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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Newbie Season 2 . 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.
41 Responses to “Newbie Lesson S2 #6 - Nihongo Dōjō - Money Makes the World Go Round in Japan”
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Mina-san, what do you think about Minami-san’s adventure at the 100 Yen Shop? Would you ask the same qustion there?
Tuesday at 10:40 pm
There is something wrong with the grammar points of the PDF
Wednesday at 12:03 am
scnnrc-san,
Thank you for pointing out the wrong PDF.
I’m very sorry. I’ve fixed it now.
Mayumi
Wednesday at 4:03 am
This shop clerk is so funny!!! Take-san is the beeeeeeest!
Wednesday at 5:56 am
JP101 crew/listeners!
Great newbie lesson! Kitty-chan-san
I agree with you GO TAKE-SAN!!
Mina-san!
It’s been quiet lately, don’t be shy! share us your comments with us or feel free to ask questions, there is always JP101 staff here to help out and give you the answers or clues, the listener is first.
S_R_C
Wednesday at 6:51 am
I have a question Sindy - how did Take manage to sound so much like Yoshikai?
I might have asked the question in today’s dialogue because all of the £1 shops I’ve been in have had items at other prices; kind of misleading if you ask me
Wednesday at 7:14 am
Peterさん、
A couple of problems with your English explanation:
1. ここは百円ショップ is not translated “Here is a 100 yen shop”. I cover this in my Common Problems in Speaking class. It should be “This is a 100-yen shop.” The meaning is different. The latter looks like you are offering to give a 100-yen shop. I’ve noticed this same explanation a number of times in previous lessons as well.
2. You said that we don’t use 相づち in English. While it is true that Japanese use it more, we do say things like “mm-hmm”, “uh-huh”, “oh really?” and “oh yeah?”.
Just keeping you on your toes bro! Consider me the Terry Tate of English explanations.
Wednesday at 10:38 am
Danielさん、true enough.

But I think we can make a good case for bending the language a little bit for pedagogical purposes. By modeling the English after the Japanese sentence structure (especially in the beginner and newbie level) we can illustrate usage that is unique to japanese and start off listeners with good habits in japanese. after all, we’re trying to teach japanese, not english. these kinds literal translations are usually deliberate and we tend use fewer of them in the higher levels.
in the end, translation is an art, not a science, and the technique has to vary depending on audience.
as for aizuchi (back channeling), of course we use it in english. all languages do.
but i think peter wasn’t trying to make an across the board statement. as you well know, aizuchi is extremely important in japanese. it’s actually considered rude if you don’t constantly reply with はい、うん、ええ、そうですか and the like, whereas in english you could, in theory, say nothing and just listen. 
again, we have to consider all these points from the beginning and think about how we can get some good habits formed in our listeners (text books don’t usually even cover aizuchi). so since this was a newbie lesson, it seemed like as good a time as any to stress the importance thereof here. that said, you’re right we most definitely do back channel in english, but it’s MUCH less than in english.
an interesting story about back channeling in english and japanese:
it’s actually annoying (and even RUDE) in english to back channel as much as they do in japanese. and i’ve gotten in the habit of doing it here. but when i return to the states, i have a hard time “turning off” japanese mode. and i constantly say うん、ええ、へえぇ, etc and it annoys the pants off my friends in family in america. i have to train myself to stop doing it.
marky
Wednesday at 4:51 pm
Daniel さん

えいごのべんきょうになりました。ありがとうございました。
Thank you for your comment!
Mina-san
I thought today’s intro was pretty funny.(Thanks to Marky!)It’s not too difficult. Very simple grammar is used.
A fashion police is giving someone some advice by using “—–dame”.”Dame” means “no good”
He(or she) said…
“kutsu ga dame.”–kutsu is ” shoes”
“kaban mo dame.”–kaban is “bag”
“shatsu mo dame.”–shatsu is “shirt”
“zenbu ga dame.”—zenbu is “everything”
I hope you can catch these 4 sentences.
Naomi
Wednesday at 8:20 pm
Introおもしろいね。いつも!
Hai, Fashion chekku shimasune. Mazune, sono kutsu ga dame. Sorekara ne, ano, sono kaban mo dame.
??::???: Sorekara ne, Sono shatsu mo dame, zenbu ga dame, subete dame…
Anata ne, hitotsu ii koto oshiete ageru.
Japanesepod101 kikinasai!
でも、ちょっと意見あげていい?Introはレッソンに対してほうがいいとおもいますんが。中級な学生のために。
Maybe the intros could be based around the same basic idea as the dialogues.
Just include ‘ikura’ or some other word from today’s lesson and it would give everyone another exposure to the word. It would undoubtedly change the skit, but it would give it that educational slant that we’re all looking for.
I’m not sure if it’s the same thing, but when the two actors were working it out, you might just chip in with ‘一ついいこと教えてあげる’ to ‘一言教えてあげる’, which was a word from yesterday’s lesson.
I’m not sure if 一言 and 一ついい事 are interchangeable though, but I hope you get my meaning. Just include something from that day’s dialog in the intro, as a ‘primer’ to that lesson.
たとえば
いらっしゃい!
え、これはいくら?
お客様、すみませんけど、それだめ。
え?じゃ、これは?
はい、実はね、それもだめ。これもそれもあれもだめ、全部がだめ。。。ききなさい!
Or maybe…
(Background sounds of a shop)
Girl@register: は~い、次の方おねがいしま~す!
Customer: えと。。。この中級レッソンと。。。
Girl:は~い。(Beeping sound as she scans the barcode)
客:それに、メッセージ・ボードと。。。
Girl:は~い。
客:それと、七日間Free Trialお願いします。全部いくら?
Girl:お客さん、これはゼロ円です。
客:え。。。
Girl: Japanesepod101.comへいらっしゃいませ!
I always see the intros as the level of language I’d like to be at. - Breakneck speed. I think listeners would really get a kick out of being able to pick something out of the intros, even if it’s only one word. This would be much easier if some of the words were taken from the dialogue for that lesson.
Wednesday at 8:46 pm
markystarさん、
お疲れさま! Your editing work has been excellent!
Methinks, however, thou dost protest a tad too much on this one.
Naomiさん、
I’ve been really enjoying your explanations! Especially about pitch. Keep up the excellent work!
Wednesday at 9:00 pm
It’s really amazing all the input you give us listeners about some language/cultural aspects you really don’t find in textbooks.
The explanation about “aizuchi” was really nice and it really didn’t change the topic of the rest of the lesson.
Now, about Naomi sensei’s funny experience, I can relate to Javizy-san, here in Brazil we also have the R$ 1,99 shops (equivalent to 100en shoppu in Japan) and some products there do have different prices sometimes.
I wonder why they continue using the name R$ 1,99, then!!! But as Peter-san said, that may be a very good practice for those who want to master on numbers
Mata!
Thursday at 3:23 am
Danielさん、 my response was a bit for you and a bit for everyone. i just wanted to clarify that often there is a method behind the mayhem. lol.
but you know this…
Naomiさん、i want to second Danielさん’s post, your pitch accent teaching is really 最高ですよ!!
Thursday at 2:35 pm
Interesting lesson…
Naomi san does use “aizuchi” quite often, perhaps it would be nice to have a lesson on when and how to use “aizuchi” too. In addition, its good that Naomi san is showing us the correct pitch but please don’t overdo it to the point that sounds irritating. Other members on Jap101 are nice and easy to listen to but I found myself have to lower the volume everytime you speak. I still enjoy listening to the lessons but just a little feedback to keep in mind….
Thursday at 9:05 pm
markystarさん、
Fair enough. However, you have to remember that one of the “sports” at JP101 is the Save Peter Campaign™.
Friday at 4:38 am
Mina-san!
Thank you for your participation!
Tataraabuela-san!
It’s ok grandma, nice feedback!
S_R_C
Friday at 2:15 pm
Ya, the way Naomi san talks is kinda annoying. Too bad
Sunday at 7:33 am
Just wanted to say I’m really enjoying this newbie series with Naomi-sensei. I was finding the later beginner series a bit tricky, I’m finding this more structured approach really helpful.
ありがとうございます
Tony
Thursday at 9:13 am
I don’t find the way that Naomi sensei talks in the slightest annoying. In fact I like listening to her.
Of course it would be better if she spoke the Queen’s English rather than the inferior American imitation but you cannot have everything.
The grammatical explanations are exceptionally thorough.
Thursday at 6:38 am
Sumimasen, is onegai shimasu used more frequently than kudasai, and/or do they have slightly different meanings?
Arigatou gozaimasu in advance for your help.
Thursday at 3:07 pm
Mihara-san,
下さい/kudasai can be with “te-form of verb” as like 教えて下さい(please teach) or can be with a noun as like コーヒーを下さい(give me a coffee, please). The nuance is “give me something”
And お願いします/onegaishimasu, the nuance is “please do something for me”. It’s kind of prompting listener’s action, e.g. コーヒーをお願いします。(give me a coffee, please)
The translation is totally same but the nuance is a bit different…
For me, kudasai sounds bit more “direct” than onegaishimasu.
Japanese language tends to take euphemistic expression.
Friday at 6:22 am
Hai, thank you very much, Yuki-san.
Monday at 10:01 pm
Hello
Don’t know why the whole “1. listening” Part is missing. Can’t study this lesson now
.
Is it my computer’s problem or the website’s?
Anybody can help? Thanks a lot.
Saturday at 8:33 am
Oh my god, I love the shop-clerks voice
! Thank you for this lesson!
Saturday at 8:22 pm
Hello
!
I just found it now… There seems to be something wrong in the Expansions:
このノートは100円です。
Kono nōto wa hyaku-en desu.
This notebook is 100yen.
The audio-file doesn’t fit to the text and I can’t figure it out, what he is saying instead.
Tuesday at 4:11 am
“inferior American imitation”? Get over yourself, languages evolve.
That said, I agree that Naomi sensei isn’t annoying. Information on pitch accent is hard to find, and I really appreciate this series.
Wednesday at 10:40 pm
I can only assume that these replies are ancient but…
@Kobukuro
… true, but this is not the only instance of a different example than the one written there… I guess it’s a good listening comprehension
アップルパイは100円です。
My question… The pronunciation of the 店員… that middle ん all but disappears? I am really having trouble pronouncing that word… it sounds almost like “tein” (as in caffein)
And one more question for the mac users out there… besides copy-pasting づ how do you get to type it on your mac? I am constantly getting the ず which is not interchangeable?
Thank you for all the hard work! This more structured approach is perfect for me!
Thursday at 2:38 am
@shamanana: Did you try to type “du” for the づ
?
Thursday at 6:19 am
Thursday at 1:05 pm
Kobukuro -san
I just read your comment about the audio!!! Thank you so much for pointing out and sorry for the trouble. I’ll ask the tech team to fix it.
shamanana-san
Thank you for putting the sentence “Appurupai wa 100en desu”
>>The pronunciation of the 店員… that middle ん all but disappears? I am really having trouble pronouncing that word… it sounds almost like “tein” (as in caffein)
→ん in 店員 is nasal sound. (Nasal sound is “n” as in “-ng” sound [cf. going, doing English…]) So it’s hard to catch that sound but it’s there.
So てんいん is like…. Ten(g)In(g).
Friday at 8:26 pm
Just a heads up: In the vocabulary sample sentences for this lesson’s PDF there is an error.
The sentence ‘わたしは100円ショップの店員です’。
Is repeated twice! I’m really a newbie so I could be totally wrong but I got the feeling the second time around it was meant to say…
‘わたしは100円ショップの客さんです’
Since that would use one of the new kanji/words for this lesson!
Excuse my ignorance if I’m wrong.
Friday at 8:29 pm
Eep, maybe I’m wrong since I just realised I suggested something which would have the speaker putting the ーさん suffix onto something referring to themselves!
Well, I hope you know what I mean anyway.
Monday at 10:41 am
Dualityさん,
Thank you for pointing that out - we have changed one of them to a new one!
Tuesday at 4:10 pm
これとこれとこれ下さい!
。。。。I like the way it sounds…
Thursday at 11:36 am
ニコレット-san
Friday at 10:26 pm
Good morning everyone,
Would anyone be so kind as to help me with the follwing phrases please, I get very confused with how to address myself properly:
- I have a reservation or a room reserved in your hotel
- We have a made a reservation for 4 people (restaurant reservation)
- We would like to order (as order food in a restaurant)
- Could you please tell me where we are? (as an place…)
Thanks for your kind assistance
Friday at 10:29 pm
oh sorry, those phrases I posted, please if you could help me in Romaji. Thank you
Friday at 10:02 am
Hello!
I’ve got an email saying that Japanesepod101 has free conents as well as paid contents. Where are your free contents? I am only 12 so i dont really have the money to upgrade to premium. Thanks so much!!! ^-^
Friday at 10:14 am
Jae Kyeung Kim-san,
Yes! All of our most recent lessons (from the past 3 weeks), and the first 3 lessons of every series are free.
Friday at 3:52 pm
いらっしゃいませ。
これは幾らですか。
百円です。
じゃ、それは幾らですか。
お客さん、ここは百円ショップです。これも、それも、あれも百円です。
すみません、これとそれを下さい。
お疲れ様でした。
Thursday at 3:42 am
For those out there who like British humour (yes, it is related to today’s lesson:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMi09FEs8E
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