Mina-san, how many times have you heard this compliment? How do you usually respond?

Really AzianFlu? Every book I’ve read says NOT to respond with arigatou, as acknowledging the complimenter “is right” supposedly sounds presumptuous.

My understanding is that you should tread the whole “jozu desu/ie mada mada desu” thing as a totally conventional little language game…kind of like “yoroshiku onegae shimasu/yoroshiku onegae shimasu”.

Does it *really* mean something? No, not really. Are you obliged to play along? Yes you are! It’s the only way to keep Japanese civilization from collapsing.

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I was really interested in the nakanaka XXXnai construction, by the way. I’ve heard it a few times and could never make sense of it. I think this is the kind of instruction that makes JapanesePod101 so incredibly useful: y’all really do teach the kinds of constructions we need, but typical language books leave out. For the 700,000th times, thank you!

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Oh and AzianFlu - I dunno if this information is out of date, but - I heard that there’s a huge diet fad in California, mainland Japan and even (amazingly) France all about the Okinawa diet. Apparently Okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world, and some guys wrote a Fad Diet book to persuade fat French women they could get skinny and live forever eating…what was it, black vinegar, pork and sweet potatoes. Is it really true? Are you surrounded by 120 year old people all day? Is the food there aggressively healthy?

Well, on one hand I agree with the books. On the other, the Okinawans (I don’t know if it is the same in the mainland or not) have a tendency to be aggressively polite!

Were I to continuously deny their compliments, we would be locked in an endless loop until they decided I was a wierdo. It is better here to refuse, and then accept. I have heard rumors of a “triple denial before accepting” (anything, even an invitation for coffee) in the mainland, though I don’t know how true that is.

Here’s how it works in my head for Okinawa :

他の人：　”日本語上手ですね!”　Your Japanese is great!
私：　”いいえ、そうでわないよ。。。” No, that’s not the case…
他の人：　”本当、凄い上手よ!” Really! It’s very good!
私：　”ありがとう。” Thank you.

First they compliment me (whether I deserve it or not)
I admit that my Japanese is not really very good.
They insist that it is, rejecting my denial.
I thank them for their politeness. (not necessarily for what they were saying)

Now, should I respond with a “そうですね！”, I would assuredly be remembered as an arrogant jerk.

I don’t know about how well this would work for other people, but I am consistently sought ought and invited back to homes and what not, so it would seem that I am doing something correct.

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I can’t quite decide if you have a handle on the “nankananka XXXnai” construction or not from your comment because you say you could never make sense of it, but since you are thanking JPod, I’m going to go with you having an understanding of it.

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Ah, yes, the Okinawan diet! Now, I haven’t followed the fad or read the books, but it is true, Okinawa does indeed have the longest life expectancy for its’ residents.

And yes, I see people significantly advanced in age walking around on the streets under their own power every single day. 120? that I won’t say for sure, but I will tell you this…

My mother in law is in her 70’s and runs around like she is in her mid 50’s at most!

It is impressive to me that these people not only live long, but live long *active* lives. I believe that the diet does have a lot to do with it, there is certainly their share of fried foods, but the average dinner has very little of it. Lots of natural foods (that somehow taste great!) and reasonable portions go a long way. (I always hated spinach until I came here and had fresh spinach for the first time. I had always eaten canned spinach until then, I wish I had known years ago how different the taste was!)

Another large factor for their longevity though (imho) is the fact that most people do a LOT of walking. They won’t jump in their car to go a couple of kilometers, they’ll grab an umbrella (keep the sun and heat off) and just walk. While TV is a part of everyday life, most people watch very little and will instead be found walking to their friends houses. It is amazing what a non-sedentary life style can do. (I am sure there is more going on, but the diet and keeping on the move are the most noticeable two factors for me…. so far)

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Well, the wife is getting on my case about my dinner getting cold, so I shall sign off and eat.

I hope everyone has a great day!

This should be one of the first lessons a beginner learns. I haven’t actually listened to it yet, though, as my PDA was acting up before work. I originally started studying with the Pimsleur discs before I found this site, and remember there were 2 key phrases they beat into your head in the very first lesson: 「すみません。わかりません。」 and 「いいえ、まだ上手じゃありません」

Okinawa sounds nice!!

When Japanese people tell me I’m 上手, I just say でしょう？ And then I laugh it off.
Although, the other day at McDonald’s in Ikebukuro, a cute cashier said it. And I could of swore she was hitting on me. McDonald’s girls never said that to me before. It was wicked!

Marky-san,
You are doing such amazing things that none of us can keep up with what you are doing!! AMAZING!!

TempleUniJp -san!

Are you serious or just miss out:???:

Yes Peter Galante is a subscriber to Chinesepod that’s how he got the idea of JP101!

About survival phrases you said you sign up and feel betrayed right?
You shouldn’t be because I also a member and http://survivalphrases.com is from JP101 just like http://Koreanclass101.com too.

Marky-san!

Thank you for all the work you do for us, I want to tell you that too bad you have a girlfriend otherwise I’ll pick on you! we have so much in common. S_R_C

シンヂィーさん
There’s always those of us over here in the states.
- Chris

私はキムの反対です。漢字がおぼえられるけど、ぜんぜん話せない！ 　私の日本語がまだまだ。。。

Line-by-line Transcriptの中に間違いがあった。

「にほんにこられてどれくらいなんですか」の代わりに「日本にきてどれくらいなんですか」で～す！　

I think not being able to respond and express that you think it’s crazy they think you’re Japanese is great is proof enough that it still needs work!

I only heard this twice during my two weeks in Tokyo, does that mean my Japanese was so bad the locals couldn’t even bring themselves to lie to me? As I was unaware of this habit the first time I heard it I was genuinely flattered but only for about three seconds as the rest of the short conversation consisted of me replying ‘Sorry,I don’t understand’, ‘Sorry, I still don’t understand’. I figured something was going on the next time when a taxi driver told me ‘Your Japanese is very good, do you study at university?’ when all I’d said was ‘Hiroo station please’ and ‘No, I’m not American, I’m Australian.’ And to think I replied with ‘thank you’ both times as I didn’t know what else to say. I’m going again in May for four weeks so providing anyone says it at all I will be prepared! いいえ、いいえ。そうでもありません。まだまだです Got it. (Thanks Peter!)　

The transcript indeed says こられて　（来られて）
Why this (potential?) form is used here is unclear to me.
Can anybody help?

Jean-Michel

Thanks maxiewawa, I couldnt figure out the usage of 来られて as well.