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Lesson Transcript

:*****Opening********
Jessi:(Title)Hello everyone, I'm Jessi and I'm in the studio joined by。。。
Naomi:直美です。Hi, everyone, Naomi here. レッスン1からレッスン3では文字語彙を勉強しました。
Jessi:You learned what the Kanji and Vocab section is like in Lessons 1 to 3.
Naomi:レッスン4からレッスン8では文法と読解を勉強します。
Jessi:From Lesson 4 to Lesson 8, we'll go over the grammar and reading comprehension sections.
Naomi:このレッスンでは文法・読解のもんだい１を勉強しましょう。
Jessi:In this lesson we'll cover もんだい 1 of the Grammar and Reading Comprehension section .
:*****About language knowledge and reading comprehension section********
Naomi:ジェシーさん。最初に、文法・読解のセクションの説明をお願いします。
So Jessi, could you explain what the Grammar and reading comprehension section is like?
Jessi: Sure! Starting in 2010, the format of some of the questions in the grammar and reading section have changed. However, the purpose of this section remains the same.
In this section, you are tested on how well you know Japanese grammar, which includes the usage of particles, verbs, adjective conjugation and sentence structure. You are also tested on how well you can understand sentences written in Japanese.
Naomi:そうですね。6つのタイプの質問があります。
Jessi:There are 6 types of questions.
Naomi:ではもんだい１からはじめましょう。Let's start with もんだい１, shall we?
:*******How to prepare for もんだい1*******
Jessi:もんだい１ tests whether you can choose the correct grammar that fits into the sentence. According to the guidelines, there are 15 of this type of question. Please make sure to go through and review the formation and meaning of the grammar structures you have learned so far.
First of all, what are the instructions, Naomi-sensei?
Naomi: Well...the instructions are nothing new. ( )に何を入れますか。　１・２・３・４から　いちばん　いい　ものを　一つ　えらんでください。
Jessi:Fill in the blanks. Choose the best answer from 1 to 4.
Naomi:You've heard these instructions quite a lot in this series, haven't you?
Jessi: I think we're pretty used to them by now! Can we hear a sample question?
Naomi:Sure. This is a conversation between 2people.
Person A says 「さむいですね。」 Then person B replies...
Choice 1 あした、ゆきが ふるつもり ですよ。
Choice 2 あした、ゆきが ふったらしい ですよ。
Choice 3 あした、ゆきが ふっているそう ですよ。
Choice 4 あした、ゆきが ふるそう ですよ。
Jessi:Can we hear the Person A's line again?
Naomi:さむいですね　It's cold, isn't it?
Jessi:And what's the correct answer is?
Naomi:Choice 4. None of other choices are grammatically correct.
Jessi:You may find this sample question difficult. But don't worry. Remember that is a written test. The question and all of the choices are written out on a sheet, which makes it a lot easier to find the right answer than hearing choices from the audio.
Naomi:But to get the right answer you need to know the correct usage of つもり、らしい and そう.
Jessi: Right. Next, we're going to introduce to you some grammar points that frequently show up on the JLPT.
:*****Grammar review1 *******
Naomi:Please review the usage of reported speech such as ～らしい/～そうだ/～ようだ
Jessi:Actually these are all auxiliary verbs and they come after informal speech.
Naomi:Right. 雨が降る is "it rains"　雨が降る らしい is
Jessi:I heard that it's going to rain.
Naomi:雨が降るそうだ　is
Jessi: The same meaning "I heard that it's going to rain."
Naomi:And 雨が降るようだ is
Jessi:"It seems like it's going to rain." Generally speaking, らしい and そうだ are translated as "I heard" and ようだ is usually translated as "seems like" or "looks like”.
Naomi:Here's another set of important verbs.はじめる(start)/つづける(continue)/おわる(finish)
Jessi:They also work as an auxiliary verbs when they follow the masu stem of a verb.
Naomi:Again 雨が降る is "it rains" 雨が降り始める is
Jessi:It starts raining.
Naomi:雨が降り続ける　is
Jessi:It keeps raining.
Naomi:雨が降り終わる　is
Jessi:It stops raining.
Naomi:I know you've already mastered verb conjugation, so please review it before the test once again. Not only the te-form and masu form but also the imperative form.
Jessi:Oh, you mean words like 行け "GO!"　or 食べろ "EAT", しろ"DO it!" and so on?
Naomi: Right. Also, don't forget the negative imperative such as 行くな"don't go", 食べるな", don't eat, and so on. The negative imperative is rather easy though.
Jessi:Yes. The imperative and negative imperative and how to form them is explained in the Lesson notes.
Naomi:So be sure to read them. 読め！I'm just kidding. It's too strong or I'd say too rough to say to our listeners.
Jessi:There's the politer version of the imperative, isn't there? Like 読みなさい。
Naomi:あ～Great point! なさい is a slightly politer way to tell or order someone to do things. It's still quite strong though. [Masu stem] ＋なさい is often used by parents, school teachers or used in instructions in a test.
Jessi: I see. So a mother might say to her kid 「野菜を食べなさい」Eat your vegetables. or　「宿題をしなさい」Do your homework.
Naomi:Exactly.
:*****Grammar review2 *******
Naomi:There's one more important grammar point that we need to cover.
Jessi:What is it?
Naomi: honorific and humble expressions.
Jessi: Oh, right! Now, there is an ultra polite level of Japanese even above desu/masu, called 敬語. There are two types of 敬語 - honorific language, used to show respect to others, and humble or modest language, used to show modesty when talking about yourself.
Naomi: Honorific and humble language can get very complicated, but the good news is that on JLPTN4 only basic knowledge of these expressions is tested.
In this lesson, we'd like to review how to make the honorific form of a verb and how to make the humble form of a verb.
Jessi:OK. Let's start with how to form honorific form of a verb -remember honorific verb is used when talking about the actions of someone who has higher social status than you.
Naomi:The formation is お ＋[ the masu stem of a verb]＋ になる
Jessi:Let us give you some examples. How do you say "to go home"
Naomi:かえる　
Jessi:The masu stem of it is?
Naomi:かえり
Jessi:Put the prefix お in front of it and add になる after it.
Naomi:お　かえり　になる(slowly) おかえりになる
Jessi:Can we hear a sample sentence?
Naomi:先生はお帰りになった。
Jessi:The teacher has gone home. In this case, you are talking about action of the teacher that you show respect for.
Let's do another example. How do you say "take" as in take pictures.
Naomi:とる and the masu stem is とり
Jessi:So the humble form would be お・とり・になる（say it slowly and clearly)?
Naomi:Right. おとりになる　So, 社長は写真をお撮りになりました。
Jessi:The company president took some pictures. OK. Now let's move on to the humble form of a verb. Remember that the humble form is basically used when talking about your own actions.
Naomi:The formation is お＋[masu stem of a verb]する For example, the verb meaning "to send" is　送る
Jessi:The masu stem is おくり
Naomi:Put　お in front of it and add　する after it.
Jessi:So...お・おくり・する
Naomi:Right.おおくり。 先生にメールをお送りします。I'll (humbly) send an e-mail to the teacher.
Jessi:But be careful, you can't apply this rule to する verbs.
Naomi:Right. For する verbs, all you have to do is add お in front of it. And that's it. For example, the humble form of 勉強する"to study" would be お勉強する"To humbly study"
The humble form of 電話する"to call" would be お電話する,"to humbly call".
Jessi:Some する verbs are preceded by the honorific prefix ご instead of お, such as ご説明する　to (humbly) explain ご案内する to (humbly) show you around.
Naomi:Yeah. That's true. Whether it takes お or ご is basically something you need to memorize.
Jessi:I don't want to scare the listeners, but there are some verbs that have special forms in honorific and humble speech. These verbs basically need to be memorized one by one.
In the Lesson notes, we came up with the top three verbs with special honorific/humble forms that often show up on the JLPT so make sure to check that out.
:****Quiz***
Jessi:OK. Now, let's review what we learned in this lesson.
Assume that you're talking with your client in Japanese. You want to say "I'll send you an email." Try to use the humble form of a verb.
Naomi:１メールをおくれ　２メールをおくりなさい　3メールをおおくりします　4 メールをおおくりなさいます
Jessi:The answer is...
Naomi:３ メールをおおくりします。
Jessi:Remember お＋[masu stem of a verb]＋する is the humble form of a verb.　Let's look at other choices. Choice 1.
Naomi:メールをおくれ　Send me email. Oh...no. You'll end up losing your client.
Jessi:おくれ that's the imperative form of a verb おくる to send. How about choice 2?
Naomi:メールをおくりなさい Send me email.
Jessi:なさいis a polite imperative marker, isn't it? But not quite appropriate for this situation. And choice 4 is?
Naomi:メールをお送りなさいます。
Jessi:なさいます　is the honorific form of する、　which means you use this when talking about the actions of someone else. You cannot use this word when talking about yourself, so this isn't the correct answer.
So, how did it go? Did you get the correct answer?
Naomi:That's all for this lesson.
Jessi:See you next time!
Naomi:じゃまた

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