Learn how to explain who you are meeting and the time of your appointment when you have a business meeting
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Business Japanese for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 18 - Arriving for an Appointment. Eric here. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 奈津子です。 |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to tell a receptionist about your appointment. The conversation takes place at the reception desk of a company. |
| Natsuko: It's between Linda and a receptionist. |
| Eric:It’s a conversation between a receptionist and a visitor, so they’ll be using formal Japanese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Receptionist: いらっしゃいませ。 |
| Linda: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。 |
| : 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Receptionist:はい、少々お待ち下さい。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Receptionist: いらっしゃいませ。 |
| Linda: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。 |
| : 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Receptionist:はい、少々お待ち下さい。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Receptionist: Good afternoon. |
| Linda: Hi, I’m Linda Baker from ABC corporation. |
| : I have an appointment with Mr Ishii from the Sales Division at 3:00pm. |
| Receptionist: Yes, let me check. Please wait for a moment. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: When I hear the Japanese word uketsuke, I imagine a young lady in a uniform sitting behind a counter and bowing politely. Am I picturing it correctly? |
| Natsuko: I guess so. Company receptionists are usually women and usually good looking and friendly. |
| Eric: Is there any reason for that? |
| Natsuko: I don’t know. But maybe it’s because culturally people think women are easier to talk to. |
| Anyway, when you visit a company, you go to the うけつけor the reception desk first, and say your company and your own name. Then you tell them about your appointment. |
| Eric: But not all companies have a receptionist at the entrance, do they? |
| Natsuko: No. Sometimes there’s only a phone or an intercom at the entrance and they ask their visitors to call. In that case, call and give them the same information. |
| Eric: What if there’s no receptionist or phone at the entrance? |
| Natsuko: In that case, just enter the office and talk to someone who works there. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Natsuko: いらっしゃいませ。 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Hello. Welcome. May I help you? |
| Natsuko: いらっしゃいませ。[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: いらっしゃいませ。 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 営業 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: business, sales |
| Natsuko: 営業[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 営業 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 部 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: division, department |
| Natsuko: 部[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 部 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 約束 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: promise |
| Natsuko: 約束[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 約束 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 少々 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a moment |
| Natsuko: 少々[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 少々 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last we have.. |
| Natsuko: 待つ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to wait |
| Natsuko: 待つ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 待つ [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Natsuko: いらっしゃいませ。 |
| Eric: meaning "Hello. Welcome. May I help you?" Natsuko, this is actually the first time I’ve heard that other than at stores or restaurants. |
| Natsuko: Receptionists use it too. But when you meet your client, you don’t say いらっしゃいませ。 |
| Eric: What should I say then? |
| Natsuko: Just a normal greeting, おはようございますor こんにちは. |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Natsuko: 営業部 |
| Eric: meaning "Sales division" or “Sales Department” |
| Natsuko: It has two nouns in it. 営業 |
| Eric: meaning "sales" |
| Natsuko: and 部 |
| Eric:meaning "division." The department names are usually followed by -bu. |
| Natsuko: For example, "administration" is 管理 , so管理部 is |
| Eric: "administration division" |
| Natsuko: “general affairs” is 総務 so… 総務部 is |
| Eric: “General Affairs Division” |
| Natsuko: You might also hear 課 |
| Eric: Usually, -ka is used for sub-groups under the bu. For example… |
| Natsuko: 営業部 |
| Eric: “sales division” might have |
| Natsuko: 国内営業課 |
| Eric: “domestic sales department” and |
| Natsuko:海外営業課 |
| Eric: “overseas sales department” But the exact organization names depend on the company. Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to tell a receptionist about your appointment. |
| Natsuko: The sentence we’ll be looking at is... 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Eric: “I have an appointment with Mr Ishii from the Sales Department at 3:00pm.” Let’s break down this sentence. |
| Natsuko:営業部 |
| Eric: "Sales division" or “sales department” |
| Natsuko:の |
| Eric: is a particle that indicates possession. It similar to the apostrophe s in English. |
| Natsuko:石井様 |
| Eric: The family name Ishii and an honorific name suffix. So Ishii-sama means “Mr. or Ms. Ishii.” |
| Natsuko:と |
| Eric: a particle meaning “with” |
| Natsuko:三時 |
| Eric: 3 o’clock. |
| Natsuko:に |
| Eric: a particle meaning “at” |
| Natsuko:お約束 |
| Eric:a polite prefix plus the word meaning “appointment” |
| Natsuko:を |
| Eric: a particle |
| Natsuko:いただいております |
| Eric: “I have humbly received,” or more naturally, “I have.” Can we hear the whole sentence again? |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Eric:Literally, “with sales department’s Mr. Ishii, at 3:00, I have received an appointment.” In more natural English, “I have an appointment with Mr Ishii from the Sales Department at 3:00pm.” |
| Natsuko: Maybe いただいております is a little difficult. |
| Eric: Let’s explain the grammar behind it. Basically, this uses two humble verbs. |
| Natsuko: Right, itadaku, meaning “receive” and an auxiliary verb, orimasu, which is the humble form of imasu. The te-form of a verb plus orimasu or imasu indicates that something happened before and is still in the same state. So お約束をいただいております. |
| Eric: The closest literal English translation would be “I have received an appointment” or just “I have an appointment.” Listeners, Natsuko will read the whole sentence again, so please pay attention to the word order this time. |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Eric: First, say who you have an appointment with, followed by と |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と ”with Mr Ishii of Sales Department” |
| Eric:Next, give the time you have an appointment, followed by に |
| Natsuko: 三時に “at 3:00” |
| Eric: Finally, say that you have an appointment. |
| Natsuko: お約束をいただいております。If お約束をいただいております is too troublesome, you can simply say 約束があります. |
| Eric: Which is more formal? |
| Natsuko:お約束をいただいております, of course. |
| Eric: So in an extra formal situation, you would say... |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Eric: When you need to be polite, but there’s no need to speak extra formally, you can say... |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と３時に約束があります。 |
| Eric:Both sentences mean the same thing. “I have an appointment with Mr Ishii from the Sales Department at 3:00pm.” Natsuko, can we hear what Linda said at the reception when she visited Asai Shoji? |
| Natsuko: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。 |
| Eric: She introduced her company name and her own name, then she explained more about her appointment. |
| Natsuko: 営業部の石井様と３時にお約束をいただいております。 |
| Eric: Listeners, it’s your turn. You’re visiting a company. For practice, say you work for Tomita Motor corporation or Tomita Jidousha in Japanese. Use the pattern company name の Your name と申します.... |
| Natsuko: Were you able to get it? If your name is Hiroshi Tanaka, you’d say … トミタ自動車の田中ひろしと申します。 |
| Eric: Now, tell the receptionist that you have an appointment with Mr. Ito from the General Affairs Department at 4:00 pm. |
| Natsuko: General Affairs Department is 総務部, and 4:00 is 四時. |
| Natsuko: 総務部の伊藤様と四時にお約束をいただいております |
| Eric: “I have an appointment with Mr. Ito from the General Affairs Department at 4:00 pm.” |
| Eric: Now practice saying them both together. Start by introducing the company Tomita Jidousha, and your personal introduction, and then tell them you have an appointment with Mr. Ito from the General Affairs Department at 4:00 pm. |
| Natsuko: Again, General Affairs Department is 総務部, and 4:00 is 四時. |
| Natsuko: トミタ自動車の田中ひろしと申します。 総務部の伊藤様と四時にお約束をいただいております |
| Did you get it right? If you didn’t, make sure to read the lesson notes to review. |
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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