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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。夏子です。 |
| Naomi: 直美です。 |
| Peter: Peter here. Homecoming. Natsuko san |
| Natsuko: はい。 |
| Peter: どうでしょうか。 |
| Natsuko: 日本では八月は Homecoming season ですよね。 |
| Naomi: あ～そうですね。実家に帰る時期ですよね。 |
| Natsuko: 帰省というんですけれども。That’s because usually companies are having summer vacation. |
| Naomi: そうですね。お盆休みですね。 |
| Natsuko: そうですね。お盆というのは I think there were some kind of culture class covering お盆。 |
| Peter: Correct yes. |
| Natsuko: It’s the season for respecting ancestors. So they go to their homeland and go to their cemetery and kind of express their respect for their ancestors. だから、八月は homecoming が多いんです。 |
| Naomi: そうですね。もし、家族と一緒に住んでいても、おじいちゃんやおばあちゃんの家に行くことが多いですよね。八月。 |
| Natsuko: そうですね。 |
| Peter: So lots of people go to see their grandparents during this season. |
| Natsuko: ただ、今日の会話の人がそういう意味でhomecomingなのかどうかは私はちょっとわからないですけどね。 |
| Naomi: あ～そうですね。なんだか、随分長い間連絡をしてなかったようですね。 |
| Natsuko: うん。じゃあちょっと聞いてみましょう。 |
| Naomi: はい。 |
| Peter: So today the character in the story, maybe he didn’t come out for those reasons but let’s find out what’s going on there. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 母: 昨日の深夜、あなたが寝た後で、突然帰ってきてまだずーっと上で寝てるのよ。 |
| 父: よっぽど疲れているんでしょう。飛行機ではあまり眠れないって言っていたからな。 |
| 母: それにしても、もう夜の8時よ。 |
| 父: 腹が減れば、下に降りてくるだろう。そんなに心配しなくても大丈夫だって。 |
| 母: あの子がロンドンで就職してからもう2年になるわ。その間に連絡してきたのは数回だけ。 |
| 父: よっぽど忙しいんだろう。便りのないのは元気な印っていうし。後で、下に降りてきたら、仕事の事とか聞いてみたらいいだろう。それより、アイツ結婚はどうなんだ。 |
| 母: 知らないわよ。 |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| 母: 昨日の深夜、あなたが寝た後で、突然帰ってきてまだずーっと上で寝てるのよ。 |
| 父: よっぽど疲れているんでしょう。飛行機ではあまり眠れないって言っていたからな。 |
| 母: それにしても、もう夜の8時よ。 |
| 父: 腹が減れば、下に降りてくるだろう。そんなに心配しなくても大丈夫だって。 |
| 母: あの子がロンドンで就職してからもう2年になるわ。その間に連絡してきたのは数回だけ。 |
| 父: よっぽど忙しいんだろう。便りのないのは元気な印っていうし。後で、下に降りてきたら、仕事の事とか聞いてみたらいいだろう。それより、アイツ結婚はどうなんだ。 |
| 母: 知らないわよ。 |
| 次は、英語が入ります。 |
| 母: 昨日の深夜、あなたが寝た後で、突然帰ってきてまだずーっと上で寝てるのよ。 |
| MOTHER: Late last night, after you went to bed, he came home suddenly and he's still upstairs sleeping. |
| 父: よっぽど疲れているんでしょう。飛行機ではあまり眠れないって言っていたからな。 |
| FATHER: He must be really tired. He said he couldn't sleep well on the plane. |
| 母: それにしても、もう夜の8時よ。 |
| MOTHER: Even then, it's already 8 o'clock at night. |
| 父: 腹が減れば、下に降りてくるだろう。そんなに心配しなくても大丈夫だって。 |
| FATHER: He'll come downstairs if he's hungry. You don't have to worry that much. |
| 母: あの子がロンドンで就職してからもう2年になるわ。その間に連絡してきたのは数回だけ。 |
| MOTHER: It's only been two years since he started working in London. And he's only contacted us a few times since then. |
| 父: よっぽど忙しいんだろう。便りのないのは元気な印っていうし。後で、下に降りてきたら、仕事の事とか聞いてみたらいいだろう。それより、アイツ結婚はどうなんだ。 |
| FATHER: He must be really busy. You know what they say "no news is good news." Later when he comes downstairs, ask him about his work. But more importantly, is he going to get married anytime soon? |
| 母: 知らないわよ。 |
| MOTHER: I don't know. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Natsuko san, let’s ask Naomi-sensei what she thought of today’s conversation. |
| Natsuko: 直美さん。今日の会話、どう思いましたか？ |
| Naomi: えっと、下から三行目に、お父さんが「便りの無いのは元気な印」っていう風に言いますけど、私はね、便りの無いのはいい便りっていう風に、よく使いますけど。 |
| Natsuko: あ、そうですよね。 |
| Naomi: うん。これすごく便利な表現ですよね。 |
| Peter: So you know what they say. No news is good news or no news is the sign that he is doing well. |
| Naomi: 日本語でも全く同じ表現があるということです。 |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Okay let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| Natsuko: 突然 |
| Peter: Abrupt, sudden. |
| Natsuko: (slow)とつぜん (natural speed)突然 |
| Peter: In the conversation Natsuko san, we had |
| Natsuko: 突然帰ってきた。 |
| Peter: He came home suddenly. All of a sudden, he came home. |
| Naomi: Without notice っていう感じですよね。 |
| Peter: Yep. So here, we came home all of a sudden. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 腹が減る |
| Peter: To become hungry. In the conversation we had |
| Natsuko: 腹が減れば下に降りてくるだろう。 |
| Peter: If he gets hungry, he will come downstairs. |
| Natsuko: これは普通、男の人が使う表現ですよね。 |
| Naomi: そうですね。私がもしこれを使うんだったらば、お腹が減るという風に |
| Peter: So males would say 腹が減る where females or feminine speech, we would say |
| Naomi: お腹が減る |
| Peter: Same exact meaning but the nuance is in the first part referring to the stomach or the belly. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 就職 |
| Peter: Finding employment. |
| Natsuko: (slow)しゅうしょく (natural speed) 就職 |
| Peter: And this appears in the conversation |
| Natsuko: ロンドンで就職してから |
| Peter: From getting a job in London, something, something, something and in this case, he has been there for two years. So yeah quite interesting what’s going on here. どうなってるでしょうね。 He just comes home without warning. |
| Natsuko: うん。なんでしょうね。 |
| Naomi: 不思議ですね。 |
| Natsuko: 多分お盆休みで帰ってきたんじゃあ、なさそうですね。ロンドンからだから。 |
| Peter: Yeah it doesn’t seem like he made it home for お盆休み because in London, there is no お盆休み。 |
| Naomi: そうですね。ユーロが今高いから帰ってきちゃったんですよね。 |
| Natsuko: あ～そうかも。 |
| Peter: He came home because the Euro is that high. Okay next we have |
| Natsuko: 数回 |
| Peter: Several times. |
| Natsuko: (slow)すうかい (natural speed) 数回 |
| Peter: And here we have |
| Natsuko: 連絡してきたのは数回だけ |
| Peter: There were only several contacts. So a few times 数回。 |
| Naomi: 数回って何回ですかってよく聞かれるんですけど。 |
| Peter: How many times is “few times”? |
| Naomi: 難しいですよね。 |
| Natsuko: ２、３回って感じですかね。 |
| Naomi: ね。英語のa fewと感覚は似てるかもしれないですね。 |
| Natsuko: 多分、似てると思います。 |
| Peter: And finally we have |
| Natsuko: 結婚 |
| Peter: Marriage. |
| Natsuko: (slow)けっこん (natural speed) 結婚 |
| Peter: And this was used |
| Natsuko: あいつ、結婚はどうなんだ。 |
| Peter: Is he going to get married any time soon? Natsuko san どうでしょう。 what do you think of this? |
| Natsuko: 直訳すると What about marriage with him? っていう、そういう日本語なんですよね。 about the issue of marriage, what’s happening to him? |
| Peter: Yeah. His father doesn’t sound too hopeful and his father refers to him as アイツ which is an informal way to refer to somebody. |
| Natsuko: Yes usually someone in the lower position or maybe at the same level. |
| Peter: Yeah same level too. Definitely my favorite phrase – my favorite phrase in this whole conversation is 腹が減れば下に降りてくるだろう。 It’s I think…. |
| Natsuko: Pretty logical. |
| Peter: Yeah his father understands the male very well. Very interesting family. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay let’s take a look. Natsuko san, what is our grammar point for today? |
| Natsuko: よっぽど and んでしょう。んだろう。 |
| Peter: Now よっぽど is the colloquial version of よほど which means exceptionally or in a large measure. |
| Natsuko: そうですね。 Extremely とか really というニュアンスの言葉ですね。 |
| Peter: Yeah and it’s sometimes used to emphasize it to agree. |
| Natsuko: よっぽどのほうがよほどより Stronger expression. |
| Naomi: あ～そっか。考えたことなかったけど、そうでしょうね。 |
| Natsuko: 多分、そういう風にも使います。 |
| Peter: And today, this was paired with… |
| Natsuko: んだろう |
| Peter: And when paired together, this gives the nuance of |
| Natsuko: It must be really.. |
| Peter: Something, something. |
| Natsuko: I assume it’s extremely something, something とかそういう意味ですね。 |
| Peter: So the best way to understand this will be to look at where it was used in the conversation. So Natsuko san, what do we have first? |
| Natsuko: よっぽど疲れているんだろう。 |
| Peter: He must be really tired. |
| Natsuko: よっぽどが Extremely 疲れている being tired んだろう assuming. I guess he is really tired. |
| Peter: Yeah with a high degree of probability here because the son came all the way home from London and it’s a 14-hour flight, and came straight home. So based on that information, he must be really tired but you also have... |
| Natsuko: よっぽど忙しいんだろう。 |
| Peter: The sixth line and he must be really busy. |
| Naomi: That’s assumed by him not giving much contact while in London. |
| Peter: Yeah. So again based on something, they are drawing these conclusions of high probability or wishful thinking. |
| Naomi: この二つはペアで使うことが多いんですが、それぞれ別にも使います。 |
| Peter: So these two よっぽど and んだろう are used in pairs quite often but they can also be used individually. |
| Naomi: For instance, その帽子よりこっちのほうがよっぽどいいよ。 |
| Peter: This hat is much better than that one. |
| Naomi: だからこれも reallyとか extremely という、こう emphasizing the comparison の時に使うよっぽどです。 |
| Natsuko: んだろうは何かをguessする時にいつでも使いますよね。 |
| Peter: So よっぽど is an adverb of degree. It’s actually modifying the adjective. |
| Natsuko: そうですね。 |
| Peter: And んだろう can be used in many instances. |
| Naomi: あまり食欲がないね。お昼、食べ過ぎたんでしょう。んだろう is the informal version of んでしょう。 So it’s used in both ways よっぽど疲れているんだろう。よっぽど疲れているんでしょう。 |
| Peter: The only difference here being a difference in politeness level. んだろう is just more informal. |
| Naomi: Yes あまり食欲がないね。お昼食べ過ぎたんでしょう。 |
| Peter: He doesn’t have much of an appetite. He probably ate too much at lunch. |
| Naomi: 昨日飲みすぎたんだろう。 |
| Peter: I think he probably drank too much yesterday and again you know, maybe his hair isn’t brushed and… |
| Natsuko: Or he looks sleepy. |
| Peter: Eyes bloodshot so yes. And in the previous example, you know, he is kind of looking at his food or his dinner and he is not really eating it. So you are looking at this third person and making some guess about why that person is in this current state. |
Outro |
| Peter: That’s going to do for today. |
| Natsuko: それじゃあ、また今度。 |
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