Learn about telling time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: なつこです。(Natsuko desu.) |
| Yoshi: よしです。(Yoshi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Well guys, season two is finally here. |
| Natsuko: Finally, ha. |
| Peter: Yoshi-San, any comments? Season two! |
| Yoshi: Brilliant, brilliant. |
| Peter: The word of the week. Yoshi-San’s got the word of the week. Brilliant. Now, the goal of season two is to fill in the blanks missing from season one, so go back and listen to season, no no no. These lessons are designed to be used individually, of course, sometimes they’ll build upon each other, but mainly we raced through season one. We threw so much information at you that I think it was overwhelming. So, what we’re gonna do now is we’re gonna go back, and fill in, give you a stronger foundation. These lessons will benefit all levels. For instance, in today’s lesson we’re going to be covering time. It’s not a newbie lesson. What it is is more advanced structures when talking about time. So, let’s go. Should we give them a hint? Okay, let’s see if you like this. We’re going to give you the Japanese equivalent to a certain amount of time before the hour. For example, in English we’d say “ten to five, ten minutes before five.” Natsuko-San, in Japanese, what will we use? |
| Natsuko: 五時十分前 (go-ji jūbun mae) |
| Peter: So, the hour, the minutes, followed by… |
| Natsuko: 前 (mae) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Natsuko: まえ。(ma-e.) 前。 (mae.) |
| Peter: Before. Very logical. Okay? With that said, we’re going to give you today’s lesson. Very simple, short conversation between two friends. This is a formal situation. They’re expecting a friend to arrive tomorrow, but let’s see what happens, okay? Key point here is dealing with time. Okay, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 川本: 山田さんは明日の何時に着きますか。 (Yamada-san wa ashita no nanji ni tsukimasu ka?) |
| 渡辺: 彼女は午後6時15分前に到着します。 (Kanojo wa gogo roku-ji jūgo-fun mae ni tōchaku shimasu.) |
| 川本: ああ、留守電にメッセージがあります。 (Aa, rusuden ni messēji ga arimasu.) |
| 山田: もしもし、明日なんですが。一時間早く着きます。よろしくお願いします。 (Moshi moshi, ashita nan desu ga.) |
| Yoshi: もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.) |
| 川本: 山田さんは明日の何時に着きますか。 (Yamada-san wa ashita no nanji ni tsukimasu ka?) |
| 渡辺: 彼女は午後6時15分前に到着します。 (Kanojo wa gogo roku-ji jūgo-fun mae ni tōchaku shimasu.) |
| 川本: ああ、留守電にメッセージがあります。 (Aa, rusuden ni messēji ga arimasu.) |
| 山田: もしもし、明日なんですが。一時間早く着きます。よろしくお願いします。 (Moshi moshi, ashita nan desu ga.) |
| Yoshi: 次はピーターさんの英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa pītā-san no eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 川本: 山田さんは明日の何時に着きますか。 (Yamada-san wa ashita no nanji ni tsukimasu ka?) |
| KAWAMOTO: What time is Mrs. Yamada arriving tomorrow? |
| 渡辺: 彼女は午後6時15分前に到着します。 (Kanojo wa gogo roku-ji jūgo-fun mae ni tōchaku shimasu.) |
| WATANABE: She will arrive at 15 to 6. |
| 川本: ああ、留守電にメッセージがあります。 (Aa, rusuden ni messēji ga arimasu.) |
| KAWAMOTO: Oh, I have a voicemail. |
| 山田: もしもし、明日なんですが。一時間早く着きます。よろしくお願いします。 (Moshi moshi, ashita nan desu ga.) |
| YAMADA: Hello, about tomorrow... I'll arrive an hour early. Thank you in advance. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Very rich conversation. Many of these words you probably know already, but what we’re gonna do is, we’re gonna break down half of them, but the other half we’re just gonna give you the word and the definition. We’re just gonna run through them quickly. Just a little refresher, okay? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Natsuko-San, first word? |
| Natsuko:明日 (ashita) |
| Peter: “Tomorrow.” |
| Yoshi: 彼女 (kanojo) |
| Peter: “She, her.” And, what’s the opposite? Not really an opposite there. |
| Natsuko: *laughs* |
| Peter: Kind of an opposite. Okay, how do we say the other sex? |
| Natsuko: 彼。前。 (Kare. Zen.) |
| Peter: “Before.” Okay, now let’s move onto today’s more advanced vocabulary. Yoshi-San. |
| Yoshi: 着く (tsuku) |
| Peter: “To arrive.” |
| Yoshi: (slow)つく (tsuku) (natural speed)着く (tsuku) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Can we have an example sentence? |
| Yoshi: 明日の朝、東京に着きます。 (Ashita no asa, Tōkyō ni tsukimasu.) |
| Peter: “Tomorrow morning I’ll arrive in Tokyo.” Again, with Japanese verbs, there are two tenses; non-past and past. The non-past includes English present and future. So again, it’s the context of the sentence. As we’re talking about tomorrow in the sentence identified by 明日の朝 (ashita no asa) it becomes a future tense. “I will arrive in Tokyo tomorrow.” Okay, next we have Natsuko-San. |
| Natsuko: 午後 (gogo) |
| Peter: “Afternoon” |
| Natsuko: (slow) ごご (go go) (natural speed) 午後。午後一時に昼ごはんを食べます。 (Gogo. Gogo ichiji ni hiru gohan o tabemasu.) |
| Peter: “I’ll eat lunch at 1 o’clock.” One more time, Natsuko-San. |
| Natsuko: 午後一時に昼ごはんを食べます。 (Gogo ichiji ni hiru gohan o tabemasu.) |
| Peter: Next we have... |
| Yoshi: 到着 (tōchaku) |
| Peter: “Arrival” |
| Yoshi: (slow)とうちゃく (tōcha ku) (natural speed) 到着 (tōchaku) |
| Peter: Now, this is a compound word. It’s made up of two Chinese characters, and the reason we’re introducing this today is we want to get you familiar with verbs and compound words that can also be turned into verbs. So, Yoshi-San, what’s the verb “to arrive?” |
| Yoshi: 着く (tsuku) |
| Peter: The Chinese character, the Kanji, that’s found in this verb is also found in... |
| Yoshi: 到着 (tōchaku) |
| Peter: In addition we add one more Chinese character and get the compound, more advanced word “arrival”, which is.. |
| Yoshi: 到着 (tōchaku) |
| Peter: Now, this is a noun, but if we attach… |
| Yoshi: する (suru) |
| Peter: ...it becomes a verb, “to arrive”. So, Natsuko-San, Yoshi-San. What’s the difference between these two words? If we turn 到着 (tōchaku) into a verb by adding する (suru), what’s the difference between 着く (tsuku) and 到着 (tōchaku)? Which can both be interpreted as “to arrive.” |
| Natsuko: I think 到着する (tōchaku suru) has a nuance of coming a long way. |
| Yoshi: And, it also sounds a little more formal than saying 着く (tsuku). |
| Peter: And, also, this is the compound used with other Chinese characters when talking about, as Yoshi said, more formal and technical terms. Okay, and again, today we’re just getting your feet wet. We just wanna get you used to this notion that sometimes, individual...the Chinese characters found in individual verbs will be added to compounds to make more technical, formal, complicated words with slightly different nuance, in some cases. Okay, next we have… |
| Natsuko: 留守電 (rusuden) |
| Peter: “Voicemail” |
| Natsuko: (slow)るすでん (ru su den) (natural speed) 留守電 (rusuden) |
| Peter: Next |
| Yoshi: 早い (hayai) |
| Peter: “Fast, quick” |
| Yoshi: (slow)はやい (hayai) (natural speed) 早い (hayai) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay, now let’s take a look at today’s conversation. Let’s get in there and look at the details. Natsuko-San, what do we have first? |
| Natsuko: 山田さんは明日の何時に着きますか？ (Yamada-san wa ashita no nanji ni tsukimasu ka?) |
| Peter: Okay, what do we have first? |
| Natsuko: 山田さん (Yamada-san) |
| Peter: We have the last name, “Yamada,” the honor affixed suffix. |
| Natsuko: さん (san) |
| Peter: Now, this can be male or female. |
| Natsuko: M-hmm |
| Peter: Unisex. And we don’t know unless we know the person, or something more about the person. Maybe their first name would give us a better idea, but usually there’s no way to know if you just see “Yamada-San”. But, again, in this context, the following line gives it away. This is marked by the topic particle… |
| Natsuko: は (wa) |
| Peter: Next we have… |
| Natsuko: 明日の (ashita no) |
| Peter: “Tomorrow” First is “tomorrow”, 明日 (ashita), then we have the possessive particle… |
| Natsuko: の (no) |
| Peter: “Tomorrows” |
| Natsuko: 何時 (nanji) |
| Peter: So, literally, we have “tomorrows, what time?” “Tomorrows, what time?” Again, we interpret here, “What time tomorrow?” Now, “as it’s time,” is marked by… |
| Natsuko: に (ni) |
| Peter: The particle.. に (ni). “At. At what time?” Literally, “Tomorrows, what time, at?” followed by… |
| Natsuko: 着きますか？ (Tsukimasu ka?) |
| Peter: “Will arrive. Mr. Yamada, Mrs. Yamada, tomorrows, what time, at will arrive?” In Japanese, again, the verb comes at the end, so we just have to do a little rearranging in this sentence, “At what time will Mr Yamada, Mrs. Yamada arrive tomorrow?” “What time will Mr. Yamada, Mrs. Yamada arrive?” This is followed by… |
| Yoshi: 彼女は午後六時十五分前に到着します。 (Kanojo wa gogo 六時十五分前 Ni tōchaku shimasu.) |
| Peter: “She will arrive at 15 minutes to six, tomorrow.” Let’s just take a look at this. |
| Yoshi: 彼女 |
| Peter: “She” |
| Yoshi: は (wa) |
| Peter: Marked by the topic particle… |
| Yoshi: 午後 (gogo) |
| Peter: “Afternoon” |
| Yoshi: 六時 (roku-ji) |
| Peter: “Six o’clock” |
| Yoshi: 十五分 (jūgobun) |
| Peter: “Fifteen minutes.” Okay, here it comes. “Afternoon, six o’clock, fifteen minutes”... |
| Yoshi: 前 (mae) |
| Peter: “Before.” Now, in English we’d say “Fifteen minutes before six.” In Japanese, it’s the reverse. They give you the time, six o’clock, the amount of minutes, fifteen, before. That’s it. Saying the same thing, just the order is reversed. Okay, so we have, “she, afternoon, six o’clock, fifteen minutes, before”... |
| Yoshi: に (ni) |
| Peter: Again, time, we mark it with.. に (ni)... |
| Yoshi: 到着します。 (Tōchaku shimasu.) |
| Peter: “Will arrive.” So, let’s take the whole sentence and put it together. Literally, first, “she, afternoon, six o’clock, fifteen minutes before, will arrive.” Now, as this is a sentence, let’s just grab that verb from the end, bring it right before the subject. “She will arrive at fifteen minutes before six.” So, again, we’re just reversing a few things. If you...actually if you start from the back and work your way forward, that’s all there is to it. Right after the topic is established. Let’s just start from the back. “She will arrive fifteen minutes before six.” There it is, the same exact thing, just said in a different order. Then we have, Natsuko-San, the similarities are right there, right? |
| Natsuko: Yeah |
| Peter: Yoshi-San, you’re an expert in both, you study in the U.S. Once you get this little trick, that.. コツ (kotsu), that trick from going front to back. |
| Yoshi: Yeah, it’s pretty easy. |
| Peter: That’s all there is to it. |
| Natsuko: ああ、留守電にメッセージがあります。 (Ā, rusuden ni messēji ga arimasu.) |
| Peter: “So we have” after the.. Oh |
| Natsuko: 留守電 (rusuden) |
| Peter: “Voicemail” |
| Natsuko: に (ni) |
| Peter: The particle here is marking where. “In the voicemail”... |
| Natsuko: メッセージ (messēji) |
| Peter: “Message” |
| Natsuko: が (ga) |
| Peter: Marking particle |
| Natsuko: あります。 (Arimasu.) |
| Peter: “There is.” Again, “there is a message in my voicemail.” Just start from the back. “There is a message in the voicemail.” That’s all there is to it. Then, we listen to the message. Yoshi-San, can you read that back? |
| Yoshi: もしもし (moshimoshi) |
| Peter: This is a typical telephone greeting. One more time, just break it down. |
| Yoshi: もしもし。もしもし。 (Moshimoshi. Moshimoshi.) |
| Peter: Followed by… |
| Yoshi: 明日 (ashita) |
| Peter: “Tomorrow” |
| Yoshi: なんですが (nan desu ga) |
| Peter: Now this is an expression. Roughly equivalent, we can interpret it into English as “about.” For example, what’s the word for “car”, Yoshi? |
| Yoshi: 車 (kuruma) |
| Peter: Okay. So, say you borrowed Natsuko’s car, and you call Natsuko and you say… |
| Yoshi: もしもし。なつこさんの車なんですが。 (Moshimoshi. Natsuko-san no kurumana ndesuga.) |
| Peter: “About your car, Natsuko.” We know right away that something happened with the car. It’s just an identifying phrase that kind of acts as a filler and let’s the listening party know that they should be prepared to hear something about a plan or some shared information. In this case the news isn’t too bad, just a time change. Okay, let’s finish this up. |
| Yoshi: 一時間 (ichijikan) |
| Peter: “One hour” |
| Yoshi: 早く (hayaku) |
| Peter: Here we have.. 早い (hayai) it’s adverbial form, and to do this the final syllable.. い (i) becomes.... |
| Yoshi: く (ku) |
| Peter: Then the verb follows it, as in this case we have… |
| Yoshi: 着きます (tsukimasu) |
| Peter: So, the full expression goes… |
| Yoshi: 早く着きます (hayaku tsukimasu) |
| Peter: Okay, and then we have the time, so let’s just go back to that time real quick. Yoshi-San, one more time. |
| Yoshi: 一時間 (ichijikan) |
| Peter: And, no particles here. So, Yoshi-San, for example, if I’m going to be two hours early tomorrow, I would say… |
| Yoshi: 二時間早く着きます。 (Ni-jikan hayaku tsukimasu.) |
| Peter: Natsuko-San, three hours early, I would say… |
| Natsuko: 三時間早く着きます。 (San-jikan hayaku tsukimasu.) |
| Peter: And, finally we have the expression… |
| Yoshi: よろしくお願いします。 (Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu.) |
| Peter: Now, again, depending on the context, depending on the usage, the meaning of this phrase will change. Yoshi-San did an amazing job with the translation of today's episode which becomes… |
| Yoshi: “Thank you in advance” |
| Peter: Yeah, so you’re letting the listening party know that you’re changing plans and that they need to change their plans to coordinate with yours, so thank you in advance for your cooperation. Perfect. Natsuko-San, today, the main point was “fifteen minutes before six o’clock.” Please, give it to us one more time. |
| Natsuko: 六時十五分前 (roku-ji jūgo-fun mae) |
| Peter: Again, you give the hour… |
| Natsuko: 六時 (roku-ji) |
| Peter: Followed by the number of minutes… |
| Natsuko: 十五分 (jūgobun) |
| Peter: Followed by… |
| Natsuko: 前 (mae) |
| Peter: “Before.” So, literally, “six o’clock, fifteen minutes, before.” In English, again, it’s just reversed. Yoshi-San, how would I say, “five minutes to five?” |
| Yoshi: 五時五分前 |
| Peter: Again, first the hour… |
| Yoshi: 五時 (goji) |
| Peter: Followed by the number of minutes… |
| Yoshi: 五分 (gobu) |
| Peter: Followed by… |
| Yoshi: 前 (mae) |
| Peter: “Before.” |
Outro |
| Peter:That’s all there is to it. Okay, with that said, first lesson for season 2 under our belts. How do you feel, Natsuko-San? |
| Natsuko: 頑張ります。 (Ganbarimasu.) |
| Peter: Yoshi-San? |
| Yoshi: It’s gonna be good. |
| Peter: Alright, so with that said, we’ll see you tomorrow. |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、また明日ね。 (Jā, mata ashita ne.) |
| Yoshi: またね。 (Mata ne.) |
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