Saying Where You're From - Part 1

Learn how to say where you're from

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Lesson Transcript

Hi, everyone! I'm Alisha.

みなさん、こんにちは。Alisha です。 (Mina-san, kon'nichiwa. Alisha desu.)

Welcome to another Whiteboard video!

In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to say where you're from in Japanese.

Let’s get started!

Okay, let’s take a look at the dialogue for this lesson.

The first line in the dialogue is the key question for this lesson.

しゅっしんは　どこですか。(Shusshin wa doko desu ka.)

しゅっしんは　どこですか。(Shusshin wa doko desu ka.) which means “Where is your hometown?”

しゅっしんは　どこですか。(Shusshin wa doko desu ka.)

And the answer in the dialogue is…

しゅっしんは　フロリダです。(Shusshin wa Furorida desu.)

So, this means "My hometown is Florida."

しゅっしんは　フロリダです。(Shusshin wa Furorida desu.)

So, in this sentence, in this situation, we have this word しゅっしん (shusshin).

しゅっしん (shusshin)

This means “hometown.”

So, in this sense, of course, Florida is not a town, but we use (shusshin) to refer to where we’re from or the place that we originally came from. You can use a specific town or, of course, a state as well if that’s more familiar for the listener.

Let’s break down a couple of keypoints in the sentences.

So, first in the question, we have しゅっしんは (shusshin wa), and in this (shusshin), we have this small stop, this small っ (tsu). So not (shusshin), but (shu-sshin), (shu-sshin), so make sure tha you have that small stop in your speech. So not (shusshin wa), that’s incorrect.

しゅっしんは (shusshin wa)

So, “hometown.”

And then we have the question word, どこ (doko).

しゅっしんは　どこですか。(Shusshin wa doko desu ka.)

So, “Where is your hometown?”

Or another way to understand this is “Where are you from?”

And in the response, we have the same keyword, しゅっしんは (shusshin wa)

So again, しゅっしん (shusshin).

しゅっしんは　フロリダです (Shusshin wa Furorida desu), in this case.

So we end it with a simple to-be verb.

So, “My hometown is Florida.”

Let’s take a look at some other examples, some other ways that you can respond to the question, “Where is your hometown?”

Okay, let’s take a look at some more example responses for ways to answer the question:

しゅっしんは　どこですか。(Shusshin wa doko desu ka.)

So, the next example sentence is…

しゅっしんは　とうきょうです。(Shusshin wa Tōkyō desu.)

This means "My hometown is Tokyo."

しゅっしんは　とうきょうです。(Shusshin wa Tōkyō desu.)

So again, we have (shusshin) at the beginning, so “hometown.”

And in red here, we have the location, (Tōkyō), (Tōkyō).

Notice, this is not (Tokyo), but [enunciated] (Tōkyō). So there’s a long /o/ sound in both parts of this word.

とうきょうです。(Tōkyō desu.)

しゅっしんは　とうきょうです。(Shusshin wa Tōkyō desu.)

“My hometown is Tokyo” or “I’m from Tokyo.”

Let’s take a look at the second example sentence.

The second example response is…

しゅっしんは　ペキンです。(Shusshin wa Pekin desu.)

So, the vocabulary word here is [enunciated] ペキン (Pekin).

ペキン (Pekin) which means “Beijing.”

"My hometown is Beijing."

しゅっしんは　ペキンです。

(Shusshin wa Pekin desu.)

"My hometown is Beijing."

Okay, let's take a look at the key vocabulary for this lesson.

The vocabulary for this lesson is a bunch of different locations that you can use to express where you’re from. Let’s go one by one with some major places from around the world.

So, the first vocabulary word is…

フロリダ (Furorida)

フロリダ (Furorida) which means "Florida."

So, [enunciated] フロリダ (Furorida)

[normal]フロリダ (Furorida) “Florida”

The next one is…

ペキン (Pekin)

[enunciated] ペキン (Pekin)

[normal] ペキン (Pekin) which means "Beijing"

“Beijing” so ペキン (Pekin).

Next is…

ソウル (Sōru)

ソウル (Sōru) "Seoul"

So, [enunciated] ソウル (Sōru).

There’s a long /o/ sound there.

Not (Soru), but ソウル (Sōru) which means "Seoul."

ソウル (Sōru)

Next, we have…

パリ (Pari)

パリ (Pari) means "Paris."

パリ (Pari)

Next, we have…

ロンドン (Rondon)

ロンドン (Rondon) which means "London."

So, [enunciated] ロンドン (Rondon) “London”

[normal] ロンドン (Rondon)

The next word is…

シドニー (Shidonī)

So you’ll notice, in this word, we have a long /i/ sound at the end of (Shidonī).

So, シドニー (Shidonī) is "Sydney"

"Sydney"

シドニー (Shidonī)

And finally, we have…

リオデジャネイロ (Rio de Janeiro)

リオデジャネイロ (Rio de Janeiro) which means "Rio de Janeiro."

"Rio de Janeiro"

リオデジャネイロ (Rio de Janeiro)

So, these are locations from around the world.

Next, let’s take a look at some major cities inside Japan and take a look at how to pronounce them correctly.

So, starting up north, we have…

さっぽろ (Sapporo)

さっぽろ (Sapporo) "Sapporo"

So, note in Japanese, there’s this small stop, there’s a small っ (tsu) here. So not (Sapporo) but (Sap-poro), (Sap-poro).

So there’s that very, very short stop before the /p/ sound, so さっぽろ (Sapporo).

さっぽろ (Sapporo) is "Sapporo," okay.

The next one, the biggest city is とうきょう (Tōkyō)

So, とうきょう (Tōkyō), there’s this long /o/ sound, とうきょう (Tōkyō).

とうきょう (Tōkyō) which is "Tokyo."

とうきょう (Tōkyō)

Moving on this side of the map, we have two major cities next to each other.

So, this one is きょうと (Kyōto).

きょうと (Kyōto)

So, again, we have a long /o/ sound here, just like in とうきょう (Tōkyō). We have the same (-o) after (Kyō).

So, きょうと (Kyōto)

[enunciated] きょうと (Kyōto)

[normal] きょうと (Kyōto)

きょうと (Kyōto)

Next to Kyoto, we have…

おおさか (Ōsaka)

There’s two /o/s after another.

おおさか (Ōsaka)

So not (Osaka) but おおさか (Ōsaka).

おおさか (Ōsaka)

This is “Osaka.”

And finally, over here, on this island, we have…

ふくおか（Fukuoka)

[enunciated] ふくおか（Fukuoka)

[normal] ふくおか（Fukuoka)

This is "Fukuoka."

So, these are some major cities within Japan.

Next, let’s take a look at the sentence pattern that you can use to express your own hometown with one of these locations or with your own hometown.

Okay, let’s take a look at the sentence pattern for this lesson. You can use this pattern to express your own hometown.

So, the pattern is…

しゅっしんは　[hometown]です。

(Shusshin wa [hometown] desu.)

しゅっしんは　[hometown]です。

(Shusshin wa [hometown] desu.)

So this means "My hometown is [your hometown]."

So, this red part can be replaced with the city or if it’s appropriate, the State or region that you’re from.

しゅっしんは　[hometown]です。

(Shusshin wa [hometown] desu.)

Remember, as I said before this, (Shusshin) needs a stop in the middle of it, so not (Shusshin), but (Shusshin wa [hometown] desu.)

So you can use any of the vocabulary words we talked about today or you can use your own hometown to practice this pattern.

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