Mina-san, Omatase shimashita! Today's lesson is a lot of fun! Let us know what your favorite animal is! Call of the bush warbler: http://midopika.cool.ne.jp/mp3/uguis1.mp3 http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/%7eyi2y-wd/a-uta/uta-uguisu.html Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

Aodhan-san,

thank you very much for a kind support! :laughing:

We'll do our best to make "fun" lessons:grin::thumbsup:

Natsuko(奈津子),

Team JapanesePod101.com

Nothing wrong with saying the word "suck". Chigusa keep up the comedy :thumbsup:

Reiko-san kon'nichiwa!

Thank you for letting us know!

I'll fix it right away.:wink:

Motoko

Team JapanesePod101.com

Hi! In the vocabulary list & written questions, there is a mistake. For mameshiba, the English translation is written as "mameshima breed." I think it should be "mameshiba breed." The same mistake is in the written questions. Thank you!

hi

there is a legend about how a koi once defeated a dragon:wink:

bye

Hi 皆さ

I am sure some of you know this already but in 京都 二条 城 (にじょう　しろ）, the Nijou castle in Kyoto,

I discovered that ウグイス uguisu (鴬) is used in the word 鶯張り uguisu-bari or 'nightingale floor' - an ingenious mechanism to alert of approaching visitors (and strangers). The cutest alarm system I ever came across!

In this case the uguisu was translated as 'nightingale'.You can find more about the floors and what they sound like at these links:

http://www.theotori.com/Audio/floor.wav

http://www.kansai.gr.jp/culture_e/build/archi.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightingale_floors

Cheers

Sophieさん,

I love magpie too, in fact just in front of my window they is a huge tree, and when I was younger (don't know why I don't do it anymore) i used to watch them through binoculars.

I like it when they decide to annoy a cat. One of them comes close to the cat, and when it tries to catch it, the bird fly away. And then it sound like they are laughing at the cat. They can go on like that for hours (and me watching them, drawing them...)

Poor cat! But it's too funny:twisted:

I think the only bird who annoy me it's the pigeon...just because I see to much of them here in Paris -_-'

Orlinaさん,

My favourite bird is the magpie. They display quite advanced behaviours like joining in groups to mourn dead magpies.

The Australian magpie is quite different from our European ones, but their singing is really interesting : http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie.mp3

Check out the Australian raven too, it's so strange : http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/raven.mp3

I've also seen crows on a pebble beach drop shells or snails on the rocks from high above in order to break them.

Wow!

No wonder they were considered as wise companions of the Greek Gods.

In latin 'Cras' means Tomorrow, and it sounds like the 'cawing' of Crows, so they were considered as good fortune-teller messenger of Gods ^__^

Which contrast with the way occidental people view them nowadays. When in China and Japan they represent filial fidelity[right?](because they feed the parents, which other bird don't), in Europe, Crows are really bad-considered and associated with death.

Can't understand why -_-'

interesting about Ebisu.. I went to the Sapporo Museum in Ebisu, it was pretty cool! got to see the history of the beer etc.. plus I got to take pictures of myself next to a giant beer can LOL!

Nateさん、very good point!

Danielさん、it seems to be an animal free-for-all.:wink:

Orlinaさん、

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1209_041209_crows_apes.html

Peterさん I didn't know they were such genius! I like them even more now...(if that is possible)

Thanks for the info :mrgreen:

Nah, I don't have anything agaist penguins. Just wondering how they made the top of the list. Plus, I was mostly referring to Opus, who himself had a complex about the purpose of penguins in the universe. :smile:

-Daniel B

Interesting lesson. Tie fiesh sounds interesting but I am not sure I would want my meal staring back at me.

Mata ne.

ネイト

Piculumさん、thanks for the tips!:grin: Will pass it along, and we'll make sure to let everyone where we heard it.

Digitaljoさん、should be coming at you soon, and will look into your inquiry.

Sophieさん、very good point!:grin:

Bobさん、as always, a pleasure hearing from you! Only thing better, is when you drop in! Thanks again!:grin: Very interesting info! You are a man skilled in many trades!

Danielさん、have a bad experience with a penguin??:wink:

Nickさん、too funny! Did you know the sloth is quite the swimmer!:shock: I always heard they couldn't, but apparently their short hind legs are quite good for this.

Jasonさん、interesting!とても興味深いコメントです。

Robさん、another fine animal!

Saraさん、wow, you and Bob really know your stuff!:grin:

Nazさん、hmm...we're trying to figure it out.:roll: Keep us posted if the problem continues. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

Orlinaさん、not at all!:grin: Crows are some of the smartest animals! Some of them over here actually use cars to crack nuts by timing the traffic lights!:shock: They place the nut down during a red light, then when it turns green the moving cars crack the nut, and when the light turns red again and the cars stop, they swoop in to get the nut inside! They even move the nuts if the cars miss. :shock:

Hmm. For those to animals (although cats have not even been covered today):

inu - dog - imagine a little dog saying "i knew" it

neko - cat - imagine holding a cat on the "neck"

Heard it somewhere and it works for me. At least these now are the two animals I do know how to say in Jap anese. :)

i really like this jcc. can't wait for the next installment. can anyone confirm that the shape of the taiyaki is in the shape of the sea bream of is it any shape of regular fish?

Danielさん,

Please visit an aquarium with an underwater window in the penguins pool, you might change your mind about flightlessness... Penguins fly underwater, they might make you laugh on earth, but you should try to follow them swimming. :)

Darnit, I love animal cries (鳴き声, nakigoe) so much, I just can't refrain from commenting on the two uguisu (bush warbler) links posted by JPod101 at the top of this thread. The first is the one that sounds so beautiful to us, and maybe to female bush warblers as well, but is saber rattling to other males telling them, "This is my turf; don't come trolling around here." The second recording sounds to me, rank amateur that I am, like the experimental babbling of a juvenile warbler. I say that because it's mixing two different uguisu calls out of context, and neither is as proficient as in the adult. The one call, recognizable from the first, is the mating/territorial call. The other is the alternating back and forth between a high and a low note, about a musical 5th apart from each other. This call is known as 鶯の谷渡り (uguisu no tani watari; bush warbler crossing a valley), a call I've heard them make when they are alarmed.

Jasonさん、

The penguin? A flightless waterfoul? I'm sure Opus from Bloom County would be happy to hear that. :grin:

-Daniel B