JapanesePod101.com makes learning Japanese Fun! It’s Monday and that means it’s time for the Dōjō. In fact, it’s out first Dōjō of the new year. In today’s lesson, the staff of Style You receives a phone call in a strange foreign tongue. It turns out that Fabrizio is a polyglot when it comes to Romance Languages, but even he cannot help out in this crisis. In Japanese Grammar, the contrastive use of the particle wa is vital to keeping the ideas in your sentences clear and simple. So, after listening, stop by JapanesePod101.com and be sure to leave us a post!
This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Newbie Lessons. 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.
52 Responses to “Newbie Lesson #56 - Nihongo Dōjō - Style You and Beyond 1”
JapanesePod101.com says:
December 14th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Mina-san,
お待たせしました！
o-matase shimashita!
Sorry to keep you waiting! Because of the holiday schedule, it’s been a while since we had a Newbie Lesson!
I know a lot of you have been jonesing for your weekly fix of Fabrizio. So we’re all to happy to include him here for you!
maxiewawa says:
January 7th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
ハウヤガーン*、レベカ先生, いらっしゃいませ。そんなに日本語ができる先生を聞くと、何か愛国になるよ。
Howya-garn, Rebecca. Welcome. I’m full-stoked to hear another ’stralian speakin’ Japanese so good, aye. I’ll be sure to teach you some オーストラ語 since you mentioned you don’t speak it. 
私も英語は話しますよ！その上オーストラリ語は得意
ところで、jonesingってはどんな意味でしょうか？
In Chinese, England is still referred to as 英国!
maxiewawa says:
January 7th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
びっくり！I just found the video, and the transcript of the intro! すごいですね！
皆さん、見て見てください。
Be sure to try and check them out!
スティーブオースティン says:
January 7th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
For the first time in my life I can totally follow the intro! 
Is this a new feature for 2008?
Victoria says:
January 7th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Haha, that’s the first time I’ve heard Japanese spoken with an Italian accent, very funny!!!
Great lesson - keep up the good work!
V
sTeVe aUsTiN says:
January 7th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Max, “jonesing” means fiending for a fix. 
The American Heritage Dictionary says (not Australian, sorry…):
jones (jōnz)
n.
1. Heroin.
2. An addiction or craving.
intr.v. jones·ed, jones·ing, jones·es
To have an eager or intense desire: “Debbie was jonesing for caffeine.”
Abrassart says:
January 7th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Those video are really great!
It’s amazing for learning kanjis… 
_petiteclaire_ says:
January 7th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
The holiday break seems to have worked wonders on Fabrizioさん post-late night partying condition…
さすがファブリツィオさん！！！
ジャブちゃん says:
January 7th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Wow, Rebecca’s accent is great in both languages, and her and Naomi make a good team; the HR department certainly earned their Christmas bonus 
A more commonly used word for jonesing around here is ‘roasting’, e.g. ‘I’m roasting for a snout (cigarette)’. Not something I really use myself though
mieth says:
January 7th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I really like the video vocab. any plans to go back and create video vocab for the past lessons???? I HOPE.. also one thing I think that naomi sensei’s voice is a little too soft in contrast to the music and marky’s voice. Err not that naomi sensei’t voice is too soft its just that there seems to be a volume difference..like her mike is set lower? ?? maybe I am hearing things..or not..or deaf in one ear ? anyway I like video vocab keep it up. thanks!
mieth says:
January 7th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
one more thing. maybe bringing the intro down to about 10 seconds instead of 20 and also keeping the verbs to dictionary form if it isn’t in a sentance.
Hyunwoo(ヒョヌ） says:
January 8th, 2008 at 1:39 am
英国 is still “영국(yeong guk)” as well 
気になって聞くんですが、何で英国からイギリスに変わりましたか？ 別に「えいこく」という他の単語があるわけでもなさそうですがー
markystar says:
January 8th, 2008 at 2:38 am
rebeccaさん、welcome aboard officially! 
皆さん、 if you have any questions about 源氏物語 (the tale of genji), please ask rebecca. she is an expert!
プチクレーアーさん、apparently fabrizioさん survived！！！
ジャブちゃん、yeah, her pitch is really good, iddnit?
miethさん、we’d like to make them for all the lessons, but it’s a lot of work for me and the skeleton crew, there are more than 600 old lesson at this point…
we want to do them for every new lesson in 2008. so i hope that’s good for you! we’re gonna focus on the new lessons for now.
i’m glad to hear about the volume levels from you… actually, i’m ready to turn the music down so we can focus on the vocab and pitch… but don’t forget the audio review track. it’s very pitch/accent oriented.
marky
mieth says:
January 8th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Marky regarding the sound, I am able to hear Naomi sensei’s voice clearly but I think her mic is down just a touch in relation to the background and your voice. I would agree with you to bring the music down one notch. I thought the volume level for your voice was just fine. Just need to bring Naomi sensei’s up a touch. I think I watched the vocab video approximately 40 times today…or a combination of watching and passively listening.(really good practice for listening and vocab building.) I do honestly have to give it to you guys. I am currently living in Japan going to a language school 5 days a week 4 hours a day and I think I learn more from japanesepod than I do there.
watermen says:
January 8th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Jpod101 is not right this time. 英国 is still being used.
This is Japan Foreign Ministry website:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/uk/
This is the British council website:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/jp/japan.htm
英国 is still being used. I don’t understand why everything has to be katakana.
Horror movie is ホラー映画..doesn’t Japanese has a term for Horror? Why katakana again? I don’t believe older generation Japanese call horror movie ホラー映画, there must be a proper Japanese term for it.
sTeVe aUsTiN says:
January 8th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Watermen, do you want to learn Japanese from the British Council?
Why do you always bicker and complain and fight with people?
They didn’t lie to you about how to say those words. You should grow up and learn that languages don’t follow the Watermen’s personal rules.
On a politer note, Mieth is truly a breath of freash air! I’m trying to defend JPod who is working so hard to please us all and Waterman just complains. I personally thought this was a good lesson. And Mieth had some constructive points. Jabu-chan also had good points as always. And poor marky… he explained something and just got the British Council stuffed down his pie-hole.
rigo says:
January 8th, 2008 at 5:52 am
hello mina san
great lesson today and welcome Rebecca san your japanese is good
i really think that the video vocab is a great tool to help memorizing kanji
keep up the good work
i 
watermen says:
January 8th, 2008 at 6:44 am
sTeVe aUsTiN: I am giving feedback!!!! I am not complaining! If you think that all Jpod101 needs is everyone to say GREAT..AWESOME…etc..fine..I will say that in every lesson…but mind you, you are the one being hostile now!!! I am just giving my opinion without targeting any person in particular! And yet you are target me particularly.
By the way, look at Japanese Foreign Ministry website!!!! Unless you are blind! and not just the British Council website…can you tell me, Jpod101 or 外務省, who is more accurate? who is the one having authoritative power in Japan!!!
watermen says:
January 8th, 2008 at 6:55 am
To sTeVe aUsTiN:
The other Japanese term for ホラー映画 is 恐怖映画.
By the way, I just did a Google search,
恐怖映画 shows 871,000 results, while ホラー映画 shows 737,100 results. Apparently, 恐怖映画 is more famous.
And lastly, stop using such hostile words toward me!!! If you don’t like to read my comment, I AM COOL with that. I am not pointing a gun at your head to read it!!! I am writing it for anyone who is interested in reading! And particularly for Jpod101, hopefully they make improvement.
watermen says:
January 8th, 2008 at 7:06 am
皆さん、
Sorry for the quibbling above….just that someone don’t understand the different between feedback and picking a fight. Anyway, we should keep it as harmonious as possible. Thanks.
Michael says:
January 8th, 2008 at 7:41 am
The music on the video is too loud - its difficult to hear the voices.
Its a great idea.
スコット says:
January 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am
今日はレベッカ先生。ようこそ! 好きな日本のビールは何ですか?
Intro transcripts!!! SWEET!!!
デボン says:
January 8th, 2008 at 9:18 am
すべてレスッンの中に単語のビデオがあるつもりですか？ もっともっと難しいビデオが欲しい！漢字大好きですよ！ 
Welcome Rebecca! 実は、羨ましいですよ！頑張ってくださいね！
markystar says:
January 8th, 2008 at 10:52 am
yup, let’s keep it harmonious, guys
the video vocab is going to a standard feature in the new year. so thanks for the feedback!! you guys help us improve!! 
Rebekah says:
January 8th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
皆さん、こんにちは！コメントありがとう。
Hi Everyone! Thanks for your comments.
今年、皆さんと一緒に日本語を勉強することを楽しみにしています。よろしくおねがいいします。
Looking forward to learning Japanese with you all this year. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
maxiwawaさん、オーストリアリア語をぜひ教えてください;)忘れているかも！
And to finding out some new stralianisms from you maxiewawa I’m getting a bit rusty!
ちなみに、スコットさん、好きな日本のビールはAsahi Super Dryです。苦くないから。
By the way, スコットさんmy favourite Japanese beer is Asahi Super Dry - because it isn’t bitter ：）
一緒に頑張りましょう！
Good luck this year!
Ｓｉｎｄｙシンディーもん says:
January 8th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Mina-sama!
Great video vocab and new newbie lesson!
Welcome Rebekah-san, looking foward to your comments.
Hyunwoo(ヒョヌ）
私は友人にあなたに同意します 
S_R_C
Abrassart says:
January 8th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I can get used to the Australian accent in English by listenning to JP101 now. Really interresting.
Hendomoto says:
January 8th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Wow, great to hear an Aussie accent on JPOD! シドニーからよろしくお願いします！
maxiewawa says:
January 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Interesting, in Australian one would say that one was “hanging out for (something)” instead of “jonesing” or “snouting”.
The above example might be translated into オーストラリア語 as:
“I’m hanging out for a durry” (I’m jonesing for a cigarette/ I’m roasting for a snout)
Rhys says:
January 8th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
In the lesson It said ” えいがは見ます。でも、ホラーえいがは見ません。”
but I was taught,
“えいがを見ます。でも、ホラーえいがは見ません。”
With the particle difference.
Does this matter, or are they both right?
stu says:
January 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I’d like to point out that there are two official languages in Australia. English, as spoken by Rebekah, and Strine, as spoken by most other Aussies. For example…Good morning - G’day. Good afternoon - G’day. Good evening -G’day.
Long time no see - Howzit garn ya old b*stard. I drank too much last night and was sick - Aw mate, last night I was so blind I spewed me guts up. I don’t agree with you - Aw whad are ya mate? Drinking beer -sucking p*ss. One can of beer please, I’m very thirsty - Gissa a cold one will ya mate, I’m hangin’ out. She’s quite attractive - Aw mate, that sheila’s a total spunk!
There are some similarities between Japanese and strine. While in Japanese particles may be dropped, in Strine it’s preferable to drop syllables and combine many words into one e.g Australia becomes Straya and a phrase like What do mean? becomes whadyaonaboutmate? And like the like the -ko suffix on some Japanese girls’ names Australian males use the -o suffix eg David - Davo, Steven -Stevo. It’s also important to speak out of one side of your mouth as quickly as possible and it’s perfectly acceptable to use the f word and mate several times in the one sentence. That’s all from strinepod101. See ya round like a rissole.
Bob1 says:
January 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Welcome, Rebekah.
And Stu, thanks for the Strinepod101 Newbie lesson.
Naomi says:
January 8th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Mina-san! Thanks for all the comments!! And welcome to the show Rebekah!
Rhys-san, what you learned is perfectly correct. は is used when showing comparison. In the story, the fact that the person WATCHES movies, but NOT horror movies was emphasized. The は here is kinda like the caps in the previous sentence.
mieth-san, thanks for the feedback.
Steve-san, we feel the love.
Watermen-san, as this was a short lesson and Newbie level, I didn’t quite go into detail about 英国; however, as it was brought up, I will elaborate.
England(the UK) is spelled in kanji as 英吉利, and is pronounced as イギリス. As some of you have already mentioned it’s 当て字/ateji. 英国 is the shortened version of this.
In the newspaper, 英国 or 英 are preferred to save the space and Kanji gives you a feeling of formality.
By the way, the politically correct name of Britain is グレートブリテンおよび北部アイルランド連合王国(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Even though イギリス and 英国 share same origin, 英国 seems to be officially recognized abbreviation for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (グレート･ブリテン及び北部アイルランド連合王国)。I think that’ why the Embassy uses 英国.
それから恐怖映画ですが、映画のジャンルはホラー映画が一般的です。恐怖映画と言いたければ、通じないこともありません。どうぞ。
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB%E3%81%AE%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AB
maxiewawa says:
January 8th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Thanks for the explanation, naomi先生！
Chiiz for that, aye, Stu-o!
Dion says:
January 9th, 2008 at 8:06 am
I’d like to join the others above in welcoming Rebekah to JPod101. It’s great to hear an Antipodean accent again! I’m a Kiwi living in Tokyo, and it seems like the only English accent I hear most of the time is American (or French, but that’s just because of the company I work for ).
It seems to me that the majority of English taught in Japanese schools is taught with an American accent, and most English-base katakana words seem to derive their pronunciation from American too.
For anyone interested in speaking Nu Zild, just follow stu’s strinepod101 lessons, but shift the vowel sounds back slightly toward British English.
Similar to the ‘-o’ suffix in Strine, many nouns and proper nouns can be shortened and followed with ‘y’: beverage = bevvy (always alcoholic, of course, this _is_ the Anitpodes), gumboots = gummies (Wellingtons in British English), one hundred = a hundy (as in “canya spot me a coupla hundy ’til Friday? I’m skint as, mate” = “Could you possible lend me $200 until Friday? I’m currently somewhat low on cash”). If you want to know more about the differences between Nu Zild and Strine, Wikipedia has an interesting article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English .
Cheers for now, みなさん
スコット says:
January 9th, 2008 at 8:17 am
レベッカ先生, good call on the beer! Asahi is sooooo goooood. Sapporo is my favorite, along with Ebisu which Marky recommended to me
Horror movies were mentioned in this lesson. 
My favorite so far is “Suicide Circle”. I’ve seen all the Juon and Ringu movies too. Can anyone recommend me some good Japanese horror movies?
maxiewawa says:
January 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Dion, thanks for the info on Nu Zild. I’ve found it interesting that in Nu Zild people often put a question marking ‘aye’ on statements. So you’ll often get “bro, I hed a rully bad day yesterday, aye.” The confused ’strayan will often answer “mate, U’d'nno, didja?”
stu says:
January 9th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
スコットさん I can recommend the following films, they’re all from the sixties and are pretty tame compared to modern Japanese movies like Audition by Miike Takashi, in fact they’re more ghost stories than horror but are all awesome and great for the squeamish (like me) who still like to be scared or just a little freaked out.
Ugetsu Monogatari by Mizoguchi Kenji.
Kwaidan (Kaidan) by Kobayashi Masaki.
Onibaba by Kaneto Shindo.
Kuroneko by Kaneto Shindo. The first half of this is some of the greatest cinema I’ve seen.
マーキースター says:
January 10th, 2008 at 3:28 am
スコットさん、
do you consider 自殺サークル a horror film? i haven’t seen it, but it looks hilarious to me! i totally want to watch it. one of our story writers, Jun, has met the director. he said he’s a complete loon. which makes me want to see it more. LOL
as for Juon…
does everyone know that Juon was made for J-Cable TV first.
so there is video Juon
then J-theatre Juon
then American Juon.
then there was video Juon 2
and J-Theatre Juon 2
and then American Juon 2
i loved the J-Video versions, but i have to say, the american versions weren’t bad at all. and the production was probably a little bit better.
Shirow66 says:
January 10th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Welcome Rebekah!
For the people that are interested in 自殺サークル, which I found to be a rather bad film, the spin-off/follow up film Noriko’s Dinner Table (紀子の食卓) is regarded as a much better film in every regard, so you might want to check it out if you have seen the first film.
スコット says:
January 10th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Stuさん、ありがとうございます！ I will be sure to look into those movies!
マーキーさん！
Some parts of this movie make it seem like its horror, but sometimes its more of a thriller. Some parts are absolutely weird, but over all its a very gruesome and disturbing movie. Rolly from the J-Rock group Skanch is in to too. I love watching him and Marty Friedman on Rock Fujiyama! You will definitely find some parts very funny though. This is supposed to be part of a trilogy. The second movie is “Noriko’s Dinner Table” (I think thats the right title) and the 3rd movie hasn’t been made yet. I’m going to try and get the 2nd movie soon, I let you know if it’s worth watching.
I really liked the The Grudge(USA) too! Especially the second one! I did notice that the Japanese originals might be a little difficult for an American audience to follow because they approach film making and story telling a little differently. I had to watch it a second time through, 恐ろしいですね！
Junさん！You met the director!? He did seem a little strange from the interview I saw.
Even though it isn’t horror, I also recommend the movie “Azumi”!
Abrassart says:
January 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I also thing that Juon is the best Japanese horror movie for now. I find it much scarier than “The Ring”.
Dion says:
January 11th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
To return to the sub-topic of beer, has anyone tried ‘Sparkling Hop’? Considering it’s aimed at the lower end of the market (heck, it’s technically not even beer, it’s ‘リキュル’), it’s actually really nice. I’m actually drinking it in preference to Asahi Super Dry or Kirin Ichiban, where previously I wouldn’t touch anything else. I’m sure it’s not just my Scottish heritage that’s making this cheaper alternative seem so much better…
Glen M. (docmac) says:
January 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Welcome Rebecca!
While (obviously) your japanese is flawless, and your Australian accent is beautiful, I thought it kind of funny that one of the first words they have you pronounce on your first lesson is “horror”….which sounds like “hora” in japanese, and sounds the same in english with your accent….
I had a sudden flash of “who’s on first”… {’what’s the japanese word?” “hora” “and what does it mean in english?” “hora” “no, in english” “hora”…). Very much enjoyed the lesson, and welcome again!!
docmac
Jenny says:
January 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Hello, to give my two cents, I really liked the “conflict” between Naomi先生、and Peterさん。It gave the show a more realistic feel because you can tell they are two good friends who love to pick on each other.
Yoshikaiさん has done a wonderful job with the Italian accent. (Please correct me if I’m wrong about who does the voice of Fabrizio.) I think JPod101 needs to put more foreign accents with the voice actors speaking Japanese, than they do with who’s hosting the show. Guess I’ve gotten used to Peterさん over the years that anyone new takes some getting used to.
シリカント says:
February 1st, 2008 at 10:39 am
リベッカサンは 期待外れと言うまでも無い。
ピタさんに 比べて 会話魅力遠いじゃないんですか。間 リベッカサン ドンドン 上達の為頑張って下さい
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Category: Newbie Lessons |
Grammar: nationality, wa | Function: showing contrasts | Topic: countries, language, phone | Politeness Level: Polite
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