Zukuri

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Lower Intermediate, Series 5, Episode 1:

Japanese:

Wadai zukuri ni mo ii shi.

English:

It'd give you something to talk about.

"Zukuri" isn't in the PDF and I can't find it in an online dictionary.

Is it "conversation"? What is the best way to translate it?

[ericf]

wadai is conversation (well, actually it's topic or subject)
zukuri is tsukuri with dakuten marks on the tsu (can also be written dukuri or dzukuri perhaps) from tsukuru, to make

[mmmason8967]

The first syllable isn't ず (the voiced version of su), it's づ (the voiced version of tsu). In romaji it's written as either dzu (voiced tsu) or du (voiced tu). It's pronounced zu though, as in a-dzu-ki beans.

Anyway, you need to search for dukuri or dzukuri.

マイケル

[mmmason8967]

Blast it! Ninja'ed by Eric again...

マイケル

[videovillain]

zukuri is tsukuri with a colloquial change to the pronunciation (so it flows off the tongue easier). But this only happens when you are connecting tsukuri to a noun, as in wadaizukuri. Otherwise, when used as a verb, it stays in its original form of naninani wo tsukuru.

作り　=　つくり　becomes　づくり　when attached to a noun like:
わだいづくり　に　もいいし。 It'd give you something to talk about.

But it could also be said like this without needing the colloquial change:
わだい　を　つくる　の　もいいし。 It'd give you something to talk about.

[community.japanese]

Andy-san, "ninja" エリックsan, マイケルsan, videovillain-san,
kon'nichiwa!

Wonderful explanations, everyone!
Just like this word "wadai zukuri", we often make a noun from a verb: tsukuru => tsukuri/zukuri.
For example,
asobu => asobi
tatsu => tachi/dachi
kaku => kaki/gaki

When the original word starts with consonants "k", "s", "t" and "h", there's a possibility of those consonants
becoming "voiced" sound: "g", "z", "d", "b" and "p"

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com