Learn Japanese expressions that you can use while speaking on the telephone
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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 17 – “Are the Japanese Police Looking for You?” |
| Natsuko: Police? What are we going to learn in this lesson?? |
| Alisha: Don’t worry; we’re going to learn useful expressions for conversations on the phone. |
| Natsuko: So, where does this lesson’s dialogue take place? |
| Alisha: A police officer calls the company where Ken Wood works. |
| Natsuko: It’s a formal conversation over the phone; では、聞きましょう。 |
| Alisha: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha: Uh oh... a police officer is looking for Ken… |
| Natsuko: I wonder what he did…! |
| Alisha: Me too! Fortunately or unfortunately, Ken is off work. |
| Natsuko: Right; the woman said, Woodは、木曜日までやすみです。 |
| Alisha: She didn’t use the suffix –san here. |
| Natsuko: This is the very important point in Japanese. We have “in-group” and “out-group”; “in-group” means people who belong to the same group as you, such as family, friends and your company. “Out-group”, on the other hand, means outside of your own groups. When you talk to “out-group” people, you have to use the formal and respectful expressions. On the other hand, you don’t use the suffix “san” to call “in-group” people. |
| Alisha: So the police called the office, and asked for Ken Wood, saying… |
| Natsuko: Ken Woodさんはいますか。 |
| Alisha: Police used the polite suffix –san to mention Ken Wood, like “Mr. Wood”. |
| Natsuko: Exactly. As you see, there’s a clear difference here. For this woman on the phone, the police officer is the “out-group” person, and Ken Wood is “in-group” because he belongs to the same company. |
| Alisha: In the Japanese language, you often need to consider these “in-group” and “out-group” relations. You’ll get used to it over time, so don’t be too nervous. For now, just know there are such concepts. Let’s move on to the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson! |
| 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 word we’ll look at is.... |
| Natsuko: けいさつ meaning “police”. |
| Alisha: That…might not be a word you’ll need, but it’s a very important word to know. |
| Natsuko: This word けいさつ can mean both “police officer” and “police station”. For example, 警察は、どこですか means “where’s the police station?”, and if someone says 警察です as a reply to “who is it?”, it means that person is a police officer. |
| Alisha: And there’s another word meaning police station or police box, right? |
| Natsuko: That’s right. It’s 交番, meaning “a police box”. You can find 交番 quite often in any city. Whenever you need some help, you can visit the nearest 交番 and ask for help! |
| Alisha: Are they friendly and helpful? |
| Natsuko: Yes, they are. For example, if you’re new to the city and looking for a building you’re visiting, they’ll kindly tell you how to get there. |
| Alisha: That’s good to know! |
| Natsuko: Oh, but police officers are often not very good at English, so you might want to learn basic Japanese before speaking to them. |
| Alisha: I see...another good reason to study at JapanesePod101.com! |
| Natsuko: True! |
| Alisha: Okay, then, let’s move on to the grammar point! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Alisha: In this lesson, you’re going to learn about useful expressions on the phone. |
| Natsuko: Basic manners on the phone are the same as English. Tell them who you are, and ask for the person you wish to speak to. |
| Alisha: In the dialog, a police officer called, saying… |
| Natsuko: かごしま警察ですが、Ken Wood さんはいますか。 |
| Alisha: It literally means “this is Kagoshima Police Department. Is Mr. Ken Wood there?” |
| Alisha: For example, if you want to speak to me… |
| Natsuko: アリッシャさんは、いますか。 |
| Alisha: Listeners, attention; Natsuko usually calls me “Alisha”, without the suffix “-san”, but now she said Alisha-san. |
| Natsuko: That’s right. When you call someone’s house or company, even if you know that person, you don’t belong to his or her “group”, so don’t forget to add さん after the name. |
| Alisha: This is very useful in any situation, so let’s practice. Listeners, repeat after Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: アリッシャさんは、いますか。 |
| Alisha: [wait 5 sec.] Not difficult, right? Now, when you ask for someone, you’ll often hear… |
| Natsuko: 少々お待ち下さい。 |
| Alisha: This means “please wait a moment”, and it’s a very polite expression. |
| Natsuko: You will hear this 少々お待ち下さい in many different places, not only on the phone. |
| Alisha: You often hear this expression in a hotel, restaurant, or cafeteria. And then, they will come back to you and say… |
| Natsuko: おまたせいたしました。 |
| Alisha: This literally means “I made you wait for long”, but it’s often translated as “sorry to keep you waiting” or “thank you for waiting”. |
| Natsuko: Politeness is key for smooth communication and is very important in Japan, so please remember both expressions. |
| Alisha: Are there any other commonly used expressions? |
| Natsuko: ご用件は。This is the expression to ask what the purpose of the call is. It’s a short version of ご用件は何ですか but instead of saying this whole sentence, you might hear a short version. |
| Alisha: If the person you wanted to speak to is not available and you’re asked ご用件は, you can leave the message or simply say… |
| Natsuko: だいじょうぶです。また電話します。 |
| Alisha: It means “It’s okay; I’ll call back”. |
| Natsuko: You might not use 少々お待ち下さい and お待たせ致しました, but 大丈夫です and また電話します will definitely come in handy. |
| Alisha: I agree! So, before wrapping up this lesson, let’s practice both sentences. Listeners, repeat after Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: 大丈夫です [wait 5 sec.] また電話します。 |
| Alisha: [wait 5 sec.] |
Outro |
| Alisha: That’s all for this lesson! We hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please write them on the comments section of this lesson. See you next time, everyone. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また。 |
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