Hayao Miyazaki Retires

[mmmason8967]

Koji Hishino, President of Studio Ghibli, announced a short while ago that master film-maker that Hayao Miyazaki is to retire. More details on the NHK website.

マイケル

[Teabag]

マイケルさん、
こんばんは。
それより私は奈津子先生が心配だ。
私の日本語の神様も引退しちゃったんですか？
奈津子先生はどこですか。
思い出すわ～

[mmmason8967]

Teabagさん、こんにちは。
奈津子先生の夏休みと思います。

マイケル

[Teabag]

Fingers crossed

[Tracel]

Hi Teabag-san,

I too am a bit worried about her. There haven't really been any comments on grammar from any of the J-pod staff, which seems really unusual. But I am relatively new here, so I don't know if the teachers usually comment on our ramblings, or if it is supposed to be just a group of students studying together.

Of course, Natsuko-sensei deserves a wonderful holiday. So maybe Michael is correct.

Hopefully she is back soon,
Tracel

[mewes6190]

マイケルさん、
こんばんは。
それより私は奈津子先生が心配だ。
私の日本語の神様も引退しちゃったんですか？
奈津子先生はどこですか。
思い出すわ～

みんなさん、
おはよう。
I too miss 奈津子先生 ... Anyway, now I'm asking a grammatical question to you: what does "引退しちゃったん" mean? I get, that 引退 means something along "to retire", but I don't know the "しちゃったん" part of the sentence. Could anyone explain, please? I guess, that it's about Hayao Miyazaki, and probably expresses Teabag-sans feelings about it, But I can't figure it out.
And how would "思い出すわ～" work as an ending? Something like "Please get back to me"?

On topic: It's really sad... I always liked his movies, weird as they sometimes were!

お元気で
くろくま

[mmmason8967]

I get, that 引退 means something along "to retire", but I don't know the "しちゃったん" part of the sentence. Could anyone explain, please?

しちゃった is the past tense of ちゃう, which is a casual or colloquial version of する. I must admit that I only know this because I had to go and look it up in order to understand Teabag-san's message

んですか is a contraction of のですか. In a question it suggests you are are drawing a conclusion from some evidence.

I guess, that it's about Hayao Miyazaki ...

No, it's actually about 日本語の神様.

マイケル

[Teabag]

I too am a bit worried about her. There haven't really been any comments on grammar from any of the J-pod staff, which seems really unusual. But I am relatively new here, so I don't know if the teachers usually comment on our ramblings, or if it is supposed to be just a group of students studying together.

Hi Tracel,
I'm also relatively new here -- 3+ months.
Ever since I started studying with Jpod101, Teacher Natsuko has been around.
She's the reason I'm here. No one has ever taken so much time answering my questions so thoroughly and patiently.
If Teacher Natsuko was to have her international fans club, I would definitely be her No1 fan in Asia.

Is it just me or do you also feel the same that Jpod101 forum has been a bit strange lately? No one from the team is actually interacting with listeners, except for some technical issues. I do hope Teacher Natsuko is on vacation and will be back with us really soon. Or someone from the team should at least tell us what we should expect or NOT expect.

I was once very involved in an English learning site. For some reasons, it came to a closure. Don't laugh as it felt like as devastating as breaking up with a boyfriend. I'm still healing. That's why I am not so active in Jpod101 forum, and in the meantime, try to figure out how this site works.

Nice meeting you.

[Teabag]

くろくまくん＆マイケルさん、
Thank you for looking into my shaky Japanese. 照れちゃうなぁ。
Most of the time I post my questions or comments directly in the lessons, so I usually use polite Japanese.
In my previous message I decided to use casual Japanese as マイケルさん is my ninja. In other words, I am his master.


Just kidding.
Just thought to use casual Japanese as I "chat" with マイケルさん　quite often in the forum, so I should just skip the ます form.

くろくまくん、
Like you, I'm also learning Japanese and always struggling with grammar and particles. What I write might be 50% wrong Don't take it too seriously. As long as you understand me, that's more than enough for me. Just thought to give you a heads-up here

[mewes6190]

マイケルさん、
thank you very much for your explanation.
I didn't know about ちゃう yet. Added it to my vocab-flash cards now though, so thanks for the help!
So, lets's hope that 奈津子先生 isn't retired and will be back soon!

Teabag-san,
I don't worry if your sentences are wrong or not. I'm just trying to figure out every word and sentence I read. It's my best way to learn. Everytime I get stucked on a word or sentence pattern, I try to find out how it works or what it's composed of. That way I learn a lot and practice the patterns.
I just couldn't get the ちゃった in your sentence 'cause I didn't recognize it as a word in itself.

So, in any case, your sentence helped me a lot, simply by making me aware and teaching me ちゃう.

Best,
くろくま

[mmmason8967]

Thank you for looking into my shaky Japanese. 照れちゃうなぁ。

But that's exactly what we're all here for! Like くろくまさん said, your sentence helped me a lot: it's great to get a message that makes me go off and look something up, after which I understand the whole thing. I learn something and I still get a kick out of thinking "hey, look, I'm reading Japanese, and it's all full of kanji and stuff but I know what it says!!".

In my previous message I decided to use casual Japanese as マイケルさん is my ninja. In other words, I am his master.

絶対に本当でございます、茶袋様。

Is it just me or do you also feel the same that Jpod101 forum has been a bit strange lately? No one from the team is actually interacting with listeners, except for some technical issues.

I'm still inclined to think that vacation time has a lot to do with it. At work I regularly deal with colleagues across Europe and recently it seems like every time I send an e-mail, I get an out-of-office reply.

I think the forums are theoretically mainly user forums where we help each other. 山森先生 is a truly gifted teacher and she works very hard--way beyond the call of duty. Maybe her colleagues have become a little too reliant on 山森先生 doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

マイケル

[mewes6190]

I still get a kick out of thinking "hey, look, I'm reading Japanese, and it's all full of kanji and stuff but [i]I know what it says[/

I'm still feeling like a superhero everytime I do that. Reading japanese totally feels like a superpower to me!

I'm still inclined to think that vacation time has a lot to do with it. At work I regularly deal with colleagues across Europe and recently it seems like every time I send an e-mail, I get an out-of-office reply.

Me too! Only reply I ever get these days...
I'm sure she's just in her 夏休み. Maybe she'll has some nice stories to tell.

くろくま

[mmmason8967]

I still get a kick out of thinking "hey, look, I'm reading Japanese, and it's all full of kanji and stuff but I know what it says

I'm still feeling like a superhero everytime I do that. Reading japanese totally feels like a superpower to me!

I'm glad it's not just me!

Sometimes someone at work will see me looking at a Japanese web page (or a message on this forum) and say "Can you really read that?". It makes me remember what Japanese used to look like before I started learning it.

On topic: It's really sad... I always liked his movies, weird as they sometimes were!

I love Miyazaki-san's films! I watch them over and over to listen to the Japanese; I guess I watch one or two each week, and I just don't get tired of them.

I just finished watching 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki's Delivery Service) and understood a little more of it. ちゃう comes up a few times so now, thanks to Teabag-sama, I can understand sentences that were a mystery the last time I watched the film.

マイケル

[Teabag]

I just finished watching 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki's Delivery Service) and understood a little more of it. ちゃう comes up a few times so now, thanks to Teabag-sama, I can understand sentences that were a mystery the last time I watched the film.
マイケル

Teabagさまって！
Teabag殿だと思います。

魔女の宅急便か。
懐かしい映画ですよね。
宮崎アニメの中で一番好きなのは千と千尋の神隠しです。
マイケルさんも見たことがありますか？
ポニョ"Ponyo On The Cliff by The Sea"もかわいいです。
今度は忍者のマイケルさんはTeabag殿と一緒に宮崎さんの「風立ちぬ」を見てくれませんか？

[mmmason8967]

It's late and I'm feeling tired, so I'm copping out and answering in English.

宮崎アニメの中で一番好きなのは千と千尋の神隠しです。
マイケルさんも見たことがありますか？

Yes, I've seen it and it's one of my favourites. I've been buying the Studio Ghibli films as they're released on blu-ray in the UK but so far Spirited Away isn't one of them. The next one will be コクリコ坂から (From up on Poppy Hill), which is due out in a couple of weeks.

My favourite Studio Ghibli film is 耳をすませば (Whisper of the Heart), which was written by Miyazaki-san but directed by Yoshifumi Kondou. It's just lovely. 　And if you haven't seen it, you are sure to be surprised by the opening theme!　

今度は忍者のマイケルさんはTeabag殿と一緒に宮崎さんの「風立ちぬ」を見てくれませんか？

Together? That'll mean a long trip for one of us!　

But I am keen to see it...

Trivia time! 風立ちぬ breaks with a long-established custom at Studio Ghibli. The two main directors are Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and the custom is that Hayao Miyazaki's films always have のin the title and Isao Takahata's films always have ほ in the title (which explains why the full title of Isao Takahata's film My Neighbours the Yamadas is actually ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん).

マイケル