Learn about asking to speak to someone one the telephone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: おはよう、山形。さくらです。(Ohayō, Yamagata. Sakura desu.) |
| Natsuko: おはよう、山形。ナツコです。(Ohayō, Yamagata. Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here and we are back with another lesson. Okay, we have another great show for you today. We also would like to say please stop by www.japanesepod101.com, our ever growing community is built by our listeners. The more you participate, the more we grow and the more you can help other listeners post, comment, let us know about things. Again we learned so much from you. Not only that, in addition to that, we offer PDF files with the hiragana, with the kanji. So you want to stop by, you want to say hi, you want to come down, right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: We are waiting for you. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes. Okay, without further adieu, let’s jump into today’s conversation. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、川本夏子です。鈴木さくらさんお願いします。(Moshimoshi, Kawamoto Natsuko desu. Suzuki Sakura-san onegai shimasu.) |
| さくらのお父さん (Sakura no o-tō-san) : 今、さくらはいません。(Ima, Sakura wa imasen.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : あっ、そうですか。どうもありがとうございます。(A, sō desu ka. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| :じゃあ、携帯の方ですね。(Jā, keitai no hō desu ne.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、さくらですか。(Moshimoshi, Sakura desu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、さくらです。(Hai, Sakura desu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今どこにいますか。(Ima doko ni imasu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : 今新宿にいます！(Ima Shinjuku ni imasu!) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今忙しいですか。(Ima isogashii desu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、ちょっと忙しいです。(Hai, chotto isogashii desu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : じゃ、またあとで！(Ja, mata ato de!) |
| さくら (Sakura) : お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: Great job! Okay, you know the routine. What we are going to do now is give it to you one more time. もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、川本夏子です。鈴木さくらさんお願いします。(Moshimoshi, Kawamoto Natsuko desu. Suzuki Sakura-san onegai shimasu.) |
| さくらのお父さん (Sakura no o-tō-san) : 今、さくらはいません。(Ima, Sakura wa imasen.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : あっ、そうですか。どうもありがとうございます。(A, sō desu ka. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| :じゃあ、携帯の方ですね。(Jā, keitai no hō desu ne.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、さくらですか。(Moshimoshi, Sakura desu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、さくらです。(Hai, Sakura desu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今どこにいますか。(Ima doko ni imasu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : 今新宿にいます！(Ima Shinjuku ni imasu!) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今忙しいですか。(Ima isogashii desu ka.) |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、ちょっと忙しいです。(Hai, chotto isogashii desu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : じゃ、またあとで！(Ja, mata ato de!) |
| さくら (Sakura) : お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: Okay, now what we are going to do, again you guys know the drill. So, I will do the translation. We are going to do the conversation one more time. お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、川本夏子です。(Moshimoshi, Kawamoto Natsuko desu.) |
| NATSUKO: Hello, I am Natsuko Kawamoto. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 鈴木さくらさんお願いします。(Suzuki Sakura-san onegai shimasu.) |
| NATSUKO: Ms. Sakura Suzuki, please? |
| さくらのお父さん (Sakura no o-tō-san) : 今、さくらはいません。(Ima, Sakura wa imasen.) |
| NATSUKO'S DAD: Now Sakura is not here. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : あっ、そうですか。(A, sō desu ka.) |
| NATSUKO: Ah, I see. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : どうもありがとうございます。 (Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| NATSUKO: Thank you very much. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : じゃあ、携帯の方ですね。(Jā, keitai no hō desu ne.) |
| NATSUKO: Hum, I’ll try the cellphone. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : もしもし、さくらですか。(Moshimoshi, Sakura desu ka.) |
| NATSUKO: Hello, is this Sakura? |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、さくらです。(Hai, Sakura desu.) |
| SAKURA: Yes, this is Sakura. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今どこにいますか。(Ima doko ni imasu ka.) |
| NATSUKO: Where are you now? |
| さくら (Sakura) : 今新宿にいます！(Ima Shinjuku ni imasu!) |
| SAKURA: Now I’m in Shinjuku! |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 今忙しいですか。(Ima isogashii desu ka.) |
| NATSUKO: Are you busy now? |
| さくら (Sakura) : はい、ちょっと忙しいです。(Hai, chotto isogashii desu.) |
| SAKURA: Yes. I’m a little busy. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : じゃ、またあとで！(Ja, mata ato de!) |
| NATSUKO: Hum, OK. I’ll try you again later. |
| さくら (Sakura) : お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) |
| SAKURA: Please (do so). |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Okay great conversation. I just – I love these phone calls. By the way, how was my impression of Sakura’s father? |
| Sakura: Umm grave…. |
| Peter: You know Sakura. I went to a lot of acting schools. |
| Sakura: I realized that. |
| Natsuko: You did a great role. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes, apologies for that umm yes… |
| Natsuko: Truly exaggerated version. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay, back to the story. So this lesson has some very important features and right now, we are going to introduce them to you. Okay, we are going to start off with the first part. Now can you give us the first part one more time, Natsuko? |
| Sakura: もしもし、川本夏子です。(Moshimoshi, Kawamoto Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Okay, and say the name one more time. |
| Sakura: 川本夏子 (Kawamoto Natsuko) |
| Peter: What’s unique about the way you said this name? |
| Natsuko: It’s an eastern style because I say my last name first and my first name last. |
| Peter: Yes, got it. Now, up until now, we were just using first names. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And in the first call, you used the full name again last name first but then when you called Sakura’s cell phone, you didn’t even say your name. You just said, “Is this Sakura?” Why did you use your full name starting last name first when you made the first call? |
| Natsuko: Oh that’s because I called her house and I wanted to introduce myself politely to her family. |
| Peter: I see. So when you called her house, when you called someone’s house, you really should without a doubt use |
| Natsuko: Polite form. |
| Peter: Yeah, because you don’t know who is going to pick up the phone, right? |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: It might be Sakura. So it might be okay, but if it’s not Sakura. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: You are going to come across this very rude…. |
| Natsuko: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: And all you guys out there with girlfriends, you can kiss them goodbye. Yes, so again, notice the difference. This is one point we really want to stress in this conversation. The difference between calling someone’s house and calling someone’s cell phone. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Because again when you call the cell phone, you know or you have an idea of who has the phone but when you call the house, the average Japanese family is four people. So you have a 25% chance… |
| Sakura: Rough estimate. |
| Peter: Yes, actually a 75% chance of making a bad impression if you don’t use the polite one. |
| Natsuko: そうだね。(Sō da ne.) |
| Peter: So just stick with the polite one. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: Okay, so let’s just – we will give you the two side by side just to give you the comparison. Okay, can you give us one more time, Natsuko? Call to the house is |
| Natsuko: もしもし、川本夏子です。(Moshimoshi, Kawamoto Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Okay, then when you asked for Sakura, you said. |
| Natsuko: 鈴木さくらさんお願いします。(Suzuki Sakura-san onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: Yes, now the second part, too. Again you say Sakura’s last name first, her first name, you add on the suffix |
| Natsuko: さん (san) |
| Peter: To make it polite and then you say |
| Natsuko: お願いします (onegai shimasu) |
| Peter: Yes. So Ms. Sakura Suzuki, please. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes, now this is the style and we really cannot stress this enough, the difference between the styles and this style is good for business, too. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: Again last name first, first name last, attach さん (san) and then お願いします (onegai shimasu). |
| Natsuko: When you are sure that you are calling her house, you can omit Suzuki as well because all the family is Suzuki’s, right? |
| Peter: Oh really? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: So like it’s not rude to say さくらさんお願いします (Sakura-san onegai shimasu) when it’s Suzuki home you are calling. |
| Peter: はい。 |
| Natsuko: But still, like both are okay. |
| Peter: No wonder why I got so many laughs and giggles when I would call someone out…. |
| Natsuko: Well… |
| Peter: Start off with the last name. |
| Natsuko: You are right. All of them are Suzuki’s. |
| Sakura: Right, right. |
| Natsuko: In their house usually. |
| Sakura: Usually… |
| Peter: Thank you, Sakura. So basically we can just say the first name plus |
| Natsuko: さん (san) |
| Sakura: さん (san). Yeah we can’t leave out san, though. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Very important. |
| Peter: Ms. Sakura. |
| Sakura: Remember. |
| Peter: Okay, and now how about when we called your cell phone, what did we say? |
| Natsuko: もしもし、さくらですか。(Moshimoshi, Sakura desu ka.) |
| Peter: Yeah, we left off the さん (san). |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Just your name. And this is okay, right? |
| Natsuko: If you know, you are calling your friend. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: And this is a key point in this conversation. They are friends and same age. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, again we are going to get more into this but right now, just for this point, same age friends. So we can use just the first name. |
| Sakura: It’s usually the name you use when you are – you are with that person. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: So, like it can be a nickname or… |
| Natsuko: Or maybe, you know, only last name. |
| Peter: Okay, so let me rephrase this. When you ask for that person and you use the name that you usually use when you are with them. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So it can include a suffix or it could not include suffix. It could be a nickname as Sakura said. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Many possibilities, but when you call the house |
| Natsuko: Always use the さん (san). |
| Peter: You use the polite form, yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, next we have |
| Sakura: 今 (ima) |
| Peter: And what is this, Sakura? |
| Sakura: It’s now. |
| Peter: Now okay. Break it down. |
| Sakura: (slow)いま (ima) |
| Peter: And one time fast. |
| Sakura: 今 (ima) |
| Peter: Yes now. Again we use this all the time and we are going to be using it a lot, a lot coming up. So please put this one in the memory bank. |
| Sakura: Uho… |
| Peter: Okay, next we had. |
| Sakura: いません (imasen) |
| Peter: Okay, what is this? |
| Sakura: Not here. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Sakura: Doesn’t exist here. |
| Peter: Yes, it doesn't exist here and this is doesn’t exist. What about does exist? |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: Okay. So can you give us does exist one more time? |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Sakura: (slow)います (imasu) |
| Peter: And one time fast. |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: Okay, now yesterday we had |
| Sakura: あります (arimasu) |
| Peter: Okay, now that was also exists. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: What’s the difference here? |
| Sakura: います (imasu) is used for people. |
| Peter: Yes, just people? I would have to say living things. |
| Sakura: Ah… |
| Peter: Sakura, you don’t like animals. You left out all the animals. |
| Natsuko: Umm… |
| Sakura: おおー、ごめんなさい。(Ō, gomen nasai.) |
| Peter: It’s okay. Yes, so living things all get |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Natsuko: But we don’t usually use them for plants. |
| Sakura: Ah no, no, no... |
| Peter: Moving living things. |
| Natsuko: We don’t use that word for plants. So we have to say moving living things. |
| Sakura: Exactly. |
| Peter: Moving living things. |
| Sakura: Yes. That’s right. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: I am sure some of you out there can find examples like real exemptions to the rule of some kind of moving plant that gets, but we are giving you general rules here… |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And the general rule is, we use |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: For living, moving things and |
| Sakura: あります (arimasu) |
| Peter: For inanimate things. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: So just think of it this way. Inanimate is |
| Sakura: あります (arimasu) |
| Peter: Not moving inanimate. Animate is |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: Yes, so people, animals are included in this category. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Okay, now the negative form of this was |
| Sakura: いません (imasen) |
| Peter: Okay, and this is |
| Sakura: Not here. |
| Peter: Yes, so in the short dialogue, Natsuko called the house and I said 今、さくらはいません。 (Ima, Sakura wa imasen.) So Sakura is not here now. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: Okay, so. |
| Sakura: います (imasu) |
| Peter: We can get a clear example of this when Natsuko calls Sakura’s cell phone. She asks where are you now. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: 今どこにいますか。(Ima doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Peter: And the reply was |
| Sakura: 今、新宿にいます。(Ima, Shinjuku ni imasu.) |
| Peter: Yes, I am in Shinjuku. Okay, now in the past two days, we covered these essential verbs. These are verbs that we are going to be using all the time from here on out. So you want to remember these. We are going to have more up on a webpage www.japanesepod101.com. Come down to the webpage, check it out. These verbs build a great base for you. So you really want to get a good grasp of these and we are going to have a lot more information on the web page to get you that grasp you need. Okay, next we had |
| Sakura: 携帯 (keitai) |
| Peter: Yes and everybody remember, we had this one |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, and just give it to us one more time. |
| Sakura: 携帯 (keitai) |
| Peter: Yes, cell phone. Okay, next we had |
| Sakura: のほう (no hō) |
| Peter: Yes, and what does this mean? |
| Sakura: Literally it means in that direction or – when you have choices, two choices, that one like the other one. |
| Peter: Yes, no it’s a very good explanation. So in this case, we said |
| Sakura: 携帯のほう (keitai no hō) |
| Peter: Yes, meaning I will go with the cell phone. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, so you have two choices, right? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: So you tried on the home phone – and it wasn’t good. So you are going to choose the other one, which is a cell phone. So 携帯のほう (keitai no hō). |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes, that one. |
| Peter: Yes, go with this. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, can you break it down for us? |
| Sakura: (slow)のほう (no hō) |
| Peter: One time fast. |
| Sakura: のほう (no hō) |
| Peter: Yes and the way we formulate this sentence is we use a noun |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Plus |
| Sakura: のほう (no hō) |
| Peter: Yes. To get this, go with this. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, we will get into how to use this with verbs another time but for now, with nouns, you use noun plus |
| Sakura: のほう (no hō) |
| Peter: Yes, go with this. Okay, next we had |
| Sakura: ちょっと (chotto) |
| Peter: Okay, what’s this? |
| Sakura: Little. |
| Peter: A little. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, can you break it down? |
| Sakura: (slow)ちょっと (chotto) |
| Peter: And one time fast. |
| Sakura: ちょっと (chotto) |
| Peter: Okay, great job. Again a little |
| Sakura: ちょっと (chotto) |
| Peter: Yes and in this case, we use it together with |
| Sakura: 忙しいです (isogashii desu) |
| Peter: So it becomes |
| Sakura: ちょっと忙しいです (chotto isogashii desu) |
| Peter: A little busy. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, next we had |
| Sakura: またあとで (mata ato de) |
| Peter: And what does this mean? |
| Sakura: また (mata) is again. |
| Peter: Again. |
| Sakura: And あとで (ato de) is later. |
| Peter: So |
| Sakura: Again, later. |
| Peter: Yes, and again this is based on the context of the sentence and we are on the cell phone. So it means I will try you again later. If you are with somebody, we can also say |
| Sakura: またあとで。(Mata ato de.) |
| Peter: Yeah, see you later. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: So again it depends on the context of the situation. On the phone, I will try you again or we will talk later and then when you are with someone, see you later. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Great phrase. Use it all the time. One more time. |
| Sakura: またあとで。(Mata ato de.) |
Outro |
| Peter: Perfect. Okay, so we ran late again today but for your benefit. Okay, so we are going to stop here. We are going to say |
| Sakura: また明日ね。(Mata ashita ne.) |
| Natsuko: また明日。(Mata ashita.) |
| Peter: See you tomorrow. |
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