Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today we’ll take a peak at another classic JapanesePod101.com dysfunctional family. In today’s lesson, not only will we learn how to conduct an interrogation in Japanese, but we will also learn the Japanese word for uptight! Today’s conversation covers both polite language and informal language and the te form used with the auxiliary verbs shimau and ageru. After the lesson, be sure to leave us a post!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Lessons. 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.
14 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #161 - Jacoby & Matsuzaka”
JapanesePod101.com says:
March 27th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Mina-san, konnichiwa! kono musuko wa dou omoimashita ka? What did you think about the son?
Also, what do you notice about the politeness levels used in this conversation?
JockZon (JZ) says:
March 27th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
The son uses polite japanese while the parents don’t. Isn’t that weird, or maybe it’s a common thing? I mean, teenagers tend not to be that polite.
Well I wouldn’t like my parents to use my computer without my permission. I’ve got my private life on it so I totally understand him. Maybe he did overract though?
Lesson wo arigatou gozaimashita 
/JZ
Mayuko says:
March 28th, 2007 at 12:16 am
JZ-san, thanks for your question 
Let me see if I can answer to it…
Yes, the case is rare. We usually use informal language between parents and children.
Outside home though, it happens all the time that one uses polite language while the other doesn’t. It’s because we tend to speak in polite language to elders even though you are teenagers.
Hope it’s helpful. Maybe you’ve already known about that 
Laura says:
March 28th, 2007 at 12:31 am
I think he’s speaking politely because he’s taking the role of the policeman/lawyer and he wants to sound authoritative and formal. He’s been to law school, so he probably isn’t a teenager anymore.
I don’t think he’s being toooo strict. Perhaps he knew they were snooping in his browser history and reading his email.
Robato says:
March 28th, 2007 at 12:59 am
I thought this lesson was quite dificult surprised it’s in the beginners section
from robato
アニタ ビヤヌエバ says:
March 28th, 2007 at 3:01 am
just a random fact–i grew up mostly in northern California and I totally remember “Jacoby & Meyers”. Saw the commercials *all the time*. I thought they were based in CA, but I guess they were known nationwide if Peter saw the ads in New York. But yeah, I haven’t heard of them in a looong time (don’t see their ads anymore)…think it was a thing of the late 80s-early 90s.
anyway I was a bit surprised when Peter said that the other Americans at JPod101 hadn’t heard of them. Guess I’m just getting old (but I’m only 28!!). 
Alan says:
March 28th, 2007 at 6:05 am
I worked in the US in 94-96 in St Louis and remember ambulance chaser adverts well. Can’t remember whether it was the same firm, but I distinctly remember thinking that those guys were definitely ‘bottom feeders’.
What was that about some data protection law? Is it illegal for parent’s to snoop on their childrens’ web habits? Surely parent’s have a responsibility to supervise such activity? I can see that perhaps the situation changes over the age of 18 (21?) when children become adults, so in this case, maybe the son has a legitimate beef.
maxiewawa says:
March 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am
This was really good!
I think this goes beyond beginner lessons though!
I’m walking around the house now bellowing at inanimate objects in my best samurai voice: 知らない振りしないで！
markystar says:
March 28th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Lauraさん、
>>I think he’s speaking politely because he’s taking the role of the policeman/lawyer and he wants to sound authoritative and formal
i agree with you. 
furthermore, i wonder if the parents are not taking him seriously, as they refuse to speak formally and go along with his farce. （笑）
maxiewawa says:
March 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
A question: 法律の上で
According to the law? How about ‘from what my friend says, I think it’s wrong’ = 友達教えたの上で、違います。
正解ですか。
lulu_chan says:
April 9th, 2007 at 7:28 am
peter-san
I totally remember the Jacoby & Meyers. I think those commercials are still on. They were soo funny. great lesson.. gah! these nomalisers…bit difficult..but, ganbarimasu! ^___^
Monika says:
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Just around here the lessons become incredibly difficult. This one uses a causative without any explanation (unless you do s2 in parallel to s1) and some vocabulary that had not been introduced before and is not explained. I find that to understand what’s really going on requires an open dictionary and lots of detective work.
Funny enough, the podcast spends a lot of time on ‘jinmon’ - I guess thanks to Conan (the detective) I already knew that.
markystar says:
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Monkaさん、
i’ll be totally honest with you. from here on out, the beginner series gets really difficult.
if you’re only listening to this level, i highly recommend checking out beginner season 2 and beginner season 3 
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Category: Beginner Lessons |
Grammar: te ageru, te shimau | Function: interrogation | Topic: law | Politeness Level: Informal, Polite
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