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/

Alain-san, thank you for pointing that out! Everything should now be in order. 宜しくお願いします！

Speaking about the weather, I love the winter and the snow is my favorite type of weather. Very useful lesson as always!

Oh, you missed いよいよ in the vocab. I guess that translates to “at long last”?

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

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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.