Learn about describing the way how people talk
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| INTRODUCTION |
| なおみ: こんにちは、なおみです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. Onomatopoeia lesson #4. Speaking Fluent Japanese. Welcome to japanesepod101.com’s onomatopoeia series. In this series, we are exploring the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 That’s right. We are studying Japanese onomatopoeia. |
| Peter: Onomatopoeia. It is the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. Examples in English include words like |
| なおみ: Crush and splash. |
| Peter: Bam, bang, pow. The sounds of the words imitate the meaning. Also many animal sounds like |
| なおみ: Bowwow, meow. |
| Peter: Now Japanese has tons of onomatopoeia. So if you are going to take your Japanese to the next level, you will need to become familiar with as many of them as possible. |
| なおみ: But Japanese onomatopoeia is not only useful but it is also fun. |
| Peter: Really fun because there is such a wide selection. So without further adieu, let’s get into the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. Naomi Sensei. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
| Peter: How would you describe today’s weather? |
| なおみ: Good question 雨がパラパラ降っていますね。 |
| Peter: It’s raining outside but not very hard. |
| なおみ: そうですね。Kind of light rain. That’s what we learned in the previous lesson パラパラ |
| Peter: Okay and how about today? What are we going to look at? |
| なおみ: 今日は、ペラペラ and ペチャクチャ |
| Peter: ペチャクチャ |
| なおみ: はい。 |
| Peter: I like the latter word better. The first one is very, very common. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
| Peter: So because we can’t give you the definition without context, what we are going to do is give you three sentences all related. So kind of short text. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
| Peter: So you could hear both words used. Okay Naomi sensei お願いします。 |
| なおみ: 佳代子は、友達の秘密を他の人にぺらぺら話してしまう。それに、授業中は、ずっと、ぺちゃくちゃ話している。まったく困った子だ。 |
| Peter: 佳代子is always blabbing about her friend’s secrets plus she is always blabbering on during class. She is really annoying. |
| なおみ: She is. |
| Peter: She is. So Naomi Sensei, what are the two phrases we looked at over these three sentences? |
| なおみ: ペラペラ話す |
| Peter: To blab, to speak loosely. Next |
| なおみ: ペチャクチャ話す |
| Peter: To blabber, to chat. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: It’s interesting. Here we are taking phrases. So the ペラペラand the ペチャクチャare actually more like adverbs. You know, for the first example ペラペラ話すthe more linguistic translation would be something using an adverb. For example, to speak loosely. |
| なおみ: Umm… |
| Peter: That loosely in there but perhaps better translation is, blab. So we are taking a little liberty here with the translation to give you a much better translation but linguistically, it’s kind of closer to an adverb when it’s used – when it’s used together with a verb. Now in this context, ペラペラ indicates the way the people talk and in this context, blabbing, speaking loosely about important things. |
| なおみ: そうですね。For example 佳代子は秘密をペラペラ話す |
| Peter: 佳代子never keeps a secret. She has a big mouth. She is a blabbermouth. |
| なおみ: そうですね。Pretty negative opinion. |
| Peter: She is a blabbermouth. So in this case, it implies being critical or placing blame on someone. Now we keep going back to the context because the context is everything. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
| Peter: There is also another really popular usage of ペラペラand in this one, it’s used to describe the way someone speaks the foreign language. How do we translate it? |
| なおみ: Fluent. 例えば For example, 佳代子は英語がペラペラだ |
| Peter: is fluent in English. So please note in this case ペラペラit has a |
| なおみ: Positive meaning, good meaning. |
| Peter: Now on to my new favorite word. |
| なおみ: ぺちゃくちゃ |
| Peter: I’ve never heard it before this lesson Naomi Sensei. |
| なおみ: 本当 |
| Peter: Is it used that often? |
| なおみ: Yeah I think so. |
| Peter: ぺちゃくちゃNow this indicates the way that people keep talking loudly and going on and on about trivial topics. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 When you say 佳代子はいつもぺちゃくちゃ話している。 |
| Peter: 佳代子 is always blabbering on. I kind of think when you use the word chatterbox. |
| なおみ: そうですね。Talking about unimportant things and never stops. |
| Peter: You seem to relate very well with this word. |
| なおみ: そうね。I use this phrase a lot. |
| Peter: I’ve never heard it. |
| なおみ: 本当。 |
| Peter: So in the sample sentence about 佳代子person speaking is expressing the fact that they are disagreeably surprised or annoyed that she keeps going on and on so loudly. So why do you use this that often? |
| なおみ: Because I have this kind of friends. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: So let’s recap the usage of the words we looked at today and we are going to do this with sample sentences. First sample sentence. |
| なおみ: 彼は友達の悪口をペラペラ話す。信用できない男だ。 |
| Peter: He is always blabbering about the faults of his friends. I can’t trust him. Same word, but the second usage. |
| なおみ: 私は日本語をペラペラ話せるようになりたい。 |
| Peter: I want to be able to speak Japanese fluently. Second word. |
| なおみ: ぺちゃくちゃ。私の母は、ぺちゃくちゃ3時間も電話で話していた。 |
| Peter: My mother has been talking on the phone for 3 hours. Okay Naomi Sensei, in this lesson we learned |
| なおみ: ペラペラand ぺちゃくちゃ |
| Peter: Naomi speaks Japanese? |
| なおみ: Of course ペラペラ |
| Peter: なおみはオフィスで In the office, Naomi talks |
| なおみ: 私はぺちゃくちゃ話しません。 |
| Peter: So you are not blabbering on? |
| なおみ: No. |
| Peter: どうでしょうReally? |
| なおみ: Maybe sometimes 時々ね。時々ぺちゃくちゃ話していると思います |
| Peter: So sometimes you blabber on or you are a chatterbox but most of the time you are pretty good. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 You don’t agree? |
| Peter: Well I agree but I don’t think you wanted to. Okay I think we will end it there. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
Outro |
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| Peter: Now remember, learning onomatopoeia is essential for greater fluency and for taking your Japanese to the next level. Be sure to stop by the website japanesepod101.com and pick up the lesson notes. There you will find the detailed write up of onomatopoeia that appeared in this lesson. Also on the website, you can access some of the previous lessons. With a basic or premium membership, you can access all the audio and lesson notes from this and other lessons. To find out more, stop by japanesepod101.com. That’s going to do for this lesson. |
| なおみ: じゃあまた。 |
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