Learn what to say when you leave the office at the end of the year
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Business Japanese for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 10 - The Last Day of the Year in a Japanese Office. Eric here. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 なつこです。 |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn what to say when you leave the office at the end of the year. The conversation takes place in an office. |
| Natsuko: It's between Linda and her boss, Mr. Takahashi. |
| Eric: The speakers are in a boss-subordinate relationship, so the subordinate will be speaking formal Japanese, and the boss will not. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Linda:高橋課長、この一年、色々お世話になりました。 |
| : 来年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Takahashi: お疲れ様。よいお年を。 |
| Linda: 課長も、よいお年を おむかえ 下さい。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda:高橋課長、この一年、色々お世話になりました。 |
| : 来年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Takahashi: お疲れ様。よいお年を。 |
| Linda: 課長も、よいお年を おむかえ 下さい。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda: Mr. Takahashi, I’d like to thank you for everything this year. |
| ; Please give me your continuous support next year. |
| Takahashi: Thank you for your hard work this year. Wish you have a happy new year. |
| Linda: Happy new year to you, Mr. Takahashi. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Natsuko, tell us more about the situation in this lesson’s dialogue. The conversation takes place in the office, but...are they having a party or something there? |
| Natsuko: They are. They’re at a small party in the office. At the end of the last business day, companies hold a gathering called 納会. |
| Eric: のうかい？What is that for? |
| Natsuko: Basically, to show the company’s appreciation for the employees’ hard work and efforts for the year. And to wish everyone a happy new year. |
| Eric: What do people do at the party? |
| Natsuko: First, a department head makes a speech to appreciate everyone's hard work for the year. And then, after the speech, people drink and eat. |
| Eric: Sounds like fun! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Natsuko: 色々 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: in various ways |
| Natsuko: 色々[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 色々 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 今年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: this year |
| Natsuko: 今年[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 今年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 来年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: next year |
| Natsuko: 来年[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 来年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: よい [natural native speed] |
| Eric: good |
| Natsuko: よい[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: よい [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: year |
| Natsuko: 年[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 年 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last we have.. |
| Natsuko: むかえる [natural native speed] |
| Eric: welcome, mark |
| Natsuko: むかえる[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: むかえる [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Natsuko: 色々 |
| Eric: which means “in various ways” |
| Natsuko: 色 means “color”. When it’s repeated, 色々 means “in many ways”. |
| Eric: You can use this word when you have various things on your mind, but you don't want to or can't say them one by one specifically. |
| Natsuko: It's often used in the expression 色々ありがとうございます。“Thank you for everything” |
| Eric: You can use 色々 as a na-adjective. いろいろな |
| Natsuko: For example いろいろな本 |
| Eric: which means “various books”. Natsuko, can can you give us an example using this word? |
| Natsuko: Sure. 今年は色々忙しかったです。 |
| Eric: ..which means “I was busy doing this and that.” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Natsuko: この一年 |
| Eric: which means “for this year”. Let’s break it down. |
| Natsuko: この |
| Eric: means “this”, |
| Natsuko: いち |
| Eric: means “one” |
| Natsuko: ねん |
| Eric: is “year”. So, altogether この一年 means “this one year”. You can use this word to talk about the time period of one year until the present time. |
| Natsuko: Right. この一年 is used when you look back on the past year until now. |
| Eric: In this lesson’s dialogue, Linda said to Mr. Takahashi… |
| Natsuko: この一年いろいろお世話になりました。 |
| Eric: which means “ I’d like to thank you for everything for this year.” We’ll touch on [ osewa ni narimashita] later in the lesson focus. |
| Natsuko: If you want to express gratitude for the past year, you can simply say… この一年、いろいろありがとうございました。 |
| Eric: which means “thank you for everything this year”. |
| Natsuko: Actually, this structure [ この + “duration of time” ] is very useful. For example, [この 一週間] |
| Eric: “For this past (one) week.” |
| Natsuko:[ この一か月間] |
| Eric: “For this past (one) month”. Natsuko, can you give us a sample sentence using this [ kono ＋ time duration] structure? |
| Natsuko: Sure. この二週間、とても忙しかったです |
| Eric: .. which means “I have been very busy these two weeks.” |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some expressions you can use at the end of the year, especially in the office. |
| Natsuko: We usually thank our boss and co-workers for their help and support on the last business day of the year. |
| Eric: And our first sentence is... |
| Natsuko: この一年、色々お世話になりました |
| Eric: Let's break this down. |
| Natsuko: この一年 |
| Eric: “this year”, “the year you are looking back on.” |
| Natsuko:色々 |
| Eric: “in many ways, various” |
| Natsuko:お世話になりました |
| Eric:It literally means “I was taken care by you”, but you can translate it as “thank you for all your help”. Natsuko, can we hear the sentence again? |
| Natsuko:この一年、色々お世話になりました. |
| Eric:This literally means “this year, I was taken care by you in many ways.” In more natural English, “Thank you for everything you've done for me in the past year”. |
| Natsuko: Also, 今年もいろいろお世話になりました is another common expression we use at the end of the year. |
| Eric: Oh, you replace この一年 with 今年も? |
| Natsuko: Right. 今年も “this year too” いろいろ “in many ways.” おせわになりました “you took care of me.” |
| Eric: So literally, “this year too, in many ways, you took care of me”. In natural English it means “Thank you for everything this year too.” |
| Next, let’s take a look at the expression asking for continuous support for the coming year. |
| Natsuko: OK. That is… 来年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Eric: Let’s break this down. |
| Natsuko:来年 |
| Eric: “next year” |
| Natsuko: も |
| Eric: This is a particle meaning “also.” So らいねんも means “next year too.” |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします |
| Eric: “please treat me well” or “Please give me your support.” Natsuko, can we hear the whole sentence again? |
| Natsuko:来年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Eric: “Please give me your continuous support next year” or “I’m look forward to your continued good will in the coming year.” Now Natsuko, we can say 来年もよろしくお願いします to our client, right? |
| Natsuko: Right. But in that case, change します to いたします and say 来年もよろしくお願いいたします。 |
| That way, you sound even better. |
| Eric: I see. OK, our last key sentence is... |
| Natsuko: よいお年をおむかえ下さい。 |
| Eric: “Wish you a Happy New Year”. Let’s break it down. |
| Natsuko: よい |
| Eric:“good” |
| Natsuko:お年 |
| Eric: A polite prefix [o] plus とし meaning “year” |
| Natsuko:おむかえ下さい |
| Eric: This is a very formal way to say むかえてください meaning “please welcome [something]”. Natsuko, can we hear the sentence again? |
| Natsuko: よいお年をおむかえ下さい。 |
| Eric: Which literally means “please welcome a good year”. It corresponds to “I wish you a happy new year.” in English. Who do you say this sentence to? |
| Natsuko: Since it’s a formal expression, we say 良いお年をお迎えください to our boss, superiors, and clients. |
| Eric: What about to your friends, coworkers or juniors? |
| Natsuko: We use the short version. 良いお年を！ |
| Eric: That’s easy – 良いお年を。 |
| Natsuko: Right. But please be careful, because you can say よいおとしをおむかえください or 良いお年を only BEFORE New Years Day. |
| Eric: Good to know. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Natsuko: またねー |
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