Learn about talking about receiving something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sachiko: さちこです。 (Sachiko desu.) |
| Yoshikai: よしかいです。 (Yoshi kai desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. It’s good to be the king. Sachiko-san, what are we talking about today? |
| Sachiko: Today we are talking about Valentine’s Day. |
| Peter: Yoshikai-san. How do we say Valentine’s Day in Japanese? |
| Yoshikai: バレンタインデーはバレンタインデーです。 (Barentaindē wa barentaindē desu.) |
| Peter: All right. When you are right, you are right. Now Yoshikai-san, today is Valentine’s Day. What do you do in Japan on Valentine’s Day? |
| Yoshikai: 女の子が男の子にチョコレートをあげる日ですね。 (On'nanoko ga otokonoko ni chokorēto o ageru hi desu ne.) |
| Sachiko: So you mean girls give guys chocolate on Valentine’s Day? |
| Yoshikai: そうですね。そういう風に、一応日本ではなっています。 (Sō desu ne. Sōiu kaze ni, ichiō Nihon de wa natte imasu.) |
| Sachiko: Yes that’s the way it is in Japan but hey, I thought it was the opposite. |
| Peter: Yeah I am used to giving – guys giving to the girls but yes, in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, I believe these three countries, it’s the other way around. |
| Sachiko: I think I prefer not being here. |
| Peter: I think I prefer being here. Yoshikai. 万歳、日本。 (Banzai, Nihon.) |
| Yoshikai: 韓国とかも同じやとは初めて聞きました。 (Kankoku toka mo onajiya to wa hajimete kikimashita) |
| Sachiko: So you’ve never heard that in South Korea. It’s the same as Japan. |
| Peter: Yeah I think a lot of people are not too aware of this but you know, we need some of our Korean listeners to confirm this. Please if you are out there, write in today on the comments and let us know what’s going on there. |
| Sachiko: Definitely. |
| Peter: Okay so on this special occasion, we have a great conversation for you. Yoshikai-san will be participating. He will be the 部長 (buchō). Then we have たけさん (take-san) who is the 社員 (shain). Now a few things to pay attention to here. One is the politeness level. Pay attention to the difference between what the manager is saying and what the regular employee is saying. Two, pay attention to familiar words and for new words. All right, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsurei shimasu) |
| 部長: どうぞ!旨い!本当に旨い!これも。それも。バレンタイン・デー大好き! (Dōzo! Umai! Hontō ni umai! Kore mo. Sore mo. Barentain Dē ga dai suki!) |
| 社員: 部長、チョコレートをいっぱいもらいましたね! (Buchō, chokorēto o ippai moraimashita ne!) |
| 部長: そうだね。田中さんからトリュフチョコレートをもらって、鈴木さんからこのケーキをもらって、その手作りクッキーはたけからもらった。でも一番のお気に入りはこれだ! (Sō da ne. Tanaka-san kara toryufu chokorēto o moratte,Suzuki-san kara kono kēki o moratte, sono tezukuri kukkī wa Take kara moratta. Demo ichiban no okiniiri wa kore da!) |
| 社員: 人面犬チョコ!あ...でもよく見るとキモカワ? (Jinmenken choko! A... demo yoku miru to kimokawa?) |
| 部長: 25個以上もらった!自己新記録だ!今日は幸せ!世界中の男が幸せだ。聖バレンタインにお礼をしたい! (25 ko ijō moratta! Jiko shinkiroku da! Kyō wa shiawase! Sekaijū no |
| otoko ga shiawase da. Sei Barentain ni orei o shitai!) |
| 社員: でも、西洋でバレンタイン・デーは逆ですよ。 (Demo, seiyō dewa Barentain Dē wa gyaku desu yo.) |
| 部長: 逆? (Gyaku?) |
| 社員: 逆ですよ。 (Gyaku desu yo.) |
| 部長: というと? (To iu to?) |
| 社員: 男が女からもらうのではなく、女が男からもらいます。 (Otoko ga onna kara morau no dewa naku, onna ga otoko kara moraimasu.) |
| 部長: かわいそうな西洋の男達!ずっと日本にいたい。 (Kawaisō na seiyō no otokotachi! Zutto Nihon ni itai.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.) |
| 社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsurei shimasu) |
| 部長: どうぞ!旨い!本当に旨い!これも。それも。バレンタイン・デー大好き! (Dōzo! Umai! Hontō ni umai! Kore mo. Sore mo. Barentain Dē ga dai suki!) |
| 社員: 部長、チョコレートをいっぱいもらいましたね! (Buchō, chokorēto o ippai moraimashita ne!) |
| 部長: そうだね。田中さんからトリュフチョコレートをもらって、鈴木さんからこのケーキをもらって、その手作りクッキーはたけからもらった。でも一番のお気に入りはこれだ! (Sō da ne. Tanaka-san kara toryufu chokorēto o moratte,Suzuki-san kara kono kēki o moratte, sono tezukuri kukkī wa Take kara moratta. Demo ichiban no okiniiri wa kore da!) |
| 社員: 人面犬チョコ!あ...でもよく見るとキモカワ? (Jinmenken choko! A... demo yoku miru to kimokawa?) |
| 部長: 25個以上もらった!自己新記録だ!今日は幸せ!世界中の男が幸せだ。聖バレンタインにお礼をしたい! (25 ko ijō moratta! Jiko shinkiroku da! Kyō wa shiawase! Sekaijū no |
| otoko ga shiawase da. Sei Barentain ni orei o shitai!) |
| 社員: でも、西洋でバレンタイン・デーは逆ですよ。 (Demo, seiyō dewa Barentain Dē wa gyaku desu yo.) |
| 部長: 逆? (Gyaku?) |
| 社員: 逆ですよ。 (Gyaku desu yo.) |
| 部長: というと? (To iu to?) |
| 社員: 男が女からもらうのではなく、女が男からもらいます。 (Otoko ga onna kara morau no dewa naku, onna ga otoko kara moraimasu.) |
| 部長: かわいそうな西洋の男達!ずっと日本にいたい。 (Kawaisō na seiyō no otokotachi! Zutto Nihon ni itai.) |
| 次は、英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsureishimasu.) |
| Peter: Excuse me. |
| 部長: どうぞ!旨い!本当に旨い!これも。それも。バレンタイン・デー大好き! (Dōzo! Umai! Hontōni umai! Kore mo. Sore mo. Barentain dē daisuki) |
| Peter: Come on. Oh this is good, really good. These two, those two. I love Valentine’s Day. |
| 社員: 部長、チョコレートをいっぱいもらいましたね! (Buchō, chokorēto o ippai moraimashita ne!) |
| Peter: Boss, you got a lot of chocolate. |
| 部長: そうだね。田中さんからトリュフチョコレートをもらって、鈴木さんからこのケーキをもらって、 (Sōda ne. Tanaka-san kara toryufuchokorēto o moratte, Suzuki-san kara kono kēki o moratte,) |
| Peter: Yeah that’s right. I got chocolate truffles from Tanaka, I got these cookies from Suzuki. |
| その手作りクッキーはたけからもらった。でも一番のお気に入りはこれだ! (Sono tedzukuri kukkī wa take kara moratta. Demo ichiban no okiniiri wa koreda!) |
| Peter: I got that handmade cake from Take, but my favorite is this |
| 社員: 人面犬チョコ!あ...でもよく見るとキモカワ? (Jinmen inu choko! A... Demo yokumiruto Kimokawa?) |
| Peter: Doggy-shaped chocolates with human faces. Hah! But if you look at it for a while, it’s gross but kind of cute. |
| 部長: 25個以上もらった!自己新記録だ!今日は幸せ!世界中の男が幸せだ。聖バレンタインにお礼をしたい! (25-Ko ijō moratta! Jiko shin kirokuda! Kyō wa shiawase! Sekaijū no otoko ga shiawaseda. Sei Barentain ni orei o shitai!) |
| Peter: I received over 25 things, a new personal best. I am happy today, men all over the world are happy, I want to thank Say it Valentine. |
| 社員: でも、西洋でバレンタイン・デーは逆ですよ。 (Demo, seiyō de Barentain dē wa gyakudesu yo.) |
| Peter: But in the west, Valentine’s Day is the opposite. |
| 部長: 逆? (Gyaku?) |
| Peter: The opposite? |
| 社員: 逆ですよ。 (Gyakudesu yo.) |
| Peter: The opposite. |
| 部長: というと? (To iu to?) |
| Peter: What do you mean? |
| 社員: 男が女からもらうのではなく、女が男からもらいます。 (Otoko ga on'na kara morau node wa naku, on'na ga otoko kara moraimasu.) |
| Peter: Guys don’t receive from girls but girls receive from guys. |
| 部長: かわいそうな西洋の男達!ずっと日本にいたい。 (Kawaisōna seiyō no otokotachi! Zutto Nihon ni itai.) |
| Peter: Poor western men, I want to be in Japan forever. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sachiko: よしかいさん、今日の会話はどう思いましたか？ (Yoshi kai-san, kyō no kaiwa wa dō omoimashita ka?) |
| Yoshikai: まあ色んな愛の形があっていいんじゃないですか。 (Mā iron'na ai no katachi ga atte ī n janai desu ka.) |
| Sachiko: I guess you are right. There are many forms of love. |
| Peter: Many forms of love. Ah Yoshikai-san. It is great to have you on the show. |
| Yoshikai: No, no, no, no…. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sachiko: Well let’s move into vocab. First word. |
| Yoshikai: バレンタインデー (Barentaindē) |
| Sachiko: Valentine’s Day. |
| Yoshikai: (slow)バレンタインデー (Barentaindē) (natural speed) バレンタインデー (Barentaindē) |
| Peter: Yoshikai-san. When did Valentine’s Day come to Japan? When? |
| Yoshikai: うーん、なんでも1936年に神戸の洋菓子店が始めたそうですよ。 (U ̄ n, nan demo 1936-nen ni Kōbe no yōgashi-ten ga hajimeta sō desu yo.) |
| Sachiko: Apparently in 1936 a dessert store in Kobe started this tradition. |
| Peter: And what was the name of that store? |
| Yoshikai: モロゾフです。 (Morozofu desu.) |
| Sachiko: モロゾフ。 (Morozofu.) |
| Peter: Do you know of this store Sachiko-san? |
| Sachiko: I’ve never heard of it. My mother is from Kobe but now… |
| Peter: Yeah I am not sure. Have you ever been there, Yoshikai-san? |
| Yoshikai: 食べたことはありますけど、行ったことはないですね。 (Tabeta koto wa arimasukedo, itta koto wanai desu ne.) |
| Sachiko: So you’ve eaten that before but you’ve never been to the store? |
| Peter: So it’s a pretty big brand. They have lots of different confectionaries throughout Japan. |
| Yoshikai: 多分そのはずですよ。 (Tabun sono hazu desu yo.) |
| Sachiko: That should be bright. |
| Peter: All right. Now Sachiko-San, I found out something very interesting. |
| Sachiko: Okay what’s that? |
| Peter: How much of the yearly chocolate sales take place on Valentine’s Day or around this period? |
| Sachiko: I have no idea but I would guess maybe one quarter or maybe even one half. |
| Peter: Right now you are cheating. You got it. |
| Sachiko: I am sorry, I was cheating. |
| Peter: One quarter of all chocolate sales take place on this day or kind of around this period. |
| Sachiko: Wow, that's a lot of chocolate. |
| Peter: A lot. |
| Sachiko: How many tons is that, do you know? |
| Peter: Yoshikai-san. Alright, next we have? |
| Yoshikai: 部長 (buchō) |
| Sachiko: Head of a section or a department. |
| Yoshikai: (slow)ぶちょう (bu chō) (natural speed) 部長 (buchō) |
| Sachiko: Next |
| Yoshikai: チョコレート (chokorēto)) |
| Sachiko: Chocolate. |
| Yoshikai: (slow)チョコレート (chokorēto) (natural speed) チョコレート (chokorēto) |
| Peter: Now there is a way to shorten this word. Yoshikai-san. How can we shorten this word? Make it short. |
| Yoshikai: チョコ (choko) |
| Peter: That’s it. One more time. |
| Yoshikai: チョコ (choko) |
| Peter: And break it down. |
| Yoshikai: (slow)チョコ (choko) (natural speed) チョコ (choko) |
| Peter: Now on Valentine’s Day in Japan, there are few types of chocolate. Sachiko-San, can you help us out here? |
| Sachiko: Sure, I am the pro. |
| Peter: Right. |
| Sachiko: First we have the most common 義理チョコ (giri choko) which is literally translated as the obligation chocolate. |
| Peter: Now who would give this kind of chocolate? |
| Sachiko: The people you don’t really like but you feel obligated to give it to them like your supervisor, your boss. |
| Peter: Don’t really like? |
| Sachiko: Well there is no personal affection there. There might be respect but there is no personal or la la kind of romance. It is just an obligation. |
| Peter: All right. So are you giving any today? |
| Sachiko: I think so to a couple of people. Maybe the people I work with here. Just kidding. |
| Peter: Yoshikai-san? Are you getting any Giri chocolate today? |
| Yoshikai: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Lots? Lots? |
| Yoshikai: まぁ、あれですよ。妹とか。 (Mā, are desu yo. Imōto toka.) |
| Sachiko: From your sister. |
| Yoshikai: Yeah. |
| Sachiko: That’s a cute sister. |
| Peter: Nice sister. |
| Sachiko: Ah how sweet. |
| Peter: All right. Now I think he is disappointed because he wants this next kind of chocolate. |
| Sachiko: Okay. |
| Peter: Which is |
| Sachiko: 本命チョコ (Honmei choko) |
| Peter: The real deal. |
| Sachiko: The real deal. This is the kind of chocolate that you give to the person you really truly love, have affection for. |
| Peter: Or in some cases plural. |
| Sachiko: Would you give more than one 本命チョコ (honmei choko) in that same year? |
| Peter: Let’s ask Yoshikai-san. Do you give many 本命チョコ (honmei choko)? |
| Yoshikai: そうだったら、今頃こんな…こんなことには。 (Sōdattara, imagoro kon'na… kon'na kotoni wa.) |
| Sachiko: You wouldn’t be here today if you were getting a lot of 本命チョコ (honmei choko). |
| Yoshikai: ないです。 (Nai desu.) |
| Sachiko: No. |
| Peter: No. |
| Sachiko: No. |
| Yoshikai: No. |
| Sachiko: No 本命チョコ. (Honmei choko) |
| Yoshikai: No. |
| Sachiko: Oh that’s so sad. Maybe next year. |
| Peter: Next year. |
| Sachiko: Next year. |
| Peter: Always next year. |
| Sachiko: Yeah you never know, you never know. |
| Peter: And then finally we have. |
| Sachiko: 友チョコ (Tomo choko) is for a friend literally. |
| Peter: Yeah to give to your friends. |
| Natsuko: And there is also マイチョコ (Mai choko) |
| Peter: Natsuko-san. Where did you come from? |
| Natsuko: Hello.. |
| Peter: Natsuko-san. It is great to have you on the show. Welcome. |
| Natsuko: I couldn’t stop jumping in because you were talking about chocolate. |
| Peter: I know. What else about this new one? What is it again, one more time? |
| Sachiko: My Choco. What is that? I have never heard of it. |
| Natsuko: That’s a chocolate you buy for yourself. |
| Peter: Ah. |
| Sachiko: Oh. |
| Natsuko: So all these you know, pass chocolate stores, marketing their best chocolate assortments in this period. So girls just buy themselves their favorite chocolate. |
| Sachiko: That’s a great idea. I’d like to do that this year. |
| Natsuko: Yes. Very recommended. |
| Sachiko: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Highly recommended. |
| Peter: Yeah I’d like to do that too but I have to buy for my wife but interesting, my chocolate. |
| Sachiko: My Chocolate. |
| Peter: So let’s just recap. Up until this point, we have Sachiko-san? |
| Sachiko: 義理チョコ (giri choko) |
| Peter: Obligatory chocolate. |
| Sachiko: 本命チョコ (honmei choko) |
| Peter: The real deal chocolate for the one you like. |
| Sachiko: 友チョコ (tomo choko) |
| Peter: Friend chocolate, chocolate for your friends. |
| Sachiko: マイチョコ (mai choko) |
| Peter: My Chocolate. Natsuko-san, is that it? |
| Sachiko: 世話チョコ (sewa choko) |
| Natsuko: Wow, that sounds interesting. |
| Peter: Which is? |
| Natsuko: I think it’s for someone supportive of you. |
| Peter: And it comes from the phrase? |
| Natsuko: お世話になっています。 (Osewa ni natte imasu.) |
| Peter: Yeah. So someone who is helping you, someone who is taking care of you, someone who is watching out for you. |
| Natsuko: I think this phrase was made up to substitute 義理チョコ (giri choko). |
| Peter: The obligatory chocolate. |
| Natsuko: Yes because obligatory isn’t a good word, isn’t it? |
| Peter: Yeah it’s... What do you think Sachiko-san, I got you these flowers. Well it’s kind of obligatory but here you are. |
| Sachiko: Yeah, that kind of puts a damper on things. Doesn’t it? It’s like oh how sweet. Oh but it's an obligation. Okay. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sachiko: So is it better to say you know, thank you for being supportive. |
| Natsuko: That would be nice. |
| Peter: That would be nice. |
| Sachiko: So I think it was 世話チョコ (sewa choko). I am not really sure. |
| Peter: Do I sense political correctness in the Japanese language? |
| Sachiko: Maybe. |
| Natsuko: I think it’s about time. |
| Peter: Yeah what is going on here? |
| Natsuko: But all these you know excuses to buy chocolate. |
| Peter: Yeah. I have seen the lines at the お台場 (otaiba) shop and wow, it is the season. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: Alright, next we have. |
| Sachiko: So next we have a very popular new word that a lot of people overseas may not have heard of. |
| Peter: Yeah so if you have some Japanese friends overseas, test them with this word. |
| Sachiko: キモカワ (kimokawa) |
| Natsuko: Which means kind of cute but kind of gross. Weird combination, isn’t it? |
| Sachiko: (slow)キモカワ (kimokawa) (natural speed)キモカワ (kimokawa) |
| Natsuko: This phrase is kind of combining two words into one. |
| Peter: Two phrases right? |
| Natsuko: Two phrases, yes. |
| Peter: One phrase, one word. |
| Natsuko: Okay. One is 気持ち悪い。気持ち悪い (Kimochi warui. Kimochi warui) means gross. もう一つは、可愛い。 (Mōhitotsu wa, kawaii.) Cute. 気持ち悪いの「キモ」と可愛いの「カワ」を取ってつなげてキモカワ。 (Kimochi warui no ‘Kimo' to kawaii no `kawa' o totte tsunagete Kimokawa.) Gross yet cute. |
| Peter: And in the dialogue, we had what was gross but cute. |
| Natsuko: A man-faced doggy chocolate. 人面犬チョコ。 (Jinmen inu choko.) |
| Sachiko: What’s that? |
| Peter: Now the expert on this has actually gone now. Yoshikai, because he is the one that introduced this. Sachiko-san, do you remember what he was telling us? Do you remember the story he told us? |
| Sachiko: Not the details, but he said the grossest chocolate that he ever received looked like it was a dog but it looked like a man. The face of the dog looked like a man. |
| Natsuko: A chocolate? |
| Sachiko: Yeah. |
| Peter: And that’s where this came from. He also said that when he was a kid that there was this rumor about a man with a dog face. |
| Sachiko: Oh… |
| Peter: No? |
| Sachiko: No, no, no. |
| Peter: The other way around. |
| Sachiko: The dog… |
| Peter: A dog with a man's face. |
| Sachiko: Oh yeah. |
| Peter: Yeah I mean it’s really easy to confuse these two but the rumor was that there was this dog with a man face and it could talk and if it saw you or if you saw it, then you’d be caressed or… |
| Sachiko: Oh yes, yes. |
| Peter: Yeah it was not a good thing to order too. |
| Sachiko: Right. |
| Peter: And hence where this story came from? |
| Sachiko: I can’t imagine what that would look like giving nightmares. I don’t think that’s キモカワ (kimokawa). I think it’s pretty 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui) only. |
| Natsuko: I agree. |
| Peter: It kind of depends on the face. What if it is a Brad Pitt face? |
| Sachiko: Ah that’s you know cute. |
| Natsuko: Ooh la la… |
| Peter: You like... |
| Sachiko: That’s kind of – yeah that’s kind of nice. |
| Peter: Right? |
| Peter: Yeah haha. |
| Peter: So it’s like. It’s kind of close but… |
| Sachiko: Dog. |
| Natsuko: We will have to see one to make the final judgment right. |
| Peter: Yes. All right. |
| Sachiko: Anyone out there? |
| Peter: Apologize to Brad for…In case he is listening. |
| Sachiko: We still love you Brad. |
| Peter: Oh boy! This has been really fun in this. I hope you are having a great Valentine‘s Day. |
| Sachiko: As expected. |
| Peter: Right, what do we have next? |
| Sachiko: 以上 (ijō) More than. (slow)いじょう (iji ~you) (natural speed) 以上 (ijō)。 When you say 以上 (ijō), it includes the number two as well as more than two. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Japanese people make a huge distinction about this. |
| Natsuko: 次のキーワードは自己新記録。 (Tsugi no kīwādo wa jiko shin kiroku.) A new personal record. (slow)じこしんきろく (ji ko Shin kiro ku) (natural speed) 自己新記録。自己 (Jiko shin kiroku. Jiko) means your own, yourself, 新 (shin) is new and 記録 (kiroku) is a record or a track or a time. So literally it’s your new personal best time or a new personal record. |
| Sachiko: Okay next. |
| Sachiko: 西洋。 (Seiyō.) The west or western countries. (slow)せいよう (seiyou) (natural speed) 西洋 (seiyō) When we say 西洋 (seiyō), we typically mean Europe or North America. Just because 300 or 400 years ago when Japan was trying to modernize itself, it looked upon Europe and North American cultures to be more culturally advanced. It was sort of a role model. By the way, what is the opposite of 西洋 (seiyō)? |
| Natsuko: 東洋 (tōyō) |
| Sachiko: And that means east, the east. |
| Natsuko: Or more like Orient. |
| Sachiko: Yeah. |
| Peter: So can you give me the two words one more time. |
| Sachiko: 西洋. (Seiyō.) |
| Peter: West and the first character there is |
| Sachiko: West 西 (nishi). |
| Peter: The second is |
| Sachiko: 洋 (Yō). Ocean. |
| Peter: And the second word |
| Sachiko: 東洋 (tōyō) |
| Peter: First character. |
| Sachiko: 東 (Azuma) East. |
| Peter: Second character. |
| Sachiko: 洋 (yō) ocean. |
| Peter: So we have the west ocean and the east ocean. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Next word please. |
| Sachiko: 逆 (gyaku) |
| Natsuko: Reverse or opposite. |
| Sachiko: (slow)ぎゃく (gyaku) (natural speed)逆 (gyaku) This can be combined with let’s say 逆方向 (gyaku hōkō) opposite direction. In sports terms, you can say 逆点 (gyaku-ten). It means come from behind. |
| Natsuko: 可哀想 (kawaisō) |
| Sachiko: Poor as in poor thing. |
| Natsuko: (slow)かわいそう (kawaisō) (natural speed) 可哀想 (kawaisō). あとは (Ato wa) I feel sorry for someone なんていう時にも使いますね。 (Nante iu toki ni mo tsukaimasu ne.) |
| Sachiko: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Also this word can be used very lightly as in something unfortunate happening to you or something very kind of heavy or deep. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: As in if someone loses somebody and you are not talking directly to the person but you are talking about that person. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: You could use this word. |
| Sachiko: Right. |
| Peter: So it does have different levels. And it is appropriate for lots of situations. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: And one more thing we want to point out about this. It is a な (na)-adjective. So Natsuko-san, if you wanted to put it in front of a noun say cat. |
| Sachiko: 可哀想な猫 (kawaisō na neko) |
| Peter: Poor cat and that’s because he was out in the rain. Right, Sachiko-san. |
| Sachiko: That’s right. |
| Peter: And how do we say that? |
| Sachiko: 雨にぬれちゃって可哀想な猫 (Ame ni nure chatte kawaisō na neko) |
| Peter: Poor cat. He was drenched in the rain and the last thing about this, I often made this mistake. When I first learned about it, so as in, looks like, appears like. Looks like, appears. With い (i) adjectives, you drop the い (i) and you add そう (sō) as in 美味しそう (oishi-sō) Looks delicious. So when I saw a 可愛い (kawaii) person or a very cute person, I said ah, 可哀想 (kawaisō). |
| Sachiko: Which is totally different. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Yikes. |
| Peter: Yeah. Yikes, that's right. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Yikes. |
| Peter: And they couldn’t understand what’s wrong with me. What happened? |
| Natsuko: Yes, right. |
| Sachiko: I am beautiful and you are calling me a poor thing like ah! What an insult. |
| Peter: Yeah that’s kind of weird, though. So please learn from my mistakes and don’t do this. |
| Sachiko: Yes. Maybe in the original Japanese, it might be used in that way but it no longer has that meaning. |
| Natsuko: That’s a good point. That’s a very good point because it does have that enduring kind of emotion behind it when you say 可哀想 (kawaisō). |
| Sachiko: Yes, very sympathizing. |
| Natsuko: Yeah a lot of that. It’s a good point. |
Outro |
|---|
| Peter: All right. That’s going to do for today. Everybody out there, happy Valentine’s Day. |
| Sachiko: じゃあ、また明日ね。 (Jā, mata ashita ne.) |
| Natsuko: See ya. チョコもらえるといいね。 (Choko moraeru to ī ne.) Happy Valentine’s Day. |
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