Yeah this sounds familiar. I was never good enough for my mom. And she especially complained about my writing. So this was really close to home.

Yeah, this one brought back some memories of my mom and her friends. They were always ripping on us when they thought we weren’t listening. Kinda hard to think about even now…

It’s a detail, but what particularly caught my eye was the WA in…

あら、そんなことないわよ
Ara, sonna koto nai wa yo

This is feminine speech, right? I mean, being a guy, I can just say

あら、そんなことないよ

dessho?

franciscoさん、
そのとおり！ you’re exactly right! that’s feminine speech. and in this convo the voice actors are really playing up the おばさん-style! stay away from the obasan わ!

steveさん、yukiさん、burgerさん、
yeah, childhood is full of ups and downs, but look where you are now!!

javizyさん、
この話を切りあげたい is a pretty funny phrase
but since i’ll talk about any subject i don’t try to 切り上げる (finish and leave) in any convo.
so to exit an inconvenient (read: embarrassing) conversation, i prefer to use 耳が痛い話だなぁ, which i think is equally useful. if someone calls out your mistake, try it!! kind of an indirect way, since 切り上げる is a kinda low blow, (implies leaving without saying anything). 耳が痛い話だなぁ is useful cuz you’re being direct and japanese listeners will give you a way out! if you 切り上げる, i think they’ll talk bad about you after you leave.
also you can use 切り上げる if you finish a meeting with no conclusion. the time ran out, but everyone’s got to go. and in this situation, i think it has no rebellious or negative meaning.
actually, i wanna know Yuki’s opinion on this one….

マクシーさん、
マナブ君とトオル君に教えてください！お願いします!！

マーキー

:: laughs :: Just realized that I just did that backwards… it’s the “上げる” that’s the suffix this time, not the “切る” part. I guess that’s what I get for never quite getting enough sleep.

I used to think my parents hated me
But then I divorced them!

JP101 crew/listeners!

Kitty-chan

That was a very serious expression about your parents even has a joke ok!

My parents have always been very nice to me because I’m the only girl in the house and the last child from my two older brothers.

I also still live with them now and they trust me in everything about their businesses and I love them very much, thank you for giving me life. S_R_C

Miki-san has a baby? That’s great! she should post pix of her son!!!

Miki san has a baby ?
i guess she is going to be away for awhile then
congratulation Miki san
ciao

ummmm….

おめでとう　美樹さん！

Wow, that’s great news!! You must be really proud Miki!! I agree with Sindy, I’m sure you’ll be the best mother in Japan!

So, this week Miki has managed to have a baby and get a job in a maid cafe I hope this isn’t affecting her grades at university

Ohhh I forgot to mention that Miki-san is a mother of a child sounds like a very nice mom

I’m pretty that ‘i’ not being an ‘a’ is what gave birth to Miki’s child I think Sindy was just trying to say that Miki was convincing as a mother in the lesson.

Miki sounded so young in her first lesson appearance that I always think of her as about 18. She did sound like a nice mum in that lesson though.

I have a question about a line in the dialog. Can we break it down?

4 ねんにもなって、１ねんさいみたいなさくぶんしかかけないんだから。
4 nen ni mo natte, 1 nensai mitai na sakubun shika kakenai n da kara.

4 years (also?) becoming, 1 year-like composition nothing but unable to write (therefore? from?)

I’m not sure if that’s a “n da kara” or a “n dakara”.

- why is it 4 nen and not 4 nensai?
- what is the “mo” for in the “mo natte”? Does it add a kind of “even though”-ness?
- why is the verb negative? I would expect it to be “only *can* write like a first grader”. Does the negative verb go together when the “mo” in the first clause?

遅くなりました 美樹です。
私の知らないうちに、私に子供がいることになっていましたね
私には子供もいないし、結婚もしていませんよ

でも、たくさんのうれしい言葉をありがとう