About our Printer-friendly lesson notes
Follow along to our award winning lessons with detailed PDF Lesson
Notes! These easy to print notes take a closer look at the grammar
point and vocabulary words presented in the audio lesson. Plus,
read more about
language101 cultural topics related to the lesson.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the PDF Lesson
Notes today!
Kanji Close-Up
Take a closer look at the kanji characters used in the lesson
Dialogue with the Kanji Close Up Practice Sheets! You'll learn the
meaning, readings, and stroke order of each character. Plus,
improve your writing with kanji stroke order practice sheets!
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the Kanji Close Up
Practice Sheets today!
About our Review Audio Tracks
Listen and repeat with the Review Track. Hear the lesson
vocabulary and main phrases and repeat after the native speaker -
it's the best way to perfect your pronunciation!
Upgrade your account to access The Review Track and start
perfecting your pronunciation today!
About our Lesson Audio
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
The audio lesson is a comprehensive, easy to use lessons that
makes learning Japanese fun for anyone.
Each audio lesson contains can be downloaded in seconds
to your computer, iPod, phone, or mp3 player so that you can learn quickly and be speaking Japanese in no time at all.
The audio lesson is your ticket to learning to speak
Japanese with confidence and accuracy, and from your very first lesson!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
Don't have enough time for an entire lesson today? Listen to the
Dialogue Only Track to hear the native Dialogue. Listening to a
little bit of
Japanese everyday, no matter how much, will greatly improve your listening
comprehension. Guaranteed!
Upgrade your account to access the Dialogue Only Track and other
Premium Tools today!
About our Grammar Audio Tracks
Tackle grammar head on with the lesson Grammar List. We break
down the grammar piece by piece so you fully master the structure
and formation.
Upgrade your account to access the Grammar List and other
Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
About our Learning Center
Listen and read the line-by-line breakdown of the lesson
conversation with this Premium Tool. Listen to each line as many
times as you need until you fully understand the conversation and
pronunciation. Line-By-Line Audio Transcripts are the perfect way
to improve your comprehension - fast!
Upgrade your account to access Line-By-Line Audio Transcript and
other Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of
Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video
lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of
Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks
before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single
lesson we've ever created today!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Survival Phrases 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.
12 Responses to “Survival Phrases S2 #24 - Riding the Rails 2”
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Mina-san! Have you ever ridden the shinkansen (bullet train) before? What was your experience?
Wednesday at 1:14 am
I take great exception to your use of the phrase “riding the rails” in a maner that trivializes the experience of the great army of the unemployed in the depression of the 1930s. Among them were a quarter of a million youn men in their teens for whom there was no work. In one year alone 6500 of them were killed by railway bulls.
To begin to repair your ignorance of this significant era in the history of America and the larger world you might have a look at this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/
My Old Man road the rails. It was not just a train trip.
Wednesday at 6:16 am
For those who have never taken the Shinkasen, please do not let the size of the train station overwhelm you. It can seem quite confusing at times. If there are any questions that you may have, look for a station map posted on walls throughout the station. Find the location of the information booth and simply ask, “Eigo hanashimasuka”? Most people can help you out and you will learn a lot in the process.
Wednesday at 8:12 am
Hey, Craig, take it easy big fellow. If you’re old enough to have had a father who rode the rails, you should be aware that “riding the rails” has become a standard expression. No one is denigrating the folks who did so in the Great Depression when they use it; most people haven’t the slightest idea of its origins. Start worrying about every phrase that once had a specific meaning and now has a general one and pretty soon you’ll end up watering down the language as a whole.
Wednesday at 10:00 am
I took the Shinkansen to Tokyo once, and yes it is fast and comfortable. However, it’s really expensive–at least for most of us poor English teachers who have spent most of our money on sake and karaoke.
I recommend taking a night bus, which is very popular. (jp101, have you done a night bus episode?) You’ll get where you’re going a little tired and stiff, but you won’t be broke. And maybe you’ll meet some cool people too. It takes about 8hrs from Osaka to Tokyo, which sounds like a lot, but the theory is you’ll sleep through it–that’s why it leaves at night.
Indiana23
Wednesday at 2:00 pm
If you don’t live in Japan, you can get a Japan Rail Pass that will let you ride on every JR train (with only a couple of exceptions) for 1, 2, or 3 weeks. It’s a really good value. But, you can only get it with a “temporary visitor” stamp on your passport. Then, you can go all over Japan, and see what the rest of the country is like.
Wednesday at 5:25 pm
私 は 新幹線 に 旅行 は したこと 経験 は ありません
Thursday at 11:30 pm
Thank you this picture fits the Lesson.
新幹線 is my Favorite Kanji.
Thursday at 5:55 pm
I was wondering of there is an alternative to a shinkansen? It seems to be pretty expensive from what indiana23 writes.
In Germany we have the ICE (=shinkansen) and RE/RB (local trains) and if you are willing to ride a bit slower and maybe change trains a few times you can get there cheaper. I was wondering if you could do that in Japan as well.
Friday at 10:56 am
Salivia Baker -san
Yes. We do have local trains!
Actually, we have a ticket called 青春18きっぷ(Seishun Ju-hachi kippu) which gives you 5 tickets of one-day ultimated rides on local trains of JR(Japan railways group).And it only costs 11.500yen (So…2300yen per one-day pass which gives you ultimated train rides. It’s not so bad, is it? But the trick is you have to buy 5 tickets. 5 tickets is one set! )
I actually took a trip using that ticket with my friends when I was in college. Though it took much longer than taking Shinkansen of course, I felt like that I was really traveling. (You know what I mean? Like… stopping at small rustic station in the middle of no where. Middle-aged super friendly oba-chans (or ladies) gave us oranges… ) We had so much fun.
Friday at 12:13 pm
Naomi-さん
ありがとうございます for the quick answer.
I think I would prefer the local trains then. I don’t really like bullet trains. Or maybe it is just because I have bad experience here, they are normally so late anyway, that you can take local trains and be there at the same time *lol*
I think it would a cool thing to go on a local train and just travel ad if you like it somewhere get off, have a look and then get back on a train travel a bit further. That way one would see more of Japan
Sunday at 3:01 pm
Snappoint…
Great blog post, saw on…
Leave a Reply