Learn about taking a taxi
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: サクラです。 |
| Peter: Peter here and we are back with another lesson. Right Sakura? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Today we are going to introduce survival phrases #5. Wow, they are really starting to add up, right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, the next topic we would like to cover is the… |
| Sakura: タクシー |
| Peter: Yes. One more time please. |
| Sakura: タクシー |
| Peter: Yes and break it down. |
| Sakura: タ・ク・シー |
| Peter: Get that out there, English please. |
| Sakura: Taxi. |
| Peter: Yes. Okay there are a few things we want to cover about taking a taxi in Japan because many times if you are moving around late at night, you take the train and the buses stop, so you have to take a taxi. Chances are pretty good that you are going to take a taxi in Japan because they have a ton of them, right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay now first rules of taking a taxi. Where can you catch a cab? |
| Sakura: Uh you can – you can just stand on the side of the street and raise your hand. |
| Peter: Yes now you can stand on the street and raise your hand but what we would like to recommend is… |
| Sakura: タクシー乗り場 |
| Peter: Okay. One more time. |
| Sakura: タクシー乗り場 |
| Peter: Now the first part of the word |
| Sakura: Is タクシー |
| Peter: We had that already. Now the second part is |
| Sakura: 乗り場 |
| Peter: And one time break it down please. |
| Sakura: の・り・ば |
| Peter: And one time fast. |
| Sakura: 乗り場 |
| Peter: Now what does this mean? |
| Sakura: It means the place where you get on something. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: タクシー乗り場 |
| Peter: Place where you get a cab, okay and the main place is in front of the station. |
| Sakura: Ah yes, yes. |
| Peter: That’s where all the taxis wait and a lot of times, I’d be coming home late at night studying at the library. And I will see a taxi driving along the street. I would Taxi…And he would just go right by. |
| Sakura: Ahh… |
| Peter: Sometimes I think the chances are much better and don’t get me wrong. You can catch a cab on the street but they seem to tend to wait in certain places. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And they wait for the customers to come to them rather than scour ph in the streets and picking up people at random, what do you think? |
| Sakura: Yes, it's a more definite way to catch a taxi I say. |
| Peter: Yes and like we said, they have a lot of them. So there are a lot of places and the main place is in front of the station. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Or as soon as you go out of the station, there will be a line of taxis like a big snake. So if you are on the street and you are walking and it seems as though you are trying to catch a cab, give it a whistle, you know, a good old whistle but as you remember, not at night. We don’t want to call out the snakes. So you give it the old college try, it doesn’t work out. Now you got a few options and one of these options is, asking somebody, where is the taxi? |
| Sakura: 乗り場 |
| Peter: Yes, the place to catch a cab. So Sakura, how can we get someone’s attention and ask them in the simplest, most easy, informal way where I can catch a cab. |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場はどこ？ |
| Peter: Very nice, one more time. |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場はどこ？ |
| Peter: Yes. So we have the word – remember we have the word. Then we have the magical |
| Sakura: は(va) |
| Peter: And then |
| Sakura: どこ？ |
| Peter: The word for where. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay now speaking of magical は(va), maybe we could even make it into. |
| Sakura: タクシー乗り場は？ |
| Peter: Yes. And I think this will get through. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: And the people will maybe point and if you ask someone and they actually brought you there, I would not be surprised, right Sakura? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay. So now you are getting to the place to catch a cab, okay. Job well done. And again you want to use the word for excuse me which is |
| Sakura: すいません。 |
| Peter: To get their attention. So the whole phrase goes? |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場は？ |
| Peter: Okay, very nice Sakura. So you get someone’s attention. They would wind up taking you to the place to catch a cab and then you would say to them, there are three options and we will go from the easiest to the most difficult. They take you there, they are ready to leave and you say to them. |
| Sakura: どうも |
| Peter: Yes. One more time. |
| Sakura: どうも |
| Peter: Yes or you can say to them. |
| Sakura: ありがとう |
| Peter: Yes. Or you can say to them |
| Sakura: ありがとうございます。 |
| Peter: Okay and then finally if you really want to be polite, you can say to them |
| Sakura: どうもありがとうございます。 |
| Peter: Yes. Okay very, very nice. Okay so now you are at the place to catch a cab. You are waiting for the cab, the call pulls up. Now first rule, important rule. Don’t go for the door. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: And this is speaking from personal experience. I don’t know why but in Japan, what happens with taxis? |
| Sakura: They stop and the door just opens. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Automatically. |
| Peter: Bingo. That’s the word, its automatic door. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And for those of you who forget, you are learning for the first time because you reach for the door and it will slam your hand ph Also pay attention when you get out. It’s just natural instinct to grab it and try and slam it but you don’t – I don’t know what – They close this automatically too. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So basically you are waiting. The cab pulls up and what happens? |
| Sakura: The door opens. |
| Peter: Yes. So don’t – hands at your side. Put it in your pockets because I know it’s going to be too tempting to resist when you are reaching for the handle. So rule #1, hands in your pockets, wait, then you get in the cab. Once you get in the cab, again, don’t reach for the door because… |
| Sakura: It closes automatically. |
| Peter: Yes, an important, important lesson. Okay you get in, the door closes automatically. Now before the cab driver gets a chance to ask you, you can use these two syllables which are? |
| Sakura: まで |
| Peter: Very nice. One more time. |
| Sakura: まで |
| Peter: To get you where you want to go. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now of course they need to be combined with something but we will get to that in a minute. Just let’s get this word one more time. |
| Sakura: まで |
| Peter: And what does it mean? |
| Sakura: To some place. |
| Peter: Yes to some place. So you got to put where you want to go in front. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Right. So let’s say you are staying at – Sakura, can you give us a very nice hotel in Tokyo? |
| Sakura: Hmm... |
| Peter: Something Shinjuku イ(06:41) |
| Sakura: 新宿イね。 |
| Peter: I don’t know if that’s real. I just made that up but it sounds quite nice. |
| Sakura: In Shinjuku, ah there is 京王プラザ. |
| Peter: Uh very nice, okay. So if you are staying at the Keio plaza and you want to get back to the Keio plaza, you get in the taxi, don’t grab the door and you say to the taxi driver |
| Sakura: 京王プラザまで。 |
| Peter: Yes, very nice and you could hear the name is almost similar. So you could – I think you can get by and say in the English, Keio plaza まで. |
| Sakura: まで |
| Peter: Very nice. Now this is the most basic way. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And it will get you where you want to go. We can spice this up a little by adding. |
| Sakura: お願いします。 |
| Peter: Yes. One more time. |
| Sakura: お願いします。 |
| Peter: Remember in survival phrases 1, we introduced this. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So okay let’s take it from top and we are going to have Sakura pronounce the words because we don’t want my Japanese getting in there. So let’s imagine that Sakura is lost in Japan and she can’t speak Japanese. |
| Sakura: Okay. |
| Peter: So Sakura is walking on the street. She yells for the cab. Cabs just blow by her. So finally what she does is she decides to ask somebody. |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場は？ |
| Peter: Very nice. Excuse me, where can I catch a cab? Okay, one more time. |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場は？ |
| Peter: Excuse me, where can I catch a cab? So me being the hospitable Japanese host that I am, I take Sakura to where you can catch a cab and this is usually in front of a station or some other place where there is a significant amount of people. For example, I noticed some places in Roppongi to have a major street or some in the cars, the cabs are lined up. And another thing about this, it’s so interesting is, you can’t catch a cab from the back of the line. It’s not like a capitalist, cabby market where you can anybody you want, you can get. I figured I’d be savvy and go through the back of the line and say, let me get a cab and he said to me, go to the front of the line. And this guy was just reading his newspaper. So it’s not that cutthroat finding for the customer market where you call a cab in New York, one guy pulls in from the front, one guy reverses to kind of try and get it’s not that competition. It’s this gentleman's agreement that you catch the cab from the front. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Really amazing stuff. Fascinating. Okay so, side tracked. Give us that expression one more time? |
| Sakura: すいません。タクシー乗り場は？ |
| Peter: Okay excuse me, where is the place to catch a cab? So I took her there. |
| Sakura: どうもありがとうございます。 |
| Peter: Now she is waiting. Cab pulls up. What don’t you do? |
| Sakura: Don’t touch the door. |
| Peter: Yes okay. Door opens, you |
| Sakura: You get in. |
| Peter: And |
| Sakura: You don’t reach for the door. |
| Peter: Yes, very nice. Door closes. We want to go to Keio Plaza. |
| Sakura: 京王プラザまで。 |
| Peter: Yes. Very, very nice. Okay so we get to Keio Plaza, it’s time to settle up the bill. Now you can clearly see how much you are going to pay. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So you really don’t have to worry about the numbers too much, okay. Now, there may be a case when you do want a receipt, right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay. Can you give us the word for receipt? |
| Sakura: 領収書 |
| Peter: And one more time please. |
| Sakura: 領収書 |
| Peter: And please break this word down for us. |
| Sakura: りょ・う・しゅ・う・しょ |
| Peter: You hold the お and the う in there right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So can you just give us an exaggerated pronunciation? |
| Sakura: りょーしゅーしょ |
| Peter: Yes. Notice how the first part is しょー and the last part is しょ That’s the difference between the long O, the long vowel and the short vowel. Listen one more time. Let’s get that… |
| Sakura: りょーしゅーしょ |
| Peter: Notice that short |
| Sakura: しょ |
| Peter: Yes. Okay so you can say just this word right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Or you can make it polite by saying |
| Sakura: お願いします |
| Peter: And give us the whole phrase. |
| Sakura: 領収書お願いします。 |
| Peter: Okay there is one more expression that we want with a taxi. |
| Sakura: ここでいい |
| Peter: Here is fine. Yes, very nice, one more time. |
| Sakura: ここでいい |
| Peter: Very nice. Last time |
| Sakura: ここでいい |
| Peter: Okay and give us the syllables. |
| Sakura: こ・こ・で・い・い |
| Peter: Very nice. Okay and break it down for us, give us the meanings. |
| Sakura: ここ is here. |
| Peter: Aha and then? |
| Sakura: で |
| Peter: Which marks the place |
| Sakura: Place. |
| Peter: And |
| Sakura: いい |
| Peter: Which is? |
| Sakura: Fine. |
| Peter: Yeah. So here is fine. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Now we have freedom to get off where we want. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And we are not under the control of the taxi driver. A lot of times, I stay at small, cheap hotels. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Very, very cheap, as cheap as they come and they are always right next to the big hotels. |
| Sakura: Ahh! |
| Peter: Yes there are many reasons but not enough time to get into them. A lot of times when I say the name of the small hotel, the guy doesn’t know what I am talking about. So what happens is, I wind up saying the name of the big hotel. So I say 京王プラザまでお願いします. So while he is taking me, I am looking for my hotel. When I think that is okay…. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: I say あ、ここでいい which slowly is |
| Sakura: ここでいい |
| Peter: Yes. So it’s a great tactic if you don’t know the name. Just get a landmark, market when you get in the tax, tell them the landmark on the way. |
| Sakura: ここでいい |
| Peter: He will stop the cab, pull it over and you settle up the bill, get your receipt if you want and then you are off. |
| Sakura: Right. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay that’s going to wrap it up for this edition of survival phrases. We will be back again getting you more and more useful phrases to get you through your trip. Okay that’s going to wrap it up. |
| Sakura: 又明日ね。さよなら |
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