Learn about introducing yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: サクラです。 |
| Natsuko: ナツコです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. survival phrases #33. Guess who is in the studio today! |
| Sakura, Natsuko: yay. |
| Peter: What? We have a reunion! It’s Natsuko san and Sakura san. |
| Sakura, Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Together, the three of us. How long has it been? |
| Sakura: I can’t remember. |
| Natsuko: Many months I think. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: It is so great to have you back Sakura san and Natsuko san. |
| Sakura: Thank you. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And the topic today too, we are talking about Sakura sans favourite sport! |
| Sakura: is it? |
| Sakura: Oh is it? |
| Peter: Well what’s your favourite sport? |
| Sakura: バスケットボール。 |
| Peter: There it is! |
| Sakura: Wow… |
| Peter: We’re talking about – Natsuko san, you don’t seem too enthusiastic about that. |
| Sakura: No no no no! I am. |
| Peter: That’s right, why are we going to talk about basketball today? Anybody feel free to jump in. |
| Sakura: Because there is a world championship! |
| Peter: Where? |
| Sakura: In Japan. |
| Peter: That’s right. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Natsuko san, did you know that? |
| Natsuko: Oh yes, I did, I did. Yes, of course. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: So what we’re going to do today is we’re going to talk about some of the teams involved, and some of the places that the games are going to happen. Now, we want everybody coming to Japan to have a great time. We're so excited that you’re going to get to see this amazing country. Sakura san, you played it with your country! |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So first things first, the actual name of it is FIBA World Championship 2006. Now Sakura san, do you know what FIBA stands for? |
| Sakura: No, please tell me. |
| Peter: Natsuko san, do you know? |
| Natsuko: No, sorry I don’t have any idea. |
| Peter: Up until yesterday I didn’t know either but, according to the website it’s Federation Internationale. I really pushed it back. |
| Sakura: It’s French isn’t it? |
| Peter: Yes! You know it, take over. |
| Sakura: Federation Internationale de Basketball. Ahh sorry, terrible, terrible. |
| Peter: You started off really good! |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: You started off strong but, yeah so what Sakura said that’s the name of it and it opens August 19th, that’s the start of the event and it will run through September 3rd. There’s going to be 24 teams participating and what we’re going to do over the next 2 survival phrases we’re going to introduce all the names of the countries plus we’re going to show you how to introduce yourself so, that way everyone coming to Japan will be able to introduce themselves and say, nice to meet you. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Natsuko: That’s good. |
| Peter: Right? Sounds good! |
| Peter: Ok, so why don’t we have Sakura san introduce herself. |
| Sakura: はじめまして、サクラです。日本人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Excellent, Natsuko san, let's ask Sakura san to give it to us one more time, nice and slow. |
| Natsuko: もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 |
| Sakura: は・じ・め・ま・し・て。わ・た・し・は・サ・ク・ラ・で・す。に・ほ・ん・じ・ん・で・す。よ・ろ・し・く・お・ね・が・い・し・ま・す。 |
| Peter: Sakura san let’s have Natsuko san introduce herself. |
| Sakura: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Natsuko: はじめまして、私はナツコです。日本人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Now what we gave you here, there’s certain things that are set, and you just have to interchange a few parts to get your self-introduction plus tell the listening party your nationality. Now Sakura san, one more time please? What’s fixed? Give us the first sentence. |
| Sakura: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: Now this is a set phrase, meaning ‘it’s nice to meet you’. Literally it means, ‘for the first time’. But, in Japanese ‘nice to meet you’. This is followed by? |
| Sakura: 私は、サクラです。 |
| Peter: Now there’s one part that’ll change, Sakura san, your name please? |
| Sakura: Sakura. |
| Peter: And what was that sentence you just gave us? |
| Sakura: 私は、サクラです。 |
| Peter: Now, we just have to take out Sakura’s name and put in, for example, Natsuko san’s name. |
| Natsuko: 私は、ナツコです。 |
| Peter: Now, the same applies to you. What we’re going to do now is break down the set phrases so you can get a good feel for it, ok? Give us what’s set, please leave out the name. |
| Natsuko: 私は、です。 |
| Peter: The first word. |
| Natsuko: 私。 |
| Peter: This is a pronoun meaning, ‘I’. Then it’s marked by the particle. |
| Natsuko: わ。 |
| Peter: Then you put in your name and it’s followed by? |
| Natsuko: です。 |
| Peter: Which is the copula, and again if you’re interested in the grammar go back to lesson 1. The first beginner lesson. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Go back and please see the difference! So, Sakura san, can you tell me my name in Japanese? How would I say Peter in Japanese? |
| Sakura: ピーター。 |
| Peter: So, when I want to use this sentence I would say 私は、ピーターです。 correct? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Ok! Now you got the second part. Now, one more tricky part in there but Sakura san and Natsuko san are going to turn it into a piece of cake, so it’s going to be really easy. What do we do when we’re talking about nationalities? What’s your nationality? one more time. |
| Sakura: 日本人。 |
| Peter: And give us the sentence you used? |
| Sakura: 日本人です。 |
| Peter: Now what’s going to stay the same is the suffice? |
| Sakura: じん。 |
| Peter: Now this follows the country name, in Japanese it’s very easy. You just take the country name and attach? |
| Sakura: じん。 |
| Peter: And that’s it, so we had? |
| Sakura: 日本人。 |
| Peter: I’m from America? Natsuko san, how do we say ‘America’ in Japanese? |
| Natsuko: アメリカ。 |
| Peter: And, how would I say American? |
| Natsuko: アメリカ人。 |
| Peter: That’s it, you just attach the suffice. And there it is, and again we add the copula? |
| Natsuko: です。 |
| Peter: Finally, we have the phrase of all phrases! |
| Natsuko: Yes, sure. |
| Peter: Natsuko san, give us that phrase? |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Please be kind to me. Now here, お願いします means ‘please’. Right, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And you can also use this when asking someone to do something or asking for something. Now, for more on this you could see our first survival phrases. Also, in this lesson, self-introduction is beginner lesson number 1, but the reason we’re bringing this today is we have some new countries. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Now what we want to do here first is introduce group A. All the countries, all 6 countries in group A. Then we’re going to incorporate it with the self-introduction. Now before we start that, let’s just break down everything for the listeners out there. Let’s give it to them syllable by syllable. |
| Sakura: Ok. |
| Peter: Natsuko san, how do we say, ‘how do you do?’ Or, ‘nice to meet you?’ |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: Now can you break that down for us? |
| Natsuko: は・じ・め・ま・し・て。はじめまして。 |
| Peter: That was followed by what, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: 私は、サクラです。 |
| Peter: Can you break that sentence down for us? |
| Sakura: わ・た・し・は・サ・ク・ラ・で・す。私はサクラです。 |
| Peter: And your name would go where Sakura’s name would go. |
| Sakura: Yes |
| Peter: Natsuko san? This was followed by? |
| Natsuko: 日本人です。 |
| Peter: Break it down for us please? |
| Natsuko: に・ほ・ん・じ・ん・で・す。日本人です。 |
| Peter: And finally we had? |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: ‘Nice to meet you’, ‘please be kind to me’. Break it down for us? |
| Natsuko: よ・ろ・し・く・お・ね・が・い・し・ま・す。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: And this is three words. First word being? |
| Natsuko: よろしく。 |
| Peter: Second word? |
| Natsuko: お願い。 |
| Peter: Third word? |
| Natsuko: します。 |
| Peter: And this is made of a word and a phrase. First word? |
| Natsuko: よろしく。 |
| Peter: And the phrase please? |
| Natsuko: お願いします。 |
| Peter: Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to give you country names, then we’re going to give you a given name, then we’re going to make self-introductions from each country. It’s going to be good. |
| Sakura: Ok. I hope it works. |
| Peter: And Natsuko san and Sakura san, you’re going to have to play a lot of different roles today, a lot of different nationalities. |
| Natsuko: Yes, and these people are in these teams right? |
| Peter: Yes, correct so you’re going to be playing guy roles. |
| Natsuko: Ok. |
| Peter: Now just a quick pointer here, in the following examples we’re going to give you just the first name. Now when you introduce yourself if you want to give both names, you can either give first name last name or reverse the order like the Japanese do. But again this is beyond the scope of this lesson, we just want to get you out there speaking the language. You’re coming to Japan, you want to meet some people right? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes, so we’re going to give you the tools to introduce yourself. |
| Natsuko: Japanese people often just say their family name right? Like スズキです. |
| Sakura: Yes. But if you are from another country it might be more natural to say your first name? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Do you think so? |
| Peter: Good point, I think so! So I would say 私はピーターです, ‘I’m Peter’. And you would say? |
| Natsuko: 私はスズキです。 |
| Peter: Which is? |
| Natsuko: I’m Suzuki. |
| Peter: Which is really your last name. |
| Natsuko: Yes, it’s my last name. |
| Peter: Ok, first things first, Group A. Japanese please? |
| Natsuko: グループA. |
| Peter: And where will the game be taking place? |
| Natsuko: 宮城県仙台市。 |
| Peter: Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai city. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Ok, now are you familiar with this city, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: Not really. |
| Peter: Pretend a bit. Yes, I think we established this already in a previous podcast so not too much lying here. Now Natsuko san can you give us the six countries real quick that are in this group. |
| Natsuko: ナイジェリア。レバノン。アルゼンチン。フランス。ベネズエラ。セルビア・モンテネグロ。 |
| Peter: Now I believe the last one is two countries but for this tournament they’re participating together. So we’ll just break them in, so this group actually has seven countries involved. Ok first country again please? |
| Natsuko: ナイジェリア。 |
| Peter: Can you break this down for us? |
| Natsuko: ナ・イ・ジ・ェ・リ・ア。ナイジェリア。 |
| Peter: And how do we say Nigerian? |
| Natsuko: ナイジェリア人。 |
| Peter: That’s all, just attach? |
| Natsuko: 人。 |
| Peter: To the Japanese word for Nigeria, which is? |
| Natsuko: ナイジェリア。 |
| Peter: Ok, now we have Julius on the team, so can you introduce yourself? |
| Natsuko: はじめまして、私はジュリアスです。ナイジェリア人です。よろしくおねがいします。 |
| Peter: Next country. Sakura san お願いします. |
| Sakura: レバノン。 |
| Peter: Break it down? |
| Sakura: レ・バ・ノ・ン。レバノン。 |
| Peter: And the name is Joseph, please introduce yourself. |
| Sakura: はじめまして、私はジョゼフです。レバノン人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Natsuko san, Argentina. |
| Natsuko: ア・ル・ゼ・ン・チ・ン。アルゼンチン。 |
| Peter: Manu. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。私はマヌーです。アルゼンチン人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: That’s a little difficult to say, say that one more time? |
| Natsuko: アルゼンチン人。 |
| Natsuko: Tricky. |
| Peter: Tricky, good luck to everyone out there with that one. Next we have France. |
| Sakura: フ・ラ・ン・ス。フランス。 |
| Peter: And Tony, Tony Parker. He’s a famous Basketball player on the team, I promise! Would you rather switch the name to Pierre? |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。私はトニーです。フランス人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Next we have Venezuela. |
| Natsuko: ベネズエラ。 |
| Peter: Richard. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。私はリチャードです。ベネズエラ人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Next we have Serbia and Montenegro. Now we’re going to have to break this into two to get the countries. So why don’t we go with Serbia first. |
| Sakura: セ・ル・ビ・ア。セルビア。 |
| Peter: Vlade Devak. |
| Sakura: はじめまして、ブラディー・ディバックです。セルビア人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Now that one we had the full name in there. Give me the name one more time please? |
| Natsuko: ブラディー・ディバック？ |
| Peter: Vlade Devak, famous Basketball player. Next we have Montenegro. |
| Natsuko: モ・ン・テ・ネ・グ・ロ。モンテネグロ。 |
| Peter: And let’s go with the same name, Vlade. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。私はブラディーです。モンテネグロ人です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Great job! Really really good job. Now the key to this is only two parts, we gave you the set phrase to introduce yourself, just two parts of that change. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Just the name and their nationality, ok? On the website, inside the premium section we’re actually going to have today’s dialogue all up there. So all the self-introductions will be up there. So, if you need it, it’s there for you. Ok, now let’s talk about the lovely city? |
| Natsuko: 仙台。 |
| Peter: Natsuko san, where is Sendai located? |
| Natsuko: It’s in the north eastern part of Honshu Island. |
| Peter: And what’s Honshu? |
| Natsuko: It’s the biggest Island in Japan. |
| Peter: North east. About how far north of Tokyo? |
| Natsuko: It’s about two or three hours from Tokyo using 新幹線. |
| Peter: And that would be? In English? |
| Natsuko: Bullet train. |
| Peter: So it’s not too far. But, it’s far enough that you’re going to get a nice flavour |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Of what Japan’s really like. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: I think the way they’re holding this tournament is really interesting. The cities are Sapporo in Hokkaido, Sendai, Hamamatsu and Hiroshima. |
| Natsuko: Oh they’re all very beautiful places. |
| Peter: Very beautiful. |
| Natsuko: And they’re all different! |
| Peter: Yeah, much different than say, Tokyo or Yokohama or Osaka. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So this is a really unique chance to really get absorbed in Japanese culture. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Now, when we go to Sendai, what’s going on in Sendai? Natsuko san? Can you give us some tips maybe? Some place to eat or maybe some off the beat place to travel? |
| Natsuko: I think the City is famous for Tanabata festival, right? |
| Peter: I remember that. We just had a JCC, a Japanese Culture Class about that. |
| Natsuko: Oh yes, but we just missed it right? |
| Sakura: It’s finished. |
| Peter: Wow, you really killed that party didn’t you, Sakura san, ‘it’s finished’. |
| Sakura: Last weekend. |
| Peter: Yeah last weekend, you are correct, 6th to the 8th. August 6th to August 8th but as the tournament will be starting on August 19th, not going to make it. So what about something to eat there? |
| Natsuko: How about some 牛タン. |
| Peter: And this is? |
| Natsuko: Cow tongue. |
| Peter: That’s right. Now as I’ve said in a previous podcast, I’m not too fond of cow tongue but the cow tongue in Sendai, in Sendai city is really good. |
| Natsuko: mmm. |
| Peter: And if you’re going to make it all the way up there, it’s definitely worth trying. |
| Natsuko: Right |
| Peter: You’ve got to try it right, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: Yes, I love it! I love it. |
| Natsuko: Grilled, slices. |
| Natsuko: Yes, slices of tongue. |
| Sakura: Yes, it doesn’t come in whole. |
| Natsuko: No, not like stewed tongue, it’s grilled. And salt and pepper and. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Sounds good, what’s next? What else is there to eat? |
| Sakura: ずんだ餅。 |
| Peter: What’s that? |
| Sakura: ずんだ餅 is rice dumplings, sticky dumpling in green paste. Green paste. |
| Peter: Are they sweet? |
| Sakura: Yes, the paste is made from green soya beans. |
| Peter: It sounds healthy for you. |
| Sakura: Yes yes, and it’s quite traditional as well. |
| Peter: Alright, and how do we say that one more time? |
| Sakura: ずんだ餅。 |
| Peter: Can you break that down for us? |
| Sakura: ず・ん・だ・も・ち。ずんだ餅。 |
| Peter: And, give us the cow tongue one more time. |
| Natsuko: 牛タン。ぎ・ゅ・う・た・ん。牛タン。 |
| Peter: Now for those of you only listening to this cast and then are heading off to Japan you can actually use part of the introduction, the part that means please. |
| Natsuko: お願いします。 |
| Peter: To order cow tongue. |
| Natsuko: 牛タンお願いします。 |
| Peter: Drop the よろしく and give it to us one more time? |
| Natsuko: 牛タンお願いします。 |
| Peter: Cow tongue please or? |
| Sakura: ずんだ餅、お願いします。 |
| Peter: Sweet green soya bean paste, with soft glutinous rice balls please. |
| Sakura: long. |
| Peter: Long. |
| Sakura: ずんだ餅。 |
| Peter: ずんだ餅. Now that they have something to eat, what is there to do? I know there’s a big street in the middle of town you can walk down. Lots of shops and people are out and about walking arm in arm, it’s a really unique experience. What else is there to do? |
| Natsuko: You can take a short trip to Matsushima. |
| Peter: Great idea. |
| Natsuko: Sounds nice. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now, is this located inside the city? |
| Natsuko: No, it’s about forty minutes away by train. |
| Peter: And if someone takes this ride, what’s there? What’s so special about this place? |
| Natsuko: There are tiny Islands in the sea covered with pine trees and it’s very artistic and it’s one of the three most beautiful sceneries in Japan |
| Peter: Wow, in Sendai? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: If you are up there and you have the time, make the extra effort to get there, it’ll really be worth it. |
| Sakura: Yeah I think so. |
| Peter: Alright, Natsuko san, is there anything else to do? |
| Natsuko: There are also two hot springs near Sendai, which is あきゆ and さくなみ. |
| Peter: Now for those of you who like Jacuzzis, like hot water, really hot water, this could be really great for you. You can take a short excursion to one of these places and really get an experience of what Japan’s like. Sendai will be enough because Sendai, you’re going to get a nice taste but if you make it to one of these other places you’re really going to bet a complete experience. What to do, what to do! We still have another group to go but we’re way past our time limit! |
| Natsuko: As Always. |
| Peter: As always. |
| Sakura: This always happens! |
| Natsuko: Would that be next week? |
| Peter: But we only have one more week before the tournament starts and we have three more groups to go. |
| Natsuko: oh. |
| Peter: Alright we’re going to figure something out. We’ll figure it out, we’ll get a way to get it to... |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Don’t worry, all the groups in the tournament will have something for them, we will. Ok now, we want to remind you to stop by Japanesepod101.com inside the pdf for the write up of what we went over today, we’re going to have all the introductions we did today plus a write up on how to use them. We’ll have information on if you’re coming to Japan, how to get your name in Japanese. We’ll get you the proper pronunciation in Japanese to make your introduction go smoother and really get you to a level so that you can have a great impact on whoever you’re talking to. Also, some other business, last week, Sakura san, did you see what we released on Friday? |
| Sakura: Ah yes I did! |
| Peter: What was that? |
| Sakura: The video! |
| Peter: That’s right! |
| Sakura: すごいね。 |
| Peter: Natsuko san, what did you think? |
| Natsuko: It was so impressive. |
| Peter: We are inviting everybody to come down. What we’ve come up with is a way to try to get you into the next episode. We have an open call for listeners to send in a video of them speaking Japanese, introducing themselves. We are looking forward to getting your videos, we want to see you guys speaking Japanese. |
| Natsuko: Yes! |
| Peter: You just have to come down, watch the video, read the reviews, read the posts, all of them if you have the time. We had so many great posts! And see if you can participate in this unique contest. |
| Natsuko: Yes, please. |
| Peter: Also, we want to remind you that there’s a week left until Friday that you can vote for japanesepod101.com and our community for the podcast awards. |
| Sakura: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Thank you for all the support, we really really appreciate it! . Alright did we get everything? Wow, what a lesson! Ok so congratulations to the six countries we talked about today for making it this far, we wish you the best of luck, and what can we say? Wishing them luck? |
| Natsuko: 頑張ってください。 |
Outro |
| Peter: See you tomorrow. |
| Sakura: また明日ね！ |
| Natsuko: またね！ |
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