Learn about introducing someone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chigusa and Yoshi: おはよう、赤坂。(Ohayō, Akasaka.) |
| Chigusa: ちぐさです。(Chigusa desu.) |
| Yoshi: ヨシです。(Yoshi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Joined again, back in the studio with Chigusa-san and Yoshi-san. |
| Chigusa: こんにちは。(Kon’nichiwa.) |
| Yoshi: こんにちは。(Kon’nichiwa.) |
| Chigusa: Depending on where you are. |
| Peter: Yes, “Good afternoon” to some of you. How about a nice “good morning”? |
| Chigusa: おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| Peter: And, Yoshi-san, finish it off. |
| Yoshi: こんばんは。(Konbanwa.) |
| Peter: And maybe we might even want to add in おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai), which is, “Good night,” as in you’re going to bed. So now that we’ve covered all that, Chigusa-san, where were we talking about in the previous episode? |
| Chigusa: 大阪。(Ōsaka.) |
| Peter: Big city located in the Kansai area. Yoshi-san, can you tell us something about Osaka? |
| Yoshi: It’s a wild place. |
| Peter: It does have that reputation. Before we get into today’s lesson, ちぐささん、元気ですか。(Chigusa-san, genki desu ka.) |
| Chigusa: はい、絶好調です。ヨシさん、元気ですか。(Hai, zekkōchō desu. Yoshi-san, genki desu ka.) |
| Yoshi: はい、元気です。ピーターさんは？(Hai, genki desu. Pītā-san wa?) |
| Peter: 絶好調です！ (Zekkōchō desu!) Very, very nice. Now, what we’re going to do is continue on with our Skype conversation. This is the third installment. In today’s lesson, Chigusa-san, known in the dialogue as Yamaguchi-san, will be introducing her American friend. So, the American friend will try to speak some Japanese to the professor. Let’s see what happens when they communicate. Okay? Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 山口 (Yamaguchi) : 先生、こちらは学校の友達のジェニーです。(Sensei, kochira wa gakkō no tomodachi no Jenī desu.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : 初めまして。ジェニーです。どうぞよろしくお願いします。(Hajimemashite. Jenī desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 初めまして。渡辺です。よろしくお願いします。学生ですか。(Hajimemashite. Watanabe desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Gakusei desu ka.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : すみません。わかりません。もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Sumimasen. Wakarimasen. Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 学生ですか。(Gakusei desu ka.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: One more time, please. Slowly please. |
| Chigusa: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 山口 (Yamaguchi) : 先生、こちらは学校の友達のジェニーです。(Sensei, kochira wa gakkō no tomodachi no Jenī desu.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : 初めまして。ジェニーです。どうぞよろしくお願いします。(Hajimemashite. Jenī desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 初めまして。渡辺です。よろしくお願いします。学生ですか。(Hajimemashite. Watanabe desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Gakusei desu ka.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : すみません。わかりません。もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Sumimasen. Wakarimasen. Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 学生ですか。(Gakusei desu ka.) |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: This time, Chigusa-san and Yoshi-san will give you the Japanese, and I’ll give you the English. |
| 山口 (Yamaguchi) : 先生、(Sensei,) |
| Yamaguchi:Professor, |
| 山口 (Yamaguchi) : こちらは学校の友達のジェニーです。 (kochira wa gakkō no tomodachi no Jenī desu.) |
| Yamaguchi: this is Jenny, a friend from school. |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : 初めまして。(Hajimemashite.) |
| Jenny:How do you do? |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : ジェニーです。(Jenī desu.) |
| Jenny:I'm Jenny. |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : どうぞよろしくお願いします。(Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jenny:Please be kind to me. |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 初めまして。(Hajimemashite.) |
| Watanabe:How do you do? |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 渡辺です。(Watanabe desu.) |
| Watanabe:I'm Watanabe. |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Watanabe:Please be kind to me. |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 学生ですか。(Gakusei desu ka.) |
| Watanabe:Are you a student? |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : すみません。わかりません。(Sumimasen. Wakarimasen.) |
| Jenny:I'm sorry. I don't understand. |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : もう一度お願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu.) |
| Jenny:Once again, please. |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : ゆっくりお願いします。(Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| Jenny:Slowly please. |
| 渡辺 (Watanabe) : 学生ですか。(Gakusei desu ka.) |
| Watanabe:Are you a student? |
| ジェニー (Jenī) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Jenny:Yes, that's right. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Chigusa-san, I must say I like Jenny. |
| Chigusa: Really? |
| Peter: What a voice! |
| Chigusa: Jenny is very outgoing. |
| Peter: It seems so. |
| Chigusa: That was my outgoing voice. |
| Peter: I like that voice. You should use that voice all the time. |
| Chigusa: Okay. Maybe once a month? |
| Peter: No! |
| Chigusa: A once-a-month special for Peter. |
| Peter: やったー！(Yattā!) All right! I’m pretty happy now. Thank you very much, Chigusa-san. Let’s take a quick look at some of the vocab in this lesson. |
| Yoshi-san, start us off. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Yoshi: こちら (kochira) |
| Peter: “This direction.” |
| Yoshi: こちら (kochira) こちら (kochira) |
| Peter: Now, in most cases, when introducing another person, you want to refer to that person with this |
| Yoshi: こちら (kochira) |
| Peter: The reason you want to use this is it refers to the general direction rather than the person. And it’s being a bit more vague. So, it comes across as more polite rather than directly referring to the person. So, where in English we would say, “This is,” in Japanese, it would be, “In this direction we have.” So, it’s much more polite. Try to avoid at all costs directly translating from English and using the Japanese word for “this” when introducing another person. Kind of taboo. Okay? Next we have |
| Chigusa: 学校 (gakkō) |
| Peter: “School.” |
| Chigusa: がっこう (gakkō) 学校 (gakkō) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Yoshi: の (no) |
| Peter: “Of,” the possessive particle. |
| Yoshi: の (no) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Chigusa: 友達 (tomodachi) |
| Peter: “Friend.” |
| Chigusa: ともだち (tomodachi) 友達 (tomodachi) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yoshi: ジェニー (Jenī) |
| Peter: Jenny |
| Yoshi: ジェ二ー (Jenī) ジェニー(Jenī) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Chigusa: 学生 (gakusei) |
| Peter: “Student.” |
| Chigusa: がくせい (gakusei) 学生 (gakusei) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yoshi: わかりません (wakarimasen) |
| Peter: “Don’t understand.” “I don’t understand.” |
| Yoshi: わかりません (wakarimasen) わかりません (wakarimasen) |
| Peter: This is actually the non-past negative. In Japanese, there are only two tenses. Non-past and past. So, this can actually mean, “I don’t know” or “I will not know,” now or in the future. Next. |
| Chigusa: もう一度お願いします (mō ichi-do onegai shimasu) |
| Peter: “One more time, please.” “Once again, please.” |
| Chigusa: もういちどおねがいします (mō ichi-do onegai shimasu) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Chigusa: もう (mō) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Chigusa: もう (mō) もう (mō) |
| Peter: “Already.” Here, this means “again.” Next. |
| Chigusa: 一度 (ichi-do) |
| Peter: “One time,” the word for “one” being |
| Chigusa: 一 (ichi) |
| Peter: And “time”being |
| Chigusa: 度 (do) |
| Peter: “Time,” as in number of times. Next. |
| Yoshi: ゆっくり (yukkuri) |
| Peter: “Slowly.” |
| Yoshi: ゆっくり (yukkuri) ゆっくり (yukkuri) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay? Now, let’s go back to our conversation. Just take a look at what's going on there. First we have |
| Chigusa: 先生、こちらは学校の友達のジェニーです。(Sensei, kochira wa gakkō no tomodachi no Jenī desu.) |
| Peter: Okay. Let’s take a look at what's going on in this sentence. First, we have |
| Chigusa: 先生 (sensei) |
| Peter: Getting the professor’s attention, so we start off with “Teacher,” “Professor,” followed by |
| Chigusa: こちらは (kochira wa) |
| Peter: “In this direction.” So, we have こちら (kochira), which means “this direction,” and the topic-marking particle は (wa). |
| Chigusa: 学校の (gakkō no) |
| Peter: Okay. We have the word for “school,” which is |
| Chigusa: 学校 (gakkō) |
| Peter: And then the possessive particle |
| Chigusa: の (no) |
| Peter: So, “school’s,” followed by |
| Chigusa: 友達 (tomodachi) |
| Peter: “Friend.” “School’s friend,” or “Friend of school.” Followed by |
| Chigusa: の (no) |
| Peter: Another possessive. So, let’s just think about it this way, “School’s”, the possessive “s” in there. “School’s friend” then with the second の (no), “School’s friend’s” |
| Chigusa: ジェニーです (Jenī desu) |
| Peter: “Jenny.” Now, we interpret this to be, “School’s friend, and then we have Jenny.” “School’s friend, Jenny.” “Friend of school, Jenny, this is.” So, start from the back. “School’s friend, Jenny,” and then we put in こちら (kochira), “This is,” “This direction.” So, we interpret it into English, “This is Jenny, a friend from school.” Now, some of you may be familiar with this pattern, where we use の (no), the possessive, and start out with a macro category and work our way down. For example, when introducing one’s self, one will often start with the company. Company followed by の (no), followed by the name, followed by です (desu). So, Yoshi-san, in the previous lessons, you introduce yourself as Watanabe. |
| Yoshi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Can you give that to us one more time? |
| Yoshi: 渡辺です。(Watanabe desu.) |
| Peter: Now, we all work for JapanesePod101.com. So, if you were introducing yourself to maybe a complete stranger, and you wanted to give them a better bearing or some kind of indication of what you do or where you’re coming from, you would say |
| Yoshi: ジャパニーズポッドの渡辺です。(Japanīzupoddo no Watanabe desu.) |
| Peter: “JapanesePod’s Watanabe.” Almost like the company’s possessing it. But if you reverse it, “Watanabe of JapanesePod101.com,” and that’s the way one should think of it. Now, “Jenny is a friend of school,” “a friend from school.” Okay? So, we can start out with these macro categories to explain the subject, to explain the person being introduced. And if you’re doing a self-introduction, you’re explaining about yourself. Okay? Next we have asking the question, “Are you something?” |
| Yoshi: 学生ですか。(Gakusei desu ka.) |
| Peter: “Are you a student?” Okay? First we have the word for “student.” |
| Yoshi: 学生 (gakusei) |
| Peter: Followed by the copula |
| Yoshi: です (desu) |
| Peter: Remember, this is roughly the equivalent “to be.” So, we’re interpreting here. The student’s friend, Yamaguchi-san’s friend, is talking with the professor. Jenny is talking with the professor. So, the professor is asking Jenny directly. So, the inferred “you” is dropped. And “student are you?” That “you” is inferred. So basically, we have literally “student are?” and the “you” is inferred. “Student are you?” Reverse the order. “Are you a student?” If you remember in the first lesson, we had, “Are you Miss Yamaguchi?” Yoshi-san, what was that sentence? |
| Yoshi: 山口さんですか。(Yamaguchi-san desu ka.) |
| Peter: “Are you Miss Yamaguchi?” Again, notice no pronoun. Just the noun followed by ですか (desu ka), “to be.” And in this case, we’re talking about, we’re asking a person directly. So “you,” singular “you” is inferred. This is the key here. “Are you, Miss Yamaguchi?” “Are you a student?” Chigusa-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san is he a teacher? |
| Chigusa: ヨシさん、先生ですか。(Yoshi-san, sensei desu ka.) |
| Yoshi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: Okay. So, we’re going to ask you a question now. Yoshi-san, let’s ask everybody, “Are they students?” |
| Yoshi: 皆さん、学生ですか。(Mina-san, gakusei desu ka.) |
| Peter: Now, some of your probably answered, はい、そうです (hai, sō desu). Okay. |
Outro |
| Peter: So, lots introduced here. Okay, so that’s going to do for today. |
| Chigusa: またね。(Mata ne.) |
| Yoshi: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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