Learn how to say you've been to Japan several times
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: ナツコです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. Celebrity survival phrases, lesson 3. Natsuko san, what are we talking about today? |
| Natsuko: Impression of Japan. |
| Peter: Yeah. This is a question that you will be asked over and over again. So what kind of answers are we going to give everyone today? |
| Natsuko: Some positive answers. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Of course. |
| Peter: Some positive answers. |
| Natsuko: Uhoo… |
| Peter: Only good things to say. With that said, Natsuko san, can you give us a little bit of background about today’s conversation? Who is back? |
| Natsuko: We are back with Johnny Depp. |
| Peter: Our Japanese Johnny Depp and who is with Johnny today? |
| Natsuko: The interviewer. |
| Peter: Yeah. So a two person conversation. Again extremely polite Japanese and pay attention to the words in there because there are quite a few words that again when you get into this really polite level that even though you maybe mid or upper level, you just haven’t heard before. All right, are we ready? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Here we go. |
| Female staff: 今回は、何回目の来日ですか？ |
| Johnny: 3回目です。 |
| Female staff: 日本はいかがですか？ |
| Peter: 日本が大好きです。日本はきれいな国です。そして、食べ物がとてもおいしいです。 |
| Natsuko: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Female staff: こんかいは、なんかいめの、らいにちですか？ |
| Johnny: 3かいめです。 |
| Female staff: にほんは、いかがですか？ |
| Johnny: にほんが、だいすきです。にほんは、きれいな、くにです。そして、たべものが、とても、おいしいです。 |
| Female: 次は、英語が入ります。 |
| Female staff: 今回は、何回目の来日ですか？ |
| Male: Including this trip, how many times have you been to Japan? |
| Johnny: 3回目です。 |
| Male: This is my third time. |
| Female staff: 日本はいかがですか？ |
| Male: What do you think about Japan? |
| Johnny: 日本が大好きです。日本はきれいな国です。そして、食べ物がとてもおいしいです。 |
| Male: I love Japan. Japan is a beautiful country and the food is really good. |
| Peter: So Natsuko san, what did you think? |
| Natsuko: Hmm he is quite nice to mention some good things about Japan. |
| Peter: But there are so many good things to talk about. |
| Natsuko: Yes, sure. |
| Peter: Yeah I thought his answer was on the light side. |
| Natsuko: Oh really? |
| Peter: Yeah. Well let’s try to build that up when we get to the conversation but first, let’s start with the vocab. |
| Natsuko: 今回 |
| Peter: This time. |
| Natsuko: こ・ん・か・い、今回 |
| Peter: Next |
| Natsuko: 来日 |
| Peter: To come to Japan. |
| Natsuko: ら・い・に・ち、来日 |
| Peter: Now the characters here are quite interesting. The first character means |
| Natsuko: To come. |
| Peter: The second character means |
| Natsuko: Japan. |
| Peter: Yeah. So you put these two together and you get |
| Natsuko: Come to Japan. |
| Peter: Yeah very straightforward. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 大好き |
| Peter: To really like, to love. |
| Natsuko: だ・い・す・き、大好き |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: きれい |
| Peter: Beautiful. |
| Natsuko: き・れ・い、きれい |
| Peter: Next |
| Natsuko: 国 |
| Peter: Country. |
| Natsuko: く・に、国 |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 食べ物 |
| Peter: Food. |
| Natsuko: た・べ・も・の、食べ物 |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Natsuko: とても |
| Peter: Very. |
| Natsuko: と・て・も、とても |
| Peter: This adverb can come in very handy. You can throw this in front of any adjective. We will try it with our next adjective after we introduce it. |
| Natsuko: おいしい |
| Peter: Delicious. |
| Natsuko: お・い・し・い、おいしい |
| Peter: So how do we say very delicious? |
| Natsuko: とてもおいしい |
| Peter: And let’s just throw in a little bit of slang. If it’s kind of a casual situation, you can say |
| Natsuko: 超(ちょう) |
| Peter: Super, extremely. |
| Natsuko: 超おいしい、 |
| Peter: 超おしいい |
| Natsuko: 超うまい |
| Peter: 超うまい Okay I guess うまい is another way. Now we are getting a bit slangy. So but um some really interesting Japanese here うまい is quite a common way to express that something is delicious especially among male speakers. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay and you could kind of make it polite again by adding des to it. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: So it makes up very interesting Japanese 超うまいです。 |
| Natsuko: Yeah that would be really funny. |
| Peter: Yeah that would – I think that would go over quite well. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: All right. Next we have |
| Natsuko: いかが |
| Peter: How, the polite form of the interrogative how. |
| Natsuko: い・か・が、いかが |
| Peter: All right. Now let’s take apart this conversation. We will start off with the interviewer. |
| Natsuko: 今回は、何回目の来日ですか？ |
| Peter: How many times have you been to Japan including this trip? Okay, now let’s take a look at components. First we have |
| Natsuko: 今回 |
| Peter: This time. |
| Natsuko: は(va) |
| Peter: Marked by the topic marking particle は(va). So in Japanese, we have topics and when a topic – to establish a topic, it’s marked by the particle は(va). Okay, so this time |
| Natsuko: 何回目 |
| Peter: What number time. Literally how many times followed by |
| Natsuko: の |
| Peter: Here again the possessive, how many times. |
| Natsuko: 来日 |
| Peter: Come to Japan. |
| Natsuko: ですか？ |
| Peter: Is it, question mark? Literally this time, how many times come to Japan? So we translate this as, this time how many times have you been to Japan and including this one. We answer this with |
| Natsuko: 3回目です。 |
| Peter: The third time. Now we don’t know if this is true – if Johnny, if you want to leave us a comment, we are open to that. We’d love to know how many times it’s been. |
| Natsuko: I am not sure but I remember him coming when he was in Scissorhands. |
| Peter: Edward Scissorhands. |
| Natsuko: Yes. So when he was really young. |
| Peter: Well yeah. Back when we saw that movie and we were young too. |
| Natsuko: Oh yeah sure. |
| Peter: Oh boy! Okay so, um now in this case, literally we have three times it is. It’s my third time. Again, the subject is inferred here speaking about himself. So three times it is, is the literal translation but translated as it’s my third time. Now Natsuko san, can we go over how many times people have been here. |
| Natsuko: Yes, starting from the first time? |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Natsuko: 初めてです。 |
| Peter: First time. Now this phrase here, can you break it down? Give it to us one more time, nice and slow. |
| Natsuko: は・じ・め・て・で・す、初めてです |
| Peter: Literally, ‘first time it is’ and again when you are speaking, it’s my first time. So if you are coming to Japan, this should be a staple of your Japanese because you should be doing a lot of things for the first time. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, right. |
| Peter: Do you want to eat Sushi? |
| Natsuko: 初めてです。 |
| Peter: Do you want to see a movie in Japan? |
| Natsuko: 初めてです。 |
| Peter: Do you want to have Ramen? |
| Natsuko: 初めてです。 |
| Peter: Yeah. This should be every time you try something, you should use this phrase. Okay then we have |
| Natsuko: 2回目 |
| Peter: Second time. |
| Natsuko: 3回目 |
| Peter: Third time. |
| Natsuko: 4回目 |
| Peter: Fourth time. |
| Natsuko: 5回目 |
| Peter: Fifth time and anything after that, you don’t have to talk about. So this is just – again here we are using it as trips to Japan but it’s just expressing how many times you’ve done something. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And the topic is usually determined beforehand. So in this case, we are talking about coming to Japan and that’s why it’s my third time to come to Japan. All right, then we have |
| Natsuko: 日本はいかがですか？ |
| Peter: How is Japan? Literally, first we have |
| Natsuko: 日本 |
| Peter: Japan. |
| Natsuko: は(va) |
| Peter: Topic marking particle. So we are establishing what to talk about. Think about it this way. Japan, how is it? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: That pause in there. |
| Natsuko: It’s like a colon. |
| Peter: Yeah. Japan. |
| Natsuko: Japan. |
| Peter: 1, 2, 3, how is it? You know you are kind of waiting there. The topic is established and you go from there. This いかがですか there is a casual way that you might hear too and that is |
| Natsuko: どうですか？ |
| Peter: How is it? So here, we are using more polite Japanese. So though becomes |
| Natsuko: いかが |
| Peter: Now for the answer. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Now here is where you really want to pay attention. We have him saying |
| Natsuko: 日本が大好きです。 |
| Peter: I’d love Japan. First we have |
| Natsuko: 日本 |
| Peter: Japan marked by |
| Natsuko: が |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 大好きです。 |
| Peter: Love, literally Japan love. Again no subject, it’s inferred. You are the one speaking. I love Japan. The grammar behind this sentence, like because in Japanese, like is not a verb. Next sentence. |
| Natsuko: 日本はきれいな国です。 |
| Peter: Japan is a beautiful country. Literally we have |
| Natsuko: 日本 |
| Peter: Japan. |
| Natsuko: は |
| Peter: Again, topic marking particle. So Japan pause |
| Natsuko: きれいな |
| Peter: Beautiful. |
| Natsuko: 国 |
| Peter: Country. |
| Natsuko: です |
| Peter: It is. Japan is a beautiful country. Now, let’s take a look at this きれい. This is what we call a な adjective. So in between this adjective and the noun, certain adjectives need |
| Natsuko: な |
| Peter: So rather than きれい、国 it becomes きれいな国 And for this reason, they are grouped into な adjectives. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: そして |
| Peter: And |
| Natsuko: 食べ物がとてもおいしいです。 |
| Peter: The food is very delicious. Okay Natsuko san, |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: What did you think? Enough good things about Japan? |
| Natsuko: Uhoo not enough but these are definitely some of the good parts. |
| Peter: Some of the good parts. Now, for food, what would you say, go eat? |
| Natsuko: Ah! |
| Peter: 何が、とてもおいしいですか？ |
| Natsuko: Everything. Well, I think everyone loves Sushi. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Or maybe if you want to eat some meat, go すき焼き |
| Peter: Or しゃぶしゃぶ |
| Natsuko: Oh yes, sure. |
| Peter: Where you take the sliced beef or sliced meat and you put it into the boiling water and it cooks almost instantly. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Ah |
| Natsuko: Um. |
Outro |
| Peter: Yes, lots to do. So yeah really check out everything you could do in Japan. So we will be back with some more phrases next week but until then, that’s going to do for today. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また今度。 |
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