Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 10 - Suffering from a Bad Case of Nerves in Japan. This is Becky Here.
Natsuko: こんにちは。なつこです。
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe your schedule using a non-past tense verb and time expressions. The conversation takes place during lunch time at an office.
Natsuko: It's between John and his co-worker, Mr. Tanaka.
Becky: The speakers are co-workers; so they’ll be using formal Japanese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
田中: ジョン、今日はあまり食べませんね。
ジョン: はい。今日の午後、かいぎでプレゼンをします。
田中: それはたいへんですね。
ジョン: はい。はじめてです。どきどきします。
田中: がんばってください。
ジョン: ありがとうございます。でも、らいしゅうから2週間、休みをとります。10日間、ハワイに行きます。
田中: それは、いいですね!しゅっぱつはいつですか。
ジョン: 火よう日にしゅっぱつします。
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
田中: ジョン、今日はあまり食べませんね。
ジョン: はい。今日の午後、かいぎでプレゼンをします。
田中: それはたいへんですね。
ジョン: はい。はじめてです。どきどきします。
田中: がんばってください。
ジョン: ありがとうございます。でも、らいしゅうから2週間、休みをとります。10日間、ハワイに行きます。
田中: それは、いいですね!しゅっぱつはいつですか。
ジョン: 火よう日にしゅっぱつします。
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Tanaka: John, you didn’t eat much today.
John: Yes… I’m going to give a presentation at the meeting in the afternoon.
Tanaka: Oh, that doesn’t sound easy.
John: Yes, this is my first time. I’m nervous.
Tanaka: Good luck!
John: Thank you very much. But I’ll have a vacation for two weeks beginning next week. I’m going to Hawaii for ten days.
Tanaka: Sounds nice! When are you leaving?
John: I'll be leaving on Tuesday.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: In the dialogue, John said he’s going to take a vacation for two weeks. Is this common in Japan?
Natsuko: Unfortunately, no. Not many Japanese people can take such long vacations.
Becky: Why is that? I know Japanese companies give quite a lot of paid holiday time to employees, right?
Natsuko: That’s right. Actually, in most Japanese companies, people receive paid holiday based on their length of service. For example, if you worked at a company for more than 6 months, you typically receive 10 paid holidays. The number goes up to 20 days if you worked at a company for a longer time.
Becky: But it seems like it’s still pretty uncommon to use all of your paid holiday to take a long vacation.
Natsuko: That’s right. This is mostly due to the company’s culture, so if you’re planning on working at a Japanese company, you might want to ask about this from the beginning.
Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: プレゼン [natural native speed]
Becky: presentation
Natsuko: プレゼン[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: プレゼン [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: たいへん [natural native speed]
Becky: awful
Natsuko: たいへん[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: たいへん [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: どきどき [natural native speed]
Becky: nervous
Natsuko: どきどき[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: どきどき [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: はじめて [natural native speed]
Becky: for the first time
Natsuko: はじめて[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: はじめて [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: 休み [natural native speed]
Becky: holiday, time off
Natsuko: 休み[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 休み [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: とる [natural native speed]
Becky: to take, to pick up, to get, to pass
Natsuko: とる[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: とる [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: ハワイ [natural native speed]
Becky: Hawaii
Natsuko: ハワイ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: ハワイ [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: しゅっぱつ [natural native speed]
Becky: departure
Natsuko: しゅっぱつ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: しゅっぱつ [natural native speed]
Becky: And last..
Natsuko: いつ [natural native speed]
Becky: when
Natsuko: いつ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: いつ [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: がんばってください
Becky: Which means "Good luck.” Please do your best." In the dialogue, Mr. Tanaka used this phrase with John when John said he felt nervous.
Natsuko: That’s right. Mr. Tanaka wanted to encourage John, so he said がんばってください.
Becky: Listeners, you should remember this phrase and use it when you want to cheer someone up. But note that it’s not a good expression to use toward your superiors.
Natsuko: When you say this to your friends, you can just say がんばって (ganbatte), without ください (kudasai). This makes the phrase more casual.
Becky: Can you give us an example?
Natsuko: Sure. If your friend says あした、テストがあります。
Becky: “I have an exam tomorrow.”
Natsuko: You can say.. がんばってください。
Becky: “Good luck!"
Natsuko: Or simply がんばって because it’s for your friend.
Becky: Okay, what's the next word?
Natsuko: どきどきする
Becky: meaning "to get nervous,” or “to get excited "
Natsuko: どきどき is an onomatopoeia for a rapid heartbeat. Here it's combined with する to make a verb.
Becky: It literally means "one's heart is pounding" and describes the associated feeling of excitement or nervousness.
Natsuko: So when you feel nervous, you can say.. どきどきする
Becky: Also when you have a chance to see your favorite TV star, you could say..
Natsuko: どきどきする。This time though, it’s because you’re so excited!
Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Natsuko: 休みをとる
Becky: meaning "to take a holiday,” or “to take a day off". Can you break this down?
Natsuko: Sure. 休み (yasumi) means a "holiday" or "day off" and it's followed by the object marking particle, を (o) 休みを。Then comes とる (toru), a verb meaning "to take.” Altogether it’s 休みをとる
Becky: "to take a holiday" or "to take a day off." I know you can use it when talking about taking a day off at work, but can you say it as a student?
Natsuko: No... If you’re a student, and you’re absent from school, you can't say 休みをとる (yasumi o toru). You should say 学校をやすむ (gakkō o yasumu) instead, which literally means “I’m taking off from school.”
Becky: Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you will learn how to describe your schedule using a non-past tense verb and time expressions.
Natsuko: For example, we had 今日の午後、かいぎでプレゼンをします in the dialogue.
Becky: This means “I’m going to give a presentation at the meeting in the afternoon.”
Natsuko: In this sentence, the first part is... 今日の午後, a time expression meaning “this afternoon.”
Becky: Then we had a phrase with a non-past tense verb, right?
Natsuko: Yes. かいぎで meaning “at a meeting”, then プレゼンをします。”I give a presentation.”
Becky: So, as you can see in this sentence, when describing a schedule, we need to use a non-past tense verb.
Natsuko: That’s right. So basically, you just need to give a time expression, such as 今日の午後, then whatever you have on your schedule, followed by the non-past tense verb.
Becky: And we can add extra particles or words to the time expression to make it more specific.
Natsuko: That’s right. For example, あしたから
Becky: “From tomorrow.”
Natsuko: あした means “tomorrow” and から (kara) is the particle meaning "from" or “beginning” in English. If you have something scheduled starting from tomorrow, you can say あしたから, then whatever your schedule has on it.
Becky: For example, how can you say.. "I'll be going on a trip from tomorrow." or “I have a trip from tomorrow”?
Natsuko: First, you need to give the time expression, あしたから, “from tomorrow.” Then you can say.. りょこうに行きます。which means “to have a trip.”
Becky: So altogether, it would be..
Natsuko: あしたから、りょこうに行きます。
Becky: I'll be going on a trip from tomorrow." or “I have a trip from tomorrow”
Natsuko: And if you’re on vacation now, but someone wants to know when you’ll be coming back to work, you can use a different particle - まで .
Becky: This is equivalent to "until" in English. So if you want to say “I’ll be off until next Monday”, you can say..
Natsuko: 来週の月よう日まで休みをとります。
Becky: So here as well you say the time expression first, right?
Natsuko: Yes, we have 来週の月よう日 meaning “Next Monday” or literally “Monday next week.” first. Then まで meaning “until.” Then at the end we say 休みをとります。which means “to take off.”
Becky: Okay. What about “for” as in “for three days”?
Natsuko: For that case, you can say 間 to talk about time duration, using 間 (kan) after the length of time or days.
Becky: For example, “for two weeks” will be..
Natsuko: 二週間. 二週 means “two weeks” and 間 means “for” so altogether this means “for two weeks.”
Becky: If someone wants to know how many days you’ll be off, and you want to say “I will be off for three days”..?
Natsuko: 三日間休みをとります。
Becky: “I will be off for three days.”
Natsuko: 三日間 means “for three days” and it has the word 三日 meaning “three days” and 間 meaning “for.”
Becky: And again, it ends with a phrase with a non-present verb.
Natsuko: 休みをとります。meaning “to take time off from work.”
Becky: Listeners, we have more examples for each particle and words to express more specific time expressions in the lesson notes, so be sure to check them out.

Outro

Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Natsuko: またねー

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