Learn about counting from one to ten
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: ナツコです。(Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Natsuko-san, today we have a very interesting lesson. |
| Natsuko: What lesson? |
| Peter: Math For Language Learning. |
| Natsuko: Oh no! Math? |
| Peter: Math for Language Learning. |
| Natsuko: Oh, how can that be? |
| Peter: Yes, that’s what we are going to find out. |
| Natsuko: Okay. |
| Peter: Now, in today’s lesson which is titled Subtraction Sadness, we’re actually going to join in on a Japanese classroom that is going through a math class. So before we get in, before we join them in the classroom, we are going to need to know a few terms. |
| Natsuko: Okay. |
| Peter: So what is the Japanese word for subtract? |
| Natsuko: 引く (hiku) |
| Peter: Okay, so there will be a number followed by |
| Natsuko: 引く(hiku) |
| Peter: Then another number followed by |
| Natsuko: は (wa) |
| Peter: Equals. Number minus number equals. One more thing before we get in. In the classroom, you are going to need to know some terms. For now, just listen over the next few classes because we are going to actually join this class for three sessions of mathematics. |
| Natsuko: Again? |
| Peter: Does it get any better, Natsuko-san, come on. |
| Natsuko: えー！(Ē!) |
| Peter: But we are also going to give you phrases that your Japanese teacher would use in the classroom. So it’s a way to get you used to not only numbers, not only math but also phrases that your teacher will use. With that said, let’s listen to today’s lesson. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 先生 (Sensei):皆さん、聞いてください。(Mina-san, kiite kudasai.) |
| 清＆智子 (Kiyoshi&Tomoko):は〜い。(Hāi.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):８引く５は、清さん？(Hachi hiku go wa, Kiyoshi-san?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):４です。(Yon desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。智子さん？(Chigaimasu. Tomoko-san?) |
| 智子 (Tomoko):３です。(San desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、そうです。次は、６引く４は、清さん？(Hai, sō desu. Tsugi wa, roku hiku yon wa, Kiyoshi-san?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):１です。(Ichi desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。智子さん？(Chigaimasu. Tomoko-san?) |
| 智子 (Tomoko):２です。(Ni desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、よくできました。じゃあ、清さん、９引く７は？(Hai, yoku dekimashita. Jā, Kiyoshi-san, kyū hiku nana wa?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):３です。(San desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):う〜ん、...じゃあ、頑張ってくださいね。(Ūn, ... Jā, ganbatte kudasai ne.) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):はい、頑張ります。(Hai, ganbarimasu.) |
| Natsuko: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):皆さん、聞いてください。(Mina-san, kiite kudasai.) |
| 清＆智子 (Kiyoshi&Tomoko):は〜い。(Hāi.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):８引く５は、清さん？(Hachi hiku go wa, Kiyoshi-san?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):４です。(Yon desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。智子さん？(Chigaimasu. Tomoko-san?) |
| 智子 (Tomoko):３です。(San desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、そうです。次は、６引く４は、清さん？(Hai, sō desu. Tsugi wa, roku hiku yon wa, Kiyoshi-san?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):１です。(Ichi desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。智子さん？(Chigaimasu. Tomoko-san?) |
| 智子 (Tomoko):２です。(Ni desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、よくできました。清さん、９引く７は？(Hai, yoku dekimashita. Kiyoshi-san, kyū hiku nana wa?) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):３です。(San desu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):う〜ん、...じゃあ、頑張ってくださいね。(Ūn, ... Jā, ganbatte kudasai ne.) |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):はい、頑張ります。(Hai, ganbarimasu.) |
| Natsuko: 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 先生 (Sensei):皆さん、聞いてください。(Mina-san, kiite kudasai.) |
| Teacher:Please listen up, everyone! |
| 清＆智子 (Kiyoshi&Tomoko):は〜い。(Hāi.) |
| Kiyoshi&Tomoko:Okay. |
| 先生 (Sensei):８引く５は、清さん？(Hachi hiku go wa, Kiyoshi-san?) |
| Sensei:8 minus 5 is, Kiyoshi? |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):４です。(Yon desu.) |
| Kiyoshi:4. |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。(Chigaimasu.) |
| Sensei:That's incorrect. |
| 先生 (Sensei):智子さん？(Tomoko-san?) |
| Sensei:Tomoko? |
| 智子 (Tomoko):３です。(San desu.) |
| Tomoko:3. |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Sensei:Yes, that's right. |
| 先生 (Sensei):次は、６引く４は、(Tsugi wa, roku hiku yon wa,) |
| Sensei:Next is 6 minus 4, |
| 先生 (Sensei):清さん？ (Kiyoshi-san?) |
| Sensei:Kiyoshi? |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):１です。(Ichi desu.) |
| Kiyoshi:1. |
| 先生 (Sensei):違います。(Chigaimasu.) |
| Sensei:That's incorrect. |
| 先生 (Sensei):智子さん？(Tomoko-san?) |
| Sensei:Tomoko? |
| 智子 (Tomoko):２です。(Ni desu.) |
| Tomoko:2. |
| 先生 (Sensei):はい、よくできました。(Hai, yoku dekimashita.) |
| Sensei:Yes, good job! |
| 先生 (Sensei):じゃあ、清さん、９引く７は？(Jā, Kiyoshi-san, kyū hiku nana wa?) |
| Sensei:Alright, Kiyoshi, 9 minus 7 is? |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):３です。(San desu.) |
| Kiyoshi:3. |
| 先生 (Sensei):う〜ん、....じゃあ、頑張ってくださいね。(Ūn, ... Jā, ganbatte kudasai ne.) |
| Sensei:... Well, keep at it! |
| 清 (Kiyoshi):はい、頑張ります。(Hai, ganbarimasu.) |
| Kiyoshi:I'll do my best! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, what did you think of today’s lesson? Flashbacks? Which one were you, Natsuko-san? Come on, fess up! Which one were you? |
| Natsuko: I felt very assured that I can catch up with this lesson. |
| Peter: I am with you on that because I can feel a very kindred relationship with Kiyoshi. Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Yes, me too. |
| Peter: I can tell by your reaction that you really understand me well, Natsuko-san. Okay, now what I’d like to do here is let’s just go over the phrases and words that we pulled from today’s lesson. ナツコさん、お願いします。(Natsuko-san, onegai shimasu.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natsuko: 聞く (kiku) |
| Peter: To hear, to listen. |
| Natsuko: きく (kiku) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Natsuko: 引く (hiku) |
| Peter: To pull, to drawback, to catch a cold, to subtract. Many, many uses. |
| Natsuko: Uhoo. ひく (hiku) 引く (hiku) |
| Peter: Next we have a phrase. |
| Natsuko: そうです (sō desu) |
| Peter: That’s right. |
| Natsuko: そうです (sō desu) そうです (sō desu) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: よくできました (yoku dekimashita) |
| Peter: Nice job, well done. |
| Natsuko: よくできました (yoku dekimashita) よくできました (yoku dekimashita) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 頑張ってください (ganbatte kudasai) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Natsuko: がんばってください (ganbatte kudasai) 頑張ってください (ganbatte kudasai) |
| Peter: We are going to go through the dialogue and simultaneously while we go through the dialogue, we are going to pull the key vocabulary. Natsuko-san, what’s the first line? |
| Natsuko: 皆さん、聞いてください。(Mina-san, kiite kudasai.) |
| Peter: Everybody please listen. Natsuko-san, can you give us everybody, once again? |
| Natsuko: 皆さん (mina-san) |
| Peter: And just break that down? |
| Natsuko: みなさん (mina-san) 皆さん (mina-san) |
| Peter: Now here the polite suffix is used さん (san). 皆 (mina) alone means everybody but usually addressing people, you would say |
| Natsuko: 皆さん (mina-san) |
| Peter: Or in extremely polite situations, the even politer suffix. |
| Natsuko: 皆様 (mina-sama) |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Natsuko: はーい、聞いてください。(Hāi, kiite kudasai.) |
| Peter: Please listen. Now the verb to listen is |
| Natsuko: 聞く (kiku) |
| Peter: Break this down. |
| Natsuko: きく (kiku) |
| Peter: The conjugation of this verb is beyond the scope of this lesson but you do need the te-form. So what we will do here is not go over that but just give you the conjunctive form of the verb which is its te-form. This is |
| Natsuko: 聞いて (kiite) |
| Peter: And this is combined with |
| Natsuko: ください (kudasai) |
| Peter: Which means please. Please listen. Now the interesting thing here, the please comes at the end. So we actually have literally, listen please. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: But when we translate please listen, this is followed by |
| Natsuko: はーい (hāi) |
| Peter: Yes, you are just acknowledging. Then we have the teacher again. |
| Natsuko: はい、清さん。(Hai, Kiyoshi-san.) |
| Peter: Yes, Kiyoshi. Natsuko-san, she is addressing her students but she still uses the suffix さん (san). Why is this? |
| Natsuko: Because this is the common style in Japan. |
| Peter: The suffix is usually attached. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: To a person’s name. And it’s interesting that here, even in the classroom even with this relationship where the teacher is in a much higher social position, she still can use さん (san). |
| Natsuko: Yes. But sometimes, if they are very small children, the teacher may use like くん (kun) and ちゃん (chan). |
| Peter: Topics for another lesson but, |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: The whole point here is that there is this option for the teacher. |
| Natsuko: Yes, and I think it is very unusual for teachers referring to students without suffixes. |
| Peter: Well that I didn’t know. |
| Natsuko: Well maybe, but it sounds very strict. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay, now get into the first math problem which is |
| Natsuko: ８引く５は？(Hachi hiku go wa?) |
| Peter: Eight minus Five is and the answer to this is? |
| Natsuko: ４です。(Yon desu.) |
| Peter: Four and here we have the polite form of the copula. |
| Natsuko: です (desu) |
| Peter: Which is roughly equivalent to the English verb to be. So it’s four. Okay, and just a note, if we had left off the です (desu) here. |
| Natsuko: 4 |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Natsuko: 違いますね。(Chigaimasu ne.) |
| Peter: Literally this means it’s different. Derived from the verb. |
| Natsuko: 違う (chigau) |
| Peter: To differ. Break it down. |
| Natsuko: ちがう (chigau) 違う (chigau) |
| Peter: But here we can interpret it as that’s incorrect politely or that’s wrong. Okay, then we have. |
| Natsuko: 智子さん？(Tomoko-san?) |
| Peter: Now the intonation is key here. She is asking, she is now asking 智子 (Tomoko) for an answer. So please listen to the intonation, one more time. |
| Natsuko: 智子さん？(Tomoko-san?) |
| Peter: And she replies with the correct answer which is |
| Natsuko: ３です。(San desu.) |
| Peter: It’s three. The teacher acknowledges this by |
| Natsuko: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, that’s right. Next we have |
| Natsuko: では、清さん、６引く４は？(Dewa, Kiyoshi-san, roku hiku yon wa?) |
| Peter: Kiyoshi, six minus four is? |
| Natsuko: １です。（Ichi desu.) |
| Peter: One. And again, poor Kiyoshi-san. |
| Natsuko: 違います。(Chigaimasu.) |
| Peter: That’s incorrect. |
| Natsuko: 智子さん？(Tomoko-san?) |
| Peter: Tomoko? |
| Natsuko: ２です。(Ni desu.) |
| Peter: Two. It’s two. |
| Natsuko: はい、よくできました。(Hai, yoku dekimashita.) |
| Peter: Yes, nicely done. Now here we’d like to introduce the set phrase, |
| Natsuko: よくできました (yoku dekimashita) |
| Peter: You did it well. You could do it well. You were able to do it well. Literal translations but we can translate it as, nice job, you did good. Now again, we are using the past tense of a verb here and the conjugation is beyond the scope of this lesson but this is a phrase if you are new to Japanese, your Japanese teacher will be telling you quite often. You did it well, nice job. |
| Natsuko: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: よくできました。(Yoku dekimashita.) |
| Natsuko: I am sure that JapanesePod listeners hear this very often. |
| Peter: Very often. Followed by |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、清さん、９引く７は？(Jā, Kiyoshi-san, kyū hiku nana wa?) |
| Peter: First let’s start off with this じゃあ (jā). When you use this, what are you doing? |
| Natsuko: Kind of changing topic. |
| Peter: Yeah. You are using this filler to bite yourself a little time, じゃあ (jā). You are thinking and instead of thinking silently, you can insert this filler. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Now again this is quite informal as the teacher is speaking to the children. Now if you are in business meetings or formal meetings, you may not want to go with this. |
| Natsuko: Maybe. |
| Peter: Kiyoshi, Nine minus Seven and we have |
| Natsuko: ３です。(San desu.) |
| Peter: It’s Three which is incorrect. And this time, the teacher says |
| Natsuko: 清さん、頑張ってくださいね。(Kiyoshi-san, ganbatte kudasai ne.) |
| Peter: Kiyoshi, please try hard. Again we have the te-form of a verb with ください (kudasai). Please, in this case, try hard. |
| Natsuko: 頑張って (ganbatte) |
| Peter: Now this comes from the verb |
| Natsuko: 頑張る (ganbaru) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Natsuko: がんばる (ganbaru) 頑張る (ganbaru) |
| Peter: To try hard. |
Outro |
| Peter: All right Natsuko-san, I think that’s going to be it. Now what we would like you to do is listen to this lesson one more time. See if hearing the breakdown, going through the dialogue really helped. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また明日ね！(Ja, mata ashita ne!) |
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