Learn about all the phrases you'll regularly hear in your Japanese class, so when your Japanese teacher sneaks up on you, you'll be ready
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| PETER: Top five Japanese classroom phrases. Hi everyone and welcome back to the “All About Japanese” series. |
| NAOMI: In this lesson, you will learn the top five phrases you'll hear in a classroom. |
| PETER: These are phrases that a teacher would use often. You will get a head start by already knowing these phrases. So without further ado, let’s listen to the first phrase. |
| 1. "Please say it" or "please repeat after me". = "Itte kudasai". |
| Peter: So when you are in a classroom, hopefully you will be doing a lot of speaking. |
| NAOMI: The teacher will probably make you say or repeat many words or phrases, right? |
| PETER: So first we will introduce the phrase “Please say it” or “Please repeat after me.” |
| NAOMI: For this one, we say… "itte kudasai". It literally means, “Please say it.” |
| PETER: So a teacher might point to a word on the board and say something like… |
| NAOMI: "itte kudasai" |
| PETER: Can you say it again? |
| NAOMI: "itte kudasai" |
| PETER: Break it down. |
| NAOMI: "itte kudasai" |
| PETER: “Please say it”. |
| NAOMI: If the teacher wants you to repeat the phrase, though, they might say… "Ripito shite kudasai." |
| NAOMI: Right. It is borrowed from English. |
| PETER: I can tell that. |
| NAOMI: Let’s listen to the next phrase. |
| 2. “Please Look”. = "Mite kudasai". |
| PETER: Now it sounds a lot like the phrase we just went over. |
| NAOMI: Right. "itte kudasai", “Please say it” and "mite kudasai", “Please look”, sounds really similar. |
| PETER: So make sure to note the difference. Can we hear the phrase “Please Look” one more time? |
| NAOMI: "Mite kudasai". |
| PETER: Break it down. |
| NAOMI: "Mite kudasai". |
| PETER: Literally “Look please”. Now you can also put a noun in front of this phrase to indicate what you want the person to look at. For example… |
| NAOMI: Howaitobodo o mite kudasai. |
| PETER: “Please look at the whiteboard) |
| NAOMI: Howaitobodo is Whiteboard. |
| PETER: Now the next phrase is another request. |
| 3. “Please read” = "Yonde kudasai" |
| PETER: If the teacher wants you to practice some word, a phrase, or a passage, you can expect to hear this. “Please read” |
| NAOMI: So can you guess the meaning? "Tekisuto, yonde kudasai". |
| PETER: That is a textbook, right? |
| NAOMI: Right. |
| PETER: So, “please read your textbook.” |
| NAOMI: Right. "Tekisuto, yonde kudasai". |
| PETER: So what if the teacher wants you to write something? What will they say? |
| NAOMI: That will be our next phrase. |
| 4. “Please write” = "Kaite kudasai" |
| PETER: You may have noticed all the expressions up until now have… |
| Naomi: "kudasai" |
| PETER: ..at the end. Remember that in a class setting, when you hear this at the end, the speaker is asking you to do something. |
| NAOMI: Right. Your teacher is asking you to do something. |
| PETER: Very politely. The last phrase we will look at is… |
| NAOMI: A question. |
| 5. “Do you understand?” = "Wakarimasu ka?" |
| PETER: Now teachers want to make sure that there students are keeping up with everything, so they will often ask if everyone understands, right? |
| NAOMI: Right. "Wakarimasu ka?" |
| PETER: “Do you understand?” |
| NAOMI: "Wakarimasu" is a verb, “to understand”. "Ka" indicates a question. It is like a question mark. |
| PETER: So literally, “understand, question?” or “Understand?” Of course it means, “Do you understand?” |
| NAOMI: You might also hear… "Daijoubu desu ka?" |
| PETER: This literally means, “Is it OK?” or “Is everything OK?” |
| NAOMI: This one is used pretty often as well. |
| PETER: In other situations, it would probably be translated as, “Are you OK?” But in the classroom, it can be used to confirm whether or not someone understands something, right? |
| NAOMI: Right. |
| PETER: Can we hear the phrase again? |
| NAOMI: "Daijoubu desu ka?" |
| PETER: “Is everything OK?” So let’s recap what we learned in this lesson. Again, if you are studying in a classroom, these phrases are absolutely critical. You will hear them again and again. Let’s hear them one more time. Naomi sensei, onegai shimasu. |
| NAOMI: Sure. "Itte kudasai" |
| PETER: “Please say it”. “Please repeat it.” |
| NAOMI: "Mite kudasai" |
| PETER: “Please look.” |
| NAOMI: "Yonde kudasai" |
| PETER: “Please read.” |
| NAOMI: "Kaite kudasai." |
| PETER: “Please write.” |
| NAOMI: "Wakarimasu ka?" |
| PETER: “Do you understand?” |
| NAOMI: So everyone: "Wakarimasu ka?" |
| PETER: So there you have it; all five phrases for the classroom. And we will see you next time." |
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