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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Yūichi: ゆういちです。(Yūichi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Onigiri Prince part 3. The rice ball prince part 3. |
| Naomi: え～、これ最後ですか。(Ē, kore saigo desu ka.) |
| Yūichi: 最終回です。(Saishūkai desu.) |
| Peter: So it is the last episode. |
| Naomi: I am going to cry. |
| Yūichi: So Naomi-sensei, you miss Onigiri Prince? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Some day, he will be back. |
| Peter: Okay, well, we still have a little bit more time with him. So let’s find out what’s going on with today’s conversation. Now the conversation takes place at |
| Yūichi: On the street. |
| Naomi: まだ…。(Mada…) |
| Peter: Unbelievable. Okay, conversation is between |
| Yūichi: 一番 (Ichiban), アオ (Ao), おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) and おにぎり王女 (Onigiri ōjo). |
| Peter: Another four way conversation. Wow! This should be interesting again. Now today’s grammar point is |
| Naomi: ことができる (koto ga dekiru) |
| Peter: Be able to, can do something. Really, really nice grammar point. This will help you express yourself and you know take the conversation to the next level. Okay now, anything else to cover before we jump in? |
| Naomi: ない。(Nai.) |
| Peter: Okay, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ごめんねぇ。事務所がうるさくて、僕はサインすることができないんだ。(Gomen nee. Jimusho ga urusakute, boku wa sain suru koto ga dekinai n da.) |
| おにぎり王女 (Onigiri ōjo) : なに、この男、デートのじゃましないでよー。(Nani, kono otoko, dēto no jama shinaide yō.) |
| (アオ怒る) (Ao okoru) |
| アオ (Ao) : なによ！その態度！！私は、柔道三段だから、あなた達を投げることができるのよ！！一番君にサインして！(Nani yo! Sono taido!! Watashi wa, jūdō san-dan da kara, anata-tachi o nageru koto ga dekiru no yo!! Ichiban-kun ni sain shite!) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ひい〜、分かりました〜。サインします。(Hii, wakarimashitā. Sain shimasu.) |
| 一番 (Ichiban) : あ、ありがとうございます。(A, arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : じゃ、じゃあ、さようなら。(Ja, jā sayōnara.) |
| アオ (Ao) : ちょっと、おにぎり王女は私にサイン書いて。(Chotto, Onigiri ōjo wa watashi ni sain kaite.) |
| Naomi: もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ごめんねぇ。事務所がうるさくて、僕はサインすることができないんだ。(Gomen nee. Jimusho ga urusakute, boku wa sain suru koto ga dekinai n da.) |
| おにぎり王女 (Onigiri ōjo) : なに、この男、デートのじゃましないでよー。(Nani, kono otoko, dēto no jama shinaide yō.) |
| (アオ怒る) (Ao okoru) |
| アオ (Ao) : なによ！その態度！！私は、柔道三段だから、あなた達を投げることができるのよ！！一番君にサインをして！(Nani yo! Sono taido!! Watashi wa, jūdō san-dan da kara, anata-tachi o nageru koto ga dekiru no yo!! Ichiban-kun ni sain o shite!) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ひい〜、分かりました〜。サインします。(Hii, wakarimashitā. Sain shimasu.) |
| 一番 (Ichiban) : あ、ありがとうございます。(A, arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : じゃ、じゃあ、さようなら。(Ja, jā sayōnara.) |
| アオ (Ao) : ちょっと、おにぎり王女は私にサインを書いて。(Chotto, Onigiri ōjo wa watashi ni sain o kaite.) |
| Naomi: 今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ごめんねぇ。事務所がうるさくて、僕はサインすることができないんだ。(Gomen nee. Jimusho ga urusakute, boku wa sain suru koto ga dekinai n da.) |
| ONIGIRI PRINCE: I'm sorry. I can't do it. My company is fussy about giving autographs. |
| おにぎり王女 (Onigiri ōjo) : なに、この男、デートのじゃましないでよー。(Nani, kono otoko, dēto no jama shinaide yō.) |
| ONIGIRI PRINCESS: Who's this guy? Don't get in on our date. |
| (アオ怒る) (Ao okoru) |
| (Ao gets angry) |
| アオ (Ao) : なによ！その態度！！私は、柔道三段だから、あなた達を投げることができるのよ！！一番君にサインして！(Nani yo! Sono taido!! Watashi wa, jūdō san-dan da kara, anata-tachi o nageru koto ga dekiru no yo!! Ichiban-kun ni sain shite!) |
| AO: What's with the attitude! I'm a 3rd degree judo belt. I can throw you to the ground!! Write an autograph for Ichiban-kun! |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : ひい〜、分かりました〜。サインします。(Hii, wakarimashitā. Sain shimasu.) |
| ONIGIRI PRINCE: OK, OK, I'll give you my autograph. |
| 一番 (Ichiban) : あ、ありがとうございます。(A, arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| ICHIBAN: Th...thank you. |
| おにぎり王子 (Onigiri ōji) : じゃ、じゃあ、さようなら。(Ja, jā sayōnara.) |
| ONIGIRI PRINCE: G...goodbye. |
| アオ (Ao) : ちょっと、おにぎり王女は私にサイン書いて。(Chotto, Onigiri ōjo wa watashi ni sain kaite.) |
| AO: Hey, Onigiri princess. You give me your autograph. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: 事務所がうるさくて僕はサインすることができないんだ。(Jimusho ga urusakute boku wa sain suru koto ga dekinai n da.) Since my agency is fussy, I can’t give you my autograph. It’s really a nice way to refuse. |
| Peter: Yeah, you like to find different ways to say no. |
| Naomi: そうそうそうそうそう。(Sō sō sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: Very diplomatic. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: How do you say diplomatic in Japanese? |
| Yūichi: 営業的な (eigyōteki na) |
| Peter: 営業的 (eigyōteki) … Isn’t that… |
| Naomi: Is it for business? |
| Peter: Salesmanship like? |
| Naomi: 無難な、とかね。(Bunan na, toka ne.) Avoiding all the trouble. |
| Peter: Interesting. I think... アオと一番、なんか失礼な二人ですね。(Ao to Ichiban, nanka shitsurei na futari desu ne.) They are like... |
| Naomi: あ、そっちが？(A, sotchi ga?) |
| Peter: うん、そっちが悪いです。(Un, sotchi ga warui desu.) Like those two are なんだよ、という感じで (nan da yo, to iu kanji de), what’s wrong with them? |
| Yūichi: They are very big fans. So they want one tiny autograph. So you know Onigiri prince and Onigiri 王女 (ōjo) are you know very celebrity. So they should give them an autograph because that’s their job – one of the jobs I think. |
| Peter: But still なによ、その態度 (nani yo, sono taido). Like what’s with the attitude? |
| Yūichi: Yeah. |
| Peter: Like because I can you know because I am a third level judo, I can throw you. What is that? |
| Naomi: セレブリティは大変ですね。(Sereburiti wa taihen desu ne.) Good thing we are not celebrities. |
| Peter: Yes, very good thing. I mean all they had to do is say please, one more time. お願いします。お願いします。(Onegai shimasu. Onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: え、何が？(E, nani ga?) |
| Peter: Yeah. Instead they threatened violence. |
| Yūichi: あ、でも、おにぎり王女がちょっと…。(A, demo, Onigiri ōjo ga chotto…) |
| Peter: あ、そうですか。(A, sō desu ka.) So you think the princess is wrong? |
| Yūichi: Yes. 何、この男、デートの邪魔しないでよ。(Nani, kono otoko, dēto no jama shinaide yo.) It sounds like very girlish. |
| Peter: What is this guy… |
| Naomi: Of course, she is a girl. |
| Yūichi: Very good. |
| Peter: What’s with this guy? You know, don’t get in the way of our date. We are on a date. あ、でも、日本語を勉強している立場から。(A, demo, Nihon-go o benkyō shite iru tachiba kara.) Like from the perspective of someone who said it in Japanese, it’s a very interesting lesson. Lots of very good things to cover right now. So let’s start with vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Naomi: 事務所 (jimusho) |
| Peter: Office, telling agency. |
| Naomi: (slow) じむしょ (jimusho) (natural speed) 事務所 (jimusho) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: デート (dēto) |
| Peter: Date. |
| Yūichi: (slow) デート (dēto) (natural speed) デート (dēto) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 邪魔 (jama) |
| Peter: Annoyance, interference. |
| Naomi: (slow) じゃま (jama) (natural speed) 邪魔 (jama) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: 態度 (taido) |
| Peter: Attitude, manner |
| Yūichi: (slow) たいど (taido) (natural speed) 態度 (taido) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 柔道 (jūdō) |
| Peter: Japanese traditional martial art. |
| Naomi: (slow) じゅうどう (jūdō) (natural speed) 柔道 (jūdō) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: 投げる (nageru) |
| Peter: To throw. |
| Yūichi: (slow) なげる (nageru) (natural speed) 投げる (nageru) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, let’s take a closer look at some of the phrases and vocabulary used in this lesson. なおみ先生、お願いします。(Naomi-sensei, onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: 邪魔 (jama) |
| Peter: Annoyance, interference. |
| Naomi: そうですね。邪魔をする。(Sō desu ne. Jama o suru.) It’s a verb. It means to disturb. |
| Peter: My favorite – one of my favorite expressions is before going to someone’s house, you say お邪魔します. (Ojama shimasu.) So I am going to disturb you. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Yūichi: Very polite. |
| Peter: Very polite. |
| Naomi: And when you leave someone’s house, お邪魔しました (ojama shimashita.) |
| Peter: I disturbed you. |
| Naomi: So the past tense. |
| Peter: Yeah, I annoyed you. So, so nice. |
| Naomi: I heard that 邪魔 (jama) was from Buddhist term. |
| Peter: Meaning? |
| Naomi: Devil to disturb your training. |
| Peter: So with basically concentrating and doing things like that. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: Okay, next we have |
| Yūichi: 態度 (taido) |
| Peter: Attitude, manner. |
| Yūichi: 態度がいい (taido ga ii) |
| Peter: Good attitude. |
| Yūichi: 態度が悪い (taido ga warui) |
| Peter: Bad attitude. |
| Yūichi: For example. 何よ、その態度。(Nani yo, sono taido.) |
| Peter: What’s with the attitude? |
| Naomi: 何よ (nani yo) sounds very feminine. After the speaker is a male, that will be. |
| Yūichi: 何だよ、その態度。(Nan da yo, sono taido.) |
| Peter: Like what’s with the attitude? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Naomi: 柔道 (jūdō) |
| Peter: Japanese traditional martial art. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) 道 (dō) means road or way ですね (desu ne). ほかにも、剣道。(Hoka ni mo, kendō.) |
| Peter: Japanese fencing. |
| Naomi: 書道 (shodō) |
| Peter: Japanese calligraphy. |
| Naomi: 華道 (kadō) |
| Peter: Japanese flower arrangement. |
| Naomi: 茶道 (sadō) |
| Peter: Japanese Tea ceremony. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Yūichi: 武士道 (bishidō) |
| Naomi: あ～、そうですね。(Ā, sō desu ne.) |
| Yūichi: ピーターさん、知ってますか。(Pītā-san, shitte masu ka.) |
| Peter: Japanese way? |
| Yūichi: Yeah, Samurai. The way of the Samurai. |
| Peter: The way of the Samurai. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) In today’s dialogue, アオ (Ao) said. 私は柔道三段です。(Watashi wa jūdō san-dan desu.) |
| Peter: I have achieved the third level of Judo. So in Japanese, 段 (dan) is a ranking system. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Naomi-sensei, is it always going up, is the highest or lowest is the highest? |
| Naomi: Up is the highest for 段 (dan) but 級 (kyū) is lower the higher. |
| Peter: Yeah. So the ranking system for 級 (kyū) as in the Japanese Proficiency exam is lowest is highest. １級 (ikkyū) is the highest. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: And for 段 (dan) it usually goes to 9, 9th 段 (dan)? |
| Naomi: わかんない。(Wakannai.) |
| Peter: Depends on the 10th 段 (dan). |
| Naomi: でも、多分死なないと取れないんじゃないですかね。(Demo, tabun shinanai to torenai n ja nai desu ka ne.) |
| Yūichi: いや、そんなことは…。(Iya, sonna koto wa…) |
| Naomi: 本当？(Hontō?) |
| Peter: So you have to die to achieve the highest levels. |
| Yūichi: And after completing the all the 段 (dan)s, maybe you can be a 名人 (meijin). |
| Peter: Which is, what’s a 名人 (meijin)? |
| Yūichi: 名人 (meijin) |
| Naomi: Master. |
| Peter: Master. We should have a japanesepod101.com 段 (dan) system. |
| Yūichi: You are a 名人 (meijin). |
| Peter: Not there. |
| Yūichi: Not there. |
| Peter: まあ、死なないとね。(Mā, shinanai to ne.) According to Naomi’s definition. |
| Naomi: うそうそうそうそ。(Uso uso uso uso.) それから (sorekara), in today’s dialogue, おにぎり王女 (Onigiri ōjo) said 何、この男 (nani, kono otoko). That’s a pretty strong expression. So original sentence was この男は、何？(kono otoko wa, nani?) |
| Peter: What is this guy? |
| Naomi: そう。(Sō.) でも (demo) putting the interrogative word in front of the sentence, you can emphasize the sentence. |
| Peter: Increases the emphasis. |
| Naomi: はい。これは何ですか。(Hai. Kore wa nan desu ka.) |
| Peter: What is this? Now the emphasizer? |
| Yūichi: 何、これ？(Nani, kore?) |
| Peter: What’s this? |
| Naomi: あれは誰ですか。(Are wa dare desu ka.) |
| Peter: Who’s that? |
| Yūichi: あれ、誰？(Are, dare?) |
| Peter: Who’s that? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Naomi: Today’s grammar point is ことができる (koto ga dekiru). |
| Peter: Which is a phrase used to express possibility or capability and it’s English equivalent is can or be able to do. So こと (koto) is a nominalizer and it follows a verb in the plain non-past form. So let’s have an example. |
| Naomi: 話す (hanasu) |
| Peter: To speak. |
| Naomi: 話すことができる (hanasu koto ga dekiru) |
| Peter: Able to speak. |
| Naomi: 彼は話すことができる。(Kare wa hanasu koto ga dekiru.) |
| Peter: He can speak. |
| Naomi: イルカは話すことができる。(Iruka wa hanasu koto ga dekiru.) |
| Peter: Dolphins can speak. So we have the verb in the non-past plain followed by ことができる (koto ga dekiru). こと (koto) the nominalizer, が (ga) subject marker and できる (dekiru), the potential, can or able to do. Okay, so let’s have a few more examples. |
| Naomi: Do you know チンパンジーの愛ちゃん (chinpanjī no Ai-chan)? |
| Peter: No. わかりません。(Wakarimasen.) |
| Naomi: There is a Chimpanzee in Kyoto University and that Chimpanzee’s name is 愛ちゃん (Ai-chan) and she is very, very smart Chimpanzee. |
| Yūichi: Yeah. |
| Peter: So it’s Japan’s most famous Chimpanzee. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: 愛ちゃん。(Ai-chan.) |
| Naomi: 愛ちゃん。(Ai-chan.) She is the smartest Chimpanzee in the world. |
| Yūichi: 愛ちゃんは漢字を理解することができます。(Ai-chan wa kanji o rikai suru koto ga dekimasu.) |
| Peter: So Ai-chan can understand Chinese characters. |
| Naomi: そう。すごいでしょ？ (Sō. Sugoi desho?) And. 愛ちゃんは１から９まで数えることができます。(Ai-chan wa ichi kara kyū made kazoeru koto ga dekimasu.) |
| Peter: And Ai-chan can count from 1-9. |
| Naomi: でも、(Demo,) |
| Yūichi: 愛ちゃんは話すことができません。(Ai-chan wa hanasu koto ga dekimasen.) |
| Peter: But Ai-chan can’t speak. |
| Naomi: そうなんですね。(Sō nan desu ne.) |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at this last sentence. One more time. |
| Yūichi: 愛ちゃんは話すことができません。(Ai-chan wa hanasu koto ga dekimasen.) |
| Peter: So 愛ちゃんは (Ai-chan wa), 愛ちゃん (Ai-chan) marked by the topic marker particle 話す (hanasu), to speak こと (koto), nominalizer 話すこと (hanasu koto), が (ga) subject marking particle. That all stays the same. So 愛ちゃんは話すことが (Ai-chan wa hanasu koto ga), up to there, everything is the same but here we have できません (dekimasen) the polite negative form of できる (dekiru), meaning can able. So we have the negative form can’t, not able. So Ai-chan is not able to speak. So the verb in Japanese comes at the end. So this notion that it can’t be done comes at the end and it’s a simple changing of the verb できる (dekiru) not the verb 話す (hanasu). So that’s the 話す (hanasu) stays the same. It’s a verb できる (dekiru) that changes. |
| Naomi: すごいんですよ、愛ちゃん。絵を描くこともできます。(Sugoi n desu yo, Ai-chan. E o kaku koto mo dekimasu.) |
| Yūichi: はいはいはい。(Hai hai hai.) |
| Naomi: She can even draw a picture. Some researchers say she is smarter than some adults. Adults like human beings. |
| Peter: Okay, we will let you fill out whoever she’s thinking thinking about. それぞれ違いますね、お互い。(Sorezore chigaimasu ne, otagai.) |
| Naomi: えっ？(E?) |
| Peter: So we are all thinking about who she is smarter than. |
Outro |
| Peter: That’s it. That’s going to do it for today. |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.) |
| Yūichi: さよなら。(Sayonara.) |
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