Learn Japanese with Beb and Alex

#70: Telephone Japanese

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:34:00 GMT

In this week's lesson, Waka sensei teaches Ben and I some useful basic Japanese for phoning a friend. Enjoy.

#70 Show notes: Japanese for the telephone

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:33:00 GMT

#69: What are you into?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:53:00 GMT

In this week's lesson we study the verb ããã / hamaru. This has various meanings including something that you are really interested in. Enjoy.

#69 show notes: What are you into?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:51:00 GMT

#68: æ°ãki

mail@alexbrooke.com — Wed, 4 Jun 2008 14:01:00 GMT

This week's lesson covered the various uses of the word æ "KI".
For example:

æããããã/ki ni shinai de / don't worry

æãåãã/ki ni itta / I like it.

æããããã/ ki wo tsukete ne / take care

We covered five examples in the podcast although there are many more uses that you can find here. The podcast was recorded outside by the river. Waka sensei and I thought we would escape the confines of the studio ( the kitchen ) to the wilderness of Chiba ( the park ). It was wonderful to sit outside and hear the beautiful bird song. æåãæãåãã/I really liked it.

Enjoy.

Don't forget our Learn Japanese pod Facebook community
and the Forums

#68 show notes: æ°ãki

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:57:00 GMT

Fun Friday: Nikko

mail@alexbrooke.com — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:59:00 GMT

Today's Fun Friday features a video of a trip Waka sensei and myself made to Toshogu in Nikko. More info coming soon...

Fun Fridayãæåæçåãããããããããããèãããããã

Fun Friday: Hanging out with Daniel Edwards

mail@alexbrooke.com — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

This week I hung out with my good friend Daniel Edwards a music producer, composer and singer from the States. Amongst his many talents, he is also an excellent Japanese speaker. I asked him how he came to be in Japan and his tips for studying Japanese effectively.

You can check out Daniel's music on his myspace page @:

http://www.myspace.com/danieledwardsmusic

Here are links to some of the topics we talked about:
Basic Kanji Book
Marutei Tsurunen

#67 Sho ga nai / It can't be helped

mail@alexbrooke.com — Wed, 21 May 2008 06:00:00 GMT

If you come to Japan it is impossible to avoid the phrase "sho ga nai" which means "it can't be helped". This phrase along with it's more formal version "shikata ga nai" is used to express the concept of "c'est la vie" when life throws an unpleasant situation your way and you feel powerless to avoid or correct it.

It's raining today, we can't go on a picnic, "sho ga nai".

I failed my entrance exams, "sho ga nai".

The entire world is against us on our whaling policy, "sho ga nai".

"Sho ga nai" has been interpreted as the stoic self sacrificing nature of the Japanese which can also be found in Buddhist teachings and their emphasis on group identity.

"I have to go into work on sunday- sho ga nai"

The ultimate expression of "sho ga nai" was at the end of the second world war when their emperor asked his people to endure the unendurable and embrace defeat.

An unkinder and more western interpretation would conclude "sho ga nai" means "I can't be bothered". Arguably, you cannot run a sucessful company by shrugging your shoulders when your employees are lazy and unmotivated.

Regardless of whether you think "sho ga nai" expresses a fatalistic unwillingness to make changes or is an enlightened acceptance of life, "sho ga nai" is an essential phrase for students of Japanese.

In this lesson, Waka teaches us how to use "sho ga nai" just like a native. Enjoy.

Links:
Kyuma Fumio and Sho ga nai

#67 Show notes: Sho ga nai / It can't be helped

Wed, 21 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Here are the lesson notes for lesson #67

#66 Ordering beer

mail@alexbrooke.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:56:00 GMT

Today, Waka teaches us how to order a beer in Japan. She also teaches us how to stop your boss trying to get you drunk. KAMPAI!

#66 Show notes: Ordering beer

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:52:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #66

Fun Friday: Hanging out at the sushi restaurant

mail@alexbrooke.com — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:59:00 GMT

This week's fun Friday comes from the conveyor belt sushi restaurant or Kaitenzushi. We sat and talked about various topics while stuffing our faces with delicious sushi. Some ginger slices and cups of green tea made it a fantastic meal. Enjoy!

Learn Japanese on Facebook

Fri, 2 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

I have created a new community for Learn Japanese for all you Facebook fans. I think this will present a new opportunity for people into Japanese to hang out and exchange info and events. I hope you enjoy it. So please join the Learn Japanese Facebook community!

We also have the Learn Japanese Mixi community and don't forget to join the FORUMS!

Yoroshiku

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Odaiba

mail@alexbrooke.com — Thu, 1 May 2008 15:34:00 GMT

My brother Ben and I hung out on the man made beach in the port area of Odaiba in Tokyo. The weather was perfect as we watched the sun set and talked on subjects from magic karaoke pills to architecture in Japan and more.

Here is a list of links on the topics we covered
Japandra.blogspot.com
Provoice Karaoke pills
"Shutting out the sun" (book review)
Hikikomori
"Dave Barry Does Japan" (book review)
L'institut Franco-Japonaise
The Fuji building
Odaiba

Also, don't forget to check out our forums and our Facebook community.

The Loop line tour

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:23:00 GMT

Back in November 2005, El Gringo and myself did what they say shouldn't have been done. We rode around the Loop line in Osaka and made a movie of it. El Gringo has just finished editing the final episode, part 8 of 8. Viewers with a low threshold for naked flesh and immoral behavior should fast forward at the Intermission part of the movie.

See all 8 parts here on youtube:
Loopline on youtube

Alternatively you can download the episodes to your ipod from here:

Loopline on NFTOS

#65 Let's do lunch

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:16:00 GMT

Today Waka teaches us how to ask people to go out for lunch in Japanese.

#65 Show notes: Let's do lunch

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Here are the lesson notes for show #65 in PDF form. This lesson is about talking about lunch in Japanese.

#64 It's a lie!

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:52:00 GMT

This week we study the word "uso". It means "lie" and that's the truth.

#64 Show notes It's a lie

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:08:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #64

Show notes fixed

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 11:29:00 GMT

For some reason the show notes for lesson #62 weren't working but they are up and working now. Just scroll down the page to find them or click here: Show#62 lesson notes

#63 No way, that's outrageous

Thu, 3 Apr 2008 14:07:00 GMT

In this Learn Japanese podcast we look at the phrase "tondemonai" which has various meanings depending on the context including "outrageous", "unthinkable" and "impossible".

Waka sensei was kind enough to research the various uses of this word and type up all the lesson notes for us. She also helped to record the podcast so in the end I paid her for her efforts in ramen.

Enjoy.

#63 Show notes

Thu, 3 Apr 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #63

#62 to lend something

mail@alexbrooke.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:11:00 GMT

In this podcast, Waka sensei teaches us the various uses of the verb "KASU" to lend.

#62 show notes (to lend something)

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:08:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #62 which focuses on the verb Kasu (to lend)

Blogging

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:05:00 GMT

Find out about the latest J-madness on the learn Japanese blog here!

Learn Japanese Pod Blog

#61: Borrowing stuff

mail@alexbrooke.com — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:24:00 GMT

Waka sensei was kind enough to teach me Japanese outside on her sunny flower filled wooden deck. This week we studied the verb "Kariru" which means to borrow. This is a very useful word you can use in everyday conversation. Sorry about the noisy dog in the background.

#61 show notes

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:33:00 GMT

These are the show notes for lesson#61

Prapatang.com

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:49:00 GMT

I've just set up a new bi-lingual Social Networking site for Japanese and English speakers called Prapatang. The idea of this site to get people together for language exchanges and to learn a little about different cultures.

I noticed that there are a lot of people out there interested in Mixi but maybe don't have the skills to read all the Kanji contained. There are also a lot of Japanese people interested in meeting foreigners and practicing English.

The site is in BETA so it is a little buggy but it should be easy and fun to use. Why not check it out. Any comments and suggestions would be welcome.

So check it out: PRAPATANG.COM

White day

mail@alexbrooke.com — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:33:00 GMT

In this video, Beb tells us about the various intricacies of Valentine's day and White day in Japan. It's not just about buying a bunch of roses! Enjoy.

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Chiba again

mail@alexbrooke.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:09:00 GMT

I hung out with Waka sensei again, sipped tea on her beautiful deck and talked our heads off. First off we discussed some news stories including whalers missing their targets thanks to the efforts of the Sea Shepard and other anti whaling groups. Apparently by the end of March, the whalers will only have caught 500 or so whales well under their original quota of 900. We also briefly talked about the Tax dodging sisters who got busted for stashing an incredible $56 million in their garage.

We talked a little about retro Japanese games including Super Mario and about how I will be setting up a shop to sell Japanese goods abroad. Stay tuned for more info.

For useful links for improving your Japanese check out Freejapaneselessons.blogspot.com and boostyourjapanese.com

Finally we listened to some tracks from the hilarious show Sora mimi Awa (video). Viewers of the show submit songs in other languages that sound like they contain funny phrases or words in Japanese. Submissions tend to vary in quality but the good ones are hilarious including "Through the never "by Metallica. In the chorus James Hetfield sings "Twisting
Turning, Through the never". However, to Japanese people it sounds like "Sushi, Tori, Furo, Nero" or "Sushi, chicken, bath, sleep". This show never ceases to cause a few giggles.

Don't for get to check out:
THE FORUMS
THE NEWSLETTER

What's your favorite word? Revisted.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:34:00 GMT

Your favorite podcast on Learn Japanese

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:20:00 GMT

Please help me out by voting for your favorite podcast on Learn Japanese. Remember there are videos, Japanese lessons and "Fun Fridays". Vote for your favorite type of podcast and then feel free to leave a comment on which number you liked the best. Any other constructive criticism would be wonderful.

SO VOTE NOW! It'll only take a minute!

Japan survey

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:07:00 GMT

What aspect of Japan are you interested in. Please take 30 seconds to finish our survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY !

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Chiba

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:03:00 GMT

Today, Waka sensei and myself hung out in Chiba and discussed various news topics including an incident involving a man in drag turning up at a high school and causing a small riot. Listen to hear more weird tales.

#60 It's obvious

mail@alexbrooke.com — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:08:00 GMT

Today Waka sensei teaches us about the word "ã?ã?ãã?ã?â? (atarimae) which has a few meanings including, obvious, of course and to take something for granted. This is quite a useful phrase that you will hear in daily conversation to express that a fact or answer to a question is obvious. It can also be used to express the idea of taking things for granted.

Resources:
Atarimae example sentences

Don't forget to check out the...
FORUMS
CHATROOM
BLOG

And you can sign up to our newsletter to keep you informed on the latest Japanese language resources and entertainment here

#60 Show notes

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:06:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #60

Fun Friday in Osaka castle park

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:56:00 GMT

Yes, yes, I know it's not Friday but I wanted to get this video out as soon as possible. In this video Beb and I talk about Rob and Makiko's wedding, music and other various things.

Enjoy

Fun Friday: Save the planet!

mail@alexbrooke.com — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:05:00 GMT

Welcome to Fun Friday, a podcast where we put away our text books, relax and talk about issues on Japan and studying Japanese. This week, Waka sensei and myself talked about Genetically Modified organisms, whaling and other environmental issues and how they affect Japan. I hope we didn't get to preachy for you and we are certainly not experts on environmental issues. I just hope this podcast could be act as a point of departure for your own research and conversations on the environment.

Here are some links to sites we talked about:

Letter to Simon Crean of the Australian Ministry of trade to ask him to stop GMOs being grown in Australia and being imported to Japan.
https://www.greenpeace.or.jp/ssl/gm/cyberaction/canola/?cyber

Greenpeace anti whaling campaign "Save Mr Splashy pants"

Campaign to stop Meiji using GMOs in their products.
http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/campaign/gm/cyberaction/meiji2

The Pinky Show explains What's wrong with GMOs.

And here are some useful vocabulary we used to talk about the environment:

çåããenvironment
ã?ãã??ãã?

é?ä?å?çã?æ?ã?ïäçï Genetically Modified (crops)
ã?ã?ãã?ã??ã?ã?ã?ïã?ã??ãã?ï

æ?é Whaling
ã?ã?ã?

Feel free to email us at mail[at]alexbrooke.com if you have any comments or responses to this.

Don't forget to join the forums
Our Facebook community
Hang out in the chat room
and the general blog

#59 It's Cold!

mail@alexbrooke.com — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:32:00 GMT

Hello again everyone and Learn Japanese Pod is back with a new free Japanese lesson podcast for your entertainment and edification. In this lesson Beb and I discussed the use of the word "åã?/ã?ãã?/samuiâ? or cold.

However, this word can also mean something is unfunny. Why? The idea is, when you hear a joke that is so bad, it sends shivers down your spine, hence "Samui!". So it's a great way to tell someone not to give up their day job.

Another word in Japanese that is used to describe something cold is "åã?ã?/ã?ã?ã?ã?/tsumetaiâ?. Like Samui, this means cold however it is used to describe objects and liquids. Samui is usually used just to talk about temperature. For example you can say "kyou wa samui" or today it is cold. However you say "kono koucha ga tsumetai" or this tea is cold. Another possible use is "ano hito wa tsumetai" or that person is cold. (Standoffish/distant/unfriendly)

Check out the show notes below for a full explanation and other examples. Also check out the Learn Japanese Pod Blog for general news and on Japan and Japanese lessons. And of course listen to the podcast!

YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU

Also, don't forget to join the forums to ask your questions about Japan and join the growing community.

#59 Show notes

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:24:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #59. Enjoy!

What can I do to save the whales?

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Learn Japanese Pod is joining the campaign to save Mr Splashy Pants.
Find out how to save him and his whale friends from those nasty Japanese whalers!

HELP MR SPLASHY PANTS!

Fun Friday: Japanese TV shows

mail@alexbrooke.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:16:00 GMT

Welcome to Fun Friday, a chance for us to put away our text books and talk about all things Japanese. This week Waka sensei and myself talked about various finds on the internet and TV that I have found helpful for studying Japanese. First off is "The World Of Golden Eggs". It is a hilarious anime with English subtitles I found on the internet and that really helped me with my Japanese.

After that we talked about Matsumoto's suberanai hanashi. Suberanai Hanashi basically translates as funny stories. In this program, Matsumoto, the famous Japanese comedian, gathers together some of his friends to spin some humourous yarns. Pretty hard stuff if you don't have Waka sensei to help you out. Finally we checked out the horror that is Japanesebugfights.com

Links from the show:
1) The World of Golden Eggs
2) Matsumoto's Suberanai hanashi
3) Japanesebugfights.com
4) Learn Japanese pod Facebook community. Osaka beats Tokyo hands down community.

Don't forget to join the forums and check out the chat room and blog.

An apology for the sound which occasionally skipped. Gomen. I think we should have that problem fixed for next time.

Fun Friday: On the Shinkansen

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:16:00 GMT

I made this video just for fun and as a reminder of the many hours I have spent looking out of the Shinkansen at the countryside gliding past. I must have used it close to a hundred times commuting between Tokyo, Osaka and sometimes Fukuoka for work. It's clean, fast, on time and generally quite a smooth experience. However for some reason there always seems to be a competition between the pensioners as to who can eat the weirdest and most stinky bento. One old man opens his bento box with an expression on his face that seems to say "behold, sliced boiled eggs and crunchy fishy snacks". And then another old lady will open her bento "dried stinky squid, I win!". It is usually better to bring your own food on the Shinkansen on a long journey. Although the food isn't bad, it is expensive and if I wanted to burn money when I ate out I'd live in London. The thing I love about traveling on Japanese trains is that speaking on the phone is considered rude. Oh, the times I've had to endure idiots on buses in America and wankers on the tube in London screaming down their phone things like "I'm on the train...no...I SAID I'M ON THE TRAIN". The Shinkansen also has quiet cars where phones have to be switched off completely. The other great thing is you can drink alcohol on the train. So phones are out and getting completely pissed is in. The Shinkansen started running in 1964 in time for the Tokyo Olympics and hasn't had a single fatality due to collisions, derailments, typhoons or even earthquakes. There was one fatality when a child got caught in one of the doors and there are jumpers too but it is a safe train. Top potential speeds of the Shinkansen would be 443 kph set by the Class 955 (300X) test train but general operation speeds are around 300 kph so I believe the TGV in France is actually faster. If you want to know more nerdy stuff about the Shinkansen you can go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Enjoy the video. The music in the video is "Muziqawi Silt" by the "Wallias Band". I chose the music because of the driving beat and the pentatonic melody slightly reminiscent of Japanese music. Here's to Ethiopian jazz.

Vlogs on Japan

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:30:00 GMT

If you want to know more about life in Japan, youtube is a good resource. There are more and more foreigners living in Japan and making some pretty entertaining and informational videos that are worth checking out. So I made a video showing three people I subscribe to youtube under the life in Japan umbrella.

They include:

atomicboyx

discount sausage

Tokyocooney

You can also find my youtube videos here

On the Dotonbori bridge with Wes

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:56:00 GMT

Here's a little video of Wes and myself on the Dotonbori bridge in Shinsaibashi in Osaka. We were contemplating bridge jumpers, the Hanshin tigers and people in cute hats.

Live on the radio tonight

Wed, 9 Jan 2008 18:29:00 GMT

Tonight I'm appearing on Head Stand, a program hosted by my good friend Patrick Widdess on 209 radio in Cambridge in the UK. Headstand features an eclectic selection of music, poetry and conversation with guests every show. You can listen to the show live today 9th January 2008 from 10pm to 12am GMT. Click on the following link to stream live or download the podcast later. http://www.209radio.co.uk/shows/profile.php?show=headstand I'll also be videoing the show and hope to put the results up here soon. Keep posted.

Complex Kanji

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:22:00 GMT

Learn Japanese has been a little quiet as of late but for the mean time here is a small article I wrote on some of the most complex kanji in Japanese.

Complex Kanji

Cycling in Osaka

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:49:00 GMT

I've changed the address of my personal blog to:

http://learnjapanesepod.com/newblog/

The latest post is about how cycling is the best way to get around Osaka.

Cycling in Osaka

Yoroshiku

What Japan is thinking about

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 02:45:00 GMT

This is just a little plug for my personal blog. I did a search on Google zeitgeist to see what searches Japanese people were making.

Here are the results.

CLICKY!

I hope to be doing some new podcasts soon so sorry for a small gap in podcasts.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 video

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 10:26:00 GMT

Three posts in one day? Is it a record? Well here is the last video for you for the level 1 Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2 video

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 03:20:00 GMT

Here is the level 2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test crammer video. Again, this is just for fun and to help you in a small way towards passing your test.

Good luck!

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3 video

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:16:00 GMT

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is almost upon us so I thought I would do a fun video for you last minute crammers. The video contains 10 kanji that often appear in the level 3 JLPT and I have added a few example sentences so you know how to use them.

A big shout out to Wes who researched and chose the Kanji for the video. I'll be coming out with a level 2 and level 1 video very soon.

Enjoy!

Lesson #58: Just cut it out will you?

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:10:00 GMT

I got together with Beb and studied how to tell someone to cut it out in Japanese. We had a look a standard and kansai dialects and learned a few more useful phrases along the way. Some of these phrases can be a little frank so be careful when using them.

lesson notes

Lesson #58 show notes

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:46:00 GMT

Here are the show notes for lesson #58

All show notes are here

News from the other side talk show #40

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:49:00 GMT

OK this is late and it isn't the Learn Japanese podcast but "News from the other side", a podcast I help my friend Rob out with every now and then. I thought I'd include it here in this blog because we did a kanji of the day section. I hope you enjoy it. Yoropiku Oh and the kanji of the day was... é?ãwhich means heavy.

If you liked that you can also check out talk show #42 This show had an extra special helping of random streams of consciousness and nonsense. But it was fun to make and we did include some kanji for you students of Japanese. Enjoy.

Alex's blog

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:51:00 GMT

I thought I would put a link to my personal blog just for those of you who are interested. I talk about what I have been doing recently including my various music and internet projects. I thought I would keep it separate from the Libsyn blog here because it is not all strictly Japanese.

You can either click on the link at the top or HERE!

The next Learn Japanese Pod show will be posted this Wednesday with the lovely Beb chan! I also hope to be getting out a video for Fun Friday amazingly enough on...well...Friday.

Yoroshiku very much !

Fun Friday with DJ Wes (Whaling and fingerprinting)

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:46:00 GMT

I caught up with DJ Wes and we talk about various things including whaling, fingerprinting and other Japan related topics.

Enjoy

#57 shownotes

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:11:00 GMT

#57 Self introductions in Japanese

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:11:00 GMT

After a long absence Beb is back to teach us how to give an extended self introduction in Japanese. These introductions can be used for introducing yourself to groups of people for example when starting a new job or beginning a Japanese class.

#57 lesson notes

Here is a compilation of all the self introduction lessons and videos we have posted previously. I thought it would be useful to group them together.

Lesson 54
Read: http://japanese.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=270135
Direct download: http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/lj54.mp3

Makiko self introduction
Read: http://japanese.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=88248
Video: http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/jikoshoukai.m4v

Buy Beb's music

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:19:00 GMT

Fun Friday: Awa odori

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:49:00 GMT

This is a video of the Awa dance native to Tokushima prefecture. It is performed every summer at the same time as the Bon festival and it's roots go back to 1587 when the Daimyo of Awa province, Lord Hachisuka Iemasa opened Tokushima castle. The celebrations got a little out of hand but were so much fun they decided to do it again every year with the dance moves reflecting the drunken stumbling festival goers. The dance is performed with Shamisen, flutes and drums.

When I saw it, I was struck by the trance like nature of the rhythm and melody. Now imagine that on one too many cups of Sake. It was all good fun and a really fulfilling cultural experience.

A big shout out to Jarrod who filmed and designed the opening titles.

Enjoy...

Fun Friday with Wes

mail@alexbrooke.com — Fri, 9 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

It's been a long time but I got in touch with D.J Wes who has just got out of hospital. Waka sensei and I talked to him about open heart surgery and hospitals in Japan and his upcoming Japanese Language Proficiency test amongst other things.

Waka and I wish Wes a speedy recovery and success in taking the level one JLPT !

Ganbatte Wes !

Enjoy

#56 Saving Energy

Thu, 8 Nov 2007 10:03:00 GMT

Holy energy saving lightbulbs ! It's lesson #56 with Waka sensei and myself Alex to give you a lesson in saving energy in Japan although it can't be said it happens much here. Maybe they are as bad as everyone else. But don't give up friends, the polar bears are counting on us.

We also talked a little about the Japanese homes, double glazing and the death of the Nova Bunny. Quite a mixed bag this week.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the podcast.

#56 Lesson notes

About us...

Thu, 8 Nov 2007 03:31:00 GMT

Check out our new profile page @:

http://learnjapanesepod.com/profile/

Quiz time

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 23:07:00 GMT

Particle quiz

Flash Quiz

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 12:51:00 GMT

Check out this new flash quiz I have made for you clever Japanese students. It's just a basic quiz but I hope to be making new sexier quizzes soon.

Yoroshiku.

#55: Basic questions in Japanese

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:49:00 GMT

In this week's lesson we study some basic questions in Japanese. These are typical questions you might be asked when meeting someone for the first time in Japan. Therefore I hope you will find these very practical.

Links:
Lesson #55 lesson notes

All lesson notes

Panic living #43 by El Gringo

Mundo Popular Don't forget to check out the Forums and the live chat page

Lesson #54 Self introductions

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:03:00 GMT

I wanted to get back to basics so I asked Waka to teach me some basic introductions in Japanese. I think this is a very useful structure you will use again and again. Enjoy !

Show notes: http://learnjapanesepod.com.lessonnotes/show54.pdf

New chat room

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:20:00 GMT

We have just installed a new chat room. I'll probably be using this to keep in touch with listeners when we do a live show. Feel free to log in anytime and chat away.

http://learnjapanesepod.com/chat/

Fun Friday: Studying Japanese

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:26:00 GMT

Transcript for Fun Friday for 19th October 2007

I recorded a conversation with Rob last week at L'Institut Franco-Japonaise Iidabashi in Tokyo. I was initially intending to talk about the focus of this podcast and how to organize it. Ironically we lost our focus and ability to organize, at least, my thoughts and the conversation went off on various tangents. However, I thought there were som e good points raised. Those points included what to teach students of Japanese, how people study languages, what kind of people study Japanese and our own experiences of learning the language.

I decided to record and transcribe this conversation since I thought there might be some helpful hints or perhaps new perspectives for students of Japanese to discover. So here it is. Rob and I talking about Japanese amongst other things.

Rob: I was saying that rather focusing on a particular level of Japanese you should you should focus on useful Japanese and again not just useful conversational Japanese but since you are working with not just audio but also video and using internet you can upload photos and stuff like that. It just makes sense to focus on the visual.

Alex: The stuff that you're in contact with everyday

Rob: Yeah, but things thats that people would encounter the minute they get off the boat. But a second reason is I think that the way people learn Japanese and the types of...I guess what draws certain people to Japanese...I don't know if it's personality type or what but Japanese is a much more visual language than other languages. Of course all modern languages...my point was that for me, all of my languages have been very conversational, not to say that I didn't read them because reading really helped but I never reached that point where I would was like OK I can't read this

Alex: Recently I've been thinking of how I should, what I should focus on in terms of teaching Japanese and what to include on the site. Before I was thinking I'm going to split it into beginner, intermediate and advanced Japanese but I'm only one person, I'm also just doing this for fun.

Rob: But there's an error if you're dividing any language up by a level because that's not how it works. It doesn't function on levels, like you get it all at once. Yeah and what's useful. And so conversational... what's useful is gonna be "where's the toilet? Can I have a beer please?"

Alex: Opening an onigiri

Rob: And written is going to be like "Don't go beyond this point" "Don't park your bicycle here" "No shoes, no shirt, no service" that kind of thing.

Alex: And that, that sometimes is like quote unquote difficult Japanese. That Kanji in a classic text book would divide it from...going from a "beginner" to increasingly more complex Japanese. That kanji that you need to know for signs that are outside your front door would be difficult and you wouldn't learn that for ages.

Rob: Well that's the fundamental flaw of dividing a language up in levels it's got nothing to do with levels. It's got to do with...in the sense of Japanese you need to learn whatever comes first...You're thinking about one thing and that's the teaching itself and I'm thinking of...I'm on a slightly different train of thought which is about what kind of a language Japanese is.

Alex: Go for it

Rob: And I think that whereas to be fluent in any language, of course that involves opening your mouth and communication involves...when you're a child as you're growing up acquiring a first language you start with listening and speaking although the visual cues are there from the beginning. It's not reading but it's like you're connecting words to some...to an object but I think that in Japanese, I think, the part of Japanese I think that intrigues a lot of people is the visual part.

Alex: Right

Rob: Right ?

Alex: And it's a visual country isn't it?

Rob: I think there's a really clear connection between Manga and Anime and people who are into it and the whole cosplay thing and it's a very, very visual language, I think. And therefore I'm always surprised at how many people are really into studying their kanji.

Alex: I was like that when I first came to Japan.

Rob: That's what I'm saying, you connected with that part. I only connected with it in the sense that "wow, I wonder if I could ever get to the point where I could read this language someday". Listening to it, I was like "this makes sense, this is easy".

Alex: You came to it through a more conversational practical angle. I came to Japanese through a very academic visual kind if literary way.

Rob: In the beginning I was interested in the writing. I definitely am not into the sound or the rhythm of the language. I much prefer Spanish, Portuguese or French for speaking and the way it sounds. Like I'm really not into the way Japanese sounds the same way with German. I'm just not into the way German sounds.

Alex: I'm into the way Japanese sounds simply more for the exoticness of it the fact that it isn't related to European languages at all.

Rob: But I think if you were going for the sound, I think, you for Asian languages, Thai or Vietnamese or Chinese sounds more exotic to me. Japanese, the vowel consonant vowel thing sounds like Spanish or Italian to me without the Latin blood.

Alex: I see two different trajectories through the way we've studied Japanese. I think you came to Japanese "Right, let's meet people, let's communicate" which is actually I think the best way to do it. I came through...I came to Japanese in more of an academic nerdy way. I was Mr Kanji King, I would sit down everyday, I would learn a hundred kanji a week, you know and we had these kanji contests. And what that meant was that for me, my Japanese was very academic. I could reel off these really nice sounding textbook Japanese phrases...that Japanese people "Oh you know so and so author or whatever..." But then take me to an Izakaya and my Japanese would kind of break down whereas you...

Rob: That was my starting point.

Alex: Yeah that was your starting point. And so for the longest time I had this really "good vocabulary" Like I knew äå?ååãpopulation density and I could order a beer in a bar but there was loads of like really "simple vocabulary" that I just didn't know. A lot of really simple stuff. And actually I find my Japanese...I've learned it the wrong way round, I started with all the difficult stuff first and now I'm actually starting to learn loads of easy stuff, you know...easy everyday stuff that most Japanese people learn. So my Japanese studies have been a bit bizarre.

Rob: By the time I got to Japan, I was 27 I think and I was done studying anything. If I do it, it's because I'm having fun and it's interesting and no pressure. Actually, when I studied French, I had no pressure on me because I was already trilingual. I was like, you know what, if I don't get this French thing who cares ? Like France is nothing special. Well you know it's like the whole mystique of Japan fades away after a couple of years of becoming more or less fluent and being able to read and write a little. And it was the same way with France. It was like the mystique was gone after two months of, oh they have swear words too, you know, it's like, all off a sudden it's not such a beautiful sexy language when you realize, what they're saying is not really that profound.

Alex: One thing I've found, especially with mass media in Japan is that there is always less than meets the eye. And you study Japanese for ages and ages and one of my goals was I wanna...I want to understand the news. And actually that's not so hard because they're using repeating phrases again and again like it doesn't take that long to understand the weather forecast 'cos it's textbook NHK. But then my next one was like OK now I want to understand comedians and that is hard. Because it's you know they're using slang, and colloquialisms and stuff like that but when you start to understand what they're saying it's like, that's all they're talking about ? That's it ? You know ? So it's always less than meets the eye.

OK well, I'll cut it off there seeing as we really did start to side track and talk about bike racing and Italy. But I hope you got some interesting and hopefully useful perspectives on learning Japanese. In conclusion I guess there is no single way to study Japanese. We all learn differently and in different circumstances for example learning in a pub verses doing an academic university course. Japanese is quite a visual language and it's great if you want to study kanji but I wished I had spent a little less time in kanji books and more in pubs or in the street at least for my spoken Japanese. Try not to focus too much on levels of difficulty and try to learn what you need as it turns up in everyday life. Maybe that advice is obvious but I hadn't really worked that out when I first came to Japan. Just think about all the Japanese you would learn passively in the street, reading signs, listening to conversations etc.

Well that's it for now, I hope that helped some of you out there.

Be sure to check out the forums at learnjapanesepod.com/forum and register on the main site to get access to lessons and the newsletter that will be sent out about twice a month.

ææèéåã?ã?ã??ã?ã?ã?ãã?ã?ã?ã?æåãã

#53: Using an electronic Japanese menu

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:25:00 GMT

Why bother to learn Kanji when you can just use pictures ? In more and more restaurants today in Japan you can order food using portable electronic menus. The menu is an A4 touch screen device that sits on a charger on the table and can also be detached and hand held. It's quite a sturdy piece of electronics that looks like it can handle a few splashes of beer or yakiniku sauce. The screen has an easy to navigate user interface with pictures and various menus for you to touch and order. Once you have selected your food you can touch the confirm promt and it will send a relay to the kitchen for your food to be prepared and served to you. It's an ingenious system that must save a lot of time and labour although you will need to read a little Japanese to use it. Here is a list of the basic kanji you will need to navigate around the menu.

ææïã?ãã?ããïOrder
ææçè?ïã?ãã?ããã?ã??ã?ãïConfirm your order
èïã?ã??ïMeat
éïã?ã?ã?ïFish
è?ïã?ã?ïVegetables
æ?ïã?ã?ïFried food
éïã?ã?ïDrinks
ããããïDessert

I was going to release this video as a Fun Friday episode but I thought why wait. Check it out.

Don't forget to join the forums
Also you can get the newsletter by registering on the main site

Fun Friday: How to eat an Onigiri

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Rob and Alex show you how to open an Onigiri packet. The onigiri is a rice ball wrapped in seaweed which is very popular in Japan. It comes in a variety of flavours including plum, tuna, salmon to name a few. They are cheap and delicious but opening the packaging can be a little confusing especially if you can't read the instructions on the packaging.

I hope this video saves someone in an onigiri crisis...

Subscribe to the newsletter

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:40:00 GMT

Subscribe to the new newsletter to get the latest information on podcasts, Japanese study tips and web resources.

You can now join the news letter from the main site HERE

(You can register in the bottom left corner)

#52: Ippai

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:49:00 GMT

In this week's lesson, Beb teaches us how to use the word "Ippai". Listen to the conversations and example sentences to get an idea of how to use this word.

Don't forget to join the forums

And sign up for the newsletter here

#52 Lesson notes

All lesson notes

New site up

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 13:33:00 GMT

Yet again we have a new main site up at Learnjapanesepod.com
I have played around with quite a few designs but this one is the most interactive and content packed. I will continue to update it.

Hope you like it.

Frapper Map

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 06:29:00 GMT

I got a pleasant shock when I had a look at the Frappr Map all the way down at the bottom of the blog page and found that there are over 400 members ! Amazing.

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 09:07:00 GMT

I have just started a new newsletter for this site. This will give you information on upcoming events and other information to help you improve your Japanese.

You can click on this link and subscribe: http://learnjapanesepod.com/newsletter/newsletter.html

You will be able to unsubscribe anytime.

Live pod show this weekend !

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 08:33:00 GMT

We're coming at you live this weekend so listen in and join the madness.
We will be streaming live with some Japanese, music, news and views. The time is Sat/6th 09:00 Japan time which means...

London: Sat/6th 01:00
New York: Fri/5th 20:00
Los Angeles Fri/5th 17:00

You can access the live broadcast from this address: http://std1.ladio.livedoor.jp:8100/gen.m3u

We'll also put a link up on the main site

Contact us live:
Skype: japanesepodcast (we maybe able to have a phone in)
Forums: http://learnjapanesepod.com/forum
Email: mail@alexbrooke.com

Hope you can listen in. We will be putting up the recorded version later as a downloadable podcast.

Hope you enjoy it !

Also don't forget to join our new newsletter. You can unsubscribe at anytime.
http://learnjapanesepod.com/newsletter/newsletter.html

Alex

#51: Beb interviews Makikomo

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 03:40:00 GMT

This week we took a little departure from our usual lesson format and listened to Beb interview Makikomo about her her various creative exploits which include handmade soap. You can see them here at Makikomo.com

Because this was entirely in Japanese, beginners might find this challenging however I have included the entire transcript with kanji, hiragana and an English translation.

Transcript for lesson 51

All lesson notes

Sado Island adventure

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:15:00 GMT

If you are interested in traveling around Japan you might want to hear this account of a trip Sado island by Rob Holbrook on his News from the other side podcast. It\'s quite long at 40 minutes but an interesting listen. dozo.

MP3 Direct download

Read

Hiragana: ã?/A

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:00:00 GMT

Lesson #50: Emphasizing adjectives in Japanese

mail@alexbrooke.com — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

In this week's podcast Rob, Makikomo and Beb teach us how to emphasize adjectives in casual conversations. Well we tried but the wine, ice cream and coffee didn't help. WARNING: one or two expletives.

We also talked about people from Tokyo trying to speak in Osaka dialect, Japanese as spoken by high school students and Beb's new track called "dancing"

Links:
Lesson notes for #50
Beb's new track "dancing"
Brought to you by Makikomo.com the finest handcrafted soaps in Japan

Learn Japanese Pod Community on Facebook

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:27:00 GMT

Even though Mixi is much better, I have made a Learn Japanese Pod community on Facebook. I thought it would be fun to keep in contact with you Japanese learners in Facebook land. Now if only Facebook were as good as mixi !

Yoroshiku very much.

Fun Friday: The Nova scandal bunny

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:21:00 GMT

This week I hung out with Rob in Tokyo at his place in Kagurazaka. We talked about...

1) Latest news and riding round the Yamanote line
2) Overcoming hurdles in studying Japanese
3) Japanese sentence patterns for effective communication
4) Nova English Language school

Hope you enjoy !

Poll: Who will be the next Japanese Prime Minister ?

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:24:00 GMT

Who do you think the next Japanese Prime Minister will be ? Aso ? Fukuda ? A carboard cut out ? Take the poll here.

Fun Friday from a secret location in Kanagawa

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

I'm all on my own this week's Fun Friday as Beb, Waka sensei and Rob are all scattered across the globe. The intro music is by Ulfuls from their album Banzai. Here are this week's topics...

1) Latest Japanese pod news

2) Learning Japanese with The A-Team

3) "Dogs and Demons" by Alex Kerr

4) A TV Haiku

5) Hiking in Japan and the Hyakumeizan

Enjoy !

Fun Friday Pachinko Symphony

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:06:00 GMT

This is a video I took of a Pachinko and Video game center in Osaka near Beb's house. It was visual and aural stimulation on overload so I only lasted five minutes in there. Behold the madness !

News from the other side

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:10:00 GMT

A contributor to Learn Japanese is Rob who has his own podcast called News From The Other Side. Check out the promo here.

Fingerprinting foreigners in Japan

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:07:00 GMT

Thinking of visiting Japan ? From November 2007, all foreigners visiting Japan will be required to have their photograph and fingerprints taken. Fingerprinting of foreigners was previously stopped in 2000 due to public protests over personal privacy.

Terrorism and crime were the main reasons cited for reintroducing the system even though all terrorist acts in Japan have been committed by Japanese: The Aum cult in 1995 and The Red Army.

One might indeed ask who would bother to plot some terrorist atrocity in Japan. Foreigners who have had the indignity of having their prints taken might be angry enough.

Check out this kooky public information video including foreigners with criminally bad acting skills. On second thoughts, maybe fingerprinting these knuckle heads might not be such a bad idea.

Sellout

Billy's Boot camp hits Japan

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:27:00 GMT

If you don't know what Billy's Boot Camp is, you may have been living in a cave or Mexico. And living in Japan is no excuse either. This set of workout DVDs has become the latest craze to hit Japan and has sold over a million copies since July 2007. Check out this video of my good friend Ken taking part in what could be described as, oh gosh I don't know...behold ! Shout out to Rob from Newsfromtheotherside.com for putting this on my radar.

Lessson #49 Natsubate

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:03:00 GMT

In this lesson, Waka sensei teaches us how to talk about Natsubate or feeling exhausted from the summer heat. Here is the transcript for the dialog below. A downloadable PDF file will be available soon. You might also want to check out lesson #42 which deals with hayfever and similar vocabulary.

Kanji

A: ããã??ã?äã?ã?ããåæï

B:ãã?ãã?ã?å?ã?ã

A:ãççã?ï

B:ãéæã?ã?ã??ã?ã?äã?ã?ãã??ã?ã?çãã?ããã?ã

A:ãã?åäã?ã?ã

Hiragana and Romaji

A: ããã??ã?ã?ã?ã?ã?ããã?ãã??ï Ya, hisashiburi. Genki ?

B:ãã?ãã?ã?ã?ã?ã?ã?ãChotto Natsubate

A:ãã?ãã?ã?ãã?ã?ïShohjyoh wa ?

B:ãã?ãã??ãã??ã?ã?ã??ã?, Shokuyoku ga nakute,

ã?ãã?ã?ã?ã, karada ga darukute,

ã?ã?ã?ãã?ããã?,tsukareterun da.

A:ãã?ã?ã?ã?ã?ã? Odaiji ni ne

English Translation

A: Hey, long time no see. How are you ?

B: I've got "natsubate"

A: What are the symptoms ?

B: I have no appetite, I have no energy and I'm tired

A: Take care !

Buy Beb's music

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 04:06:00 GMT

If you like this podcast then why not show your appreciation by buying Beb's sexy single ? It costs $3 and we will throw in an extra mysterious Karaoke track and the theme music to this podcast. So please buy her track so Beb can be a famous J Pop star and eat ! This will also help us with various internet/bandwidth costs. Yoroshiku very much ! After paying you will be directed to a download page. (14megabytes) If you have any problems, please email at mail@alexbrooke.com Here's a sample of the track here

Fun Friday: How to eat sushi

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:16:00 GMT

In today's episode, Waka sensei and myself talk about sushi etiquette. After doing some research on the subject I found out some interesting and surprising facts about how to eat sushi "properly". Don't worry, you shouldn't be arrested by the sushi police for violating these rules but it's interesting to know what the done thing is. You can check out a previous video of Beb and I when we went to eat sushi near her house in Osaka. "Know your sushi"

Enjoy!

The top 10 downloads on Learn Japanese

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:36:00 GMT

It's always good go through old files and see which ones are being downloaded and which aren't. While going through the files I decided to make the top 10 most popular downloads from this site. Here they are in reverse order.

10) Lesson #5 Asking someone out

9) Lesson #15 Wait a moment Mr Postman

8) Lesson #16 Movie Japanese

7) Lesson #4 Counting

In this lesson we learned to count with waka sensei.

6) Lesson #14 Mukatsuku

This was my favorite show and has been popular ever since we released it.

5) Fun Friday Kansai Dialect

Recently all the Fun Friday episodes have been more popular than the normal lessons.

4) ALT RAP by Rob Holbrook

This rap about life as an English teacher was written by Rob and the music was produced by me. This video has continued to be quite popular all over the net.

3) Lesson #2 Basic questions

2) Lesson #1 How are you ?

But wait for it. Drum roll please, the single most popular download on Learn Japanese was...

1) Days of the week Video

Learn Japanese with Beb and Alex

#70: Telephone Japanese

#70 Show notes: Japanese for the telephone

#69: What are you into?

#69 show notes: What are you into?

#68: æ°ãki

#68 show notes: æ°ãki

Fun Friday: Nikko

Fun Friday: Hanging out with Daniel Edwards

#67 Sho ga nai / It can't be helped

#67 Show notes: Sho ga nai / It can't be helped

#66 Ordering beer

#66 Show notes: Ordering beer

Fun Friday: Hanging out at the sushi restaurant

Learn Japanese on Facebook

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Odaiba

The Loop line tour

#65 Let's do lunch

#65 Show notes: Let's do lunch

#64 It's a lie!

#64 Show notes It's a lie

Show notes fixed

#63 No way, that's outrageous

#63 Show notes

#62 to lend something

#62 show notes (to lend something)

Blogging

#61: Borrowing stuff

#61 show notes

Prapatang.com

White day

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Chiba again

What's your favorite word? Revisted.

Your favorite podcast on Learn Japanese

Japan survey

Fun Friday: Hanging out in Chiba

#60 It's obvious

#60 Show notes

Fun Friday in Osaka castle park

Fun Friday: Save the planet!

#59 It's Cold!

#59 Show notes

What can I do to save the whales?

Fun Friday: Japanese TV shows

Fun Friday: On the Shinkansen

Vlogs on Japan

On the Dotonbori bridge with Wes

Live on the radio tonight

Complex Kanji

Cycling in Osaka

What Japan is thinking about

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 video

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2 video

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3 video

Lesson #58: Just cut it out will you?

Lesson #58 show notes

News from the other side talk show #40

Alex's blog

Fun Friday with DJ Wes (Whaling and fingerprinting)

#57 shownotes

#57 Self introductions in Japanese

Buy Beb's music

Fun Friday: Awa odori

Fun Friday with Wes

#56 Saving Energy

About us...

Quiz time

Flash Quiz

#55: Basic questions in Japanese

Lesson #54 Self introductions

New chat room

Fun Friday: Studying Japanese

#53: Using an electronic Japanese menu

Fun Friday: How to eat an Onigiri

Subscribe to the newsletter

#52: Ippai

New site up

Frapper Map

Newsletter

Live pod show this weekend !