Mina-san, 本当にお疲れ様でした！
Wow, is all we can say. You’ve put in a lot of hard work and made it to this point. We’ve had so much fun making these stories for you since the beginning and we hope you’ve enjoyed them just as much!

If you still need a little practice, Beginner Season Two is continuing and if you’re confident enough, Lower Intermediate conversations are about where the Beginners stop (except there is more Japanese in the explanations).

That said, what did you prepare for today? Can you use おく and tell us?

I ask about the thumbs up/down because I see most folks, girls especially, use the same signs. Are there japanese versions which are popular?

Also, is Peter casting as the next generation Morning Musume?

Thank you everyone and well done on the series.
Thank you for the oku explanation .I undertood it clearly thanks to you.Robert

皆様、お疲れ様でした。
置くの説明ありがとうございました。
良く分かりました。
宜しくお願いします
ロバート

It’s the end of an era; a new paradigm of Japanese language learning excellence is upon us. Prepare yourself for the trailblazing innovation, the concise efficiency, and the unmatched entertainment value of - the Next Generation-ation-ation… That’s what I got from this lesson anyway, so hopefully I’m not let down

I think learning these kinds of auxiliary verbs is fairly straightforward to the point of being able to understand them when they’re used, but knowing when to use them and sound natural yourself takes a bit of getting used to, I think.

Are Morning Musume the band with 10+ (constantly changing) members as young as 12 who perform in department stores to an audience of mainly strange looking guys in their 30s-40s? I saw something on TV about that and found it a little disturbing.

Hmm, I’m not sure who they were then, but they were very similar. The label exec that they interviewed was intentionally targeting this oddball demographic of 30-40 y/o men, despite the fact that their interest obviously went beyond the music and the girls were aged so young. Things like this and the whole densha chikan problem are a mixture of and

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of a Japanese girl who wasn’t doing the ‘victory V’. It always reminds me of the line ‘Here vee goooooo!’

thank you for your hard work
i’m looking forward for more lessons
ganbatte
rigo

あぁよっかたねありがとうJockＺonさん　それはいいね

ジョルヂ　

OK, I’ll do it:
夕べ、鍵を置かなかったから、今朝見つけられなかったよ！

Congratulations! Omedeto! 170 Beginner Lessons!
Logically, of course, there had to be an end to “Beginner”. I often wondered about it. In my own case, I was keeping up pretty well at first. Then I fell behind. The Beginner lessons seemed to become more difficult at a fast pace OR I wasn’t really studying hard enough. Sometimes I became so enthralled with the stories and the characters that I listened for enjoyment and neglected to study! So, I guess the Beginner Lessons will be there for all eternity for us to go back and catch up on our own.

On the other hand, I would enjoy seeing some slower paced lessons with lots more practice. Maybe it would help me catch up? I guess Season 2 is like that.

Another question: Will you still put out a podcast every day? Perhaps it is too grueling a pace!

Can’t wait to see that movie!!!! When is it coming out??

I want to say, “For the concert I must practice in advance”. Can anyone help me say that?

Maxiewawa,
Doumo! You’re the best!

Hello all I just want to know if the lesson you are learning are fast and easy? I really want to learn but sometimes it’s
hard for me to remember japanese I can say things like “Asa”for (Morning) and so on but when try to really get down to it I forget it makes me so mad. (Help!!):???:

I was very suprised Hello!Project was brought up in this lesson.

Just one thing:
Morning Musume is not pronounced “musumai”. Just normal “musume”.

When I heard Morning Musume in this one, I started laughing. I don’t know why, I guess becuase my favorite group is getting more famous…?

Thank you very much for the seven day trial! Natsuko has a good speaking voice and the lesson materials are well prepared…

tryllid san> There is no “age limit” for using boku. I think what Peter meant by
>boku is used by men in their 20s, but not by men in their 30s
is that the men in their 30s are likely to face more serious and important business situation or be in higher status in business, and boku shouldn’t be used in a formal business setting, therefore, you hear more men in their 20s using boku compared to men in their 30s.
So if there is any unspoke rule, it would be something like this:
boku shouldn’t be used in a formal business situations.
boku can be used by any men in any age in a casual setting such as among friends and family, although, if a guy looks like he’s a “mama’s boy” and use boku as in a childish way, some people may think he’s little wimpy or childish. But often times when a cool looking old man uses boku, it sounds intelligent and gentle, compared to “ore”.
And if the men in their 20s use boku it may sound ok even in a business situation because obviously they are usually the youngest ones in the companies and it may sound somewhat “humble” to use boku, but for the men in their 30’s that’s a bit too childish, therefore “watashi” is better.
But all in all, it really depends on the person and the environment one is in.

Hope it helped!

Zoloo-san,
To download the audio file of the lesson to your hard drive please see “Method 3″ on this page: http://www.japanesepod101.com/downloads/

If you’re wanting to download the lesson files (or other material to your hard drive) on a regular basis please consider subscribing to the relevant feeds in a way that suits you. The page I link to above lists your options.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks for Listening!