Learn how to make small talk when you give your coworkers souvenirs from a trip
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Business Japanese for Beginners, Season 1 Lesson 21 - Taking Souvenirs to Your Office. Eric here. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 奈津子です。 |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some useful expressions for when you give souvenirs to someone in the office. |
| The conversation takes place in an office during break. |
| Natsuko: It's between Linda and her co-worker, Ms. Taniguchi. |
| Eric: The speakers are co-workers, so they’ll be speaking politely, but not overly formally. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Linda: 谷口さん、これ、沖縄のおみやげです。 |
| : どうぞ。みなさんで、食べて下さい。 |
| Taniguchi: ありがとうございます！沖縄、いいですね。どうでしたか？ |
| Linda: 海がきれいでしたよ。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda: 谷口さん、これ、沖縄のおみやげです。 |
| : どうぞ。みなさんで、食べて下さい。 |
| Taniguchi: ありがとうございます！沖縄、いいですね。どうでしたか？ |
| Linda: 海がきれいでしたよ。 |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda: Hi Ms. Taniguchi. How are you? This is from Okinawa. |
| : Hope you like it, and would you please share with everyone? |
| Taniguchi: Oh, thank you very much! Okinawa sounds nice. How was it? |
| Linda: The ocean was so beautiful. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: So, Linda went to Okinawa and brought back a souvenir for her co-workers? That’s very nice of her. |
| Natsuko: Actually, bringing back おみやげ , “souvenirs,” is pretty common in Japan. It’s not something you have to do though. |
| Eric: Since Linda asked for it to be shared with everyone, the souvenir she brought back must be food. |
| Natsuko: Right. Probably a box of sweets or snacks. When we go on a trip for either business or pleasure, we usually buy something to eat for people in the office. |
| Eric: I think omiyage is a good communication tool. People can talk about the food and where they went. |
| Natsuko: Exactly. We use おみやげ as a conversation starter. |
| 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: おみやげ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a small gift, a souvenir |
| Natsuko: おみやげ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: おみやげ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 沖縄 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Japan’s most southern islands |
| Natsuko: 沖縄[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 沖縄 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 食べる [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to eat |
| Natsuko: 食べる[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 食べる [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: 海 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sea, ocean |
| Natsuko: 海[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: 海 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Natsuko: きれい [natural native speed] |
| Eric: beautiful |
| Natsuko: きれい[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: きれい [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Natsuko: みなさん [natural native speed] |
| Eric: everyone |
| Natsuko: みなさん[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Natsuko: みなさん [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 phrase is.. |
| Natsuko: みなさんで |
| Eric: meaning "with everyone." |
| Natsuko: みなさん means “everyone” and the particle で here means “with.” So みなさんで means “with everyone.” If you change the name suffix -san to -sama you can get a more formal word, みなさま. And the casual way to say “everyone” is みんな. |
| Eric: OK. So an extra formal way to say “everyone” is.. |
| Natsuko: みなさま |
| Eric: A polite way to say “everyone” is… |
| Natsuko:みなさん |
| Eric: And a casual way to say “everyone” is… |
| Natsuko:みんな |
| Eric: Okay. Let’s go back to the expression みなさんで. In the dialogue, Linda said… |
| Natsuko: みなさんで、食べて下さい, |
| Eric: meaning “please eat it with everyone” or “please share with everyone.” |
| Natsuko: たべてください means “please eat” and it’s a polite expression. However, it may sound too direct to use in a formal situation. So if you want to be a little more formal, use どうぞ instead of 食べてください。 |
| Eric: I see. That way, the sentence becomes more vague so it sounds more polite. |
| Natsuko: Right. みなさんで、どうぞ。 or みなさまでどうぞ。 |
| Eric: Literally means "with everyone, please" but it implies "please eat, drink, or use it with everyone." The exact translation depends on what you’re giving. Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some useful expressions for when you give souvenirs to someone in the office. The first expression we’ll look at is... |
| Natsuko: これ、沖縄のおみやげです。 |
| Eric:which means “This is a souvenir from Okinawa.” Let’s break down this sentence. |
| Natsuko:これ |
| Eric: meaning “this” |
| Natsuko:沖縄の |
| Eric: This is the name of a place, Okinawa, plus the particle, no. So this means “Okinawa’s.” |
| Natsuko:おみやげです. Remember, おみやげ means “souvenir.” So おみやげです means... |
| Eric: “is a souvenir.” Natsuko, can we hear the sentence again? |
| Natsuko:これ、沖縄のお土産です |
| Eric: Literally “This is Okinawa’s souvenir” or “This is a souvenir from Okinawa.” |
| Natsuko: Please notice that the topic marking particle, は, is omitted. When giving someone something, it sounds more natural to drop は. |
| Eric: Speaking of particles, also notice that we don’t use the particle kara meaning “from,” but the particle no, even if it’s “from” that place. |
| Natsuko: When you explain where your souvenir is from, you just say the place you visited and add ...のおみやげです. |
| Eric: Can we hear some examples? |
| Natsuko:Sure. これ、ニューヨークのおみやげです。 |
| Eric: “This is from New York.” |
| Natsuko: これ、ドイツのおみやげです。 |
| Eric: “This is from Germany.” What’s the next expression we’ll be looking at? |
| Natsuko: どうぞ。みなさんで、食べて下さい。 |
| Eric: which means “please share it with everyone” or “please enjoy it with everyone.” If a souvenir is for sharing, it’s good to say “please eat it with everyone” when giving it to them, even if you know the person will share it. Okay, listeners, please repeat after Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: どうぞ。みなさんで、食べてください。 |
| Eric: (5 sec)... As we explained in the vocab section, you can also say minasan de dozo to mean the same thing. Natsuko, are there any other expressions we should know? |
| Natsuko: In Japanese culture, being humble is very important and considered good manners. So when we give something to someone, we often add a phrase 少しですが |
| Eric: meaning “it’s just a little thing” or “it’s not much though.” |
| Natsuko: すこし means “a little” or “a few.” です is a copula and が is a conjunction meaning “but.” So すこしですが... |
| Eric: literally means “it’s a little but…” If it’s said in a full sentence, it would be something like “it’s just a little thing, but please accept it.” |
| Natsuko: We often stop the sentence at が and say すこしですが, but it’s also fine to say the full sentence すこしですが、どうぞ. |
| Eric: Listeners, repeat after Natsuko. Say “it’s just a little thing but...” |
| Natsuko:すこしですが |
| Eric: (5 sec.) Now let’s recap this lesson with some quizzes. You brought back a souvenir from the U.S. and want to give it to your co-worker. What would you say? |
| Natsuko: Here’s a hint. The U.S. is アメリカ and “souvenir from the US” is アメリカのおみやげ...so… |
| Eric: (5 sec.) Natsuko, the answer is...? |
| Natsuko: これ、アメリカのお土産です。 |
| Eric: “This is from the U.S.” If it’s for sharing, what would you say? (5sec.) Natsuko, the answer is…? |
| Natsuko:どうぞ。みなさんで、食べて下さい。 |
| Eric: “Please enjoy it with everyone.” Now, you want to be humble, so you add the phrase “it’s just a little thing, but please accept it.” How do you say that in Japanese? |
| Natsuko:(5 sec.) The answer is... すこしですが。 or すこしですが、どうぞ。 |
| Eric: Listeners, how did it go? Be sure to read the lesson notes to review! |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and see you next time! Bye! |
| Natsuko: またねー |
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