Learn how to ask for directions and use public transportation in Japan
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: 直美です。 (Naomidesu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. How Not To Take the Wrong Train in Japan. Now today we have a new character in our ongoing story. |
| Naomi: そうですね。ニューキャラクターですね。おじいさん。 (Sōdesu ne. Nyūkyarakutādesu ne. Ojīsan.) |
| Peter: An old person. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: And where is he? |
| Naomi: 駅にいます。 (Eki ni imasu.) He is at the station. 多分、東京駅にいます。 (Tabun, Tōkyō Eki ni imasu.) |
| Peter: So maybe he is in Tokyo station. |
| Naomi: Yeah it’s a huge station. |
| Peter: And he wants to go to Narita station right? |
| Naomi: Right but seems like he doesn’t know which train to take. |
| Peter: The focus of this lesson is |
| Naomi: Giving direction at the train station. |
| Peter: Using te forms. The conversation is between |
| Naomi: おじいさんと駅員 (Ojīsan to ekiin) |
| Peter: An old man and a station clerk. The speakers don’t know each other. Therefore they will be speaking |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| Peter: Okay let’s have a listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (東京駅) ((Tōkyō Eki)) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): えっと、うーん...。 (Etto, ūn....) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): どうしましたか。大丈夫ですか。どこへ行きますか。 (Dō shimashita ka. Daijōbu desu ka. Doko e ikimasu ka.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): あ、あのぉ...京成成田駅へ。 (A, anō... Keisei-Narita eki e.) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): ああ、京成成田駅ですね。山手線で 日暮里に 行って、日暮里で 京成線に 乗ってください。 (Ā, Keisei-Narita eki desu ne. Yamanote-sen de Nippori ni itte, Nippori de Keisei-sen ni notte kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はぁ...。すみませんが、もう一回、ゆっくり言ってください。メモをしますから。 (Hā.... Sumimasen ga, mō ikkai, yukkuri itte kudasai. Memo o shimasu kara.) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): まず、山手線に乗って、日暮里に行ってください。 (Mazu, Yamanote-sen ni notte, Nippori ni itte kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はい。はい。山手線で、日暮里まで行く ...。 (Hai. Hai. Yamanote-sen de, Nippori made iku....) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): それから、日暮里で山手線を降りて、京成線に乗り換えてください。 (Sore kara, Nippori de Yamanote-sen o orite, Keisei-sen ni norikaete kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): 日暮里で京成線に乗り換える...。ありがとうございました。 (Nippori de Keisei-sen ni norikaeru.... Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度はゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri, onegaishimasu.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): えっと、うーん...。 (Etto, ūn....) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): どうしましたか。大丈夫ですか。どこへ行きますか。 (Dō shimashita ka. Daijōbu desu ka. Doko e ikimasu ka.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): あ、あのぉ...京成成田駅へ。 (A, anō... Keisei-Narita eki e.) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): ああ、京成成田駅ですね。山手線で 日暮里に 行って、日暮里で 京成線に 乗ってください。 (Ā, Keisei-Narita eki desu ne. Yamanote-sen de Nippori ni itte, Nippori de Keisei-sen ni notte kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はぁ...。すみませんが、もう一回、ゆっくり言ってください。メモをしますから。 (Hā.... Sumimasen ga, mō ikkai, yukkuri itte kudasai. Memo o shimasu kara.) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): まず、山手線に乗って、日暮里に行ってください。 (Mazu, Yamanote-sen ni notte, Nippori ni itte kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はい。はい。山手線で、日暮里まで行く ...。 (Hai. Hai. Yamanote-sen de, Nippori made iku....) |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): それから、日暮里で山手線を降りて、京成線に乗り換えてください。 (Sore kara, Nippori de Yamanote-sen o orite, Keisei-sen ni norikaete kudasai.) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): 日暮里で京成線に乗り換える...。ありがとうございました。 (Nippori de Keisei-sen ni norikaeru.... Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| 次は英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| (東京駅) ((Tōkyō Eki)) |
| (Tokyo station) |
| 老人 (Rōjin): えっと、うーん...。 (Etto, ūn....) |
| OLD MAN: Ummm, let’s see... |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): どうしましたか。大丈夫ですか。どこへ行きますか。 Dō shimashita ka. Daijōbu desu ka. Doko e ikimasu ka.) |
| STATION ATTENDANT:Is everything alright? Where are you headed? |
| 老人 (Rōjin): あ、あのぉ...京成成田駅へ。 (A, anō... Keisei-Narita eki e.) |
| OLD MAN: Umm, Keisei Narita station. |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): ああ、京成成田駅ですね。山手線で 日暮里に 行って、日暮里で 京成線に 乗ってください。 (Ā, Keisei-Narita eki desu ne. Yamanote-sen de Nippori ni itte, Nippori de Keisei-sen ni notte kudasai.) |
| STATION ATTENDANT:Keisei Narita station? Take the Yamanote line to Nippori, then at Nippori transfer to the Keisei line. |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はぁ...。すみませんが、もう一回、ゆっくり言ってください。メモをしますから。 (Hā.... Sumimasen ga, mō ikkai, yukkuri itte kudasai. Memo o shimasu kara.) |
| OLD MAN: Hu—h. I’m sorry, can you say that one more time slowly? I’m going to write it down. |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): まず、山手線に乗って、日暮里に行ってください。 (Mazu, Yamanote-sen ni notte, Nippori ni itte kudasai.) |
| STATION ATTENDANT: First, get on the Yamanote line. Then, go to Nippori. |
| 老人 (Rōjin): はい。はい。山手線で、日暮里まで行く ...。 (Hai. Hai. Yamanote-sen de, Nippori made iku....) |
| OLD MAN: Ok, ok. Yamanote line, go to Nippori. |
| 駅員 (Ekiin): それから、日暮里で山手線を降りて、京成線に乗り換えてください。 (Sore kara, Nippori de Yamanote-sen o orite, Keisei-sen ni norikaete kudasai.) |
| STATION ATTENDANT: Then at Nippori, get off the Yamanote line, and transfer to the Keisei line. |
| 老人 (Rōjin): 日暮里で京成線に乗り換える...。ありがとうございました。 (Nippori de Keisei-sen ni norikaeru.... Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| OLD MAN: Transfer to the Keisei line at Nippori. Thank you very much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: おじいさん、可哀想ですね。 (Ojīsan, kawaisōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: Poor old guy. |
| Naomi: ねぇ。 (Ne~e.) Tokyo station is a huge station. You can easily get lost at that station. |
| Peter: とっても大きいですね。 (Tottemo ōkīdesu ne.) |
| Naomi: 大きいですよね。 (Ōkīdesu yo ne.) |
| Peter: It’s not too bad but the 京葉線 (Keiyōsen) is so far, the Keiyo line. |
| Naomi: I don’t even consider it in Tokyo station. |
| Peter: え、どっちが大きいでしょうかね。 (E, dotchi ga ōkīdeshou ka ne.) Shinjuku or Tokyo? |
| Naomi: I think Tokyo is bigger. |
| Peter: Wow! |
| Naomi: と、思います。だって新幹線、あるでしょ。 (To, omoimasu. Datte shinkansen, arudesho.) |
| Peter: Ah lots of Shinkansen start and take off from Tokyo so… |
| Naomi: Yeah どうでしょうね。 (Dōdeshou ne.) |
| Peter: どうでしょうね。 (Dōdeshou ne.) Not only that, Tokyo is really, really big and they are redoing it right? |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。 (Sō sō sō.) It’s like a maze. |
| Peter: Yeah. So if you haven’t been to Japan in a while, I am not sure, I think they are going to finish it maybe next year. I have to check. |
| Naomi: あ、本当？ (A, hontō?) |
| Peter: Yeah but I am pretty sure they are redoing it. So you have something to look forward to next time you come to Tokyo. |
| Naomi: Not many things to see though. |
| Peter: あるでしょ。 (Arudesho.) |
| Naomi: Umm ああ、まあね。 (Ā, mā ne.) And the building of Tokyo station is kind of cool, kind of. |
| Peter: Okay vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: First word is |
| Naomi: 乗る (noru) |
| Peter: To get on, to take. |
| Naomi: (slow)のる (noru) (natural speed)乗る (noru) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: メモ (memo) |
| Peter: Memorandum, memo. |
| Naomi: (slow)メモ (memo) (natural speed)メモ (memo) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: まず (mazu) |
| Peter: First of all, to start with. |
| Naomi: (slow)まず (mazu) (natural speed)まず (mazu) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 降りる (oriru) |
| Peter: To get off. |
| Naomi: (slow)おりる (oriru) (natural speed)降りる (oriru) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 乗り換える (norikaeru) |
| Peter: To transfer, to change trains. |
| Naomi: (slow)のりかえる (norikaeru) (natural speed)乗り換える (norikaeru) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Now this is going to be a really incredible section because we are going to go over some particles. |
| Naomi: 頑張って。ピーター。 (Ganbatte. Pītā.) |
| Peter: So to be very honest, I still have a lot of trouble with the correct particle. So I think this would be really, really good. Naomi Sensei, start us off. |
| Naomi: I’d like to introduce four verbs. |
| Peter: And these four verbs, we want to introduce them because they are essential to transportation in Japan. |
| Naomi: The first verb is 行く。 (Iku.) |
| Peter: To go. Now how would you say to go by taxi? |
| Naomi: 私はタクシーで行く。 (Watashi wa takushī de iku.) |
| Peter: I will go by taxi. Now notice here in the sentence, the particle で (De) follows the noun bus, taxi. When it follows a noun in this manner, it means by or using and this was covered in the original Nihongo Dojo Style You series, lesson 23. What’s the next verb? |
| Naomi: 乗る (Noru) |
| Peter: To get on. |
| Naomi: To say get on the bus, バスに乗る (Basuninoru) |
| Peter: Here the particle に (Ni) indicates movement from a larger to a smaller physical place. So the bus is smaller than outside. So when you get into a vehicle, it’s に。バスに乗る。 (Ni. Basuninoru.) |
| Naomi: Or タクシーに乗る。 (Takushī ni noru.) |
| Peter: Or 飛行機 (Hikōki) |
| Naomi: に、乗る。 (Ni, noru.) |
| Peter: Airplane. Okay what do we have next? |
| Naomi: 乗り換える (Norikaeru) |
| Peter: To transfer and in this case, we are going to use the same particle に (Ni) |
| Naomi: バスに乗り換える。 (Basu ni norikaeru.) |
| Peter: To transfer to the bus. |
| Naomi: 山手線に乗り換える。 (Yamanotesen ni norikaeru.) |
| Peter: To transfer to the Yamanote line. Now here is the interesting one. Naomi Sensei, how would you say, to transfer at Shinjuku to the Yamanote line? |
| Naomi: Good question. 新宿で、山手線に、乗り換える。 (Shinjuku de, Yamanotesen ni, norikaeru.) |
| Peter: In this case, the action takes place in Shinjuku. So we are going to say で (De). Okay one more particle that we want to cover today. That particle is |
| Naomi: を (O) |
| Peter: The reason we are introducing it here is it’s kind of like a usage that you are just going to have to memorize. When using the verb to get off something, to get off a train, to get out of the car, to get off a plane, see in English all the different changes to get off the plane. |
| Naomi: そう。難しいよね。 (Sō. Muzukashī yo ne.) |
| Peter: To get out of the car. |
| Naomi: そう。 (Sō.) |
| Peter: Now in Japanese, when you use the verb to get off which is |
| Naomi: 降りる (Oriru) |
| Peter: What’s used? |
| Naomi: Usually を (O). |
| Peter: So the vehicle followed by |
| Naomi: を、降りる (O, oriru) |
| Peter: For example, to get off the train. |
| Naomi: 電車を降りる。 (Denshawooriru.) |
| Peter: To get out of the car. |
| Naomi: 車を降りる。 (Kuruma o oriru.) |
| Peter: So mastering the usage of particles when talking about vehicles and verbs of action is really, really important to getting to that next level. So be sure to check out the PDF as there is a very nice write up about this inside the PDF. On to today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, what’s today’s grammar point? |
| Naomi: から (Kara) |
| Peter: In this lesson, we are focusing on the usage of the particle から (Kara) which indicates a cause or a reason. |
| Naomi: I think it can be translated as so or since or because in English. 電車で行きましょう。タクシーは高いですから。 (Densha de ikimashou. Takushī wa takaidesukara.) |
| Peter: Let’s go by train because taxis are expensive. Now notice where the から (Kara) was put in. At the end of the second sentence. Naomi Sensei, does it have to be that way? |
| Naomi: No you could say タクシーは高いですから、電車で行きましょう。 (Takushī wa takaidesukara, densha de ikimashou.) |
| Peter: Because taxis are expensive, let’s go by train. |
| Naomi: When people make a request, they use から (Kara) last. |
| Peter: It sounds a bit soft right. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: Kind of less abrupt. |
| Naomi: そうです。例えば、 (Sōdesu. Tatoeba,) In today’s dialogue, the old man said, ゆっくり言ってください (Yukkuri itte kudasai). He made a request and he gave the reason. メモをしますから。 (Memo o shimasukara.) |
| Peter: So can you please say it slowly. I am going to write it down but again in Japanese that because comes at the end and when the から (Kara) is the last thing said, it’s a bit softer. |
| Naomi: It’s a bit different from English. |
| Peter: Yes in English, you need the reason first. |
Outro |
| Peter: That’s going to do for today. |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。 (Ja, mata.) |
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