Learn how to greet someone when you see them at the beginning of the work year
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Business Japanese for Beginners, Season 1 Lesson 11 - Greeting Your Boss on the First Day of the Japanese New Year. Eric here. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 なつこです。 |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to greet someone when you see them at the beginning of the new 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 using formal Japanese, and the boss will not. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Linda:課長、明けましておめでとうございます。 |
| : 今年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Takahashi: おめでとう。今年もよろしく。 |
| Linda:お正月は、いかがでしたか。 |
| Takahashi: 寝正月だったよ。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda:課長、明けましておめでとうございます。 |
| : 今年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Takahashi: おめでとう。今年もよろしく。 |
| Linda:お正月は、いかがでしたか。 |
| Takahashi: 寝正月だったよ。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda: Mr Takahashi, happy new year. |
| : Please give me your continuous support this year. |
| Takahashi: Happy new year Linda. I count on you. Let’s have a good year together. |
| Linda: How was your new year holiday? |
| Takahashi: I stayed at home, slept as much as I wanted to, and just relaxed. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Natsuko, what do Japanese people do on New Year’s Day? |
| Natsuko: Well, families get together and eat おせちりょうり, a traditional auspicious meal specially prepared for the New Year. And we also eat おもち, rice cake. |
| Eirc: Are they all homemade? |
| Natsuko: It depends on the family, I guess. Some people cook from scratch, while others buy ready-made food from stores. |
| Eric: I see. Other than eating traditional food, what do they do? |
| Natsuko: We go on はつもうで. はつもうで means “first shrine or temple visit” |
| Eric: So people visit a temple or shrine for the first time in the year. |
| Natsuko: Right. Oh… and if you’re a child, you might get おとしだま from your relatives. おとしだま is a money gift. |
| Eric: How is ‘child’ defined? |
| Natsuko: Well...it’s a good question. I’d say...minors… and students. It depends on the family. |
| Eric: I see. Now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Natsuko: 正月 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: New Year's Holidays |
| Natsuko: 正月[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 正月 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: いかが [natural native speed] |
| Eric: how about (polite form of dō) |
| Natsuko: いかが[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: いかが [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last we have.. |
| Natsuko: 寝正月 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: New Years holiday spent doing nothing, but just staying at home |
| Natsuko: 寝正月[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 寝正月 [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 phrase is.. |
| Natsuko: いかがでしたか |
| Eric: which means “How was it?” Let’s break this down. |
| Natsuko: いかが |
| Eric: It’s a polite version of the word どう meaning “how”. |
| Natsuko:でした |
| Eric: which is a past tense of the copula です |
| Natsuko:か |
| Eric: the question marking particle か. So, altogether… |
| Natsuko: いかがでしたか |
| Eric: which means “How was it?” And it’s a polite question. |
| Natsuko: Right. So you can use this phrase with your boss, superiors or clients. |
| Eric: Once you know this phrase, you can also say “How was something?” |
| Natsuko: Right. The sentence structure is...”[something]は いかがでしたか.” All you have to do is insert [ wa ] between [something] and [ ikaga deshita ka] |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Natsuko: Sure. 会議はいかがでしたか。 |
| Eric: ..which means “How was the meeting?” |
| Okay, what's the next word? |
| Natsuko: 寝正月 |
| Eric: which means “New Years holiday spent doing nothing, but just staying at home” |
| Natsuko: 寝means “sleep” and 正月means “New year”. |
| Eric: So 寝正月 literally means “Sleeping New Year” or “lazy new year”. New Year's is a big holiday season in Japan and people usually have some sort of plan. If you say 寝正月, it sounds like you didn’t have any big plans and just stayed at home. |
| Natsuko: Right. You can also say ねしょうがつだった or ねしょうがつでした when you were sick and had to actually stay in bed on New year’s. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Natsuko: Sure. A: 寝正月でした。 |
| B: じゃあ、家でのんびりしたんですね。 |
| Eric: .. which means “A: I had a lazy New Years holiday. |
| B: So, you stayed at home and had a relaxing time. Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you will learn some useful expressions for the first working day after the New year's holiday. |
| What’s the first expression, Natsuko? |
| Natsuko: 明けましておめでとうございます。 |
| Eric: which means “Happy New Year”. |
| Now Natsuko, おめでとうございます means “congratulations”, but what about あけまして？ What does it mean? |
| Natsuko: 明けまして is from the verb 明けます meaning “to open”. |
| Eric: So...あけましておめでとうございます literally means “Congratulations on opening or beginning a new year.” And it corresponds to “Happy New Year” in English. |
| Natsuko:Yes, but be careful. You can say 明けましておめでとうございます only after the New Year has come. |
| Eric: I see. In English, we can say “Happy new year” in December, but it never happens in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: Right. So don’t say あけましておめでとうございます until January 1st. |
| Eric: OK, so Natsuko あけましておめでとうございます is a polite expression. What’s the casual version? |
| Natsuko: Drop ございますand say...あけましておめでとう |
| Eric: Let’s recap. Natsuko, how would you say “Happy New Year” to your boss? |
| Natsuko:あけましておめでとうございます。 |
| Eric: What about saying “Happy New Year” to your co-worker? |
| Natsuko:あけましておめでとう。 |
| Eric:OK. What’s the next expression? |
| Natsuko:今年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Eric: Listeners, do you remember よろしくおねがいします？ |
| Natsuko: You’ve heard it a lot in the self-introduction, haven’t you? |
| Eric:よろしくおねがいします literally means “please be nice to me”. You can also use it in a New year's greeting. Natsuko, can we hear the sentence again? |
| Natsuko: Sure. ことしも よろしくおねがいします |
| Eric: Let’s break this down. |
| Natsuko:今年 |
| Eric: “this year” |
| Natsuko:も |
| Eric: A particle meaning “too” or “also” |
| Natsuko:よろしくお願いします. |
| Eric: “Please be nice to me”. So altogether ... |
| Natsuko:今年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Eric:Literally means “please be nice to me this year too” or “please give me your continuous support this year.” |
| Natsuko, this sounds formal. Can you tell us the casual version? |
| Natsuko: Take out おねがいします and say 今年もよろしく。 |
| Eric: Let’s recap. Say “please be nice to me this year too” or “please give me your continuous support this year.” to your boss. |
| Natsuko: 今年もよろしくお願いします。 |
| Eric: Say “please be nice to me this year too” to your friend. |
| Natsuko: ことしもよろしく |
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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