Learn about introducing oneself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Lori’s story, lesson 26, Japanese self introductions. Make a great first impression. Naomi-sensei, I think we fooled everybody. |
| Naomi: え、なんで？(E, nande?) |
| Eric: Didn’t we say that the end of the series or at least the season was over? |
| Naomi: Yeah, we did. |
| Eric: Got you. You know, we didn’t want to trick you. It’s just what happened, Naomi-sensei. You probably like Lori so much that you just wanted to keep on. You never wanted it to end and plus we want to know what happens in that samurai bus. All right, but we have a long way to go. We have another 25 episodes. So for all you listeners, just hang on and we are going to learn a lot more in this newbie series. In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself in Japanese. Now we’ve touched on this in previous episodes, right? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) So this lesson will be a great review session. |
| Eric: And we are also going to introduce how to say nationalities and languages. |
| Naomi: Such as 日本人 (Nihon-jin), 日本語 (Nihon-go). |
| Eric: Japanese people, Japanese language. Look forward to it and this conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: 大学 (daigaku), university. I think they are at the meeting of international students. |
| Eric: And the conversation is between three people, right? |
| Naomi: 水木さん (Mizuki-san), ロリーさん (Rorī-san) and our new character, リュウ・ケンさん (Ryū Ken-san). |
| Eric: Where are they? |
| Naomi: You can find out in the dialogue. |
| Eric: Well let’s get to it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : こんにちは。水木一男です。私は 留学カウンセラーです。よろしく おねがいします。じゃ、みなさん、自己紹介、おねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Mizuki Kazuo desu. Watashi wa ryūgaku kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Ja, mina-san, jiko shōkai, onegai shimasu.) |
| リュウ・ケン (Ryū Ken) : はじめまして。ぼくは リュウ・ケンです。中国人 です。中国語と 日本語を 話します。しゅみは 旅行です。どうぞ よろしく。(Hajimemashite. Boku wa Ryū Ken desu. Chūgoku-jin desu. Chūgoku-go to Nihon-go o hanashimasu. Shumi wa ryokō desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : はい、じゃ、次の人。(Hai, ja, tsugi no hito.) |
| ロリー (Rorī) : ロリーです。出身は オーストラリアのパースです。しゅみは...。(Rorī desu. Shusshin wa Ōsutoraria no Pāsu desu. Shumi wa…) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : こんにちは。水木一男です。私は 留学カウンセラーです。よろしく おねがいします。じゃ、みなさん、自己紹介、おねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Mizuki Kazuo desu. Watashi wa ryūgaku kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Ja, mina-san, jiko shōkai, onegai shimasu.) |
| リュウ・ケン (Ryū Ken) : はじめまして。ぼくは リュウ・ケンです。中国人 です。中国語と 日本語を 話します。しゅみは 旅行です。どうぞ よろしく。(Hajimemashite. Boku wa Ryū Ken desu. Chūgoku-jin desu. Chūgoku-go to Nihon-go o hanashimasu. Shumi wa ryokō desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : はい、じゃ、次の人。(Hai, ja, tsugi no hito.) |
| ロリー (Rorī) : ロリーです。出身は オーストラリアのパースです。しゅみは...。(Rorī desu. Shusshin wa Ōsutoraria no Pāsu desu. Shumi wa…) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : こんにちは。水木一男です。私は 留学カウンセラーです。よろしく おねがいします。じゃ、みなさん、自己紹介、おねがいします。(Kon’nichiwa. Mizuki Kazuo desu. Watashi wa ryūgaku kaunserā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Ja, mina-san, jiko shōkai, onegai shimasu.) |
| MIZUKI KAZUO: Hello, I am Mizuki Kazuo. I am an exchange student counselor. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I would like you all to introduce yourselves. |
| リュウ・ケン (Ryū Ken) : はじめまして。ぼくは リュウ・ケンです。中国人 です。(Hajimemashite. Boku wa Ryū Ken desu. Chūgoku-jin desu.) |
| RYUU KEN: Hello. I am Ryu Ken. I am Chinese. |
| リュウ・ケン (Ryū Ken) : 中国語と 日本語を 話します。しゅみは 旅行です。どうぞ よろしく。(Chūgoku-go to Nihon-go o hanashimasu. Shumi wa ryokō desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.) |
| RYUU KEN: I speak Chinese and Japanese. My hobby is travel. It's nice to meet you. |
| 水木一男 (Mizuki Kazuo) : はい、じゃ、次の人。(Hai, ja, tsugi no hito.) |
| MIZUKI KAZUO: Okay, next. |
| ロリー (Rorī) : ロリーです。出身は オーストラリアのパースです。しゅみは...。(Rorī desu. Shusshin wa Ōsutoraria no Pāsu desu. Shumi wa…) |
| LORI: I'm Lori. I'm from Perth, Australia. My hobby is... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: You cliffhangered us again, Naomi-sensei. Now I guess, I got to wait until next week to find out what Lori’s hobbies are. Wait Naomi-sensei, you taught Japanese in the states, didn’t you? |
| Naomi: Yeah, yeah I did. |
| Eric: So you must have done a ton of these self introductions? |
| Naomi: Yeah maybe. |
| Eric: So when you are asked to give a self introduction, what kind of information do you usually give? |
| Naomi: Not much, maybe name, hometown and hobbies. |
| Eric: That’s enough, right? |
| Naomi: Yeah. |
| Eric: That’s enough. Actually yeah Japanese people often, they will tell you their hobbies or some kind of interesting piece of personal trivia. |
| Naomi: I think it’s a great way to break the ice. |
| Eric: But you know what I have noticed, Japanese people’s concepts of hobbies are a little bit different, you know, from the regular concept of what a hobby is, right? A hobby is something that you love to do that you invest all your time in. |
| Naomi: And you can practice. |
| Eric: Right you can practice it or you can do it and have fun with it. |
| Naomi: The concept of Japanese people’s hobby is more like something you like to do in your free time. For example, some people might say, my hobby is sleeping. |
| Eric: You know that sounds funny but I have heard that many times. I heard that a couple of times now. |
| Naomi: 言いますね。(Iimasu ne.) |
| Eric: And you know, it gets your imagination going like wow! Maybe they are trying different techniques on sleeping, they read different resources in books and stuff. Maybe they analyze their own dreams, they practice lucid dreaming you know, who knows, who knows but it’s probably none of the above. It’s probably, they just like to go to sleep. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Eric: And be asleep. How about you, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: My hobby? 趣味はお華とお茶かな？(Shumi wa o-hana to o-cha ka na?) |
| Eric: They sound like real hobbies. You can practice them. お華 (o-hana) which is flower arrangement. |
| Naomi: And お茶 (o-cha), tea ceremony. So what about you? 趣味は何ですか。(Shumi wa nan desu ka.) |
| Eric: 趣味は (shumi wa) sleeping. Ae I am not Japanese but I totally buy into that non-practicing hobby thing. |
| Naomi: 次は単語です。(Tsugi wa tango desu.) |
| Eric: On to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: The first word is |
| Naomi: 自己紹介 (jiko shōkai) |
| Eric: Self introduction. |
| Naomi: (slow) じこしょうかい (jiko shōkai) (natural speed) 自己紹介 (jiko shōkai) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: 僕 (boku) |
| Eric: I, me used by men. |
| Naomi: (slow) ぼく (boku) (natural speed) 僕 (boku) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: 話します (hanashimasu) |
| Eric: To speak, to talk. |
| Naomi: (slow) はなします (hanashimasu) (natural speed) 話します (hanashimasu) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: 趣味 (shumi) |
| Eric: Hobby. |
| Naomi: (slow) しゅみ (shumi) (natural speed) 趣味 (shumi) |
| Eric: And the last word is |
| Naomi: 出身 (shusshin) |
| Eric: A person’s origin. A person’s hometown or country. |
| Naomi: (slow) しゅっしん (shusshin) (natural speed) 出身 (shusshin) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Let’s take a closer look at some of the vocabulary useful for self introductions. First we have |
| Naomi: 趣味 (shumi) |
| Eric: Hobby. The う (u) is a short vowel. So it’s not しゅうみ (shūmi), it’s |
| Naomi: しゅみ (shumi) |
| Eric: And the sentence pattern is |
| Naomi: 趣味はsuch and such です。(Shumi wa “such and such” desu.) |
| Eric: And the such and such can be anything. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Eric: Well I mean it has to be a noun, right? |
| Naomi: 趣味はスノーボードです。(Shumi wa sunōbōdo desu.) |
| Eric: My hobby is snowboarding. |
| Naomi: 趣味はテニスです。(Shumi wa tenisu desu.) |
| Eric: My hobby is tennis. |
| Naomi: 趣味はピアノです。(Shumi wa piano desu.) |
| Eric: My hobby is Piano. なおみ先生、趣味は何ですか。(Naomi-sensei, shumi wa nan desu ka.) |
| Naomi: 趣味はお華です。(Shumi wa o-hana desu.) I like flower arrangement. エリックさん、趣味は何ですか。(Erikku-san, shumi wa nan desu ka.) |
| Eric: 趣味はピアノです。本当ですよ。(Shumi wa piano desu. Hontō desu yo.) |
| Naomi: You are musician だもんね (da mon ne). |
| Eric: So what’s the next word? |
| Naomi: 出身 (shusshin) |
| Eric: Hometown but it’s not just town, right? It could be a country and the sentence structure is pretty much the same as 趣味 (shumi). |
| Naomi: Exactly the same. 出身は such and such です。(Shusshin wa “such and such” desu.) |
| Eric: And as I just said, such and such could be a town, it could be a neighborhood, it could be a country, it could be a planet, right? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Planet, yeah. |
| Eric: Right. |
| Naomi: 出身は東京です。(Shusshin wa Tōkyō desu.) |
| Eric: I am from Tokyo. |
| Naomi: 出身はカナダです。(Shusshin wa Kanada desu.) |
| Eric: I am from Canada. |
| Naomi: 出身はロンドンです。(Shusshin wa Rondon desu.) |
| Eric: My hometown is London and if you want to give detailed information such as I am from Akasaka in Tokyo, the particle の (no) is used between the bigger area and the smaller area. |
| Naomi: Like, 東京の赤坂 (Tōkyō no Akasaka). |
| Eric: Akasaka in Tokyo. |
| Naomi: Tokyo is bigger than Akasaka. アメリカのケンブリッジです。(Amerika no Kenburijji desu.) |
| Eric: Cambridge in the US. This comes in handy when there is more than one place with the same name. |
| Naomi: あ、そうですね。イギリスのケンブリッジ。(A, sō desu ne. Igirisu no Kenburijji.) There is also イギリスのケンブリッジ (Igirisu no Kenburijji), right? |
| Eric: Exactly the Cambridge of England. |
| Naomi: エリックさん、出身はどこですか。(Erikku-san, shusshin wa doko desu ka.) |
| Eric: 出身はアメリカのマイアミです。なおみ先生、出身はどこですか。(Shusshin wa Amerika no Maiami desu. Naomi-sensei, shusshin wa doko desu ka.) |
| Naomi: 日本の千葉です。千葉の北です。(Nihon no Chiba desu. Chiba no kita desu.) |
| Eric: Hah! All right, now we are done. So all you people who want to find Naomi-sensei, you know where to look, Northern Chiba. |
| Naomi: 次は文法です。(Tsugi wa bunpō desu.) |
| Eric: On to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: Today’s grammar point is how to say your nationalities and what language you speak. In today’s dialogue, both the Chinese person and the Chinese language appeared in the dialogue. |
| Naomi: 中国人 (Chūgoku-jin), Chinese person. 中国語 (Chūgoku-go), Chinese language. |
| Eric: What is the one common point between these two words you just said? |
| Naomi: 中国 (Chūgoku) |
| Eric: Which is? |
| Naomi: China. |
| Eric: The country. So all you do is attach 人 (jin) to the end of a country name and it becomes that country’s people. |
| Naomi: アメリカ人 (Amerika-jin) |
| Eric: American. |
| Naomi: フランス人 (Furansu-jin) |
| Eric: French. |
| Naomi: スペイン人 (Supein-jin) |
| Eric: Spanish. |
| Naomi: スイス人 (Suisu-jin) |
| Eric: Swiss. Now be careful with this because in English, Switzerland is pretty you know, obvious but in Japanese, Switzerland is |
| Naomi: スイス (Suisu), we don’t put Land. |
| Eric: Right just Swiss which in English, Swiss means a person from Switzerland but in Japanese, a Swiss person is |
| Naomi: スイス人 (Suisu-jin) |
| Eric: Keep that in mind. And for the country’s language, you would say the country’s name. |
| Naomi: Plus 語 (go). For example, 中国語 (Chūgoku-go). |
| Eric: Chinese language. |
| Naomi: 日本語 (Nihon-go) |
| Eric: Japanese language. |
| Naomi: スペイン語 (Supein-go) |
| Eric: Spanish. How about English? |
| Naomi: It’s kind of an exception, 英語 (Eigo). |
| Eric: 英語 (Eigo), and that first 英 (ei), where does that come from? |
| Naomi: It’s from the kanji reading we use for England. |
| Eric: Which is? |
| Naomi: 英国 (Eikoku) |
| Eric: So let’s practice a little. Naomi-sensei. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Eric: You changed your nationality. You are now Spanish. |
| Naomi: Okay. 出身はスペインです。(Shusshin wa Supein desu.) |
| Eric: I am from Spain. |
| Naomi: 私はスペイン人です。(Watashi wa Supein-jin desu.) |
| Eric: I am a Spanish person. |
| Naomi: 私はスペイン語を話します。(Watashi wa Supein-go o hanashimasu.) |
| Eric: I speak Spanish. Naomi-sensei, how do you say Germany in Japanese? |
| Naomi: ドイツ (Doitsu) |
| Eric: So the Japanese got the original word of Germany from the German language and just turned it into… |
| Naomi: ドイツ。(Doitsu.) So if I want to say that I am from Germany, I would say 出身はドイツです (shusshin wa doitsu desu). |
| Eric: I am from Germany. |
| Naomi: ドイツ人です。(Doitsu-jin desu.) |
| Eric: I am German. |
| Naomi: ドイツ語を話します。(Doitsu-go o hanashimasu.) |
| Eric: I speak German and how do you say I am from Berlin in Germany? |
| Naomi: 出身はドイツのベルリンです。じゃあ、ゆうきさんに・・・(Shusshin wa Doitsu no Berurin desu. Ja, Yūki-san ni…) |
| Eric: Oh ho, our producer and director Yūki-san, let’s ask him to introduce himself. |
| Naomi: ゆうきさん。自己紹介、お願いします。(Yūki-san. Jiko shōkai, onegai shimasu.) |
| Yūki: こんにちは。ゆうきです。出身は東京です。趣味はスノーボードです。どうぞ、よろしくお願いします。(Kon’nichiwa. Yūki desu. Shusshin wa Tōkyō desu. Shumi wa Sunōbōdo desu. Dōzo, yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: ありがとうございました。(Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| Eric: Thanks Yūki-san. |
| Naomi: So his name is not ゆき (Yuki), his name is ゆうき (Yūki). |
| Eric: That's a huge difference because typically people named ゆき (Yuki), they are girls. |
| Naomi: そう、だから、ゆうき。(Sō, dakara, Yūki.) |
| Eric: All right. So did you catch that, 皆さん (mina-san)? Yūki is from Tokyo, he loves snowboarding and if you have any further questions, just go on japanesepod101.com and leave a comment in the comments section. |
| Naomi: ゆうきさんは日本語と英語を話しますね。(Yūki-san wa Nihon-go to Eigo o hanashimasu ne.) |
| Eric: Yes go ahead, ask away. |
Outro |
| Eric: That’s all for today. See you next time. |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また。(Jā, mata.) |
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