Learn about sound omission, which occurs in everyday Japanese conversation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Kat: Kat here. Skip These Sounds for More Natural Japanese. In this lesson you will learn how to speak natural Japanese. Just like that! |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. You'll learn about contracted forms! |
| Kat: Where does this conversation take place？ |
| Naomi: 会社です。(Kaisha desu.) |
| Kat: At a company or office. And who is the conversation between? |
| Naomi: 森野モエさんと、課長ですね。(Morino Moe-san to, kachō desu ne.) |
| Kat: Between Moe Morino and her section chief or manager. Now the manager is using informal Japanese while Moe is using formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: では、会話を聞いてみましょう。(Dewa, kaiwa o kiite mimashō.) |
| Kat: So let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 課長 (kachō) : 森野さん、昨日のメール読んだ？送っといたんだけど。(Morino-san, kinō no mēru yonda? Okuttoita n da kedo.) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : え？メール？いえ、届いてないですよ。(E? Mēru? Ie, todoite nai desu yo.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで翻訳してって書いといたんだよ。まだ、読んでない？(Isoide hon’yaku shite tte kaitoita n da yo. Mada, yonde nai?) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : じゃ、もう一度 メールチェックしてみますね。(Ja, mō ichi-do mēru chekku shite mimasu ne.) |
| （カチャカチャ）(kachakacha) |
| : やっぱり、届いてないですね・・・。(Yappari, todoite nai desu ne…) |
| : あ、迷惑メールにありました。アハ。(A, meiwaku mēru ni arimashita. Aha.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : じゃ、急いで翻訳して。それ、３時に本社にもってくんだ。(Ja, isoide hon’yaku shite. Sore, san-ji ni honsha ni motteku n da.) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : ３時？３０分しかないですよ。ちょっと難しいですね。(San-ji? San-juppun shika nai desu yo. Chotto muzukashii desu ne.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで！本社に連絡しとくから。(Isoide! Honsha ni renraku shitoku kara.) |
| : あ、ジョシュさん、悪いけど、半分手伝ってあげて。(A, Joshu-san, warui kedo, hanbun tetsudatte agete.) |
| ジョシュ (Joshu) : はい。わかりました。(Hai. wakarimashita.) |
| Naomi: もう一度、会話を聞いてください。今度はゆっくり話します。(Mō ichi-do, kaiwa o kiite kudasai. Kondo wa yukkuri hanashimasu.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 森野さん、昨日のメール読んだ？送っといたんだけど。(Morino-san, kinō no mēru yonda? Okuttoita n da kedo.) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : え？メール？いえ、届いてないですよ。(E? Mēru? Ie, todoite nai desu yo.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで翻訳してって書いといたんだよ。まだ、読んでない？(Isoide hon’yaku shite tte kaitoita n da yo. Mada, yonde nai?) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : じゃ、もう一度 メールチェックしてみますね。(Ja, mō ichi-do mēru chekku shite mimasu ne.) |
| : やっぱり、届いてないですね・・・。(Yappari, todoite nai desu ne…) |
| : あ、迷惑メールにありました。アハ。(A, meiwaku mēru ni arimashita. Aha.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : じゃ、急いで翻訳して。それ、３時に本社にもってくんだ。(Ja, isoide hon’yaku shite. Sore, san-ji ni honsha ni motteku n da.) |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : ３時？３０分しかないですよ。ちょっと難しいですね。(San-ji? San-juppun shika nai desu yo. Chotto muzukashii desu ne.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで！本社に連絡しとくから。(Isoide! Honsha ni renraku shitoku kara.) |
| : あ、ジョシュさん、悪いけど、半分手伝ってあげて。(A, Joshu-san, warui kedo, hanbun tetsudatte agete.) |
| ジョシュ (Joshu) : はい。わかりました。(Hai. wakarimashita.) |
| Naomi: 今度は、英語の訳と一緒に聞いてみましょう。(Kondo wa, Eigo no yaku to issho ni kiite mimashō.) |
| 課長 (kachō) : 森野さん、昨日のメール読んだ？(Morino-san, kinō no mēru yonda?) |
| Kat: Ms. Morino, did you read yesterday's e-mail? |
| : 送っといたんだけど。(Okuttoita n da kedo.) |
| Kat: I sent it to you, but... |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : え？メール？いえ、届いてないですよ。(E? Mēru? Ie, todoite nai desu yo.) |
| Kat: Huh? E-mail? I didn't get it. |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで翻訳してって書いといたんだよ。(Isoide hon’yaku shite tte kaitoita n da yo.) |
| Kat: I wrote in it for you to hurry and translate it. |
| : まだ、読んでない？(Mada, yonde nai?) |
| Kat: You haven't read it yet? |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : じゃ、もう一度メールチェックしてみますね。(Ja, mō ichi-do mēru chekku shite mimasu ne.) |
| Kat: Alright, I'll check my email again. |
| : やっぱり、届いてないですね・・・。(Yappari, todoite nai desu ne…) |
| Kat: As I thought, it's not here... |
| : あ、迷惑メールにありました。アハ。(A, meiwaku mēru ni arimashita. Aha.) |
| Kat: Ah, it's in the junk mail folder. |
| 課長 (kachō) : じゃ、急いで翻訳して。(Ja, isoide hon’yaku shite.) |
| Kat: All right, hurry up and translate it. |
| : それ、３時に本社にもってくんだ。(Sore, san-ji ni honsha ni motteku n da.) |
| I'm taking it to the Head Office at three o'clock. |
| 森野 モエ (Morino Moe) : ３時？３０分しかないですよ。(San-ji? San-juppun shika nai desu yo.) |
| Kat: Three o'clock? We only have thirty minutes. |
| : ちょっと難しいですね。(Chotto muzukashii desu ne.) |
| Kat: That's going to be a bit difficult. |
| 課長 (kachō) : 急いで！本社に連絡しとくから。(Isoide! Honsha ni renraku shitoku kara.) |
| Kat: Hurry! I'm going to call the Head Office. |
| : あ、ジョシュさん、悪いけど、半分手伝ってあげて。(A, Joshu-san, warui kedo, hanbun tetsudatte agete.) |
| Kat: Oh, Josh. Sorry, but you help her by doing half. |
| ジョシュ (Joshu) : はい。わかりました。(Hai. wakarimashita.) |
| Kat: Alright, got it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: キャットさん。(Kyatto-san.) |
| Kat: はい。(Hai.) |
| Naomi: I think the sentence… ちょっと、難しいですね。(Chotto, muzukashii desu ne.) Is a bit tricky. I mean, not grammar-wise but meaning-wise. |
| Kat: That's really true. ちょっと (chotto) is "a little" and 難しい (muzukashii) is "difficult." So ちょっと難しい (chotto muzukashii) literally means "It's a little bit difficult" but what this phrase really means is "No” or “it's impossible". |
| Naomi: そうなんです。(Sō nan desu.) Of course 難しい (muzukashii) it usually means "difficult" but it sometimes means "impossible". |
| Kat: Right. But I'd say if you invite or ask someone to do something, and the person replied with 難しい (muzukashii). It almost always means "impossible" |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Kat: As Japanese people as you probably know will rarely say "No" or "It can't be done" straight out. Because it’s rude to say that. That’s kind of an impression. |
| Naomi: そう、そうですね。(Sō, sō desu ne.) |
| Kat: OK. Here's an example. "Hey Naomi-sensei, let's go out for a drink tonight." 今夜、ビール飲みに行きませんか。(Kon’ya, bīru nomi ni ikimasen ka.) |
| Naomi: あー、今夜？今夜は難しいな。(Ā, kon’ya? Kon’ya wa muzukashii na.) "Tonight? Tonight is no good." 明日はどうですか。(Ashita wa dō desu ka.) "How about tomorrow?” |
| Kat: いいですよ。(Ii desu yo.) OK, that’s fine. By the way, what about the word 無理 (muri), impossible? |
| Naomi: Yes, you can say that. It sounds pretty strong though, like 無理！ (Muri!) Yeah, if you have pretty close friends, it could work. |
| Kat: Ah, no way. |
| Naomi: No way. I don’t wanna go there. |
| Kat: So, don’t say 無理 (muri) to your boss, even if the thing is impossible. Say, ちょっと難しいですね。(Chotto muzukashii desu ne.) Then, you will be really close to natural Japanese. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Kat: Ok, so now, let's take a look at the words and the phrases for this lesson. |
| And the first word is: |
| Naomi: 届く (todoku) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: to be delivered, to arrive, to reach |
| Naomi: 届く (todoku) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 届く (todoku) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next: |
| Naomi: 翻訳 (hon’yaku) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: translation |
| Naomi: 翻訳 (hon’yaku) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 翻訳 (hon’yaku) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK. And next: |
| Naomi: やっぱり (yappari) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: as I thought, as expected |
| Naomi: やっぱり (yappari) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: やっぱり (yappari) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next: |
| Naomi: 迷惑メール (meiwaku mēru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: spam mail, junk mail, unsolicited mail |
| Naomi: 迷惑メール (meiwaku mēru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 迷惑メール (meiwaku mēru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And finally: |
| Naomi: 本社 (honsha) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: headquarters, head office, main office |
| Naomi: 本社 (honsha) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 本社 (honsha) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: Alright. So now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. And the first one we are going to look at is? |
| Naomi: やっぱり (yappari) |
| Kat: “as I thought”, “after all”, “as expected” |
| Naomi: Some people say やはり (yahari). |
| Kat: And is there any difference in the meaning? |
| Naomi: No. ないです。(Nai desu.) It's just that やはり (yahari) sounds more formal than やっぱり (yappari). |
| Kat: That’s right. I think やはり (yahari) is a lot more polite. |
| Naomi: そう。(Sō.) Sounds like more written. |
| Kat: Um. More gentle. Can we have a sample sentence of やっぱり (yappari), meaning "as I thought" or "as expected"? |
| Naomi: やっぱり、キャットは遅刻した。(Yappari, Kyatto wa chikoku shita.) |
| Kat: 私が？ (Watashi ga?) “As expected, Kat was late.” Which is よくあること (yoku aru koto). I’m often late, but not to work. You can also use やっぱり (yappari) just by itself as one word. For example, when you've just found out something you predicted or anticipated was correct, you say... |
| Naomi: やっぱり。(Yappari.) Or… やっぱりね。(Yappari ne.) |
| Kat: “I knew it”, or “I was right.” |
| Kat: And the next word is? |
| Naomi: 翻訳 (hon’yaku) |
| Kat: “translation” |
| Naomi: It's not ほにゃく (honyaku), but it’s ほんやく (hon’yaku). |
| Kat: ほんやく (hon’yaku) |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right. |
| Kat: There is an extra ん (n) sound in the middle. When をする (o suru) or する (suru) follows ほんやく (hon’yaku), it becomes a verb. |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) 翻訳をする (hon’yaku o suru) or 翻訳する (hon’yaku suru). |
| Kat: “to translate something” |
| Naomi: Here's a sample sentence. 例文です。私は日本の漫画を翻訳したい。(Reibun desu. Watashi wa Nihon no manga o hon’yaku shitai.) |
| Kat: “I want to translate Japanese comics or manga.” |
| Naomi: こういうリスナーさん、多いですよね。(Kō iu risunā-san, ōi desu yo ne.) |
| Kat: Um, I think there are a lot of listeners who want to do that. As a creator, lots of people who want to do that. |
| Naomi: でも翻訳は本当に難しいですね。(Demo hon’yaku wa hontō ni muzukashii desu ne.) Translation is really difficult. This time 難しい (muzukashii) doesn't mean impossible, though. |
| Kat: That’s right. No. 難しいですね、翻訳するのは。(Muzukashii desu ne, hon’yaku suru no wa.) |
| Naomi: キャットさんは、日本語から英語に翻訳することと、英語から日本語に翻訳すること と、どちらが難しいですか。(Kyatto-san wa, Nihon-go kara Eigo ni hon’yaku suru koto to, Eigo kara Nihon-go ni hon’yaku suru koto to, dochira ga muzukashii desu ka.) |
| Kat: うーん、質問も難しいですね。(Ūn, shitsumon mo muzukashii desu ne.) That’s a difficult question. But Naomi-sensei asked me which do I think is more difficult - Japanese to English translation, or English to Japanese translation? んー．．．そうですね。やはり...やはり、やはり日本語から英語ですかね。(N… Sō desu ne. Yahari… yahari, yahari Nihon-go kara Eigo desu ka ne.) I think probably Japanese to English. なかなか翻訳しにくい言葉たくさんありますから。挨拶とかですね。(Nakanaka hon’yaku shinikui kotoba takusan arimasu kara. Aisatsu toka desu ne.) |
| Naomi: あ、そうですね。訳せないものがね、いっぱいありますね。(A, sō desu ne. Yakusenai mono ga ne, ippai arimasu ne.) |
| Kat: Um. There are quite a few words in Japanese which are really hard or impossible to translate into English such as greetings - よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu), お疲れ様です (otsukare-sama desu), and so on. |
| Naomi: あー、そうですね。(Ā, sō desu ne.) |
| Kat: You’ll see in other lessons where we are trying to put them into English. But...umm, it’s really difficult, I think. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson you’ll learn some conversational expressions. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Yes. We'd like to introduce 2 contracted forms or easy to say forms. |
| Kat: Alright. So, what's the first one? |
| Naomi: 〜ている (-te iru) becomes 〜てる (-te ru), and 〜でいる (-de iru) becomes 〜でる (-de ru). |
| Kat: Um. |
| Naomi: Here's an example. 聞いている (kiite iru) |
| Kat: “listening” |
| Naomi: 聞いている (kiite iru) becomes 聞いてる (kiite ru). |
| Kat: Notice 〜ている (-te iru) became 〜てる (-te ru). い (i) was dropped. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Kat: How about one more example? |
| Naomi: 読んでいる (yonde iru) |
| Kat: "Reading" as in "I'm reading a book now." |
| Naomi: 読んでいる (yonde iru) becomes 読んでる (yonde ru) |
| Kat: Notice 〜でいる (-de iru) became 〜でる (-de ru). い (i) was again dropped. |
| Did you get the pattern? Next, let's practice with a sentence! How do you say "I'm listening to Japanesepod101.com"? |
| Naomi: 私はジャパニーズポッドイチマルイチドットコムを聞いている。(Watashi wa Japanīzupoddo ichi maru ichi dotto komu o kiite iru.) |
| Kat: Now replace 〜ている (-te iru) with 〜てる (-te ru) and say the sentence again? |
| Naomi: 私はジャパニーズポッドイチマルイチドットコムを聞いてる。(Watashi wa Japanīzupoddo ichi maru ichi dotto komu o kiite ru.) |
| Kat: OK listeners, listen and repeat. "I'm listening to Japanesepod101.com." |
| Naomi: 私はジャパニーズポッドイチマルイチドットコムを聞いてる。(Watashi wa Japanīzupoddo ichi maru ichi dotto komu o kiite ru.) |
| Kat: (pause) Let's do one more. How do you say "I'm reading a book"? |
| Naomi: 私は本を読んでいる。(Watashi wa hon o yonde iru.) |
| Kat: Replace 〜でいる (-de iru) with 〜でる (-de ru) and say the sentence again? |
| Naomi: 私は本を読んでる。(Watashi wa hon o yonde ru.) |
| Kat: "I'm reading a book" OK listeners, listen and repeat. "I'm reading a book." |
| Naomi: 私は本を読んでる。(Watashi wa hon o yonde ru.) |
| Kat: (pause) Let's move on to the next rule. |
| Naomi: 〜ておく (-te oku) becomes 〜とく (-toku) and 〜でおく (-de oku) becomes 〜どく (-doku). |
| Kat: Um. Can we have an example? |
| Naomi: しておく (shite oku) |
| Kat: It means "to do something in advance or in preparation.” |
| Naomi: This しておく (shite oku) becomes しとく (shitoku). |
| Kat: And also notice 〜ておく (-te oku) becomes 〜とく (-toku). How about one more example? |
| Naomi: 読んでおく (yonde oku) |
| Kat: Meaning "to read in advance" or “to read in preparation for something.” |
| Naomi: 読んでおく (yonde oku) becomes 読んどく (yondoku). |
| Kat: Um, Notice 〜でおく (-de oku) became 〜どく (-doku). Let's practice with the sentence! |
| How do you say "I'll clean my room in advance or in preparation for something”? |
| Naomi: 掃除をしておく (sōji o shite oku) |
| Kat: Change 〜ておく (-te oku) to 〜とく (-toku) and say the sentence again? |
| Naomi: 掃除をしとく (sōji o shitoku) |
| Kat: "I'll clean my room in advance or in preparation for something”. Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Naomi: 掃除をしとく (sōji o shitoku) |
| Kat: (pause) "I'll clean my room in advance or in preparation for something”. Now, let's do one more. How do you say "I'll read the book in advance or in preparation for something”? |
| Naomi: 本を読んでおく (hon o yonde oku) |
| Kat: Change 〜でおく (-de oku) to 〜どく (-doku) and say the sentence again? |
| Naomi: 本を読んどく (hon o yondoku) |
| Kat: OK listeners, listen and repeat. "I'll read the book in advance or in preparation for something.” |
| Naomi: 本を読んどく (hon o yondoku) |
| Kat: (pause) So Naomi-sensei, I would say that these contracted forms are used all the time in conversational Japanese. |
| Naomi: いつもですね。(Itsumo desu ne.) All the time. |
| Kat: Um. In fact I think it might be rarer to hear particularly younger people using the proper extended forms. You know, like 聞いている (kiite iru) and something like that. If you use these contracted forms, your Japanese will sound much more natural, is what I'm trying to say! |
| Naomi: うん、とっても自然に聞こえると思いますね。(Un, tottemo shizen ni kikoeru to omoimasu ne.) |
| Kat: うん。(Un.) |
| Naomi: なので、みなさん、レッスンノートを読んどいてくださいね。(Nanode, mina-san, ressun nōto o yondoite kudasai ne.) |
| Kat: 読んどいてね。(Yondoite ne.) Please read up on the lesson notes! See you in the next lesson. |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.) |
| Kat: Bye bye! |
Outro |
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