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Natccu

Today’s Fun Friday was recorded at Agave in Roppongi with the lovely Liz and Kelly, authors of the “Tokyo in Heels” blog which can be found at the Tokyo Weekender Website. The music at the beginning was “Command Z” by Natccu.

The podcast was spiced up a little with a few frozen margaritas and delicious Mexican food. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it. We mostly talked about fashion in Tokyo and the sorry state of my current wardrobe.

Here is a basic timeline and list of topics we touched in during the podcast.

(00:00)
Intro music: “Command Z” by Natccu

(02:42)
Shout outs: Congratulations to Daniel and Yukki on their wedding day. I wish you both health and happiness for the future.

(03:07)
Get involved with the Learn Japanese Pod community:
LJP Facebook group
LJP Mixi group
LJP Forums

(03:32)
Clothes Shopping in Tokyo:
Kelly, Liz and I talked about the sad state of my current wardrobe. We also discussed some points about the ease of using the Uniqlo website to buy clothes. The general consensus was that knowing kanji would help you but it wasn’t absolutely necessary to work out how to use the website. They bought me a purple shirt. People…help.

(05:30)
Tokyo In Heels:
Tokyo In Heels is a new blog written by Kelly and Liz that will soon be up on the Tokyo Weekender website. It’s about fashion, shopping, cool gadgets and more for your discerning lady around Tokyo town. Tokyo Weekender is a magazine and website for expats living in Tokyo. It has lots of event and lifestyle information in it so check it out.

(06:11)
Shout out to Danny Choo

(06:44)
Shout outs: To Leviathon, Nick, Zombiehead and Isacksen for writing some awesome blogs entries on Learn Japanese Pod.

(07:19)
Sin Den: Sin Den is simply a wickedly good hair salon in Tokyo. It came up in discussion as I may be forced to get a hair cut as well as new clothes…

(07:47)
Japanese Lounge: The Japanese Lounge is an event where you can hear some great traditional Japanese music live. The venue is The Pink Cow in Shibuya and it will be held on 20th December 2009. This is also being held in conjunction with the Learn Japanese Pod Get-Together. So come along and enjoy the fun.

(08:36)
Liz’s story: According to Liz, she met an Australian friend who came over to Japan. Apparently he had listened to Learn Japanese Pod. So that’s who our listener is…
A big shout out to Matt Johnson and thanks for listening.

(10:23)
Cool blogs and websites from Japan:
Tokyo Weekender
Japandra
Tokyo Werewolf
Transit Lounge

(11:17)
Natccu live dates in Tokyo:
Thursday 3 December
Sangenjaya Heaven’s Door
With Seiji Kimura (ex-Zeppet Store/Hurdy Gurdy/Pale Green), Prague (new Sony signing) and more!
From 6.30pm; 2,000/2,500 yen

Friday 18 December (all night)
Green Green Cyclone @ Shibuya Cyclone
Rock out all night, with The Great Funny Pant Sounds, Danny Blanco, DJs and more!
From 12am (midnight) till first trains; 2,000 yen

Thursday 14 January
Chelsea Hotel, Shibuya
with GURUGURU (ex-Softball) and others!
From 6pm; 1,500/2,000 yen

Friday 22 January
Club Mission’s, Koenji
‘Three-man’ live show, with BAKUBENI and more
From 6.30pm, price tbc

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks to all those who were involved in this week’s podcast.

I figured that we could start a discussion to help each other with questions you may have about the JLPT.  Specifically grammar questions, but if there’s anything non-grammar related I’m sure someone knows an answer.  Personally I find I learn as much or more when I respond to people’s questions, and sometimes the practice tests and workbooks give the right answer without a proper explanation as to why.  So if anyone has any grammar questions, ask away!

You can post questions here or on the forums at http://learnjapanesepod.com/forums/japanese-language-proficiency-test/jlpt-qa/ which ever is most convenient for you.

Today I have mostly been looking at the pretty colours of the leaves.

The Japanese love to do this. My Japanese teacher drove 600km around Tokyo on a motorbike to go see the leaves. I on the other hand popped along to Matsudo City (松戸市）and the 本土時 (Hondoji) Temple.

This is a notable place for viewing the lovely red and yellows of the autumn change in colour, before the weather really does get frigid. We’ve had a few cold snaps recently here in Japan but considering it’s a week before December, the fact the temperature has been getting to 18′ during the day still surprises me in a country with 4 seasons, if at least contrasted with England which has been cold and miserable for weeks now.

Anyway, I saw lots of Japanese pointing their SLR cameras on full zoom at a single leaf, and lots of trees with countless ephemeral leaves lest a week away from drifting to the ground. They don’t seem to cause the trains to be late either, which is nice.

Here are some pictures.

http://www.hondoji.com/

From Leviathon’s thread (http://learnjapanesepod.com/you-must-unlearn-all-that-you-have-learnt/) regarding ～ている to express (unfortunately) the dog dying or the dog being dead.  To say the dog is dead, we would use the ～ている form to say that it died and is remaining in that state.  But what would you say if you wanted to express that the dog is dying?  Well, since I don’t really feel like continuing that example (ワンちゃんが好きだし) I’ll use 太る(ふとる), to grow fat, instead.  (And yes this was intentional due to the similar kanji for 犬 and 太.)

Vている – Action in progress/Past event that is connected with the present
彼は太っている。 He is fat.

Vていく – Indicates a change that takes place from now on
彼は太っていく。 He will continue to get fat.

Vてくる – Indicates a change that has been taking place to now
彼は太ってきた。 He has gotten fat./He is getting fat.

The rules I mentioned in the other post also apply.  If you can express the verb with a duration, then you are talking about an action in progress, and cannot use the ていく・てくる forms to express a change.  Instead they take on the standard go and come definitions.  For example:

一時間買い物しました。  I shopped for an hour.  (Grammatically correct using a duration)
買い物してきました。 I went shopping and came back.  (Not expressing a change)

一時間分かりました。 I understood for an hour. (Grammatically incorrect using a duration)
分かってきました。 I came to understand.  (Expressing the change from not understanding to understanding)

My notes from Levithon’s post:

As for the ている form, I whipped out my Genki Vol 1 to make sure I get this correct. There are three main types:

1. Describe a continuous states.
2. Describe activities that last for some time.
3. Describe the result of a change.

For example, when you get married you go from being single to being married. One tip the book said to determine if it is talking about a continuing action or a state is if you can describe the phrase using 一時間.

〇私はきのう一時間本を読みました。
×私は一時間死にました。(”I died for an hour”, which is as ungrammatical in both English as it is in Japanese.)

So 死ぬ (Along with 起きる、行く、帰る、来る、分かる、出かける、乗る、座る、消す、忘れる、借りる、降りる、持ってくる、連れてくる、結婚する、太る、やせる and 着る) are type 3 verbs.

This is another very common spoken grammar point.  Please feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to answer or give feedback if you feel up to practicing this grammar point.

As much as I have a passion for Japanese, I can find there are times when you’re learning heaps of words and new phrases, and then all of a sudden… you just … drop off… and plateau.

This is one of the major difficulties with learning a language outside of the country it is spoken. It’s great if you have Japanese friends who you talk to regularly, or if you are in some structured learning environment such as classes, however, what do you do if you’re going it alone?  How do you keep learning and consolidating what you have learned?

One technique I often use is to try to express whatever I’m thinking in Japanese - ONLY in isolated places! It’s weird enough to look like you’re talking to yourself, let alone in another language.. I think this is important, as when you are studying by yourself, you don’t often have oppportunities to practice speaking. Although your reading and writing skills are often good, making the switch to speaking off the cuff can induce hesitation and stumbling. Therefore, it’s important to keep the dialogue running – even in your head.

Counting things, asking for things, decribing what you’re doing are all important – but the best one is getting angry when someone does something rude or stupid, and letting out a stream of Japanese invective – less worry about them being offended or picking a fight.

For example:

“Yuube osoi, Boku no tonari wa dai ongako shita. Taihen mukatsukatta! Baka yaroo! Nan dai ya nen!?!” *

I find putting sentences together like this enjoyable as both a vent for frustrations and an good exercise.

Another one of my favourites is to order food in Japanese, however in Sydney with such a large proportion of Korean run Japanese restaurants this can throw you off  if they don’t speak Japanese, and just look at your mangled phrases blankly. My first ever attempt at this after a decade of no Japanese speaking since high school went down terribly.

I said: ”gyuuniku o tabetai” as opposed to the more natural:  ”gyuudon onegai shimasu”   - literally: “I like to eat cow meat” , as opposed to: “please bring me the beef and rice”

What other ways do other subscribers have for keeping their Japanese wheels well oiled?

Also, does anyone have examples of Japanese similes and metaphors, like “Japanese wheels well oiled”  or how to create them without looking like you’re talking gibberish??

*(Disclaimer: These phrases have been cobbled together from some past podcasts, and some from basic Japanese lessons. Please let me know if there is a more natural way to say them, or I have made grammatical errors – I don’t claim ANY mastery skills, only opinion.)

Currently I live on an island in the middle of a bay, near a peninsula, so a lot of these were very functional words for communicating. I find these a bit in stories that I am reading as well.

そと　　　outside 外
いなか countryside 田舎
いけ　　　pond 池
みずうみ lake 湖
わん　　　gulf 湾
いりえ　　bay 入り江
たき　　　waterfall 滝
しま　 island 島
はんとう　peninsula 半島
もり　　　 forest 森
たんぼ　 rice field 田んぼ
はたけ　 field 畑
いし　　　 stone 石
いわ large rock 岩
ほらあな　cave ほら穴
ほし　　　 stars 星
そら　　 sky 空
くも　　　 cloud 雲
かぜ　　　wind 風
きり　　　　fog 霧
いなずま　lightning
あめ　　　 rain 雨
ゆき　　　 snow 雪
みずたまり　puddle 水たまり
くさ　　　　　 grass 草
どろ　　　 mud
はな　　　　 flower 花
にじ　　　　 rainbow 虹
き　　　　　　tree 木
は　　　　　　leaf 葉
にわ　　　　 yard 庭
おか　　　 hill 丘
なみ　　　　　wave 波
すな　 　sand 砂
うみ　　　　 ocean/sea 海
すなはま　　 beach 砂浜

Stone / Rock:
The difference between いし　and いわ was explained to me as いわ is something that goes from difficult to pick up and bigger. If you watched Okuribito / Departures, いし is what is used for the stones.

Fog is deep rather than thick:
きりが　ふかい。

Beach – There are several ways to reference a beach, including the loan word ビーチ. I have been using the “Let`s Learn Japanese Picture Dictionary” to aid in my vocabulary selection since I like their grouping of common items. I have found several inaccuracies in the book including them listing Sand as すなはま, wich was how I first had the post listed. The two characters are actually sand shore, making one of the many was to say beach.

Japanese annoys me sometimes, especially now. Apart from trying to use interesting and colourful grammar expressions in prep for JLPT2 only to have them all corrected to 〜たら or some other form I studied years ago (OK, I give up, I’ll just learn to read these new forms and just say ‘when’ for everything in conversation), I’m also coming across bad habits I’m having to unlearn and fundamental problems of which the nuance is becoming very difficult to grasp. I’ll share three points with you today. Please feel free to shoot them down in flames and then vaporize the ashes, it’ll learn me.

1) だ vs です

Read this – http://www.guidetojapanese.org/polite.html#part5
Then read this – http://www.guidetojapanese.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3567

We are always taught that です is the polite form of だ.
That’s not true thou. The second author confuses です with other polite forms hence he feels they are equivalent, I think.

です is, as far as I’m aware, just a way of making a sentence polite for the most part. As the first author explains. It seems that way from my experience too. One such example was today when a receptionist replied back to me ‘I’m fine desu yo’. Here desu and yo seem to have no meaning other than to politen and emphasize the English sentence, which is already correctly is-afied.

だ on the other hand has many uses, some of which would be ‘is’, but one of which is not ‘is’. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been corrected when putting a だ at the end of a sentence thinking it’s a substitute for です。Even if I’m right some times, I’m wrong so many others to the point that a rule we learn at the start that だ＝です meaning wise if not politeness wise is kinda counter productive.

2) はい = yes

I have a feeling I have to stop saying はい when a shop assistant asks if I want a bag. I’m thinking they only know I want one because I nod viciously while saying it

http://home.att.net/~keiichiro/gokai/eng/yesno.html
http://www.thirteenmonths.com/jp02_winterwonderland.htm
http://hobby_elec.piclist.com/e_japanese3_8.htm

Hai can mean a lot of things, one of them I heard a long time ago is ‘yes, I’m listening’, rather than ‘yes, in answer to your question’. It’s possible I’m just proving to the shop assistant that I’m not deaf. I’m sure my ‘hai’ has not a hint of a question tone and yet for some reason they’ve occasionally looked at me confused. At least until I nod.

3) 〜ている / 〜ていた

I have a further feeling that this doesn’t mean the same as the present/past continuous in English. There as so many places were that rule breaks down crying to the embarrassment of all around it. I’m fine with the verbs that do use continuous forms in English but not in Japanese, and those which use ‘〜ている’ in Japanese but not present continuous in English (the famous 犬が死んでいる＊ for the Japanese dog that’s been dead for hours while its English counterpart writhes in agony, his final minutes ticking endlessly on before he snuffs it – as in ‘The dog is dying’). I’m also down with using it for other people’s actions, as the past continuous seems to be used for a lot. But it’s still damn confusing having my past sentences corrected to a ‘continuous form’ with no rhyme or reason, at least to mine eyes.

Investigations continue.
PLEASE HELP ME

（＊）Or is it 犬は死んでいる。This is another thing I’ve been wrestling with recently. See this blog post and replies by native speakers.

Disclaimer. In trying to make this interesting to read I may have been too liberal with the irony ketchup. I am English. I find it amusing to use sarcasm and irony. By the way, they are not the same thing, Japanese language. Don’t look away, I’m talking to you!