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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! As you walk to a New Year’s Eve celebration in Japan, someone calls out to you in Japanese, “Congratulations!” You wonder why he would tell you that in Japanese-it’s not like you caused the new year to come. You use kenjō-go, the most polite form of Japanese, to say “Excuse me” to the person who congratulated you, and then you proceed to quiz him about what he meant. In this lesson, you will learn about New Year’s customs and greetings while reviewing humble expressions. While at home, a family and an exchange student converse using both informal and formal Japanese, respectively, and they watch a television journalist report the news using formal Japanese. You’ll also learn several useful humble Japanese expressions. Visit us at JapanesePod101.com, where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!
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This entry was posted on Monday, January 10th, 2011 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 6 . 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.
34 Responses to “Beginner S6 #1 - You Can Never Be Too Polite in Japanese”
at 6:30 pm
みなさん、こんにちは♪
Join Naomi and Kat for the sixth season of the Beginner level!
In this series, you’ll follow the adventures of Joshua Brown, a New Zealander living and working in Japan
at 12:04 am
Thanks for a great first lesson! The PDF is excellent and really helpful for this lesson!
I have one question though regarding the KEIGO;
する >> いたす
いる >> おる
My question is regarding a sample sentence, 日本語を勉強している.
The PDF shows this as conjugating in keigo to:
日本語を勉強しております.
Is there a reason that the suru verb is not changed? Would it be wrong to say
日本語を勉強いたしております
???
at 8:24 am
what is the reationship between suru and shimasu? previously a sentence such as going to study I had only heard it as benkyoo shimasu but I hear you guys is suru a lot
at 11:09 am
九栗鼠 (クリス)-san
That’s a really good question.
Actually -いたしておる is considered as 二重敬語(redundant keigo) and is a wrong grammar.
For present progressive sentences, the ending should be “-te orimasu”.
Dante-san
There, you can find detailed write up about masu form and dictionary form.
Shimasu is a masu form of a verb suru. If you’re not yet familiar with dictionary form of a verb and masu form of a verb, please check Newbie series season 3 lesson 19,20 and 21.
at 11:29 pm
Thanks naomi先生!
I guess I just need to remember the end as being fixed then ^_^
at 5:44 am
JP101の皆さん、あけましておめでとうございます!今年もよろしくお願いいたします!
I just love the way the extra-polite levels sound. Just like 「申し訳ありません。」
I don’t know, it just sounds so poetic to me. Maybe that sounds kinda silly from a native speaker’s point of view, though ^-^;
at 9:52 am
九栗鼠 (クリス)-san
Your question is a really good one because there are quite a few native Japanese people use “-itashite orimasu” and don’t even know it’s a wrong grammar.
So it’s really a tricky part even for native speaker!
Aephion-san
今年もよろしくお願いいたします。
at 10:31 am
I agree with aephion. I love the sound of very polite Japanese. I think it sounds very elegant.
at 10:37 am
more than polite language in japanese I think the past tense in japanese very enjoyable to listen to sexy even!
at 9:20 pm
先生
いつも 初詣 の 時 京都 の ふしみ いなり へ 行きます。人 が めっちゃ おおい。 今年 私 インド で 住んで いるから ふしみ いなり へ いく こと が できません でした。
うち の家 の 近く ある Temple へ かぞく と 行きました。 楽しいかった。
Sivasakthivel
at 12:32 pm
siva-san

お久しぶりです!
インドに帰っているんですね~。家族と一緒のお正月はどうでしたか。
今年もよろしくお願いします。
at 4:41 am
明けましておめでとうございます! 毎年、友達と一緒に茨城県の大洗磯崎神社か村松神社へ行きます。
at 11:05 am
新しいのレッスン!わいい!ありがとうございます!
at 11:36 am
ナオミ先生
久しぶり、モロッコに行きました。時間がない、勉強しなかった。悪い人です。
今から勉強する !
私の質問
1。)your introduction followed by …. ”su-zu-ki (?) になります”
2。)あら?used in “あら、もう豆まき、終わってしまったの?”
3。)ほ ?used in “……..たべないほうが いいよ”
ところで、does anyone use “貴男がた” these days - ie the formal version of 貴男?
それだけ、ありがとうございます!
あなたの時間を無駄にして申し訳ありません
at 11:17 am
AngryKatie-san
私は今年初詣で茨城県の筑波山神社に行きました。
アスラン-san
コメントありがとうございました!
クリス-san
お久しぶりです。
(1)The word I said was つづき(tsu-zu-ki) meaning “continuation.”
So ”~のつづきになります” means “It’s a continuation from~”
(2) あら? is a feminine interjection meaning “oh” or “ah”.
(3) It’s not ほ but ほう. Are you familiar with a grammar ほうがいい meaning “had better”?
The basic formations are [Ta form] ほうがいい ”should…” and [Nai form]ほうがいい “shouldn’t…”.
This grammar is covered in Beginner series season 5 lesson5. So I would recommend that you review that lesson.
>“貴男がた”
Do you mean “あなたがた?”. As you may probably know, anata is “you”. -Gata here is a suffix meaning plural. So Anata-gata means “you (plural). Gata is more formal than another plural suffix “-tachi”.
Anata-tachi and Anata-gata mean “You all” or “you (plural)”. But Anata-gata is used in a formal situation.
I hope this makes sense.
at 9:33 am
直美先生
お久しぶりです
私はインドえ行きました。
In this lesson the TV interviewer states that,
私は浅草に下ります
Right now I am in Asakusa
To help me understand 下ります could the translation be something more like
“I am down at Asakusa” or perhaps ” I have come down to Asakusa”
I would have thought that “Right now I am in Asakusa” would be something more like
今、私は浅草にいます
It does not appear that the word 下ります is reflected in your translation.
あなたはどう思いますか
ありがとうございます :)
at 12:36 pm
クリス-san
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our translation.
This lesson’s target grammar is the usage of a humble language おります(masu form of a verb おる). おる or おります is the humble form of a verb いる or います”to be” or “to exist”. It’s a totally different verb form 下りる meaning “to go down”. There’s a detailed write up about the humble language in the lesson notes since it’s the target grammar of this lesson.
So please check our lesson notes first and then if you still have questions, please let us know.
at 8:37 pm
(おる)sorted as a class 2 verb or sorted as a class 1 verb
+++++
We do not use humble forms when the sentence doesn’t involve or affect a person to whom
the speaker should show respect.
but at Beginner S5 #24 -Lesson Notes
Nihongo o benkyō shite imasu.
Nihongo o benkyō shite orimasu.
l’m confused
at 11:28 am
wael-san,
Polite language shows the respect to a person whom involves an action and also to a person whom you are talking with even the action does not involve the person.
Orimasu in Nihongo o benkyo shite orimasu shows the respect to the listener.
I hope this helps.
at 5:07 am
Hey,
Somes when Naomi is speaking Japanese in the lesson i don’t fully understand it on the first try, and sometimes not at all. Is this okay?
Also what is the japanese said between the dialoges (before the english)?
Thanks
at 9:32 am
Jacob-san,
before dialogue:
では、ききましょう。 Dewa, kikimasho.
“so/then, let’s listen.”
before slow dialogue:
もういちど会話を聞いてください。Mo ichido kaiwa o kiite kudasai.
“Please listen to the dialogue again.”
今度はゆっくり話します。Kondo wa yukkuri hanashimasu.
“this time, they speak slowly.”
before dialogue with English:
今度は英語の訳といっしょに聞いてみましょう。Kondo wa Eigo no yaku to isshoni kiitemimasho.
“this time, let’s listen to the dialogue with English translation.”
After Kat said “it’s still OK to go shrine even around 10th January, eight?”:
そうそう だいじょうぶ。 So so daijoobu.
“Yeah yeah that’s OK/fine.”
Daijoobu is really useful phrase.
When they above are not what you like to know, tell us again
at 6:57 am
Wow, thanks for going to all the effort!
wazawaza kurete arigatou gozaimasu.
Thats is really helpful
at 3:21 am
thanks Motoko sensei
but at
Lower Intermediate S6 #24
We do not use humble forms when the sentence doesn’t involve or affect a person to whom
the speaker should show respect.
For Example:
1. “I read a book.” (by myself.)
○ Watashi wa hon o yomimasu.
私は本を読みます。
×Watashi wa hon o o-yomi-shimasu.
私は本をお読みします。
why this sentence is wrong even if person whom you are talking with even the action does not involve the person.
hon o o-yomi-shimasu.
at 12:24 pm
wael-san,
私は本を読みます is the action which only the speaker involved in it.
When you describe yourself to someone you show your respect, you can say 私は本を読んでおります。(the humble form of 私は本を読んでいます。)
It is necessary that someone you show your respect involves to your action when you use お~する.
Whereas, you can use おります, even when nobody participates in the action because it is humble form of いる and because it is mainly for expressing respect to the speakers.
ex)(私は)かばんをおもちします。 →show respect to the listener/owner of the bag.
(私は)日本語を勉強しております。 →show respect to the listener.
at 10:48 am
私はこのシリズのチャレンジを楽しみたいです。
at 1:49 pm
Hi 亀井,
thank you for your comment! If you have any questions, we are here to help
Stefania/JapanesePod101.com
at 12:14 am
Testo desu!
at 7:47 pm
Nana-san,
Tesuto!?!?
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
at 5:07 pm
konnichiwa!
Sensei-tachi ,Mina-sama: otsukare-sama de gozaimasu.
Kono saito wa hontoni subarashii saito desu, soshite sensei-tachi wa tanoshikute, omoshirukute, yasashi-sou desu.
Ima watakushi wa mo hitori janai desu. Japanesepod101 no teamu ga soba ni iru.
Ah! Tokoro de , hahimemashite, watakushi wa atarashii Japanesepod101 no member soshite gakusei de gozaimasu. Nana to moshimasu.
Douzo yoroshiku onegai ita shimasu. Otanoshimi ni shiteimasu.
at 5:10 pm
Nana-san, hajimemashite!
Kon’nichiwa.
Totemo suteki na komento arigato gozaimasu!
Kore kara mo tanoshikute omoshiroi ressun o tsukurimasu kara,
issho ni benkyo shimasho!
Douzo yoroshiku onetai itashimasu.
Motoko /Team JapanesePod101.com
at 12:53 am
こんにちはみんなさん、リンナーと申します よろしくお願いします。
commentは初めてですが、not really academicの質問があります。
I wonder where can I continue Haruya and Shin’s story? It’s getting dramatic that I hope to find out what will happen next lol~ ありがとうございます〜
at 9:40 pm
リンナーさん、
はじめまして!よろしくお願いします
You might mean Beginner Season 4…? Try it out!
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
at 10:14 pm
Maa,arigatai okotoba nee!
Hai Motoko sensei, gambaru wa atashi. Mina-san to issho desu.
at 3:06 pm
Nana-san-san kon’nichiwa.
Ieie. Issho ni ganbarimasho ne!
Motoko /JapanesePod101.com ne