Learn the polite introductions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: サクラです。 |
| Peter: Peter here, Celebrity Survival Phrases Lesson 01. No, we’re bringing back Survival Phrases and this time we’re doing it for celebrities. Now, Sakura san, why would celebrities need survival phrases in Japan? |
| Sakura: 分かりません. I don’t know! |
| Peter: Well, Sakura san, when was the last time you saw a movie? |
| Sakura: Many, many years ago. Last year, last year. |
| Peter: And what movie did you see? |
| Sakura: あのね、『カリブの海賊』 |
| Peter: 『Pirates Of The Caribbean』? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now, how big of a hit was that in Japan? |
| Sakura: I don’t know, so I saw it on DVDだった…sorry. |
| Peter: Well, it was a very big hit. |
| Sakura: かっこいい。クール。 |
| Peter: Really good. |
| Sakura: ジャックはクール！ |
| Peter: サクラさん、興奮しないでください。 |
| Sakura: Okay. |
| Peter: Now when a movie is released in Japan, usually the main actors and actresses come over to Japan. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And it’s a huge event, press conference, reporters from all the major news networks, newspapers, and they have this big press conference. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And of course that actor or actress has a translator by their side so they field questions and they answer in English and through the interpreters actually… |
| Sakura: ああ、そうだね。 |
| Peter: You should do this Sakura san. |
| Sakura: No way. |
| Peter: So basically they have to introduce themselves at this press conference, they also do marketing and commercials and lots of other things here in Japan. So any Japanese that a celebrity can speak goes over tremendously well. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Everyone’s like ‘Wow!’ even if it’s just a word or two. |
| Sakura: Mm-hmm. |
| Peter: すごい！ パチパチパチ。 |
| Sakura: Such a big difference. そうだね Yes. |
| Peter: It all makes sense, right? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, and in addition, this is really good practice for some polite Japanese. Actually, the stuff in here is quite complicated because most of the reporters and the people doing the interviews use extremely polite Japanese. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So, it’s definitely a challenging Survival Phrases. No Sakura san, what I said, what do you think? |
| Sakura: Yes, it’s interesting. |
| Peter: Yeah? Do you think anyone’s going to listen? |
| Sakura: Well I hope…I hope somebody will listen. |
| Peter: That’s what お願いします is for. |
| Sakura: お願いします！ |
| Peter: Now they have to listen. Alright, so, well that’s it, today what we’re going to work on: |
| Sakura: Introductions. |
| Peter: And introducing yourself in Japanese is very easy, at least the most basic way. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So with that said, let’s listen to the following conversation and who is our star for this conversation? |
| Sakura: Who? |
| Peter: Who else but Jack? |
| Sakura: Ooh!, Jack? |
| Peter: Jack? Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp? |
| Sakura: Jack Sparrow? Oh, yes, yes, yes, of course. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Of course. Okay, let’s get right in. Here we go. |
| Female staff: はじめまして。ようこそお越しくださいました。 |
| Johnny: はじめまして。ジョニー・デップです。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Female staff: とても日本語がお上手ですね。びっくりしました。 |
| Johnny: いいえ、日本語はとても難しいです。 |
| Peter: One more time, slowly please. |
| Sakura: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Female staff: はじめまして。ようこそ、おこしくださいました。 |
| Johnny: はじめまして。ジョニー・デップです。よろしく、おねがいします。 |
| Female staff: にほんごが、とても、おじょうずですね。 |
| Johnny: いいえ、にほごは、とても、むつかしいです。 |
| Female: 今度は英語が入ります。 |
| Female staff: はじめまして。ようこそお越しくださいました。 |
| Peter: Nice to meet you, thank you for taking time out to come here today. |
| Johnny: はじめまして。ジョニー・デップです。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Male: Nice meeting you too, I’m Johnny Depp. |
| Female staff: とても日本語がお上手ですね。びっくりしました。 |
| Male: Your Japanese is very good. I’m surprised. |
| Johnny: いいえ、日本語はとても難しいです。 |
| Male: Oh no, Japanese is very difficult. |
| Peter: So, Sakura san, what did you think of today’s conversation? |
| Sakura: Mmm. |
| Peter: Mmm. |
| Sakura: Yes, I think this would be useful in some cases. |
| Peter: I think it's really useful. |
| Sakura: Really, yes, really useful. |
| Peter: Put it this way, if the celebrity came over here. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And had this exact conversation it would be tremendous. People would be really, really impressed. |
| Sakura: Yes. And this doesn’t have to be like celebrities, you know? If you are introduced at a drinking party. |
| Sakura: This conversation, you might face this conversation like if you’ve come here for business. |
| Peter: Yes, the only difference between the situation you’ve just mentioned and the one in this interview is the extremely polite Japanese used by the interviewer in the conversation. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now we’re going to tweak that a bit, but yes, as you said, I thought we’d get into a bit later, but as you just mentioned, yes, if you use this Japanese at a party of when you’re first meeting someone, any time, people will be very very impressed. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Impressions, impressions, impressions, and then, yes, these two lines, the two lines that are Johnny, said, so if you can do these, you’re going to be alright. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: You’re going to have a very good impression on people. Okay, let’s take a look at some vocab first. Sakura san, what do we have first? |
| Sakura: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: Nice to meet you, how do you do? |
| Sakura: は・じ・め・ま・し・て、はじめまして |
| Peter: This is followed by? |
| Sakura: ようこそ |
| Peter: Welcome. |
| Sakura: よ・う・こ・そ、ようこそ |
| Peter: Now this phrase is a bit formal. The first place I actually came into contact with this phrase was at the airport. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Because they were big what? |
| Sakura: Welcome… |
| Peter: …to Japan |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And how does that go? |
| Sakura: そうこそ、日本へ。 |
| Peter: Yes, when using ようこそ, the particle へ(é) is used after the place you are welcoming someone to. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Next we have? |
| Sakura: お越し下さいました。 |
| Peter: To come here, but this is extremely polite. |
| Sakura: Extremely polite. |
| Peter: What is a less formal way of expressing this? |
| Sakura: 来てくれました。 |
| Peter: You came for us, or you came for me, depending on how many people there are in the party. In this situation it’s ‘Thank you for coming for us’ as in Japan. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: As in everybody, all the fans, everyone who cares about that person coming. So here the extremely polite form is used, the most polite form to show respect for this person. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And in this case, Johnny. |
| Sakura: お・こ・し・く・だ・さ・い・ま・し・た、お越しくださいました。 |
| Peter: Now, the grammar is way way too complex for this lesson, but just know that the person saying it is saying ‘you came for us’. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Again, if there’s more people, but if it’s just one person, ‘you came for me’ and this is often followed by ‘thank you’ or something along these lines – thank you for coming for us. Then we have...? |
| Sakura: ジョニー・デップ |
| Peter: Johnny Depp. |
| Sakura: じょ・に・い・でっ・ぷ、ジョニー・デップ |
| Peter: Next we have? |
| Sakura: とても |
| Peter: Very. |
| Sakura: と・て・も、とても |
| Peter: Followed by? |
| Sakura: 日本語 |
| Peter: Japanese language. |
| Sakura: に・ほ・ん・ご、日本語 |
| Peter: Followed by? |
| Sakura: お上手 |
| Peter: To be good at. |
| Sakura: お・じょ・う・ず、お上手 |
| Peter: The actual word for ‘to be good at’ is? |
| Sakura: 上手 |
| Peter: But here we have the honorific prefix お. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Next we have? |
| Sakura: びっくり |
| Peter: Surprise. |
| Sakura: びっ・く・り、びっくり |
| Peter: Now if you’re in Japan and your vocab is a bit limited, you could use this to express that you’re surprised. You can just say びっくり. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And while it might not be the best or the ideal phrase, it should be good enough to express or convey that you’re surprised by the situation or thing that just happened. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Finally, we have? |
| Sakura: 難しい |
| Peter: Difficult. |
| Sakura: む・ず・か・し・い、難しい |
| Peter: Alright, Sakura san, let’s get into the conversation. First, we have...? |
| Sakura: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: Nice to meet you. |
| Sakura: ようこそ、起こしくださいました。 |
| Peter: Welcome. You came for us. Now はじめまして is a set phrase. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: That’s the way it is, no changing it, that’s all. How do you do? Now the second part – Welcome and then again set phrase, except for it’s a very polite set phrase. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Welcome. You came for us. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now, how do you respond to this? |
| Sakura: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: Nice to meet you. Reciprocating it here and in a previous beginner lesson we threw in one of my favourite phrases, which is こちらこそ. Same here. |
| Sakura: Ah. |
| Peter: Which you can say when responding to? はじめまして. You can put in front of your はじめましてso for example if I meet Sakura san for the first time and she says to me: |
| Sakura: はじめまして。 |
| Peter: I can say こちらこそ、はじめまして. What do you think of that, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: Mmmm. |
| Peter: Mmmm. |
| Sakura: なるほどねえ。 |
| Peter: Now that is some very good Japanese. |
| Sakura: Ah, I never used it before. |
| Peter: Just further evidence of how good it is. |
| Sakura: そうだね。Yes. |
| Peter: Yes. So if you stick that in you’re really going to raise some eyebrows. |
| Sakura: そうだね、うん。 |
| Peter: So, but again that’s a little more advanced, check out the PDF for that. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: はじめまして, this is followed by? |
| Sakura: ジョニー・デップです。 |
| Peter: Name and です, which is almost the equivalent of ‘to be’ in English. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Here, in Japanese it comes at the end. Your name first, followed by? |
| Sakura: です |
| Peter: So in your case, Sakura san, it would be? |
| Sakura: 鈴木サクラです。 |
| Peter: One more time, slowly. |
| Sakura: すずき、さくら、です。 |
| Peter: Last name, first name, Suzuki, Sakura. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: But the です is always the same. |
| Sakura: はい。 |
| Peter: Now here in the conversation we have ‘ジョニー・デップ’ so we actually have his first name first and his last name, it’s quite understood that when foreigners tell people their names that first name comes first followed by the last name but you can also change the order to make it really Japanese.デップ・ジョニーです . |
| Sakura: Ooh. |
| Peter: What did you think of that? |
| Sakura: うん、すごい。ジャパニーズスタイルですね。 |
| Peter: There you go. |
| Sakura: はあ、なるほどね。 |
| Peter: So if you really want the Japanese style, flip your name around, last name first, first name last, followed by です, Peter Galante, I am Peter Galante. Then we have...? |
| Sakura: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: Which is a set phrase, and here you’re asking for kindness. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And I always think of it as ‘Please be kind to me’ and as it’s kind of an awkward translation, I always kind of think of it as like the golden rule – please be kind to me, like reciprocate the kindness I’ll give to you, or please be nice to me, as I will be nice to you. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: お願いします. So because Johnny spoke Japanese here, the interviewer was kind of taken aback, a little surprised here so she says? |
| Sakura: とても日本語がお上手ですね。 |
| Peter: Translated ‘you’re very good at Japanese’ but it’s kind of a reflex for most Japanese people when they hear people speak Japanese, whether you’re good or not, they’re going to tell you you’re good. |
| Sakura: Mmmm. |
| Peter: So it’s kind of like… |
| S: そうかも。 |
| Peter: ...while the translation is ‘you’re good at Japanese’ please think of it like ‘Oh, you can speak Japanese!’ Because the 上手 in there doesn’t really mean that, so I’d like to change this translation to ‘Oh, you speak Japanese’ followed by? |
| Sakura: びっくりしました。 |
| Peter: I’m surprised, and this is true. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes. There’s some truth to this. Now again what we’re introducing here are kind of set phrases and we’re not going to go into the grammar here because we want to get your ears accustomed to them so you could hear them and then know the responses which we’re going to give you and we’re actually going through. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: But you know we have the past tense here, we have some complicated grammar stuff and in fact the line in the first one about ‘you came for us’, I mean this is stuff advanced people can’t even use correctly so, just kind of, you know, we want you to get a feel for it and for you to recognise these sounds and phrases. So you get complimented, what do you say? |
| Sakura: いいえ。 |
| Peter: No, which is true. You know when somebody compliments you it’s very Japanese to say ‘No, that’s not right’. You’re very good at Japanese. いいえ, so this answer is in response to the compliment about the Japanese, not the surprise. |
| Sakura: 日本語はとても難しいです。 |
| Peter: Japanese is very difficult. And this is a nice little pattern and this is one you could throw around a lot too. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Like ‘Oh.Japanese is very difficult’, and you know when you don’t understand something you can use this, or if you don’t want to answer something, you can use this. So, you know I would actually use this phrase. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: If an interviewer asked me a question and a translator, you know even if you don’t understand the question, but the interpreter interprets it for you, and you finally understand the question but if you don’t want to answer the question, you can say.日本語はとても難しいですね。 |
| Peter: And… |
| Sakura: …and you can get away with it, ね？ |
| Peter: Yes, so hang on to this phrase as, like, your get out of jail free card. I heard there was some friction between you and so-and-so on set. 日本語はとても難しいですね。You can use this to get out of questions you don’t want to answer. Alright, Sakura san, our first Celebrity Survival Phrases... |
| Sakura: はい。 |
| Peter: …comes to a close. |
| Sakura: はい。 |
| Peter: What do you think? |
| Sakura: うん、面白い。 I think it’s good. |
| Peter: Yes, I think it’s really good and don’t be fooled by the name. It’s not just for celebrities, this is for people coming to Japan, coming for business, coming for meetings, academic get-togethers, all kinds of situations. This is the stuff that while you may not hear the extremely polite first phrase… |
| Sakura: うん。ようこそ、お越しくださいました。 |
| Peter: While you may not hear that phrase, the other phrases are all staples of getting to know someone in Japanese. ‘You’re very good at Japanese,’ ‘No I’m not,’ ‘Oh, nice to meet you,’ introductions, so this goes across the board. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So everybody should really benefit from this one. |
| Sakura: I think so. |
| Peter: Alright, Sakura san, thank you for taking us through this. Now if we get some celebrity email are you going to take those? |
| Sakura: はい。よろしくお願いします。 |
Outro |
| Peter: Alright, so that is going to do for today. That was fun, Sakura san. |
| Sakura: Mmmm, ね。 |
| Peter: ね。 |
| Peter: Alright, so we’ll be back. Again, we’ll have 10 parts in the series and some really useful phrases, some interesting and fun things coming up. That is going to do for today. |
| Sakura: またね。 |
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