間違えば、助けてくれるの?
Anya
Friday at 4:47 pm
Anya-san,
日本語でコメントありがとうございます!
Thank you for your comment in Japanese!
どんどん、コメントしてくださいね!待ってます!
Looking forward to your more comments!
Wednesday at 11:20 am
aikawarazu atarashii tokoro o benkyou shite omoshiroiino gokikimashita. sugi no jyugyou o benkyoushitara ashita hayai okute goshimasu.
I tried to put ‘go’ in front of a few verbs did I do it right
I was trying to say (politely):
as always I learned of new places and heard about interesting things. I want to study the next lesson so I will wake up early tomorrow just to do it.
Wednesday at 2:59 pm
austin-san,
Thank you for your comment in Japanese!
To say “kikimashita” politely, you’ll say “o-kikishimashita” using “o” instead of “go”. Also, when you say “shimasu” you already speak it politely. We don’t attach “o” or “go” to “shimasu.”
Tuesday at 1:04 am
初めまして 私の名前は宰重です。
私は韓国のアメリカ人です。
韓国語と日本語のsyntextは異常に類似していると信じています。
しかし、非常に多くのニュアンスがあるで あなたのような手順が必要です。
この佐々木さんの葉書は非常に美しいでとそを手紙で郵送することがいいじゃないですか?
宰重(jae Joong)
Saturday at 2:27 pm
Hi,Can I say In japanese “Honkakuteki ni Nihongo o benkyo shite imasu”
Or “Honkakuteki ni Nihongo o benkyo shiteiru” are both ok? and can you use the word “Honki” to make the same sentence?
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