Learn how to talk about your occupation
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| Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha. |
| In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about your occupation in Japanese. |
| Let's get started! |
| Okay. |
| Let's begin by looking at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Let’s start over here. Let’s go down the list and take a look at each word and how to pronounce it naturally. |
| First is… |
| がくせい (gakusei) |
| [SLOW] がくせい (gakusei) |
| がくせい (gakusei) |
| This word, がくせい (gakusei), means “student,” student. |
| A pronunciation point about this word. It’s not (ga-ku-se-i) but (gakusei), (gakusei). So this /u/ sound is very, very quick and soft, がくせい (gakusei), will make it sound natural. |
| Next is… |
| けいさつかん (keisatsukan) |
| けいさつかん (keisatsukan) |
| [SLOW] けいさつかん (keisatsukan) |
| けいさつかん (keisatsukan) means “police officer,” police officer. |
| けいさつかん (keisatsukan) |
| けいさつかん (keisatsukan) |
| The next is… |
| べんごし (bengoshi) |
| べんごし (bengoshi) |
| [SLOW] べんごし (bengoshi) |
| べんごし (bengoshi) |
| This word means “lawyer.” |
| Okay |
| Next is… |
| けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyūsha) |
| [SLOW] けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyūsha) |
| けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyūsha) means “researcher,” researcher. |
| In this word, please note this long /u/ sound. So not (kenkyusha), but (kenkyū…sha) |
| Make sure that /u/ sound is very long. |
| けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyūsha) |
| けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyūsha) “researcher” |
| Okay |
| Next one in katakana here is… |
| バリスタ (barisuta) |
| バリスタ (barisuta) |
| This word means “barista.” |
| バリスタ (barisuta) |
| It sounds a lot like the English word “barista,” right? So this one is hopefully easy to remember, barista. Make sure you have this one in here though, this /u/ syllable. |
| [SLOW] バリスタ (barisuta) |
| バリスタ (barisuta) |
| Okay |
| Next, these are two words, actually, that can be used to refer to the same occupation. |
| They are… |
| せんせい (sensei) |
| せんせい (sensei) |
| And きょうし (kyōshi) |
| きょうし (kyōshi) |
| So, [SLOW] せんせい (sensei) and きょうし (kyōshi) can both be used to refer to a “teacher.” |
| So, one point about the word せんせい (sensei), I think maybe lots of people are familiar with this word. Typically, when someone is a teacher, they don’t refer to themselves as せんせい (sensei). Typically, this is a title. Other people call their teachers, せんせい (sensei). We typically don’t say it for ourselves. |
| So, for example, if you wanted to talk about me, you might use [my name] + せんせい (sensei), but I wouldn’t say, “I’m a せんせい (sensei).” So keep this in mind. |
| When you’re talking about your profession, you can say きょうし (kyōshi). |
| So, “I’m a きょうし (kyōshi)” would be “I’m a teacher.” |
| Okay, let’s go on to the next one… |
| いしゃ (isha) |
| いしゃ (isha) |
| This means “doctor.” |
| いしゃ (isha) |
| [SLOW] いしゃ (isha) |
| Next is… |
| [SLOW] しょうぼうし (shōbōshi) |
| しょうぼうし (shōbōshi) |
| So in this word, we have these two long vowel sounds, しょうぼうし (shōbōshi). This word means “firefighter,” firefighter. So, make sure this /ō/ and this /ō/, these long sounds are clearly pronounced. So not (shoboshi), but (shōbōshi), to exaggerate. |
| しょうぼうし (shōbōshi) |
| Okay |
| Next is… |
| かいしゃいん (kaishain) |
| かいしゃいん (kaishain) |
| [SLOW] かいしゃいん (kaishain) |
| かいしゃいん (kaishain) |
| This means “office worker” or “company employee.” |
| So maybe you know the word (kaisha), yeah? (Kaisha) means “company” and (in) can be used to mean “person” or a member of that thing. |
| So, かいしゃいん (kaishain) means “office worker” or “company employee.” |
| かいしゃいん (kaishain) |
| This is a very common word. |
| Next is… |
| かんごし (kangoshi) |
| かんごし (kangoshi) |
| [SLOW] かんごし (kangoshi) |
| かんごし (kangoshi) means “nurse,” nurse. |
| So someone who provides care, a かんごし (kangoshi). |
| Next is… |
| シェフ (sehfu) |
| シェフ (sehfu) |
| You can see this word like バリスタ (barisuta) is also in katakana, a loanword. |
| シェフ (sehfu) |
| So, シェフ (sehfu) means, as you might expect, “chef,” chef. So, someone who prepares food is a chef. |
| シェフ (sehfu) |
| The next word is also in katakana… |
| [SLOW] エンジニア (enjinia) |
| エンジニア (enjinia) |
| So, エンジニア (enjinia) means “engineer,” engineer. |
| So, make sure you pronounce this with a Japanese pronunciation, not “engineer” but エンジニア (enjinia). So this part, maybe at the end, is a little bit different from the English pronunciation, not /-neer/ but /-nia/, /-nia/, yeah. |
| エンジニア (enjinia) “engineer” |
| Okay |
| Next is… |
| [SLOW] かいけいし (kaikeishi) |
| かいけいし (kaikeishi) |
| This one, かいけいし (kaikeishi), means “accountant,” accountant. |
| So, (kai-kei-shi) “accountant.” |
| This word has these /e/ sounds as well. Don’t forget to pronounce those clearly. |
| [SLOW] かいけいし (kaikeishi) |
| かいけいし (kaikeishi) means “accountant.” |
| Finally, our last word here is… |
| ぎんこういん (ginkōin) |
| ぎんこういん (ginkōin) |
| So, ぎんこういん (ginkōin) means “bank employee,” bank employee. |
| So, this one has this long /ō/ sound in it, yeah? Right here. So not, (ginko) but (ginkō). Make this /ō/ sound clearly. |
| ぎんこういん (ginkōin) |
| In this word, we also have this /-in/ sound I talked about earlier with かいしゃいん (kaishain). So, it’s like saying member of a bank or person in a bank, ぎんこういん (ginkōin). |
| Okay |
| So, these are the vocabulary words we’re going to look at for this lesson. |
| Next, let’s take a look at some dialogue examples that use these vocabulary words. |
| Okay. |
| Now, let's take a look at some dialogue examples that use this vocabulary. |
| First, let’s start here… |
| かいしゃいん ですか。 |
| (Kaishain desu ka.) |
| かいしゃいん ですか。 |
| (Kaishain desu ka.) |
| いいえ、かいしゃいん ではありません。 がくせい です。 |
| (Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen. Gakusei desu.) |
| いいえ、かいしゃいん ではありません。 がくせい です。 |
| (Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen. Gakusei desu.) |
| So, this means, “Are you an office worker?” |
| かいしゃいん ですか。 |
| (Kaishain desu ka.) |
| “No, I’m not an office worker. I’m a student.” |
| いいえ、かいしゃいん ではありません。 がくせい です。 |
| (Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen. Gakusei desu.) |
| So let’s break this down. |
| (Kaishain), here, in the question means “office worker.” |
| Plus we have (desu ka), which means “are you” in this case. |
| “Are you an office worker?” |
| We follow this with “no” (Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen.) This is a polite way to say I am not that thing. |
| (Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen.) |
| “No, I’m not an office worker.” |
| (Gakusei desu.) |
| “I’m a student.” |
| So, let’s continue on to look at a few more examples that use slightly different variations on the first sentence. We could reply with the same pattern, but with different vocabulary words in this position. |
| For example… |
| いいえ、がくせい ではありません。けいさつかん です。 |
| (Iie, gakusei de wa arimasen. Keisatsukan desu.) |
| いいえ、がくせい ではありません。けいさつかん です。 |
| (Iie, gakusei de wa arimasen. Keisatsukan desu.) |
| Which means, “No, I’m not a student. I’m a police officer.” |
| So in this sentence, (gakusei) is in this position. |
| “No, I’m not a student.” |
| いいえ、がくせい ではありません。 |
| (Iie, gakusei de wa arimasen.) |
| In this position, we have けいさつかん (keisatsukan) which means “police officer.” |
| So, “No, I’m not a student. I’m a police officer.” |
| Okay, let’s look at one more example. |
| いいえ、べんごし ではありません。けんきゅうしゃ です。 |
| (Iie, bengoshi de wa arimasen. Kenkyūsha desu.) |
| いいえ、べんごし ではありません。けんきゅうしゃ です。 |
| (Iie, bengoshi de wa arimasen. Kenkyūsha desu.) |
| So in this sentence, we have (bengoshi) in this position, “lawyer.” |
| This means "No, I’m not a lawyer. I’m a (kenkyūsha) researcher." |
| “No, I’m not a lawyer. I’m a researcher.” |
| So, we can change the occupation in these parts to reference your true occupation. |
| Let’s take a look at a basic pattern that you can use to create sentences like these for your own occupation. |
| Okay, let’s look at a sentence pattern you can use to talk about your own occupation. |
| The basic pattern that we’ve been using in this lesson is… |
| いいえ、[occupation A] ではありません。[occupation B] です。 |
| (Iie, [occupation A] de wa arimasen. [occupation B] desu.) |
| So, what does this mean? |
| It means, “No, I’m not [occupation A]. I’m [occupation B].” |
| So, when someone asks you a question, like for example: |
| かいしゃいん ですか。 (Kaishain desu ka) or がくせい ですか。 (Gakusei desu ka), if it’s not true, you can say… |
| いいえ、かいしゃいん ではありません。(Iie, kaishain de wa arimasen.) |
| Or いいえ、がくせい ではありません。(Iie, gakusei de wa arimasen.) |
| "No, I’m not that thing." |
| "No, I’m not a かいしゃいん (kaishain)." “No, I’m not a company worker.” |
| Or, “No, I’m not a student.” |
| And then in the following sentence, you’ll respond with your actual occupation. |
| べんごし です。 (bengoshi desu.) “I’m a lawyer.” |
| Or, けんきゅうしゃ です。(Kenkyūsha desu.) “I’m a researcher.” |
| So, you can also use this part of the pattern to just introduce yourself. So, when you introduce your name, for example, you can follow up just with this pattern to share your occupation. |
| けんきゅうしゃ です。(Kenkyūsha desu.) “I’m a researcher.” |
| Or, べんごし です。 (bengoshi desu.) “I’m a lawyer.” |
| So, this pattern can be used to respond and correct someone or this part of the pattern can be use to introduce your own occupation. |
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