Learn Japanese at JapanesePod101.com! Tom, an American studying Japanese at his university meets Junko-chan, a cute girl from Japan who is visiting the US. He explains his reasons for approaching her which seems to freak her out a little bit. Our grammar point is a potential verb + yō ni naru which expresses one’s desire to become able to do something. After listening, stop by JapanesePod101.com and be sure to leave us a post!
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Lower Intermediate Lessons (S2). 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.
18 Responses to “Lower Intermediate Lesson #65 - LI2: Getting to Know You 1”
JapanesePod101.com says:
February 28th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Mina-san, if you were Junko-chan and some freaky American guy speaking with a Tochigi accent approached you randomly in a cafe, what would you do?
クリス says:
March 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
If I had the skills to pull it off, I would start talking back to him like Cletus from the Simpsons 
プチクレア says:
March 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I’d reply in French !!! 
As it is, I guess I’d just ignore him. In any case he really needs to work in his pick-up line… 
Bob1 says:
March 7th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I have to confess that I didn’t even hear an accent. I guess that comes from living in Ibaraki for 18 years, and my wife’s relatives live in Oyama, a city in Tochigi prefecture. But in Tsukuba, many people come from outside Ibaraki, and when I hear the natives speak full-fledged Ibaraki-ben, I have trouble understanding.
By the way, as for the Americanism, “to pick up (a girl)”, this probably has the same “yarashii” nuance as “nampa suru”. I much prefer the British term, “to chat up (a girl)”, as it’s a little more process-oriented.
Glenn says:
March 7th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Thanks for putting in a bit of Ibaraki into this dialogue guys - sounds natural to me as well Bob1. Actually Ibaraki-ben has some really interesting words and phrases out West and in really rural areas. Two favourites told to me by a friend’s grandmother: ‘’Akanasu'’(Lit. red eggplant) = tomato; and ‘’murasaki'’ (lit. purple) = soy sauce.
As for the attempted chat up above well I have had that happen on me. In a bookstore from an upfront and confident young Japanese woman chatted me up while I was looking for books, in Mito. 逆ナン you can call it I suppose.
ジェーピー • João Paulo says:
March 7th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I also didn’t notice much of an accent, except for the clear pronunciation of “su” at the end of the words and it also seems he tends to always stress the last syllable of each word. I don’t know whether I am right or wrong, but that’s how it sounded for me.
Bob1 says:
March 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am
By the way, there are three books by Junichi Saga, a doctor in Tsuchiura, that have been translated into English:
Memories of Silk and Straw
Confessions of a Yakuza
Memories of Wind and Waves: A Self-Portrait of Lakeside Japan
These are all collections of (presumably) true historical accounts by patients of his that he interviewed.
Glenn says:
March 7th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I have read all three books Bob1 and the two ‘’Memories of..'’ books are my favorites
I also recommend ‘’IbaraGi janukute IbaraKi'’ is a great read about Ibaraki aand has some great terms in the back.
Jason says:
March 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Mina-san, if you were Junko-chan and some freaky American guy speaking with a Tochigi accent approached you randomly in a cafe, what would you do?
2 words: stun gun.
Josiah says:
March 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
i wonder what this guy looks like…?
i also didn’t notice much of an accent either
Jong says:
March 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
hmmm I actually liked much the accent.
I’ll try to mimic it when I have a chance.
maxiewawa says:
March 10th, 2008 at 7:55 am
That accent was awesome. I’m hanging out for Japanese Culture - IbaragiBen. Until then I’m doing my best to develop an Ibaragi accent.
Also, this seems like a very practical lesson for Japanese learners. (seriously!) I’m sure most of us have already tried a conversation like this and mucked it up. Hopefully we can do a better job from now on. Keep it up!
Ｓｉｎｄｙシンディー says:
March 10th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Maxiewawa-san!
Welcome back everyone missed you especially me my friend!!! 
so how you been? keep it up too! S_R_C
Michael says:
March 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Hi!
This was a great lesson! I hope this series continues for a while…
I’ve been studying this dialogue and I’m confused with the very end: in the pdf Junko seems to be saying something about 10 minutes (You’ve been speaking Japanese very well for 10 minutes?), it’s in the audio and kanji and kana versions, but not in the romaji or english. Is there some reason for this that I don’t know?
どうもありがとう！
maxiewawa says:
March 17th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Nice catch Michael!
十分 literally means “ten minutes” but can also mean “to the fullest” or “a lot” or “enough”. In the first meaning, it is read as じゅっぷん but in the second, it’s read as じゅぶん.
But maybe one of our helpful teachers will correct me…
Clienad says:
April 11th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Peter mentioned in this lesson that when he asks where some one is from どちらの方ですか？
答えは日本人です！ Always happens to me! We could be at a party and it says Japanese English exchange and I’ll say that phrase. and without fail they always replay I’m Japanese!
I get the same response from どこの出身ですか？
日本のどちらの方ですか？ Might work better???
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Category: Lower Intermediate Lessons (S2) |
Grammar: naru, yō ni, yo ni naru | Function: saying what youd like to be able to do | Topic: dialects, flirting, Ibaraki, nampa | Politeness Level: formal, Polite
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