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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Conversation Starters, Meeting New People in Japan Made Easy! |
| Naomi: ナオミです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Newbie lesson #1, season 2. Naomi-san, |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: ようこそ。(Yōkoso.) Welcome to the newbie lessons. |
| Naomi: ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu.) Thank you. |
| Peter: You are very welcome. Now this season is really exciting for several reasons. First and foremost, Naomi-san. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: ナオミ先生ですね。(Naomi-sensei desu ne.) |
| Naomi: あ、そうですね。(A, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Who wrote these? |
| Naomi: あ、私が。(A, watashi ga.) |
| Peter: Naomi-sensei wrote these. We are talking years of teaching Japanese, all that experience is introduced in these lessons. So I think everybody is in for something special. ありがとうございます、ナオミさん。(Arigatō gozaimasu, Naomi-san.) |
| Naomi: Ah, I feel so nervous, though. I feel like a mother. |
| Peter: Why? |
| Naomi: I feel like a mother who is sending her kids to school for the first day, very first day. |
| Peter: All right, well, let’s tell all your kids out there what they will be learning about and kind of give them the setting for how you want to teach them. |
| Naomi: It’s a story about fashion counseling service. |
| Peter: Like fashioning consultants. |
| Naomi: Yeah, right. |
| Peter: Do they have this in Japan? Is this based on a real story? |
| Naomi: Actually a friend of mine goes to a school to be a fashion counselor. |
| Peter: Okay, so based on a true story and we all know about Japanese fashion. So up to dates everybody looks very, very nice. So the setting will give us a chance to really explore not only the language but cultural things and other things Japanese people come into contact during their daily routines. So in that aspect, it’s very, very interesting. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Finally we want to introduce this will be linear. Now in each lesson, we will introduce vocab and a grammar point. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now Naomi-san, |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Are these lessons individual or do they build upon each other? |
| Naomi: There is a mix. |
| Peter: So sometimes the grammar points will build upon each other and sometimes they are kind of modularized. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So you have a nice mix there for you. Again basic Japanese and this is a really good chance to really refine and brush up on some of the basic skills that you might have let go as some bad habits become engrained like myself. I still have trouble with some particles because I kind of skipped over that early phase. |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですか。(Ā, sō desu ka.) |
| Peter: Yep. So are you ready? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Okay, let’s hear part 1. Can you give us the setting and some of the characters involved? |
| Naomi: It’s a new company called スタイルユー (Sutairu Yū). |
| Peter: スタイルユー (Sutairu Yū) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Very Japanese name. スタイルユー。(Sutairu Yū.) |
| Peter: And the reason it’s kind of a Japanese name were Naomi-sensei said that was two facts. Japanese people like to use English words. |
| Naomi: Yeah, because it’s fashionable. |
| Peter: Yes, but then they twist them so… |
| Naomi: ああ、そうね。(Ā, sō ne.) |
| Peter: It takes on its own meaning. So this Style You. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Is as you said very Japanese. |
| Naomi: And they are introducing themselves. |
| Peter: So basic introductions. |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: Okay, so welcome to this 25-part series, correct? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So 1-25 will take you to the beginner level and actually cover a lot of material to really get you ready for the first early beginner lessons. So we are really excited about this. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Are you ready, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 夏見 (Natsumi) : ようこそ！スタイルユーです。よろしくおねがいします。私は、スタイルユーの社長、南夏見です。大学院生です。(Yōkoso! Sutairu Yū desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Watashi wa Sutairu Yū no shachō, Minami Natsumi desu. Daigakuinsei desu.) |
| 秋 (Shū): しゅうです。ヘアスタイリストです。どうぞよろしく。(Shū desu. Hea sutairisuto desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| 冬果 (Fuyuka) : こんにちは。わたしは、北川冬果です。わたしは、カウンセラーです。よろしくおねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Watashi wa Kitagawa Fuyuka desu. Watashi wa kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 春人 (Haruhito) : えっと・・・東春人です。えっと、えっと・・・学生です。(Etto... Higashi Haruhito desu. Etto, etto... gakusei desu.) |
| ファブリツィオ (Faburitsio) : ファブリツィオです。ファッションコーディネーターです。イタリア人です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。(Faburitsio desu. Fasshon kōdinētā desu. Itaria-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 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.) |
| 夏見 (Natsumi) : ようこそ！スタイルユーです。よろしくおねがいします。私は、スタイルユーの社長、南夏見です。大学院生です。(Yōkoso! Sutairu Yū desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Watashi wa Sutairu Yū no shachō, Minami Natsumi desu. Daigakuinsei desu.) |
| 秋 (Shū): しゅうです。ヘアスタイリストです。どうぞよろしく。(Shū desu. Hea sutairisuto desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| 冬果 (Fuyuka) : こんにちは。わたしは、北川冬果です。わたしは、カウンセラーです。よろしくおねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Watashi wa Kitagawa Fuyuka desu. Watashi wa kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 春人 (Haruhito) : えっと・・・東春人です。えっと、えっと・・・学生です。(Etto... Higashi Haruhito desu. Etto, etto... gakusei desu.) |
| ファブリツィオ (Faburitsio) : ファブリツィオです。ファッションコーディネーターです。イタリア人です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。(Faburitsio desu. Fasshon kōdinētā desu. Itaria-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 夏見 (Natsumi) : ようこそ！スタイルユーです。よろしくおねがいします。私は、スタイルユーの社長、南夏見です。大学院生です。(Yōkoso! Sutairu Yū desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Watashi wa Sutairu Yū no shachō, Minami Natsumi desu. Daigakuinsei desu.) |
| NATSUMI: Welcome! We are Style You. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Minami Natsumi, the president of Style You. I'm a graduate student. |
| 秋 (Shū) : しゅうです。ヘアスタイリストです。どうぞよろしく。(Shū desu. Hea sutairisuto desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| SHUU: I'm Shuu. I'm a hairdresser. It's nice to meet you. |
| 冬果 (Fuyuka) : こんにちは。わたしは、北川冬果です。わたしは、カウンセラーです。よろしくおねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Watashi wa Kitagawa Fuyuka desu. Watashi wa kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| FUYUKA: Hello. I am Fuyuka Kitagawa. I am a counselor. Nice to meet you. |
| 春人 (Haruhito) : えっと・・・東春人です。えっと、えっと・・・学生です。(Etto... Higashi Haruhito desu. Etto, etto... gakusei desu.) |
| HARUHITO: Umm...I'm Haruhito Higashi. Umm...I'm a student. |
| ファブリツィオ (Faburitsio) : ファブリツィオです。ファッションコーディネーターです。イタリア人です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。(Faburitsio desu. Fasshon kōdinētā desu. Itaria-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| FABRIZIO: I'm Fabrizio. I'm a fashion coordinator. I'm Italian. It's a pleasure to meet you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: So Naomi-sensei, what did you think? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Everyone used slightly different expressions in the dialogue. |
| Peter: Yeah, I think that’s one of the key points. Let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: First we have |
| Naomi: ようこそ (yōkoso) |
| Peter: Welcome. |
| Naomi: (slow) ようこそ (yōkoso) (natural speed) ようこそ (yōkoso) |
| Peter: Long vowel in there. Naomi-san, one more time. |
| Naomi: ようこそ (yōkoso) |
| Peter: This is a formal expression used for greeting somebody. Now you hear this at formal parties. Actually I say this over and over but in Narita airport, the first thing you see is |
| Naomi: ようこそ。(Yōkoso.) |
| Peter: ようこそ。(Yōkoso.) Welcome and then they have to Japan which is |
| Naomi: 日本へ (Nihon e) |
| Peter: Yes, the particle へ (e), ようこそ (yōkoso) and へ (e) are pair. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: This is the particle used when using welcome. Now today they are using this because it’s kind of a formal occasion, the first time the store is opening. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: And new people coming in. So keeping things formal. Next we have. |
| Naomi: どうぞよろしくおねがいします (dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: It’s a pleasure to meet you. |
| Naomi: (slow) どうぞよろしくおねがいします (dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu) |
| Peter: Okay, let’s break this down. Let’s get in here and see what’s going on. First we have the word |
| Naomi: (natural speed) どうぞ (dōzo) |
| Peter: Please. |
| Naomi: (slow) どうぞ (dōzo) (natural speed)どうぞ (dōzo) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Naomi: よろしく (yoroshiku) |
| Peter: This is the conjunctive form of the adjective. よろしい (yoroshii), one more time the pronunciation |
| Naomi: よろしい (yoroshii) |
| Peter: But here it’s in the conjunctive form. So the い (i) actually becomes く (ku). Now again we will get into this down the road but we just want to show you where this is coming from and this adjective means good. Next we have |
| Naomi: おねがいします (onegai shimasu) |
| Peter: Now this expression is based on the verb |
| Naomi: ねがう (negau) |
| Peter: To wish. |
| Naomi: (slow) ねがう (negau) (natural speed) ねがう (negau) |
| Peter: Now the conjugation of how we get this expression is way beyond the scope of this lesson but this construction is based on the verb ねがう (negau) and this expression means to want, I want. So literally, please good I would like. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Please be nice to me. |
| Peter: Yes, I think that’s such a great expression. I think that’s a perfect way to translate it. You are kind of asking the person who you are meeting to be very nice, to be kind to you. Now this concept is not very familiar where I come from but yeah the translation is pretty good. It’s a pleasure to meet you and a lot of times, we translate this as, please be kind to me and I like to kind of include that as I would to you, kind of like I always think of this as like the golden rule. |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですね。(Ā, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: どうぞよろしくおねがいします。(Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) Please be kind to me as I will be kind to you. |
| Naomi: Okay. |
| Peter: So with that said, let’s move on. |
| Naomi: 私 (watashi) |
| Peter: Personal pronoun, I or me. Now this can be depending on the position and the context of the sentence, this can mean either I or me. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Today it was used as |
| Naomi: I. |
| Peter: Yes. Next we have |
| Naomi: は (wa) |
| Peter: This is a topic marking particle. We will get into this when we get to the grammar bit later. Next we have |
| Naomi: 大学院生 (daigakuinsei) |
| Peter: Graduate student. Now I think a lot of people who are studying Japanese at school are used to the word for student which is |
| Naomi: 学生 (gakusei) |
| Peter: Now this is taking it into the next level. What is the word for university? |
| Naomi: 大学 (daigaku) |
| Peter: Just break that down. |
| Naomi: (slow) だいがく (daigaku) (natural speed) 大学 (daigaku) |
| Peter: Then we have graduate school and to get graduate school, |
| Naomi: 大学院 (daigakuin) |
| Peter: We attach 院 (in). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Peter: So we keep that 大学 (daigaku), but we attach |
| Naomi: 院 (in) |
| Peter: And just break that down. |
| Naomi: (slow) だいがくいん (daigakuin) (natural speed) 大学院 (daigakuin) |
| Peter: So we went from university to graduate school and now we want to say graduate student. Now we went over the word for student which was |
| Naomi: 学生 (gakusei) |
| Peter: Which is literally school student. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Learning student. |
| Peter: Now we need this student there. So we are going to drop 学 (gaku) and just keep the 生 (sei) and then we are going to add that to the graduate school. |
| Naomi: ああ、はい。大学院生。(Ā, hai. Daigakuinsei.) |
| Peter: Graduate school student. Graduate student. Next we have |
| Naomi: ヘアスタイリスト (hea sutairisuto) |
| Peter: Hair stylist. Now we are going to get you familiar with these katakana words and katakana words are tricky for native English speakers because one you have to get your ear adjusted and two, sometimes they are a bit distorted. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Kind of like what we said in the introduction. Style You, makes sense because we are styling you but it’s the concept. |
| Naomi: Grammar, yeah. |
| Peter: So what do we have here? |
| Naomi: ヘアスタイリスト (hea sutairisuto) |
| Peter: Can we just break this down? |
| Naomi: (slow) へあすたいりすと (hea sutairisuto) (natural speed) ヘアスタイリスト (hea sutairisuto) |
| Peter: Now I love doing lessons with Naomi-sensei because she can teach us about the accents of the word. Now I am going to give this a shot, Naomi-san. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: ヘアスタイリスト (hea sutairisuto) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Was my intonation and everything correct? |
| Naomi: ヘアスタイリスト (hea sutairisuto), some people prolong ア (a) sound |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: And say ヘアースタイリスト (heā sutairisuto), so your pronunciation is good. |
| Peter: How about yours? Give it to us one more time. |
| Naomi: ヘアースタイリスト (heā sutairisuto) |
| Peter: Yeah, you really hold the アー (ā) in there, ヘアースタイリスト (heā sutairisuto). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Very flat. |
| Peter: Yeah, flat. |
| Naomi: はい。ヘアースタイリスト。(Hai. Heā sutairisuto.) |
| Peter: Ah yes. Everybody taking these classes will have excellent pronunciation. Next we have |
| Naomi: こんにちは (kon’nichiwa) |
| Peter: Hello. Simple greeting. |
| Naomi: (slow) こんにちは (kon’nichiwa) (natural speed) こんにちは (kon’nichiwa) |
| Peter: So we introduced you to a bunch of words. Now what we want to do is take a look at the conversation. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now the rest of the vocab is in the PDF, the accompanying PDF along with a kanji close up which the main goal of that is to get you very familiar with kanji, getting used to. You know, kind of get your feet wet. We give you the meaning of the word so you can understand the methodology, you can understand the logic behind kanji because it is very logical. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: So what we are going to do now is take a look at the conversation. Let’s just backtrack and Naomi-san, what do we have first? |
| Naomi: ようこそ。(Yōkoso.) |
| Peter: Welcome. |
| Naomi: スタイルユーです。(Sutairu Yū desu.) |
| Peter: This is Style You. Let’s just stop right here. We are introducing you to the copula. |
| Naomi: ああ、はい。(Ā, hai.) |
| Peter: Now what is the copula you may be asking? It’s very similar to the verb to be. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So there are some differences we will get into down the road but today we are just going to introduce you to this. This is in its polite form, です (desu). |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: And literally we have here is Style You is. The this is inferred. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So Style You is. This is Style You. Now we are going to teach a little trick right after we introduce you to the next few phrases. What do we have next? |
| Naomi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: It’s a pleasure to meet you. So we can tell by this that somebody is walking in the door by the ようこそ by the introduction of the store by the – it’s a pleasure to meet you, we can tell just by listening to this that somebody is coming into the store, a new person. Then we have |
| Naomi: 私はスタイルユー社長、夏見南です。(Watashi wa Sutairu Yū shachō, Natsumi Minami desu.) |
| Peter: I am the president of Style You, Minami Natsumi. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now let’s get in here and take a look at these components. What do we have first? |
| Naomi: 私 (watashi) |
| Peter: This is the pronoun we mentioned before. Here it’s I. This is followed by the topic marking particle |
| Naomi: は (wa) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Naomi: スタイルユー社長 (Sutairu Yū shachō) |
| Peter: Style You which we already saw before and then we have president. Give us the word of a president one more time. |
| Naomi: 社長 (shachō) |
| Peter: Just break it down. |
| Naomi: (slow) しゃちょう (shachō) (natural speed) 社長 (shachō) |
| Peter: So the name of the place followed by president Style You president, followed by |
| Naomi: 夏見南 (Natsumi Minami) |
| Peter: Last name, first name. Last name is Natsumi, first name is |
| Naomi: 南 (Minami) |
| Peter: Meaning south. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai,) |
| Peter: Natsumi, Summer See south is the kanji behind this person’s name and again, this is all covered in the kanji close up. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Which you should definitely check out. So up until now, we have I Style You president, Natsumi Minami. So my name is Peter Galante. Let’s just use my name as I do want to be president but let’s just use my name to give non-native speakers a kind of an understanding of how an introduction is given in Japanese up until this point. I Style You president, Galante Peter. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: There is a reversal there. One more important thing too is, usually in... well, at least in the US, the company name doesn’t precede the person. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. |
| Peter: Or not – at least not in the same sentence. So this is again a very interesting concept that the company precedes the name and you will see this on footers of emails, the company name first followed by the person’s name. Again very interesting. And finally we have |
| Naomi: です (desu) |
| Peter: The polite form of the copula. In this case, am. Now while we have that conjugation in English I am, he is, in Japanese, the conjugation is not done that way. So when we translate, we have to make that adjustment. Here the pronoun is I. So です (desu) corresponds to am. So literally we have, I Style You president, Natsumi Minami am. I am Minami Natsumi, president of Style You. So you see how it gets flipped around in English. |
| Naomi: ええ。(Ee.) That’s very different. |
| Peter: Yeah, and it’s so interesting. Really, really interesting. Okay, let’s continue on because we have a lot more to go. |
| Naomi: はい。大学院生です。(Hai. Daigakuinsei desu.) |
| Peter: I am a graduate student. Couple of interesting points here. First, Naomi-san, what is interesting about this sentence? There are a few interesting things about this sentence. |
| Naomi: Oh, she’s a 大学院生 (daigakuinsei) which is graduate student and she is also 社長 (shachō) which is a president. |
| Peter: Yeah. So she is doing very, very well for herself. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: One more interesting thing here at least for me… |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Is what’s the literal translation of this sentence, 大学院生です (daigakuinsei desu)? What’s the literal translation? |
| Naomi: Graduate student am… |
| Peter: Yeah. There is no subject. Graduate student am… |
| Naomi: Umm… |
| Peter: Graduate student am.. |
| Naomi: Yeah, if the subject is already understood, Japanese people tend to drop the subject and は (wa). |
| Peter: Yeah. So they had out. |
| Naomi: Yeah. |
| Peter: So really something quite interesting. And the reason we are pointing this out is the most simple way to introduce yourself is just your name, followed by |
| Naomi: です (desu) |
| Peter: For in my case, my name is Peter. Can you give us the Japanese pronunciation? |
| Naomi: ピーターです。(Pītā desu.) |
| Peter: That’s it, just a です (desu). |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: ピーターです。(Pītā desu.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: That’s it. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: You just take your name and follow it by です (desu). |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Occupation is the same. Say your occupation and put です (desu). |
| Peter: For example, you are a Japanese teacher. |
| Naomi: So 先生です (sensei desu). |
| Peter: Teacher |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Am – I am a teacher. Again, a lot of times the subject is understood by the person speaking or inferred. Next we have |
| Naomi: 秋です。(Shū desu.) |
| Peter: I am Shu. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Again the subject and は (wa) are dropped. |
| Peter: Yeah. The reason being is the person speaking can be inferred as… |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: We can understand from the fact that the person is speaking and saying his name that it’s the person. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So while you see 私は (watashi wa) something, something in the textbooks, a lot of times when speaking especially in casual situations, that gets dropped. |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right. |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Naomi: ヘアスタイリストです。(Hea sutairisuto desu.) |
| Peter: I am a hairstylist. Again nothing there. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: That I is inferred. Naomi-san, let’s just give them a quick comparison. If it was a textbook, how would it read the same sentence up to now? |
| Naomi: 私は秋です。(Watashi wa Shū desu.) |
| Peter: I am Shu, that 私は (watashi wa) will be there, followed by |
| Naomi: 私はヘアスタイリストです。(Watashi wa hea sutairisuto desu.) |
| Peter: I am a hairstylist but again this can be omitted. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Naomi: どうぞよろしく。(Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| Peter: Same expression as |
| Naomi: どうぞよろしくお願いします。(Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: Just what happened to the latter part? |
| Naomi: Ah I think Shu is kind of a casual person. So he dropped お願いします (onegai shimasu). |
| Peter: And again if you are – this is a causal situation. I don’t recommend doing this with your teachers in formal situations but we are teaching you this because you will come across this pattern. People use it. |
| Naomi: Uhoo. |
| Peter: I even knew one person who only said よろしく (yoroshiku). |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですね。(Ā, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Like even smaller. So this is something we will come across but see this pattern being reinforced です (desu), です (desu), です (desu) and every one of these can have the 私は (watashi wa) in front of it. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. |
| Peter: Okay. What we are going to do now is we are going to skip the next line and jump to the fourth line. |
| Naomi: えっと、東春人です。(Etto, Higashi Haruhito desu.) |
| Peter: Umm I am… |
| Naomi: 東春人 (Higashi Haruhito) |
| Peter: I am Haruhito Higashi. Here we have a filler. Japanese people aren’t sure what to say where they are biting time to think, you may hear えっと (etto). |
| Naomi: I often say that. えっと、えっと。(Etto, etto.) |
| Peter: So the brain is working…. |
| Naomi: Yeah. |
| Peter: And… |
| Naomi: The word is not coming. |
| Peter: So yeah we have this. Time buying filler and then the person says the name. This is followed by |
| Naomi: えっと、えっと、学生です。(Etto, etto, gakusei desu.) |
| Peter: Umm yeah, I am a student. So again, maybe not the smoothest talker in the group that we are going to meet over this 25-part series. |
| Naomi: Right, right. Maybe he is shy or he is just nervous. |
| Peter: Yeah, but again this pattern is what you can use. 学生です (gakusei desu), I am a student and for all of you students out there, this is the perfect fit. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Then we have our most interesting character. Did you hear the conversation? |
| Naomi: Yeah, I did. It was so funny. |
| Peter: Yeah, this is going to be a very unique character. Now again the katakana in here is designed to get your ear tuned accustomed to what you are hearing. So let’s just go through the first two lines and we will give you the translation. |
| Naomi: ファブリツィオです。(Faburitsio desu.) |
| Peter: I am Fabrizio and again this is very something westerners would do just their name. I am Fabrizio. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: I often say ピーターです (Pītā desu), I am Peter. This is followed by |
| Naomi: ファッションコーディネーターです。(Fasshon kōdinētā desu.) |
| Peter: I am a fashion coordinator. And I will play this over and over and start to sink in. Give it to us one more time, sensei. |
| Naomi: はい。ファッションコーディネーターです。(Hai. Fasshon kōdinētā desu.) |
| Peter: And finally we have |
| Naomi: イタリア人です。(Itaria-jin desu.) |
| Peter: I am Italian. Now all of this can be 私は, 私は. 私はファブリツィオ。(Watashi wa Faburitsio.) 私はイタリア人です。(Watashi wa Itaria-jin desu.) It can all be in there but again when spoken, it just |
| Naomi: Yeah. |
| Peter: Goodbye. |
| Naomi: Goodbye 私は (watashi wa). |
| Peter: Goodbye 私は (watashi wa). Now this is another important construction taking a country’s name and attaching… |
| Naomi: 人 (jin) |
| Peter: To form the word for nationality. |
| Naomi: And be careful when you pronounce イタリア人 (Itaria-jin), because 人 (jin) is lower than イタリア (Itaria) part. |
| Peter: Sensei, help us out there. First give us the word for Italy. |
| Naomi: イタリア (Itaria) |
| Peter: イタリア (Itaria) |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Naomi: 人 (jin) |
| Peter: Which means person. |
| Naomi: Or people. |
| Peter: Thank you very much. Yes, plural is another issue that we will get to a little bit later. Now what do we have when we put them together? |
| Naomi: イタリア人 (Itaria-jin) |
| Peter: So it starts high and then goes low. |
| Naomi: Yep. |
| Peter: イタリア人 (Itaria-jin) |
| Naomi: Other nationalities too, like アメリカ人 (Amerika-jin). |
| Peter: Starts high, down low with America being the US. |
| Naomi: アメリカ人 (Amerika-jin) |
| Peter: How about New Zealand? |
| Naomi: ニュージーランド人 (Nyū jīrando-jin) |
| Peter: Start out nice and high and then down. |
| Naomi: Yep. Make sure to keep the country name flat and high and lower the 人 (jin) part. |
| Peter: Yeah, pitch accent is something we are going to focus on and a lot of times and I agree with the statement that Japanese is quite easy to pronounce, however to really pronounce it, it does take a bit of work and that’s what we are going to – that’s what we are here for. Right, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) Right. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay, now this was the first lesson. So it was very, very long but I think there is just so much useful information in there. Now if you stop by japanesepod101.com, you can get the company PDF which has even more useful information in there. This is a very exciting series because pitch accent is something I’ve been really wanting to focus on. |
| Naomi: あ、そうですか。(A, sō desu ka.) Really? |
| Peter: Yes. So in this case, you can use よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu). |
| Naomi: こちらこそ、よろしくお願いします。(Kochirakoso, yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Peter: So this is exciting times with this series. All right Naomi-san, that’s going to do it for today. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Was it long enough for you? |
| Naomi: はい。長いですね。(Hai. Nagai desu ne.) Very long. |
| Peter: ちょっと長いですね。(Chotto nagai desu ne.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Okay, we will be back next week. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: That’s going to do for today. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 夏見 (Natsumi) : ようこそ！スタイルユーです。よろしくおねがいします。私は、スタイルユーの社長、南夏見です。大学院生です。(Yōkoso! Sutairu Yū desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Watashi wa Sutairu Yū no shachō, Minami Natsumi desu. Daigakuinsei desu.) |
| 秋 (Shū): しゅうです。ヘアスタイリストです。どうぞよろしく。(Shū desu. Hea sutairisuto desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| 冬果 (Fuyuka) : こんにちは。わたしは、北川冬果です。わたしは、カウンセラーです。よろしくおねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Watashi wa Kitagawa Fuyuka desu. Watashi wa kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| 春人 (Haruhito) : えっと・・・東春人です。えっと、えっと・・・学生です。(Etto... Higashi Haruhito desu. Etto, etto... gakusei desu.) |
| ファブリツィオ (Faburitsio) : ファブリツィオです。ファッションコーディネーターです。イタリア人です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。(Faburitsio desu. Fasshon kōdinētā desu. Itaria-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
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