Learn about giving and getting directions
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Yoshi＆Takase: おはよう東京。 |
| Yoshi: タカセです。 |
| Takase: はあ？ |
| Takase: タカセです。 |
| Yoshi: ヨシです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. Survival phrases #20. Yoshi… |
| Takase: Yoshi, |
| Peter: What a way to start off the lesson. Okay, we would just like to remind you to stop by japanesepod101.com, so much going on. Leave us a post, let us know about the lesson. Stop by the forum. Actually today’s lesson is taken from the request from the forum. Now this lesson has been long overdue. We’ve had a lot of requests about it but finally thanks to the forum, we can see everything. We can get it all together. Okay Nagasaki connection, what are we working on today? |
| Yoshi＆Takase: 道の聞き方 |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Asking directions. So far up to date, we gave you a lot of information and within that information, we gave you how to ask where is (something). Now we are going to have Yoshi give you a little reminder. Yoshi, how do we say, “Where is the hotel?” |
| Yoshi: ホテルはどこですか？ |
| Peter: Takase, how about, “Where is the station?” And let’s give the station a name. Where is Tokyo station? |
| Takase: 東京駅はどこですか？ |
| Peter: Where is Tokyo station? So what is the pattern we have here? Yoshi, what stays the same? |
| Yoshi: ～はどこですか？ |
| Peter: Takase, one more time slowly please. |
| Takase: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Yoshi: ～は、どこですか。 |
| Peter: Now Takase, what changes? |
| Takase: The name of the place. |
| Peter: Yes whatever comes in front, whatever you want to ask changes and it’s followed by |
| Yoshi: ～はどこですか？ |
| Peter: So a few more examples. Where is the imperial palace? |
| Takase: 皇居はどこですか？ |
| Peter: Where is Tokyo tower? |
| Yoshi: 東京タワーはどこですか？ |
| Peter: So we have this fixed structure. So we have a way to ask. Now let’s see how this works. We are not going to put the translation in. Just listen, see what you could get and we are going to break it down and go through it afterwards. Okay here we go.すいません。東京駅はどこですか？ |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って、右に曲がって、左にあります。 |
| Peter: ありがとうございます。 I didn’t catch that at all. Okay let me ask someone else. すいません。東京駅はどこですか？ |
| Peter: まっすぐ行って、右に曲がって、左にあります。 |
| Peter: Oh man that was fast. I have a bit of a problem here. Yes I can’t understand the answer. So while we taught you how to ask, the answer could be very difficult to catch. What do you think, Takase, a little bit fast, a little difficult to catch. |
| Takase: Yes. I said it very fast on purpose. |
| Peter: Takase, you give away all the secrets. We want to prove a point. The point we want to prove. Oh Takase. |
| Takase: You want me to say at my normal speed? |
| Peter: No. Thank you for offering. Takase, we are trying to prove a point. While you may know how to ask, we need to know about the answer. So today what we are going to work on is listening to the answer, catching the answer, turning the answer into something that’s very comprehensible. So where we want to start is, with what Takase and Yoshi just answered but rather than having me do the conversation, we want to get the natural pronunciation in. So we are going to have the same conversation but Yoshi and Takase will do it. Okay, same conversation. Here we go. |
| Yoshi: すみません。東京駅はどこですか？ |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って、右に曲がって、左にあります。 |
| Peter: So we have a few options here. We can do A |
| Yoshi: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って、右に曲がって、左にあります。 |
| Peter: Or we can try B. |
| Yoshi: すみません。英語で、お願いします。 |
| Peter: Did you just put a foreign accent in the Japanese? |
| Yoshi: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes but this is also an option but we are going to go with option C and option C is catching the directions. So what we are going to do now is give you a brief introduction to directions. So let’s start off with some vocabulary. Actually before we get into that, why don’t we give a translation of what we were talking about. |
| Takase: Okay. |
| Peter: Okay. So Yoshi, give us the first line one more time. |
| Yoshi: すみません。東京駅はどこですか？ |
| Peter: Excuse me, where is Tokyo station? |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って |
| Peter: Go straight. |
| Takase: 右に曲がって |
| Peter: Turn right. |
| Takase: 左にあります。 |
| Peter: It’s on the left. Before we get into the verbs in there, let’s start with the directions. So out of that past sentence, let’s take out the directions and add a few more. Let’s get the basic directions covered. Takase, what was the first direction that you pointed Yoshi in? |
| Takase: まっすぐ |
| Peter: Straight ahead. Break it down. |
| Takase: まっ・す・ぐ、まっすぐ |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Yoshi: 右 |
| Peter: Right. |
| Yoshi: み・ぎ、右 |
| Peter: So we are going to continue on with directions. Takase お願いします。 |
| Takase: 左 |
| Peter: Left. |
| Takase: ひ・だ・り、左 |
| Peter: Yoshi? |
| Yoshi: 隣 |
| Peter: Next to. |
| Yoshi: と・な・り、隣 |
| Peter: Takase, next |
| Takase: 前 |
| Peter: In front. |
| Takase: ま・え、前 |
| Peter: Next |
| Yoshi: 後ろ |
| Peter: Behind. |
| Yoshi: う・し・ろ、後ろ |
| Peter: Behind. Now Nagasaki connection, can you give us the words for right and left one more time. Recently we had some visitors from Brazil and one of them had trouble with right and left. I actually had trouble with right and left from the start. So it’s really confusing. So can you give us right and left one more time? Yoshi, right please? |
| Yoshi: 右 |
| Peter: And left please. |
| Takase: 左 |
| Peter: Yeah. So Yoshi, is there some way that we can use to distinguish them or tell them apart? |
| Yoshi: Yes. |
| Peter: Well give it to us. |
| Yoshi: I got a good one. Yeah. 右 If you break it down, it’s み・ぎ So me I am always right. |
| Peter: Beautiful. Priceless way to remember it. Me, I am always right. I really like that. What do you have left? |
| Yoshi: And because I am always right, 左he is always left out. |
| Peter: Perfect. Yes it’s – what was that phrase you came with, it’s all about me. |
| Yoshi: It’s all about me, yeah. |
| Peter: This is an amazing way to remember. One more time |
| Yoshi: Okay 右、み・ぎ me, I am always right and 左、ひ・だ・り he is always left out. |
| Peter: So there it is. You can use this to distinguish between the two. I think this is a really good way. I wish I knew this when I started. Yoshi, where were you? Where did you come up with this? |
| Yoshi: I am always right. |
| Peter: And Takase? |
| Takase: Yes, you are Yoshi. |
| Peter: Okay. So we got right and left down. Now we kind of have a way to remember in front and behind but it’s definitely not as good as the last way. Takase, what way can we remember in front and behind? |
| Takase: 前 starts with M and 後ろ starts with U. So M comes before U. |
| Peter: Exactly. So in front of and behind. Now yes of course, we are using the Romaji for this. We are trying to get a better way to remember this. If anybody out there has a better way, send it in. We would love to take it for ourselves. Yeah so please, if you are out there, you got a better way to remember this, let us know or post it and then everyone could see it. Post on the website, in the forum, wherever else you want. Last one, next to. |
| Takase: 隣 |
| Peter: Okay and for this one, you are just going to have to remember it. |
| Yoshi: Right. |
| Peter: Also this one too we are currently looking for a nice way to remember it. Do you have anything Yoshi 隣 |
| Yoshi: Nah! |
| Peter: Takase, something to help everybody. |
| Takase: Umm just remember. |
| Peter: Now that we have the directions down, let’s take a look at the rest of the sentence. Takase, give us the sentence one more time please. |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って、右に曲がって、左にあります。 |
| Peter: First part, what was that? |
| Takase: まっすぐ行って |
| Peter: We just talked about |
| Takase: まっすぐ |
| Peter: But what comes after it? |
| Takase: 行って |
| Peter: Yoshi what is this? |
| Yoshi: The て form of to go. |
| Peter: Correct. This comes from the verb |
| Yoshi: 行く |
| Peter: To go. The て form of this verb is a little beyond the scope of this lesson but it’s what’s used to continue two sentences in a row. So for this dialogue, please just know that it means go. What do we have next? |
| Yoshi: 右に曲がって |
| Peter: Turn right. We went over right but now we have another verb. What’s the verb? |
| Yoshi: 曲がる |
| Peter: And what was in the dialogue? |
| Yoshi: 曲がって |
| Peter: Again the て form of 曲がる The conjugation again is beyond the scope but it means turn and finally we had Takase? |
| Takase: 左にあります。 |
| Peter: It’s on the left. What we want to look at closer is the three verbs in this sentence. Those three verbs are. |
| Takase: 行く |
| Peter: To go. |
| Takase: 曲がる |
| Peter: To turn. |
| Takase: ある |
| Peter: To exist for inanimate objects. When asking where something is, these three verbs will cover a large percentage of the answers. And what you want to listen for is |
| Yoshi: 行って |
| Peter: Go. One more time, slowly. |
| Yoshi: いって |
| Peter: Go. And again this is the て form of the verb |
| Yoshi: 行く |
| Peter: Now when giving directions, you will often hear the て form rather than the polite form which was covered in basic lessons. So if you are keeping an ear out for this, you will know that’s the direction they want you to go. Now how about turning? |
| Takase: 曲がって |
| Peter: Again what is the dictionary form of this verb? |
| Takase: 曲がる |
| Peter: And what’s the polite form? |
| Takase: 曲がります |
| Peter: But when they are asking you to turn, you will often hear the て form which is |
| Takase: 曲がって |
| Peter: And finally when the location of the place is given, it’s usually accompanied by the verb |
| Yoshi: あります |
| Peter: And this is the polite present form. So what we are going to do now is give you some conversations to listen to and what we want you to listen for is to go in the te form which is |
| Yoshi: 行って |
| Peter: To turn in the て form which is |
| Takase: 曲がって |
| Peter: And there is in the polite form which is |
| Yoshi: あります |
| Peter: Okay. So tune your ears and get ready because here comes some dialogues. Our first conversation is asking directions to the Imperial palace from Tokyo station. Here we go. |
| Takase: すみません。皇居はどこですか？ |
| Peter: まっすぐ行って、あそこにあります。もう一度お願いします。 |
| Takase: すみません。皇居はどこですか？ |
| Yoshi: まっすぐ行って、あそこにあります。 |
| Peter: Where is the Imperial palace? Go straight, it’s over there. Yes this one still happens to be straight, just one street right from Tokyo station. All right, let’s try one in Akasaka where we are located. What’s the name of the shrine located right across the street from us? |
| Takase: 日枝神社（ひえじんじゃ） |
| Peter: Okay so let’s ask directions from Akasaka-mitsuke Station to Hie Jinja. |
| Takase: すみません。日枝神社はどこですか？ |
| Yoshi: まっすぐ行って、に曲がって、そこにあります。もう一度お願いします。 |
| Takase: すみません。日枝神社はどこですか？ |
| Yoshi: まっすぐ行って、左に曲がって、そこにあります。 |
| Peter: And one more time please. |
| Takase: すみません。日枝神社はどこですか？ |
| Peter: Excuse me, where is the Hie shrine? |
| Yoshi: まっすぐ行って、左に曲がって、そこにあります。 |
| Peter: Go straight, turn left. It’s there. Listening to the two answers, I noticed that at the end of the sentence, the verb |
| Yoshi: あります |
| Peter: Is often put in with the particle |
| Yoshi: に |
| Peter: And the place as in here, there or over there. So this construction is quite common, correct? |
| Yoshi: Correct. |
Outro |
| Peter: All right. I know what we will do. We will have some more examples up on the web for you to test out your ears. So stop by japanesepod101.com and get a couple of tests. Let’s see how well your ears can adjust to this. All right, that’s going to do it for today. |
| Yoshi: またね |
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide