Learn about asking someone out
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Lori’s Story Lesson 39. The Japanese that Might Score You a Date! In this lesson, you will learn how to invite someone to do something with you. |
| Naomi: For example... カラオケをしませんか。(Karaoke o shimasen ka.) Would you go to karaoke with me? |
| Eric: Yeah sure, let’s go but hey, let’s finish this episode first. Okay, this conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Naomi: 電話です。(Denwa desu.) |
| Eric: And the conversation is between |
| Naomi: リュウさんと静さん。(Ryū-san to Shizuka-san.) |
| Eric: The speakers will be using |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| Eric: Let’s listen. |
| DIALOGUE |
| リュウ (Ryū) : もしもし、静さん。(Moshimoshi, Shizuka-san.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : はい。(Hai.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : こんばんは。リュウです。(Konbanwa. Ryū desu.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : あ... こんばんは...。(A... konbanwa…) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : 電話番号、ありがとうございました。... はは。緊張しますね。あのぉ、明日、カラオケをしませんか。(Denwa bangō, arigatō gozaimashita. ...Haha. Kinchō shimasu ne. Anō, ashita, karaoke o shimasen ka.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : カラオケですか...。 うーん。(Karaoke desu ka... Ūn.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : あ...。好きじゃないですか。じゃ、映画をみませんか。(A... Suki ja nai desu ka. Ja, eiga o mimasen ka.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : 映画ですか...。うーん。(Eiga desu ka... Ūn.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : じゃ、とりあえず、明日、会いませんか。(Ja, toriaezu, ashita, aimasen ka.) |
| 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.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : もしもし、静さん。(Moshimoshi, Shizuka-san.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : はい。(Hai.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : こんばんは。リュウです。(Konbanwa. Ryū desu.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : あ... こんばんは...。(A... konbanwa…) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : 電話番号、ありがとうございました。... はは。緊張しますね。あのぉ、明日、カラオケをしませんか。(Denwa bangō, arigatō gozaimashita. ...Haha. Kinchō shimasu ne. Anō, ashita, karaoke o shimasen ka.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : カラオケですか...。 うーん。(Karaoke desu ka... Ūn.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : あ...。好きじゃないですか。じゃ、映画をみませんか。(A... Suki ja nai desu ka. Ja, eiga o mimasen ka.) |
| 静 (Shizuka) : 映画ですか...。うーん。(Eiga desu ka... Ūn.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : じゃ、とりあえず、明日、会いませんか。(Ja, toriaezu, ashita, aimasen ka.) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| リュウ (Ryū) : もしもし、静さん。(Moshimoshi, Shizuka-san.) |
| RYU : Hello, Shizuka? |
| 静 (Shizuka) : はい。(Hai.) |
| SHIZUKA : Yes. |
| リュウ (Ryū) : こんばんは。リュウです。(Konbanwa. Ryū desu.) |
| RYU : Good evening, it's Ryu. |
| 静 (Shizuka) : あ... こんばんは...。(A... konbanwa…) |
| SHIZUKA : Oh... Hi... |
| リュウ (Ryū) : 電話番号、ありがとうございました。(Denwa bangō, arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| RYU : Thank you for your phone number. |
| リュウ (Ryū) : … はは。緊張しますね。(... Haha. Kinchō shimasu ne.) |
| RYU : ... Haha, this makes me kind of nervous. |
| リュウ (Ryū) : あのぉ、明日、カラオケをしませんか。(Anō, ashita, karaoke o shimasen ka.) |
| RYU : Um, will you go out to karaoke with me tomorrow? |
| 静 (Shizuka) : カラオケですか...。 うーん。(Karaoke desu ka... Ūn.) |
| SHIZUKA : Karaoke? Well... |
| リュウ (Ryū) : あ...。好きじゃないですか。(A... Suki ja nai desu ka.) |
| RYU : Oh... You don’t like karaoke? |
| リュウ (Ryū) : じゃ、映画をみませんか。(Ja, eiga o mimasen ka.) |
| RYU : Ok, then how about a movie? |
| 静 (Shizuka) : 映画ですか...。うーん。(Eiga desu ka... Ūn.) |
| SHIZUKA : A movie? Well... |
| リュウ (Ryū) : じゃ、とりあえず、明日、会いませんか。(Ja, toriaezu, ashita, aimasen ka.) |
| RYU : Alright, then will you just meet me tomorrow? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Wait, wait, wait a moment. Hold on, hold on. Didn’t we just find out in the last episode that this guy Ryu is Lori’s boyfriend? |
| Naomi: That’s right. Lori-san said, リュウさんは私の彼氏です (Ryū-san wa watashi no kareshi desu). |
| Eric: Ryu is my boyfriend and now he apparently decides that he needs some more action right in the form of his girl friend’s best friend. |
| Naomi: I don’t think Ryu knows that Lori is Shizuka’s friend. |
| Eric: Uhh he is going to get burned. |
| Naomi: どうなるでしょうね。(Dō naru deshō ne.) You will see what’s going to happen next. |
| Eric: Anyway, on to the vocabulary. |
| Naomi: 次は単語です。(Tsugi wa tango desu.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: The first word is |
| Naomi: もしもし (moshimoshi) |
| Eric: Hello on the phone. |
| Naomi: (slow) もしもし (moshimoshi) (natural speed) もしもし (moshimoshi) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: 緊張する (kinchō suru) |
| Eric: To feel nervous. |
| Naomi: (slow) きんちょうする (kinchō suru) (natural speed) 緊張する (kinchō suru) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: Karaoke. |
| Naomi: (slow) カラオケ (karaoke) (natural speed) カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: The next word is |
| Naomi: 映画 (eiga) |
| Eric: Movie, film. |
| Naomi: (slow) えいが (eiga) (natural speed) 映画 (eiga) |
| Eric: And last |
| Naomi: とりあえず (toriaezu) |
| Eric: For the time being, for now. |
| Naomi: (slow) とりあえず (toriaezu) (natural speed) とりあえず (toriaezu) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Hey Naomi-sensei, what was the first word in the vocabulary list? |
| Naomi: もしもし (moshimoshi) |
| Eric: Right. もしもし (moshimoshi) is the first thing you hear in a telephone conversation. |
| Naomi: もしもし。もしもし。(Moshimoshi. Moshimoshi.) |
| Eric: It’s also the first thing you say when you pick up the phone. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Eric: And you know, you may hear it a couple of times during the call to confirm if the listener is still on the line. |
| Naomi: Are you still there? It is also used to attract someone’s attention either on a phone or in person, right Eric-san? エリックさん、もしもーし？もしもし？(Erikku-san, moshimōshi? Moshimoshi?) |
| Eric: Ah, ah. Right, right. Like that, you see? And it could be translated as hello or are you there or hellooo…. Are you listening? What’s the next word we want to look at? |
| Naomi: カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: Karaoke. Pretty famous, right? All around the world but everybody says it a little differently. The actual real way to pronounce karaoke is |
| Naomi: カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: Handle the pronunciation with care, all right. Make sure that the final ケ (ke) sounds like okay and not like the ki. |
| Naomi: カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: And カラオケ (karaoke) is a noun. It becomes a verb when followed by をします (o shimasu) or します (shimasu) which means to do karaoke. |
| Naomi: カラオケをします (karaoke o shimasu) or カラオケします (karaoke shimasu). By the way, カラオケ (karaoke) means empty orchestra originally. |
| Eric: Wait, wait, wait, empty orchestra, that wouldn’t even mean music. That would mean silence, right? |
| Naomi: Orchestra without singing. カラ (kara) means empty, オケ (oke) is the orchestra in Japanese. |
| Eric: I can’t believe it. I never put that together, put 2 and 2 together. That makes total sense right like 空手 (karate). |
| Naomi: Ah… |
| Eric: The empty hand, right? Karate. |
| Naomi: あ～、そうそうそうそう。空手。じゃあ、エリックさんはカラオケをしますか。(Ā, sō sō sō sō. Karate. Jā, Erikku-san wa karaoke o shimasu ka.) Do you do karaoke? |
| Eric: 時々、しますよ。(Tokidoki, shimasu yo.) Yeah sometimes I do. なおみ先生はカラオケ、しますか。(Naomi-sensei wa karaoke, shimasu ka.) |
| Naomi: しませんね。(Shimasen ne.) |
| Eric: Naomi-sensei, we want to hear your crooning singing voice. All right, so the next episode is going to be a karaoke lesson. On to the grammar. |
| Naomi: 次は、文法です。(Tsugi wa, bunpō desu.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: All right. Now let’s learn how to ask someone out using a negative question. What was that sentence in the dialogue? |
| Naomi: 明日、カラオケをしませんか。(Ashita, karaoke o shimasen ka.) |
| Eric: Literally, won’t you do karaoke tomorrow? Let’s break it down. |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) |
| Eric: Tomorrow. |
| Naomi: カラオケ (karaoke) |
| Eric: Karaoke. |
| Naomi: を (o) |
| Eric: Object marker. |
| Naomi: しません (shimasen) |
| Eric: Don’t do or won’t do. |
| Naomi: か (ka) |
| Eric: Question. It means won’t you go to karaoke tomorrow? But how does this work as an invitation, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: しませんか (shimasen ka) works as an invitation. It’s like, will you or won’t you. |
| Eric: So in English, would it be the same as why don’t we go to karaoke tomorrow. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Eric: So to sum it up, the formal negative form of a verb plus a question marking particle か (ka) expresses invitation but enough terminology. Let’s give some examples, right? What’s the Japanese word for to go? |
| Naomi: 行きます (ikimasu) |
| Eric: And the negative form of that don’t go or won’t go is |
| Naomi: 行きません (ikimasen) |
| Eric: So 行きませんか (ikimasen ka) means will you go or won’t you go or perhaps most fittingly, why don’t we go? |
| Naomi: そうですね、だから…。(Sō desu ne, dakara…) So. 映画に行きませんか。(Eiga ni ikimasen ka.) |
| Eric: Why don’t we go to a movie? |
| Naomi: パーティに行きませんか。(Pātī ni ikimasen ka.) |
| Eric: Why don’t we go to a party? Alright, so let’s practice with a different verb, the word to do. |
| Naomi: します (shimasu) |
| Eric: So how do you say, why don’t we do? |
| Naomi: しませんか (shimasen ka) |
| Eric: Why don’t we study Japanese? |
| Naomi: 日本語を勉強しませんか。(Nihon-go o benkyō shimasen ka.) |
| Eric: Why don’t we go on a date? |
| Naomi: デートしませんか。(Dēto shimasen ka.) |
| Eric: Why don’t we go to karaoke? |
| Naomi: カラオケをしませんか。じゃあエリックさん。(Karaoke o shimasen ka. Jā Erikku-san.) When you are asking someone out on a date, what would you say? |
| Eric: Probably... 明日、お茶しませんか。(Ashita, o-cha shimasen ka.) |
| Naomi: お茶しませんか。(O-cha shimasen ka.) That’s so classic. |
| Eric: What are you talking about? People still use that. |
| Naomi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah we do, we do but…. |
| Eric: You know with all my friends, they all use that. I use it like a couple of times a week. |
| Naomi: To the girls? |
| Eric: I use it a couple of times a day to everybody. Hey, like it’s a super useful phrase, don’t you think? |
| Naomi: Yeah I do. I agree. |
| Eric: Like what does お茶 (o-cha) mean? |
| Naomi: Tea. |
| Eric: Right, like green tea or just regular tea right but お茶しませんか (o-cha shimasen ka) implies going to a café to drink coffee or you know, to hang out and talk. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) Hang out and talk って感じね (tte kanji ne). |
| Eric: Hey so I use it all the time, all right. Not just for dates, just to hang out with anybody. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。お茶しませんか。いいフレーズですね。(Sō sō sō. O-cha shimasen ka. Ii furēzu desu ne.) I think that’s a good phrase to know. |
| Eric: Yeah, definitely use it. |
Outro |
| Eric: I’ll see you guys next time. |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.) |
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