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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Times are changing, and so is the modern household. It’s not so uncommon recently to come across a house-husband, and today Yoshi is just that! And it’s a good thing, because Natsuko’s weakness is souji (yes, Natsuko and Peter do have some things in common). Today’s grammar point is tokoro, used to indicate the time or circumstances relating to an action or state. Tune in, and then stop by JapanesePod101.com to leave us a post.

Grammar: | Topic: , | Politeness Level: ,


This entry was posted on Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Lower Intermediate Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

25 Responses to “Lower Intermediate Lesson #8 - House Husband”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, Today’s location is トリード・Torīdo - hello to all of our listeners in Toledo, Ohio! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

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Javier says:

And also hello to all listener in Toledo, Spain :smile:

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sukorudowan says:

I’m kind of confused by this. At first it sounds like one woman is letting another woman into the house. But then Juun-san welcomes his “wife” home. (Interesting, the way that was reversed.) Are we to assume that the two ladies were entering together?

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sukorudowan says:

Oops… Yoshi-san, not Juun-san.

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Gary_Chan says:

Great lesson once again, really weird that “Tokoro” came up, I had no idea how versatile it was; bizzarely topical because this exact phrase confused me at work today when a colleague used it to relate to “time”. Learn something new everyday. Thanks guys :grin:

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nanaka says:

I thought ‘Danna’ sounds familiar, it is ’something like what Sayuri became to the Chairman in The Memoirs of a Geisha’. So someone didn’t read that book, eh?

専業主夫、いいなー。

ところで、think we missed the Romaji for 手作り(handmade), which is ‘tedukuri’. ??? Weird, however that is how I managed to type the Kanji. Any explanations?

よろしくお願いします。

ななか

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annie says:

it’s typed “du” because “zu” would be ず

of if your question is why 作り changes pronunciation…

When you add a つ onto something from the t- line, the つ almost always changes to づ…. i think because it’s just natural for it to be pronounced that way.

so て つくり becomes てづくり

and i totally want a house husband. or really, anyone who will come and clean my apartment and cook me dinner. :mrgreen:

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ミシェル says:

nanaka-san,

A note on 手作り… When you romanize it, it is technically tezukuri, but in hiragana, it’s てづくり because “to make” is つく. When you see “zu” in romanji it may be the hiragana ず(zu) or づ (du). Which of these is correct depends on how the word is written when it stands alone (i.e. is not in a compound).

Another example is 「意味付ける」 which is composed of 意味 (いみ) and 付ける (つける). However, when you put them together, you get いみづける, which is romanized “imizukeru.” Oh, and 意味付ける is a verb meaning, “to give meaning to.”

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ミシェル says:

(ack, sorry! I didn’t see annieさん’s reply…)

みんなさん、今日のレッスンはどうだったの?楽しかった?
「low intermediate」のものだから、前の練習よりもっと難しいのをやってみようか?
指導は英語か日本語かどっちがいいかしら…
まあ、とりあえず英語のほうがいいと思う。練習は全部日本語からだ~☆

Today’s theme was 「専業主夫」, but besides baking bakes and cleaning, what does a full-time husband do anyway? For practice, I found the blog of one in Japan: http://shufu.ti-da.net/

First, take a look at the text in the header (it reads 「2004年3月に、12年間勤めた職場を退職しました。 その後、再就職しないで「専業主夫」という生き方をしています。 家事・育児をするお父さんの日記です。」 When did the writer stop working? How long did he work at his old job? What two things does he say he does now?

Here is the link to his 1/8 entry: http://shufu.ti-da.net/e1257047.html . Other than some vocabulary (listed below), the entry itself is pretty simple gramatically.

七輪 【しちりん】 earthen charcoal brazier (for cooking)
ベランダ balcony; veranda
木炭 【もくたん】 charcoal
お雑煮 【おぞうに】 A New Year dish
海苔 【のり】 dried seaweed
みそ汁 【みそしる】 miso soup
団欒 【だんらん】 sitting together in a circle; happy circle

Where do they grill? How do they prepare the mochi? He explains two different ways his family eats it… Oh, and how many people are in his family? Why does he like sitting around the brazier?

Moving on, what does allabout.co.jp say about full-time husbands? See here: http://allabout.co.jp/children/papaikuji/closeup/CU20060518A/index.htm

This is more difficult reading material than the blog, but depending on your reading ability, you might want to take a stab at it. And in fact, once you have a certain vocabulary base, more “formal” writing isn’t all that bad.

For starters, 「急増」 means “proliferation” or “surge” so the meaning of 「専業主夫が急増」 is easy to get. Next, 「内閣府」 is Japan’s cabinet office, and 「男女共同参画社会に関する世論調査」 is the public opinion survey about gender equality. In the explanation of the survey questions, 「夫」 means husbands and 「妻」 means wives, while 「家庭」 refers to a household.

Knowing this, what statement did 48.9% of respondents object to and 45.2% agree with in 2005? What were the results to the same question in 1979? The remainder of the paragraph explains why the cabinet office thinks this shift occured (「分析」 means analysis). From this section, 「社会進出」 means advancement in society while 「意識変化」 is a change in thinking or consciousness. 「夫婦」 is a couple, meaning a husband and wife. 「経済状況」 means economic conditions.

You can try the rest on your own if you’d like (rikai-chan is your friend) ^_^ 頑張ってね!

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Sindy says:

Annie-san you really want alot ehhh! :lol:

:grin: I’m a very independient person so I don’t like people to do me everything so I prefer to do it my self and for the other person if they don’t mind of course! :wink: :mrgreen: S_R_C

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annie says:

Sindyさん、

I don’t need someone to cook me breakfast! :mrgreen:

Actually, I’m usually quite fine with doing the cooking and cleaning. BUT, my kitchen’s usable area is about 3ft by 1ft…. which makes cooking nearly impossible. And my apartment is a disaster because I have no furniture– so I just have piles everywhere.

So, maybe you’re right- I don’t need a house-husband, just a new apartment. :???: moving in 2 months, can’t wait. :smile:

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nanaka says:

annie-さん、ミシェルさん、
どうも有難う、勉強になりました。

Personally, think I wouldnt’ mind having my hubby do more housework as I can have more time learning Japanese that way. But kitchen is my territory, he is not not allowed to mess around with it. We might end up eating too much high fat, high energy food if he was in charge of cooking.

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Sindy says:

Annie-san so your moving to a new apartament ehh! Good Luck on your new apartament ok! S_R_C :wink:

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dmr214 says:

I know this is very late question but, why would you use TOKORO to describe that you are now making a cake when the verb shows that for you right?

I don’t understand what the difference would be between between
ima ha shiteiru and
ima ha shiteiru tokoro

they both mean, doing now.

Is this right? Am i Crazy? :oops:

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watermen says:

Dear Dmr214:

今はしている –> I am doing it now.
今はしているところ –> I am in a state of doing it now.

Technically, it means the same thing. But the second one seems to emphasize on the state of doing it.

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Elly says:

I like Watermen’s explanation. In my head, this use of ところ is just like the difference in English when you’re saying:

“I’m baking a cake”
“I’m in the middle of baking a cake”

The second phrase, like ところ, indicates a figurative location (unless you’re in the cake…) I think the nuance is that the action isn’t just occuring, you’re entirely wrapped up in it, it’s on-going, even if you broke away from your project to greet guests or answer the phone, you are going to probably go back to that cake baking.

The first line is almost like stating what is literally going on–you’re mixing the batter as we speak, you’re sticking the pan in the oven, etc.

I don’t know how if this is really true, but in my head this is how I understand ところ in this manner. :grin:

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Mayumi says:

Elly-san,

Thank you for great explanation! :dogeza:  You are correct that when you have a phone call when you are baking a cake, you can use “tokoro” like “ケーキをやいていたところです”. I have a question about English. Can you say “I’m baking a cake” in the same situtaion or use a different expression?

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JKid says:

Mayumi-sensei,
You can use “I’m baking a cake” in the same situation. Either phrase is acceptable. However, to me, the use of “in the middle of” implies that you are actively doing something related to whatever it is you’re talking about.

For example, when you say “I am in the middle of baking a cake” this to me means that right before answering the phone, you were adding ingredients to the cake or something similar. If you were to say simply “I am baking a cake” that sounds more as if you’ve finished adding ingredients to the cake and are simply letting it cook in the oven while doing other things.

Same with “I am in the middle of doing homework”. This means right before answering the phone you were doing some homework. “I am doing homework” implies before picking up the phone you might have been having a coffee or something before continuing to do homework. Your main task is still the homework but you not actually focusing on it intently right now.

I hope that makes some sense :)

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Mayumi says:

JKid
Thank you for the explanation! :dogeza: 勉強になりました! :grin:

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カンチャナ says:

Is it really common to use words like 新車 Instead of say, 新しい車??

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Mayumi says:

カンチャナさん
Both are usually used. :wink:

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Elizabeth says:

Yoshiさんはすてきな人なの! よしくんー私のhouseboyになって下さい?

Seriously, I think Yoshi is the coolest. :) I want to hang out with him while living in Tokyo this summer.

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Tom says:

Why did she say that she hadn’t noticed? Is this polite way of handling the compliment?

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アヰアン says:

I don’t understand the last two ways to use “ところ”:
-After adjectives, tokoro means “to be in the state of the adjective”
-After nouns that represent time spans, such as shuumatsu (週末, “weekend”), tokoro is used to represent that period of time, or the state that existed during that time equivocally.

for example, what is the difference between 忙しいです and 忙しいところです?

Does anyone have some more example sentences for “tokoro” (the final usage)?

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Motoko says:

Tom-san,

It is really common to say gently denying compliments or switch the topic in Japan. Few Japanese people accept or say “arigato” to the compliment. It would come from Japanese humbling culture.
ex)
A: Suteki na dan’na san desu ne.
“Your husband is so nice/beautiful.”
B: Iiee, uchi de ha itsumo nete bakari nan desu.
“No~. He always sleeps at home.(so he is not such a guy.)”
C: Kawaii kaban desu ne!
“Your bag is cute!”
D: Honto? kore yasukatta no!
“Really? But this was cheep.”
Please don’t get angry even if your Japanese friends react to your compliment like these. That means they appreciate your comment but they are too shy to accept it.

アヰアンさん
We often say 大事なところで and お忙しいところ like this;
(仕事の)大事なところで、ミスをした。 
“(As work,)I made a mistake when it is important.”
危ないところを助けてもらった。
“I was rescued when I was in danger.”
お忙しいところをありがとうございます。
“Thank you for sparing your precious time with me.”
お仕事中のところをすみません。
“I’m sorry to bother you when you are busy.”
I hope this helps.

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