Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Which is better, your English or your Japanese? As you know, you make comparisons all the time. You may want to ask, “Which is faster, the bus or the train?” to get around Japan faster. You may ask, “Which is better, sushi or tempura?” There are all sorts of comparisons that will help you make the best decisions in Japan.
Use this beginner Japanese lesson to learn to make comparisons. Master Dochira no hō ga (which of the two) to ask which of two choices is better. You will constantly be comparing quantities or qualities in Japanese, and this lesson gives you the skills to do it correctly. Along with the sentence structures that allow you to compare two things, you’ll pick up vocabulary words like, “cold,” “car,” “young” and many others. If you want your Japanese to stack up, you need this JapanesePod101.com lesson!
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Lessons (S4) . 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.
23 Responses to “Beginner Lesson S4 #20 - How Does Your Japanese Compare?”
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Mina san, try asking each other questions using “Dochira no hō ga”?
Wednesday at 2:30 am
Going from Tokyo to Narita I always took a taxi or subway to TCAT and Airport Limousine bus to Narita. The bus runs frequently and is very dependable.
Getting from the Narita Airport to Tokyo I took the Narita Express when I first started going to Japan. The Narita Express is certainly the fastest way into the city. The problem is that it takes you to Tokyo Station, so that you get to wrestle your luggage through the station in a late afternoon crowd. From there you need to take another train or a taxi to the hotel.
If you are staying at a hotel serviced by the Airport Limousine I recommend using Airport Limousine. It is just as fast getting door to door, and a lot easier.
One time when I meant to get a Narita Express ticket I bought a Keisei line ticket by mistake. I would never recommend that to anyone who has just gotten off a 13 hour flight.
Another time someone booked the Narita Express Green car for us. It was a lot more expensive and very comfortable, but you still have the transfer hassle. It was not worth it in my book.
Wednesday at 3:46 am
Sapporo to Kyouto to dochira no hou ga samui desu?
Wednesday at 3:46 am
um… desu KA?
Wednesday at 5:17 am
hello all
This is actually my first post here. Hello everyone
anyway. As I’m in desperate need of active writing exercises, I’ll just try here :/
こんばんは
このレッスンありがとうございました。
写真の電車は日本の電車ですか。
日本に行ったことがありませんけど、その電車を見たと思います。
’どちらのほうが’質問：
- 中国とアメリカとどちらのほうが大きいですか。 ．．．あっーそれもPDFにあります．．．
- 金と銀とどちらのほうが重いですか。
[in words a bit more understandable]:
somehow this picture looks familiar to me. Was it taken in Japan?
I wanted to ask whether China or the States are bigger ..but then noticed that the same example is already in the PDF. So:
Which one’s heavier, Gold or Silver?
thx
tb
Wednesday at 9:38 am
Hi everyone,
This lesson was a followup from last week’s lesson and as I mentioned I was going to Europe and back to Tokyo over the weekend. I live in Ebisu and the flight from Narita was early in the morning so it is easiest for me to take the Yamanote Line to Tokyo Station and switch to the Narita Express. (The trip was short so very small bag) Coming back I had planned to take the Skyliner but instead took the regular Keisei line since it was leaving 14 minutes before the Skyliner. Much cheaper and I think we just beat the Skyliner to Ueno.
I do agree with the above if you have plenty of luggage the Limousine Bus is the best. My wife usually takes it to The Westin. But before moving to Japan I came to Japan over 100 times over 20 years! One time the Limo Bus took 5 hrs to reach Tokyo due to traffic. when you go to the counter and see the electronic map showing RED all over the route, think again and take a train. On one occasion from Tachicawa along the Chuo Expressway the bus was in a slight accident and I nearly missed my flight. The odds are low but if you worry about traffic, accidents, breakdowns I would take the train. Although of course I have been on a local train that stopped in the middle of no where in Chiba because of a typhoon.
Wednesday at 10:08 am
ﾃｯﾄﾞ さん＞Thank you for the useful info from your own experience
When I came back to Tokyo, I had huge suitcases and a huge backpack, and my friend was to pick me up at Shinagawa, so I took the direct bus to, what they called it “to Shinagawa STATION” but my last stop was right in front of this hotel, on the hill….could have walked down to the station if there was no luggage, but with those suitcases I had no choice but to take a cab only to get to the station that was within 3 min-walking distance
Steffie san> sapporo no hou ga samui desu. ima sapporo wa yuki ga futte imasu.
Sapporo is much much colder than Kyoto. It’s already snowing in Hokkaido!
tb san> Welcome to JP101! 写真の電車は・・・・日本じゃないかもしれません
金かな？？
because in this picture it looks like there’s a huge step/gap between the platform and the train, and we don’t really see that in Japan….but I’m not sure….
金と銀ですか。。。。。どっちでしょう！？考えた事がありませんでした
Mike_in_Nano san> took 5 hrs to reach Tokyo due to traffic> WOW that’s a long time!! must have been painful! Sounds like you’ve experienced some “adventures” in Japan
Wednesday at 11:31 am
Hiriko san
Yes many adventures and most are very positive and now thanks to Japanesepod I am beginning to understand what is going on around me on signs and spoken.
Regarding the gap between the train and the platform. Last week in Germany I saw the most potentially scary situation. The gap is quite large as the steps on the train extend out to the platform when the door opens. A family (mom, dad, baby) got off with the baby in a stroller. When they did so a bag with things fell off the back of the stroller and down the gap. The father jumped down while the train was still there! My Japanese co-worker and I looked on in complete horror. Thankfully the train did not move before he scrambled back up.
Wednesday at 12:40 pm
I always take the Narita Express into Tokyo as I fly in in week days from the West Coast and traffic into Tokyo around 4:00 PM is horrible. From Tokyo Station I take a cab into Akasaka which usually takes around 10 to 15 minutes。In the train, you can relax while drinking a cold Asahi. Try that on the bus…
Wednesday at 6:47 pm
When I go to Tokyo I take the Keisei Skyliner and I usually plan to stay my first night in Ueno, there are some cheap business hotels right next to Keisei Ueno station
とても便利です!
Thursday at 4:45 am
スイスの鉄道と日本の鉄道とのほうがいいですか。
僕はスイス人なのに、日本の鉄道のほうがいいと思いました。でも上の写真はスイスの電車ですから、多分スイスの鉄道のほうがいいかもしれません。
The above picture was taken in Switzerland. It’s Zurich Main Station, the busiest station in Switzerland, but lame compared to Japanese stations. The train on the picture is lacking the logo of the company I’m working for, but even the work of photoshop can’t prevent the truth
Thursday at 9:28 am
Mike_in_Nano san> SCARY
If I had seen that I would be having nightmares about it every night 
frank san>Sounds very luxurious
tony san> Oh yeah, and many cheap and good restaurants too
bkraehen san> I was dying to know where that picture was taken! ありがとうございました
I like the color of this train better than Japanese ones 
Thursday at 11:22 pm
ﾃｯﾄﾞ-san,
Interesting.. I simply use a baggage delivery service.
Sunday at 12:36 am
downhilll……………………….
what happened to the interesting stories??
Tuesday at 6:44 am
Back in October, my wife and I visited Tokyo. We used the Limousine Bus to go from Narita to the Shinagawa Prince hotel, and then took a taxi to our much cheaper hotel, the Tokyu Stay Gotanda.
This worked out well for us, and we had a great vacation with no problems at all. But yesterday when I was looking at a map of the Tokyo train system, I noticed a pink line stretching all the way from Gotanda to Narita. Gotanda station seemed like it only handled the JR Yamanote line, so I had to imagine that this other line was a subway.
Is there really a train that goes all the way from Gotanda to Narita, or did I misread the map? If it’s real, is it a subway, or did I miss something at the station?
Tuesday at 11:56 am
bshock san>I believe that pink line is Toei Asakusa Line.(subway) that goes to Narita.
Friday at 11:18 am
Typo in Practice #1: “Sanaka” to Niku to dochira,…………………etc. Should read “Sakana” to Niku to dochira,………………etc. I believe.
Friday at 2:57 pm
Honchosan
ありがとうございました！！
Thank you so much for pointing out the miskate!! I’ll fix it right away.
Wednesday at 2:26 am
I wonder, how I should answer this question in the grammar quiz
:
京成線と 京成スカイライナーとどちらのほうが速いですか。
*京成スカイライナーのほうが 安い。
*京成線のほうが 安い。
It would be very nice, if the questions in the learing center would be wored out more carefully. Thanks!
Wednesday at 9:16 am
Kobukuroさん＞
It’s now fixed! Hopefully you can get the answer now 
Thank you!
Thursday at 11:03 am
Hello everyone,
Not sure but I think there might be a mistake in the PDF file for page 5 under the Target phrase:
2) 京成線ほうが安いです。
Should there be a ‘の’ between keisei-sen(京成線) and ho (ほ)?
P.S.
Just because you are always asking; Yes, I often read the PDF file before and during the audio section as I study. I think its the best way to use the PDF files.
Thursday at 11:57 am
Brett -san
Thank you so much for pointing out the mistake and we’re sorry for the mistake.
I’ll fix it right away.
And thank you for letting us know how you use the PDF.
Friday at 8:37 am
lets see… i always take the “yasui eki” from narita - its only 1000 yen and i get to see the local stops on the way. i like doing this to soak up the atmosphere of the place before i get to my hotel in the Sanya part of Tokyo. its just my way of re-entry.
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