JapanesePod101.com Blog

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Facebook: Maria Falco
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十二月の末、日本では一年の汚れをきれいにするために「大掃除」を行ないます。この「掃除」という単語に着目してみましょう。

「掃除」の「掃」には「はく」という訓読みがあり、漢字の左側（てへん）は、「手」を表わしています。一方、右側の「帚」は「持ち手のついたほうき」を記号化したもの。そして、「除」の訓読みは「のぞく」。つまり、手でほうきを使ってゴミを取り除くのが「掃除」であるというわけです。 Read the rest of this entry »

Around the holidays, people like to hear old stories again, whether they involve Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or the Ghost of Christmas Past. This time of year also fills people with hope, so much so that adults temporarily suspend fears of pedophilia and let their children sit on strange men’s laps to spout off consumerist fantasies.

You’ll find both storytelling and hope with 望. You already know that it often means “hope,” because we learned the following last week:

望 (BŌ, MŌ, nozo(mu): hope, wish, aspire to, desire, look afar, look forward to)

As for the storytelling, a few sample sentences with 望 form a tale of hope and longing. We start the story with this sentence, which a Tokyo resident named Satoshi-san once emailed me during our very brief language exchange:

2008年より英国の大学院への留学を希望しています。
2008-nen yori Eikoku no daigakuin e no ryūgaku o kibō shite imasu.
Starting in 2008, I hope to study at a graduate school in England.

Breakdown of the Kanji #1 …

In other words, he had a clearly defined 希望:
Read the rest of this entry »

Hello everyone!
We here at JapanesePod101.com hope you are enjoying the holiday season!

We’d like to let you all know about the great lessons we have coming up for you in 2010. Here is our 2010 lesson schedule:

After a break in the second half of 2009, both the Newbie and Beginner series will be coming back for a fifth season! These series will rotate on Mondays.

Tuesdays will see the continuation of the Lower and Upper Intermediate series.

Wednesdays will feature two new series: one that focuses on the usage of particles, and one that is aimed at those taking the new JLPT level N4 test (the equivalent of the old Level 3).

On Thursdays, we will be putting out old lessons randomly selected from the Jpod101 archives. Take a trip down memory lane with these older Jpod101 lessons!

Fridays are reserved for video lessons. We have a great team working hard on making fun, educational videos for learning Japanese as well as Japanese culture. You never know what kind of video you might get!

Saturdays will be a break; no lessons will be coming out on this day.

And lastly, Sundays we will be seeing a variety of lessons! Along with the News segments and Japanese Culture Class lessons, we will also see new Audio Blog lessons. The Audio Blog will be going into its third season, and will feature new blogs written by the first male writer for the series! Another series coming out on Sundays is the Japanese Children’s Songs series. Don’t miss these interesting lessons that teach the meaning behind popular Japanese songs!

There you have it - the JapanesePod101.com 2010 Lesson schedule. We look forward to bringing you fun and effective lessons all throughout the new year!

JapanesePod101.comを来年もよろしくお願いします！

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That’s right - kanji seen and used everyday!

The theme for this week is kanji found on vending machines. Let’s take a look!

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Read the rest of this entry »

「トマト」と「新聞紙」の共通点は何でしょう。

それは、左から発音しても右から発音しても、同じ読み方になるという点です。声に出して読んでみましょう。「とまと」「しんぶんし」。

Read the rest of this entry »

I’d never thought about it before, but I’ve just realized that the English expression “looking forward” has two meanings: “gazing into the distance” and “happily anticipating.” One kanji captures both meanings. We usually interpret 望 (BŌ, MŌ, nozo(mu)) as meaning “hope.” A while back, though, we saw that 望 can also mean “looking afar” or “gazing into the distance.”

This duality helps us find several layers of meaning in the song title 望みの星 (Nozomi no Hoshi: The Wishing Star). If you’re wishing on a star (or on the moon, as per the etymology), you’re both gazing at a distant object and hoping that something will come true.

Novelist Wendy Tokunaga cowrote this enka (演歌: performance + song) song with her friend, Hiro Akashi. We’re only up to the title, and already I’m impressed!

I was even more impressed when I heard Wendy sing the song in Japanese. I know you’ll be blown away, too. Wendy has won televised singing competitions in Japan, so you’re in for a treat, not the ear-shattering output of some karaoke singer.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That’s right - kanji seen and used everyday!

The theme for this week is kanji found on forms at the bank. Let’s take a look!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Time for the final page of Alberto’s beautiful haiku calendar!

Explanation of the Haiku …

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That’s right - kanji seen and used everyday!

The theme for this week is kanji found on envelopes used to put money into for special occassions. Let’s take a look!

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Read the rest of this entry »