Learn how to express that you're doing an action for the first time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everyone! アリッシャです！ Alisha here! |
| Natsuko こんにちは！ナツコです！Hi everyone, I'm Natsuko. |
| Alisha: Welcome to Lower Beginner, Season 1, lesson 13 – “Have you Been to a Japanese Festival Before?” |
| Natsuko: Alisha, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to ask “what does [something] mean in English?” in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: That’s very useful, isn’t it? |
| Alisha: It is! We will also learn expressions for when we experience something for the first time. |
| Natsuko: So, where does this lesson’s dialogue take place? |
| Alisha: Ken and his colleague come across the festival crowd. |
| Natsuko: では、聞きましょう！ |
| Alisha: Let’s listen to the conversation! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Natsuko: So, Alisha, have you been to Japanese festival yet? |
| Alisha: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Japanese festivals, Matsuri, were originally ritual ceremonies, but the religious connotations are fading out now. These days, it’s more for local community bonding. |
| Alisha: In the dialogue, Ken asked what Mikoshi was, but his colleague didn’t answer. So what is Mikoshi? |
| Natsuko: Mikoshi is often translated as “portable Shinto shrine”, and its shape is a miniature version of a shrine building. Many men, and sometimes women too, carry Mikoshi on their shoulders and parade shouting “Wasshoi! Wasshoi!”, but this word varies depending on the area. |
| Alisha: Is there any special food for Matsuri? |
| Natsuko: There are usually food and game stalls alongside the street. |
| Alisha: That sounds fun! Kids must love Matsuri! Ok, let’s move on to the vocabulary. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Alisha: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Natsuko: [something]は、英語で何ですか。For example, まつりは、英語で何ですか。Meaning “what’s Matsuri in English?” |
| Alisha: This is really useful, because we always come across things we don’t know. Whenever you hear an unfamiliar word, you can ask “[something] は英語で何ですか”. |
| Natsuko: You can use this phrase just by adding “…は何ですか” just after the word or phrase that you would like to know. |
| Alisha: Please note that it’s なんですか, not なにですか. |
| Natsuko: Good point, Alisha. You can also find this information in the Absolute Beginner series, Season 1 Lesson 24. |
| Alisha: Can you give us more examples using this phrase, please? |
| Natsuko: Of course! I’m sure you know what the Carnival is, but do you know how to say Carnival in Japanese? |
| Alisha: カーナヴァル・・・I’m not too sure. |
| Natsuko: Okay, to ask me this using today’s phrase, you can say Carnivalは日本語で何ですか。 |
| Alisha: Replacing 英語 with 日本語 because I want to know how to say Carnival in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: That’s right! |
| Alisha: Natsuko, Carnivalは、日本語で何ですか。 |
| Natsuko: カーニバルです。 |
| Alisha: “Carnival” in Japanese is カーニバル. Good! Okay, let’s move on; what’s the next word? |
| Natsuko: たくさん |
| Alisha: たくさん means “a lot” in English. You can use this to describe the amount of things. |
| Natsuko: Right; pretty much anything. |
| Alisha: But you have to remember that we don’t have to put any particle after たくさん。Like… |
| Natsuko: 私は、生ダコをたくさん、食べます |
| Alisha: Have you got it? No particle after たくさん. Okay, let’s move onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Alisha: In this lesson you’re going to learn about how to say “first time [to experience]”, right? |
| Natsuko: Yes, that’s right! It’s はじめて meaning “for the first time”. |
| Alisha: I think I know that, like はじめまして? |
| Natsuko: That’s right! When we express it’s the first experience, we use はじめて and then express what you experienced. |
| Alisha: Like Ken said in the dialog はじめて見ました? |
| Natsuko: Exactly! By the way, Alisha, do you like sushi? |
| Alisha: Yes, I do! |
| Natsuko: Good, because I have some sushi for you here. |
| Alisha: Really? Wow! But….what’s this? |
| Natsuko: Oh, that’s raw octopus. 生ダコです。 |
| Alisha: Raw octopus?? I thought octopus should be served boiled… |
| Natsuko: So, 生ダコは、初めてですか。 |
| Alisha: はい、生ダコは初めてです。Listeners, as you heard, 初めて can be used as 初めてです and you can simply add a noun before the particle は. |
| Natsuko: That’s right! In the dialog, Ken’s colleague asked Ken 祭りは、初めてですか。That’s the easy way to use 初めて, but now let’s see better how Ken used this word 初めて。 |
| Alisha: In the dialog, Ken said みこし？初めて見ました。So, 初めて can come before a verb? |
| Natsuko: Exactly! 初めて + verb means that you did something for the first time. |
| Alisha: I had raw octopus sushi for the first time… |
| Natsuko: (笑) Really? 初めてですか。 |
| Alisha: はい、生ダコは、初めて食べました。 |
| Both (laugh) |
| Alisha: Well, listeners, I think you now know how to use this expression! Natsuko, how can I say I came to Japan for the first time? |
| Natsuko: That’d be 初めて日本に来ました。 |
| Alisha: I believe that’s useful! Listeners, let’s practice. Repeat after Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: 初めて日本に来ました。[wait 5 seconds] |
| Alisha: Now listeners, say “I came to Japan for the first time”, in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: [wait 5 seconds] 初めて日本に来ました。 |
| Alisha: Did you get it everyone? For more examples, please check out the lesson notes. But unfortunately, that’s about all we have time for today! How did you find the lesson? |
| Natsuko: どうでしたか？ |
| Alisha: Please leave us your comments, questions, and any feedback you have on the lesson page. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. See you next time! |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また！ |
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