Learn about talking on the phone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。 (Naomidesu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. An Opportunity Arises. Naomi Sensei. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: Let’s just quickly review the previous lesson. |
| Naomi: Miu’s boyfriend Haruya met Miu’s family but her father didn’t like Haruya. So he was making a plot. I mean the father was making a plot. |
| Peter: So he was planning something and in the previous lesson, he made a plan to try and introduce his friend’s son – second son to his daughter. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: Okay what’s going on today’s lesson? |
| Naomi: 今日は (Kyō wa) Miu and Kiri are talking on the phone. |
| Peter: Okay and Kiri is of course Miu’s mother and what are we going to be studying today? |
| Naomi: Adjective plus そう(Sō). For example, 忙しそう (Isogashi-sō) |
| Peter: To look busy. |
| Naomi: And we have a review grammar point right? |
| Peter: That’s right we will be reviewing ましょう (Mashou) plus the sentence ending particle か (Ka) which indicates a question. So would you like to...? So are you ready? |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) Of course. |
| Peter: Now the conversation is between Miu and her mother. So you will be hearing casual Japanese which is quite common when you are speaking with friends and people who you are close to. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):もしもし、ママ? (Moshimoshi, mama?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):あらー、美雨ちゃん。元気？ (Ara, Miu-chan. Genki?) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):うん。まぁ、元気。 (Un. Mā, genki.) |
| :ママは 元気そうね。パパは 元気？ (Mama wa genki sō ne. Papa wa genki?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):お父さんは、忙しそうだけれど、元気よ。 (O-tōsan wa, isogashii sō da keredo, genki yo.) |
| :お父さんと 代わりましょうか？ (O-tōsan to kawarimashō ka?) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):え？パパいるの？ (E? Papa iru no?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):ええ。ここにいるわよ。代わりましょうか。 (Ē. Koko ni iru wa yo. Kawarimashō ka.) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、ううん。いい。 (A.. Ūn.. ii.) |
| :ママ、あのぉ、今週の 土曜、うちに 帰るね。 (Mama... anoo, konshū no doyō, uchi ni kaeru ne.) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):今週の土曜、、二十八日ね。 (Konshū no doyō... nijū hachi nichi ne.) |
| :あら。じゃぁ、駅まで 行きましょうか。(Ara. jā, eki made ikimashō ka.) |
| Naomi: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri onegaishimasu.) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):もしもし、ママ? (Moshimoshi, mama?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):あらー、美雨ちゃん。元気？ (Ara, Miu-chan. Genki?) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):うん。まぁ、元気。 (Un. Mā, genki.) |
| :ママは 元気そうね。パパは 元気？ (Mama wa genki sō ne. Papa wa genki?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):お父さんは、忙しそうだけれど、元気よ。 (O-tōsan wa, isogashii sō da keredo, genki yo.) |
| :お父さんと 代わりましょうか？ (O-tōsan to kawarimashō ka?) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):え？パパいるの？ (E? Papa iru no?) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):ええ。ここにいるわよ。代わりましょうか。 (Ē. Koko ni iru wa yo. Kawarimashō ka.) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、ううん。いい。 (A.. Ūn.. ii.) |
| :ママ、あのぉ、今週の 土曜、うちに 帰るね。 (Mama... anoo, konshū no doyō, uchi ni kaeru ne.) |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):今週の土曜、、二十八日ね。 (Konshū no doyō... nijū hachi nichi ne.) |
| :あら。じゃぁ、駅まで 行きましょうか。 (Ara. jā, eki made ikimashō ka.) |
| Naomi: 今度は英語を入ります。 (Kondo wa eigo o hairimasu.) |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):もしもし、ママ? (Moshimoshi, mama?) |
| Miu Tendo: Hello, mom? |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):あらー、美雨ちゃん。元気？ (Ara, Miu-chan. Genki?) |
| Kiri Tendo: My little Miu, how are you? |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):うん。まぁ、元気。ママは 元気そうね。パパは 元気？ (Un. Ma~a, genki. Mama wa genki-sō ne. Papa wa genki?) |
| Miu Tendo: I’m alright. You sound like you’re doing well. How’s dad? |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):お父さんは、忙しそうだけれど、元気よ。お父さんと 代わりましょうか？ (Otōsan wa, isogashi-sōdakeredo, genki yo. Otōsan to kawarimashou ka?) |
| Kiri Tendo: He seems busy, but he’s doing fine. Shall I put him on? |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):え？パパいるの？ (E? Papa iru no?) |
| Miu Tendo: Oh, he’s home? |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):ええ。ここにいるわよ。代わりましょうか。 (Ē. Koko ni iru wa yo. Kawarimashō ka.) |
| Kiri Tendo: Yeah, he’s right here. Shall I put him on? |
| 天道 美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、ううん。いい。 (A.. Ūn.. ii.) |
| :ママ、あのぉ、今週の 土曜、うちに 帰るね。 (Mama... anoo, konshū no doyō, uchi ni kaeru ne.) |
| Miu Tendo: Um, no, it’s OK. Hey Mom, I’m going home this Saturday. |
| 天道 きり (Tendō kiri):今週の土曜、、二十八日ね。あら。じゃぁ、駅まで 行きましょうか。 (Konshū no doyō,, ni jū hachi-nichi ne. Ara. Ja~a,-eki made ikimashou ka.) |
| Kiri Tendo: This Saturday, the 28th right? Dear me. Well, shall I pick you up at the station? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: Miu is still angry at her father I think because Kiri said お父さんと代わりましょうか。(Otōsan to kawarimashou ka.) twice in the conversation. |
| Peter: Shall I put that on or shall I put your father on |
| Naomi: はい (Hai) |
| Peter: And she answered. |
| Naomi: She said no, no thanks. ううん、いい。(Ūn, ī) |
| Peter: But it’s very interesting. The subtleness of the answer, right. The first time it was お父さんと代わりましょうか。 (Otōsan to kawarimashou ka.) and the answer was |
| Naomi: え、パパいるの？ (E, papa iru no?) Is he there? |
| Peter: And then the answer was |
| Naomi: ええ、いるわよ。 (E e, iru wa yo.) Yeah he is here. |
| Peter: And then she said again. |
| Naomi: 代わりましょうか。 (Kawarimashou ka.) |
| Peter: And her answer was |
| Naomi: ううん、いい。 (Ūn, ī) No thanks. |
| Peter: And I really like these words because いい (Ī) and ううん (Ūn) can depending on the intonation and depending on how long, it is going to either mean yes or no. |
| Naomi: Right that’s tricky part, isn’t it? |
| Peter: It took me very long time to master いい (Ī). Actually I don’t even think I have mastered it because you can use it to say when you are asked a question yes or no. Let’s give the negative first. Pay attention to the intonation please. え、代わりましょうか。 (E, kawarimashou ka.) |
| Naomi: ううん、いい。 (Ūn, ī.) |
| Peter: Going down and the ううん (Ūn) is a rise and drop. So it’s a little longer than the affirmative うん (Un). Here we have an extra syllable in there. ううん (Ūn)。 |
| Naomi: そうですね。ううん。 (Sōdesu ne. Ūn.) |
| Peter: And then いい (Ī) Now she wanted to talk to him 代わりましょうか。 (Kawarimashou ka.) |
| Naomi: うん、いいよ。 (Un, ī yo.) |
| Peter: So the うん (Un) seems to go up and it’s a little shorter right? |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: And you said いいよ (Ī yo) rising intonation いいよ (Ī yo) |
| Naomi: いいよ (Ī yo) |
| Peter: She wants to speak with him. So you could hear the difference. |
| Naomi: でも、(Demo,) I think in a affirmative case, she would just say うん (Un). That sounds more natural. |
| Peter: Okay again one of the more interesting parts of Japanese. This one takes some getting used to because especially like in the textbooks, you are always taught はい or いいえ (Hai or īe) but in casual Japanese, this becomes うん or ううん (Un or ūn) |
| Naomi: ううん。 (Ūn.) |
| Peter: So again very casual Japanese and really good for talking with friends. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Okay let’s take a look at the vocab for this lesson. First word. |
| Naomi: 毎日 (mainichi) |
| Peter: Everyday. |
| Naomi: まいにち、毎日 (Mai ni chi, Mainichi) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 忙しい (isogashii) |
| Peter: Busy. |
| Naomi: いそがしい、忙しい (Isogashī, isogashī) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 代わる (kawaru) |
| Peter: To take turns, to change places with. |
| Naomi: かわる、代わる (Kawaru, kawaru) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 今週 (konshū) |
| Peter: This week. |
| Naomi: こんしゅう、今週 (Kon shū, konshū) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases used in this lesson. Naomi Sensei お願いします (Onegaishimasu) |
| Naomi: けれど (Keredo) |
| Peter: Although, but, however. |
| Naomi: I think we’ve already studied the function of が (Ga) and でも (Demo) |
| Peter: Meaning but. |
| Naomi: けれども (Keredomo) is another word. |
| Peter: Ah Naomi Sensei, you inadvertently said けれども (Keredomo) but I think it’s really useful because we start out with けれども (Keredomo) which is the longest and most polite way to say but. Then in today’s conversation, we had |
| Naomi: けれど (Keredo) |
| Peter: Which is the same meaning, just a little bit more informal, still very polite. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) It’s a shortened form of けれども (Keredomo) |
| Peter: And then of course we have the last which is the most informal way to say the same thing and that is |
| Naomi: けど (Kedo) |
| Peter: And of course, this is the most common one when speaking informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) Even in a conversation, repeating same word again and again doesn’t sound very sophisticated you know. If you always say でも、でも、でも (Demo, demo, demo) that sounds a bit childish. I think the more use the better. |
| Peter: It’s interesting here. The person who used けれど (Keredo) in this conversation was the mother. |
| Naomi: Umm.. |
| Peter: And she – I would say is about 50 or so. So she seems to speak in a much more refined manner. Then maybe the father would say or a young male or probably even Miu. I think in most cases, most of them would use in this situation けど (Kedo) |
| Naomi: あ～、そうですね。 (A ~, sōdesune.) |
| Peter: But the mother is more polite, a bit more sophisticated. |
| Naomi: I think so. |
| Peter: So she says けれど (Keredo) which is quite polite. Naomi Sensei, can we have some examples. We will start out with the most polite version けれども (Keredomo) |
| Naomi: 昨日は寒かったですけれども、今日はとても暑いですね。 (Kinō wa samukattadesukeredomo, kyō wa totemo atsuidesu ne.) |
| Peter: Although it was cold yesterday, it was very hot today. Notice that in that sentence, we had extremely polite Japanese ですけれども (Desukeredomo) and ですね (Desu ne). Let’s take it down one notch. So let’s just reduce the politeness level just a little bit and go with けれど (Keredo) |
| Naomi: 昨日は寒かったけれど、今日はとても暑いですね。 (Kinō wa samukattakeredo, kyō wa totemo atsuidesu ne.) |
| Peter: So we remove ですけれども (Desukeredomo) and we replace it with けれど (Keredo) but the sentence still ends in ですね (Desu ne) keeping it very polite and the last one conversation among friends |
| Naomi: 昨日は寒かったけど、今日はとても暑いね。 (Kinō wa samukattakedo, kyō wa totemo atsui ne.) |
| Peter: So you could see that です (Desu) is removed completely and けれども (Keredomo) becomes けど (Kedo). Okay on we go. |
| Naomi: じゃあ、(Jā,) Grammar point. |
| Peter: Okay let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, one more time, what is today’s grammar point? |
| Naomi: そう (Sō) |
| Peter: Used in the context of looks like. |
| Naomi: In today’s dialogue, we have お父さんは、毎日忙しそう (Otōsan wa, mainichi isogashi-sō) |
| Peter: Dad seems busy every day. So in this conversation, we are going to look at adjectives plus そう (Sō) and again in Japanese, there are two types of adjectives. The first type is |
| Naomi: い (I) ending adjectives. |
| Peter: And the second type is |
| Naomi: な (Na) ending adjectives. |
| Peter: And when we attach そう (Sō) as in looks like, there are two patterns based on what type of adjective it is. Naomi Sensei, which we would like to look at first? |
| Naomi: い (I) ending adjectives. |
| Peter: Which are quite easy. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now when combining two, I think the best way to look at it, what do we have in the conversation – let’s just look at looks busy. That is |
| Naomi: 忙しそう (Isogashi-sō) |
| Peter: It ends in そう (Sō). What’s the original adjective? |
| Naomi: 忙しい (Isogashī) |
| Peter: Again a long い in 忙しい (I in isogashī) because there is a し (Shi) followed by い (I). So you get the pattern of looks busy, we just drop the い (I) at the end and attach そう (Sō) busy which is |
| Naomi: 忙しい (Isogashī) |
| Peter: Becomes |
| Naomi: 忙しそう (Isogashi-sō) |
| Peter: Looks busy. It’s that easy. Can we have another example? |
| Naomi: 嬉しい (Ureshī) |
| Peter: Happy. How can we get looks happy? |
| Naomi: うれし・そう、嬉しそう (Ureshi-sō, ureshi-sō) |
| Peter: Can we have a sample sentence? |
| Naomi: お父さん、嬉しそうよ。 (Otōsan, ureshi-sō yo.) |
| Peter: Dad looks really happy. Dad seems really happy. Okay now let’s take a look at na adjectives. On we go. |
| Naomi: Wait, there is an exception in い (I) adjective. |
| Peter: What exception are you talking about? |
| Naomi: いい (Ī) |
| Peter: Good. |
| Naomi: Looks good is not いさそう (I-sa-sō) but よさそう (Yo-sa-sō) |
| Peter: Ah that’s right. I remember this one. |
| Naomi: For example, このレストラン、よさそう。 (Kono resutoran, yo-sa-sō.) |
| Peter: This restaurant looks good. It’s not いそう (I-sō). It’s よさそう (Yo-sa-sō) |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: And speaking of exceptions, there is one more exception. |
| Naomi: You are talking about い (I) ending adjective? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: Really? |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, what’s the word for cute? |
| Naomi: かわいい (Kawaī) |
| Peter: So it ends in い (I). |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: But you can’t say かわいそう (Kawaisō) if you want to say looks cute. |
| Naomi: かわい・・・言わないね。 (Kawai iwanai ne.) |
| Peter: Because かわいそう (Kawaisō) means poor thing or that’s so sad. |
| Naomi: That is why we don’t say looks cute. |
| Peter: Yeah. So that is actually a different word in itself かわいそう (Kawaisō) |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: Two exceptions. い (I) adjective いい (Ī) which is good and かわいい (Kawaī) cute. |
| Naomi: Never thought about it. |
| Peter: The only reason I know is because a couple of mistakes like there was a very cute girl and I said to her, ah かわいそう (Kawaisō) like and I thought in my mind, it meant you look cute like it looks cute and in her mind, I was saying, you poor thing. Yes that wasn’t the best way to flatter her. You are close かわいそう (Kawaisō) like looks cute. |
| Naomi: そうね。 (Sō ne) |
| Peter: And she is thinking, what’s wrong with my clothes? What’s so sad or poor about them. |
| Naomi: When we want to say looks cute, we just say かわいい (Kawaī) instead of かわいいそう (Kawaī-sō) or something. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: We just say cute. |
| Peter: Okay now let’s take a quick look at な (Na) adjectives which you know we are kind of running out of time but it’s not a problem because な (Na) adjectives are actually the easiest. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: You just take the な (Na) adjective and you add |
| Naomi: そう (Sō) |
| Peter: In the example we had in the conversation it was |
| Naomi: 元気そう (Genki-sō) |
| Peter: He looks good or he seems fine. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: Na-adjective, just add そう (Sō) |
| Naomi: 便利 (Benri) which is convenient 便利そう (Benri-sō) |
| Peter: Seems or looks like it is convenient. |
| Naomi: Right. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay, so that is going to do for this lesson. All right that’s going to do for today. |
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