Learn about writing a postcard
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: 夏子です。 |
| Sachiko: さちこです。 Postcards chapter 6. So Natsuko san, can you give us a brief update on what’s been going on between the postcards between Ishihara san and Sasaki san. |
| Natsuko: I remember Ishihara san writing that he went to see her but she didn’t show up. |
| Sachiko: Uhh… |
| Natsuko: So he was kind of wondering what happened to her. |
| Sachiko: Uhh. So this is like the Japanese version of Bridges of Madison County. |
| Natsuko: Oh I haven’t seen that movie, yeah. |
| Sachiko: Oh you have to. You must. |
| Natsuko: Really? |
| Sachiko: It’s about two middle-aged people who really want to be together but they can’t and so they are playing games with each other. It’s really moving. |
| Natsuko: Sounds similar, yes. |
| Sachiko: So this is what’s coming up. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 石原さん、ご無沙汰しております。青葉若葉がすがすがしい今日このごろ、お元気にしていますでしょうか。隣の方から連絡が入りまして、石原さんがうちを訪ねていらっしゃったそうですね。無事にお帰りになって良かったと思っております。現在、私はハワイにいます。あの結婚宣言の手紙を読んでからというもの、どうするべきかについて考えてきました。結局、ずっと私と結婚したがっていた人のプロポーズを受けました。明後日ハワイで結婚することになっています。とても皮肉ですね。二人ともアメリカで結婚します。では、お元気で。佐々木 |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度はゆっくり、お願いします。 |
| 石原さん、ご無沙汰しております。青葉若葉がすがすがしい今日このごろ、お元気にしていますでしょうか。隣の方から連絡が入りまして、石原さんがうちを訪ねていらっしゃったそうですね。無事にお帰りになって良かったと思っております。現在、私はハワイにいます。あの結婚宣言の手紙を読んでからというもの、どうするべきかについて考えてきました。結局、ずっと私と結婚したがっていた人のプロポーズを受けました。明後日ハワイで結婚することになっています。とても皮肉ですね。二人ともアメリカで結婚します。では、お元気で。佐々木 |
| 次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。 |
| 石原さん、 |
| Mr. Ishihara, |
| ご無沙汰しております。 |
| My apologies for the late response. |
| 青葉若葉がすがすがしい今日このごろ、お元気にしていますでしょうか。 |
| In these recent days brightened by the fresh green leaves, how have you been getting along? |
| 隣の方から連絡が入りまして、石原さんがうちを訪ねていらっしゃったそうですね。 |
| I heard from the person next door that you visited. |
| 無事にお帰りになって良かったと思っております。 |
| I am happy to know that you returned without incident. |
| 現在、私はハワイにいます。 |
| I am currently in Hawaii. |
| あの結婚宣言の手紙を読んでからというもの、どうするべきかについて考えてきました。 |
| Since reading your letter informing me of your impending marriage, I have been thinking about what I should do. |
| 結局、ずっと私と結婚したがっていた人のプロポーズを受けました。 |
| In the end, I accepted a marriage proposal from a long-time suitor. |
| 明後日ハワイで結婚することになっています。 |
| The day after tomorrow, we will be married in Hawaii. |
| とても皮肉ですね。二人ともアメリカで結婚します。 |
| How ironic that both of us will be married in America. |
| では、お元気で。 |
| The best of health to you. |
| 佐々木 |
| Sasaki |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sachiko: Natsuko san この話をどう思いましたか？ |
| Natsuko: なんだか複雑なことになってきていますよね。 |
| Sachiko: そうですよね。とってもわかりにくい話になってきました。 |
| Natsuko: うん。 |
| Sachiko: もう一回、前のレッスンを聞いて復習しないと、私ちょっと混乱しそうです。 |
| Natsuko: そうですね。そうですね。なかなかロマンチックなものは難しいと思います。 |
| Sachiko: 夏子さん、今後どうなると思いますか？ |
| Natsuko: うん。わかりませんけど、うーん。私だったら、どうするかなぁ。でもやっぱり、この人と結婚しちゃうかなあ。 |
| Sachiko: So you would marry this person? |
| Natsuko: うーん、どうでしょうね。 |
| Sachiko: Wow 私はどうするかわかりませんね。 |
| Natsuko: うん。 |
| Sachiko: ちょっと結構、人間不信なので。 |
| Natsuko: So you don’t believe people? |
| Sachiko: Umm I might not be too easily willing to trust people. |
| Natsuko: Oh I agree. |
| Sachiko: Yeah ちょっと怖いですね。ちょっと怖いですね。 Okay. Well 今日の単語を見て行きましょうか。 |
| Natsuko: はい。お願いします。 |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sachiko: What’s the first word? |
| Natsuko: 青葉 |
| Sachiko: Fresh leaves. Natsuko san, this word Alba, consists of two very distinct characters. What do they stand for? |
| Natsuko: 青 which means blue. |
| Sachiko: Yes. And? |
| Natsuko: 葉 which means leaf. |
| Sachiko: Yes. Now why does 青葉 which is written as blue leaf mean fresh leaf? |
| Natsuko: Generally in Japanese, 青 blue stands for green which means young or fresh or innocent. |
| Sachiko: Yes. Can you literally say 彼は青い which would mean he is fresh, he is innocent. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Sort of clueless but in a good way right. |
| Natsuko: Umm maybe like the nuance of immature. |
| Sachiko: Oh okay. So you wouldn’t be happy if someone said that to you? |
| Natsuko: Umm I might not be. |
| Sachiko: Okay next word. |
| Natsuko: 若葉 |
| Sachiko: New leaves. Next word |
| Natsuko: すがすがしい |
| Sachiko: Refreshing. Next. |
| Natsuko: 方 |
| Sachiko: Person. Next |
| Natsuko: 無事に |
| Sachiko: Safely. Next |
| Natsuko: 尋ねる |
| Sachiko: Visit. Next |
| Natsuko: 受ける |
| Sachiko: To accept. Next |
| Natsuko: 皮肉 |
| Sachiko: Cynicism, irony |
| Natsuko: 今日はちょっと急いで単語を見ていきましたね。 |
| Sachiko: そうですね。 We kind of rush through the vocabulary because there is so much to introduce today but I’d like to take a look at the conversation, two sentences in particular. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sachiko: The first one, what is that? |
| Natsuko: ご無沙汰しております。 |
| Sachiko: And what does that mean? |
| Natsuko: So the literal meaning is like in a state of no contact but we translate this as, haven’t been in contact for a while. |
| Sachiko: Now this sounds a little bit formal. What’s the more casual way of saying this sentence? |
| Natsuko: ご無沙汰しています or ご無沙汰してます。 |
| Sachiko: Okay so it’s います or ます. When you make it おります, what kind of nuance does that bring out? |
| Natsuko: Very formal and very polite. |
| Sachiko: So is that a way of raising the other person or lowering oneself? |
| Natsuko: Oh so it’s a humble form of います. So actually you are lowering yourself. |
| Sachiko: This expression is great for business letters when you meet with a friend that you haven’t been in touch with for a while. |
| Natsuko: Yes you see this all the time. |
| Sachiko: Especially in written form would you say? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Great. |
| Natsuko: Well you can also use it on phones or you know actually seeing each other. |
| Sachiko: Great. So it’s multipurpose. |
| Natsuko: Uhoo. |
| Sachiko: Great okay. So let’s take a look at the third sentence please. |
| Natsuko: 隣の方から連絡が入りまして、石原さんがうちを訪ねていらっしゃったそうですね。 |
| Sachiko: What would that be translated as? |
| Natsuko: I heard from the person next door that you have visited my house. |
| Sachiko: So this phrase 尋ねていらっしゃった could you give us a little breakdown of that? |
| Natsuko: This might be a bit complicated. 尋ねて that is the new vocabulary here meaning visit. 尋ねる in て form, 尋ねて and いらっしゃる is honorific form of 来る. So together, it’s saying, you came to visit my house and it’s an honorific form of that. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Okay and it’s also in past tense. So the casual form would be 尋ねてくる and the polite form 尋ねてきます and the last honorific form would be 尋ねていらっしゃいます. The plain honorific would be 尋ねていらっしゃる。 |
| Sachiko: And the last part そうですね what does that mean? |
| Natsuko: It means that I heard that. |
| Sachiko: So you are saying that the そうですね you would use that when you get a piece of information from a third person. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: In this case, a neighbor. |
| Natsuko: Yes, the person next door. |
| Sachiko: Okay. |
| Natsuko: Said this and so it’s based on something that you heard. |
| Sachiko: I see. Not something that you obtained on your own. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Great. Okay let’s take a look at the next sentence. |
| Natsuko: 無事にお帰りになって良かったと思っております。 |
| Sachiko: Which means I am happy to know that you returned without incident. Okay Natsuko san, could you explain this phrase お帰りになって。 |
| Natsuko: This is also a very polite Japanese. Base word here is 帰る |
| Sachiko: Okay. |
| Natsuko: Which means return. So to put it plainly, it’s 無事に帰って良かったと思っています。 which is just the casual way of saying, I am glad to know that you returned but to make it into honorific form, you add お and ne になる to make it お帰りになる and in this sentence, as you noticed, it’s in て form. |
| Sachiko: Okay. |
| Natsuko: So お帰りになって and it continues. |
| Sachiko: Ah because you want to say I am happy to hear that. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: I see so お plus the verb followed by になる。 |
| Natsuko: Yes. Not お verbs but many verbs takes this form when it’s raised up when you are using in an honorific form. |
| Sachiko: Yes great and would you say that this is useful for business settings or definitely… |
| Natsuko: honorific form. |
| Sachiko: Great. Okay another useful tip and at the end of the sentence, we have 思っております。 |
| Natsuko: Oh yes again the おります expression which is the humble form of います. |
Outro |
| Sachiko: Great. So we are running out of time. So we can’t go through all of this but be sure to stop by japanesepod101.com and pick up the PDF. It will go into detail about all the things that we covered today. |
| Natsuko: チェックしてくださいね。 |
| Natsuko: はい。 That’s going to do for today. Tune in next time. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また来週。 |
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide