Please explain why in the audio version of lesson 1.4 hanase masu is two words but in the Newsletter it is only one. Is that a typo or a very complicated Japanese grammar issue that I'm best not to notice?

Hi Jack, "masu" is considered as a part of the verb conjugation and is therefore written in one word in the newsletters. However, there is no rule on how to write it in romanji, so both is correct. When it is written in Japanese script as in hiragana, kanji or katakana there is no gap between words. I hope that helps.

Hai. The spacing is for out benifit. A Japanese sentence looks typically like this. わたしはくるまがもっています。 Watashiwakurumagamotteimasu. わたし は くるま が もって います。 (These spaces would never be in a real Japanese sentance.) Watashi wa kuruma ga motte imasu. I have a car. To us, we need spaces, or... Oursentanceslooklikethis. But in Japanese, you have to know the words your using or your not sure when the next word begins. But the spacing is just there for us to read it more easily.