elfs | The Missing せめ

I've been following the Japanese lessons from Japanese Pod 101, which is just a fabulous resource if you want to learn the language. You can actually hear the rocky start, and then the experimentation with opening music, and then the routine they fell into after about two weeks, so it has the sense of a real podcast. They have a reliable schedule and a willing sponsor, so they're doing well. The podcasts are free, but if you want any of the written materials and reading lessons, it costs $60 a year. I haven't bought in yet, but the spoken lessons are excellent, and they only take ten to fifteen minutes a day. (Usually more like fifteen, meaning that at the end of every episode Peter, the English speaker of the team, apologizes for "going over again.")

I was listening to an episode I missed, Survival Phrases Lesson 2, and Natsuko and Kazunori are invited to say "Kampai!" together, they do, and then Peter says, "That was a very interesting phrase you used there, Natsuko. What was it?"

The lesson then goes on to explain "Se'eh No," an expression derived from "initiate" or "attack," and basically has the same meaning as "Ready, Go!" in English. Natsuko used it to provide the beat on which she and the male voice will speak at the same time.

I rewound it three times to check: they edited out Natsuko's original "Se'eh No." It's missing from the recording. Although the editor faithfully and reliably left it in for the initial lesson, Natsuko's first use of the phrase, the one that sparked Peter's comment, is missing. There's no context for what he's saying.

Nothing particularly remarkable about this, but it was a good lesson about editing: your audience will hear everything, especially your mistakes.