It’s been a while since we have posted a Learn Japanese Pod lesson however we have been busy working behind the scenes on the website and our new magazine. So, we wanted to record a Fun Friday to keep you up to date with what we have been doing.
This episode was recorded by me, Alex, in Tokyo and Asuka, on the east coast of the United States and I think it actually worked quite well so we will be recording some more podcasts soon this way.
In this episode we talked about various things including Japanese food, comparing New York and Tokyo and what Asuka misses from Japan. We also talked about our new magazine featuring Japanese lessons and articles on traveling to Japan which you can sign up to here. If you sign up, we will also be sending some free PDF Japanese lessons in the near future as we discussed in the podcast.
As always, we’d love to talk to you so please check out our forum, Facebook page or email us at info[at]learnjapanesepod.com
We’re excited to announce that we’ve just released the latest Learn Japanese Pod Magazine. It’s a free downloadable PDF available here on the website or on our iTunes feed.
In this month’s edition we have a special feature on sightseeing in Kyoto, regional food from Japan, Japanese language lessons and listings for fireworks displays and music events. You can download the magazine here or you can have it sent to your email by subscribing on our newsletter page.
We are pleased to announce that we are now publishing the new Learn Japanese Pod Magazine. It’s a free four page PDF monthly publication containing information on studying Japanese, what’s going on in Japan and other related content.
If you would like to subscribe and have it delivered directly to your inbox once a month, please subscribe on the Newsletter Page where we also keep links to back issues you can also download.
It contains the following features:
- The latest news from Learn Japanese Pod
- Japanese language lessons
- Japan travel and event guide
- Reviews of hotels, restaurants and products in Japan
- Japan tech, cool websites apps for learning Japanese
- Interviews and more!
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This week’s free audio podcast for studying Japanese focuses on せっかく – Sekkaku. This phrase is also found in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level N2.
Sekkaku refers to an action that took great pains or effort and is usually used in a negative sense.
部屋汚いよ！せっかく掃除したのに。
heya kitanai yo! Sekkaku souji shita noni.
The room is a mess! Even though I (took the trouble) to clean it.
Listen to the podcast to hear more examples in natural conversations with Alex and Asuka as your hosts.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In this week’s Japanese lesson we focus on this grammatical construction …しか…ない – …shika…nai. Shika nai means “only” or can refer to only having a single course of action. For example:
千円しかない – Sen en shika nai – I only have 1000 yen.
おにぎり一個しか食べてない – onigiri ikko shika tabetenai – I’ve only eaten one rice ball
待つしかない – Matsu shika nai – (We) can only wait
This grammar is usually found in the level 2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
Check out the podcast for more examples, dialogs and general hilarity.
It’s been a while since we have posted a Learn Japanese Pod lesson however we have been busy working behind the scenes on the website and our new magazine. So, we wanted to record a Fun Friday to keep you up to date with what we have been doing.
