Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sakura: さくらです。 (Sakura desu.)
Peter: Peter here. What to wear. Sakura-san. What are we talking about today?
Sakura: Buying clothes.
Peter: Yes and when you are buying clothes, you are going to definitely want to…
Sakura: Try them on.
Peter: Oh the intonation is priceless. Okay so where does this conversation take place?
Sakura: At a store.
Peter: Yeah at デパート (depāto) right?
Sakura: At デパート (depāto), department store.
Peter: Can you just fix that pronunciation?
Sakura: デパート. (Depāto.)
Peter: デパート. (Depāto.)
Sakura: デパート. (Depāto.)
Peter: Department short of course for department store. Now today’s conversation will be a polite or informal kind of Japanese we will be using?
Sakura: It’s going to be polite.
Peter: Polite Japanese. So with that said, let’s listen to today’s conversation. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
(デパートにて) (depāto nite)
木ノ下: すいません。このジャケット着ていいですか。 (Suimasen. Kono jaketto kite ii desu ka?)
店員: どうぞ。こちらに鏡がありますよ。 (Dōzo. Kochira ni kagami ga arimasu yo.)
(木ノ下、ジャケットを着る) (Kinoshita, jaketto o kiru)
店員: とてもお似合いですよ。ダークグレーはお客様にピッタリです。 (Totemo o-niai desu yo. Dāku gurē ha o-kyaku-sama ni pittari desu.)
木ノ下: そうですかね。 (Sō desu ka ne.)
店員: あわせて、あちらの黒いズボンもはいてみてはどうですか。 (Awasete, achira no kuroi zubon mo haite mite wa dō desu ka.)
木ノ下: はあ。 (Hā.)
(木ノ下、ズボンもはく) (Kinoshita, zubon mo haku)
店員: 素晴らしい。この色はお客様にピッタリでございますよ。 (subarashii. Kono iro ha o-kyaku-sama ni pittari de gozaimasu yo.)
木ノ下: はあ・・・。 (Hā....)
もう一度お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.)
(デパートにて) (depāto nite)
木ノ下: すいません。このジャケット着ていいですか。 (Suimasen. Kono jaketto kite ii desu ka?)
店員: どうぞ。こちらに鏡がありますよ。 (Dōzo. Kochira ni kagami ga arimasu yo.)
(木ノ下、ジャケットを着る) (Kinoshita, jaketto o kiru)
店員: とてもお似合いですよ。ダークグレーはお客様にピッタリです。 (Totemo o-niai desu yo. Dāku gurē ha o-kyaku-sama ni pittari desu.)
木ノ下: そうですかね。 (Sō desu ka ne.)
店員: あわせて、あちらの黒いズボンもはいてみてはどうですか。 (Awasete, achira no kuroi zubon mo haite mite wa dō desu ka.)
木ノ下: はあ。 (Hā.)
(木ノ下、ズボンもはく) (Kinoshita, zubon mo haku)
店員: 素晴らしい。この色はお客様にピッタリでございますよ。 (subarashii. Kono iro ha o-kyaku-sama ni pittari de gozaimasu yo.)
木ノ下: はあ・・・。 (Hā....)
次は英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa eigo ga hairimasu.)
(デパートにて) (depāto nite)
(In a department store)
木ノ下: すいません。このジャケット着ていいですか。 (Suimasen. Kono jaketto kite ii desu ka.)
KINOSHITA: Excuse me, Can I try on this jacket?
店員: どうぞ。こちらに鏡がありますよ。 (Dōzo. Kochira ni kagami ga arimasu yo.)
CLERK: Go ahead. There's a mirror over here.
(木ノ下、ジャケットを着る) (Kinoshita, jaketto o kiru)
(Kinoshita puts on the jacket)
店員: とてもお似合いですよ。ダークグレーはお客様にピッタリです。 (Totemo oniai desu yo. Dākugurē wa okyakusama ni pittari desu.)
CLERK: Oh, it looks really good! Dark gray is perfect on you.
木ノ下: そうですかね。 (Sō desu ka ne.)
KINOSHITA: Yeah...
店員: あわせて、あちらの黒いズボンもはいてみてはどうですか。 (Awasete, achira no kuroi zubon mo haite mite wa dō desu ka.)
CLERK: How about combining them with those black pants?
木ノ下: はあ。 (Hā.)
KINOSHITA: Hmm...
(木ノ下、ズボンもはく) (Kinoshita, zubon mo haku)
(Kinoshita puts on the pants)
店員: 素晴らしい。この色はお客様にピッタリでございますよ。 (subarashii. Kono-iro wa okyakusama ni pittari de gozaimasu yo.)
CLERK: Oh wonderful! This color is perfect for you!
木ノ下: はあ・・・。 (Hā.)
KINOSHITA: Hmm...
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: さくらさん、今日の会話、どう思いましたか?さくらさん?もしもし?そんなに感動的ですか? (Sakura-san, kyō no kaiwa, dō omoimashita ka? Sakura-san? Moshimoshi? Son'nani kandō-teki desu ka?) Was it that movie? Are you speechless? どう思いましたか? (Dō omoimashita ka?)
Sakura: はい、どうでしたか、ピーターさん。 (Hai, dō deshita ka, pītā-san.)
Peter: そうですね~あの、スーツの話ですね。 (Sō desu ne, ano, sūtsu no hanashi desu ne.) Talking about suits, しばらく買っていませんのでよくわかりません。 (Shibaraku katte imasen node yoku wakarimasen.)
Sakura: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Peter: Yeah I haven’t bought one in a while so I don’t really – I can’t really relate to this.
Sakura: T-Shirts とかね。 (Toka ne.)
Peter: Yeah we are really, really dressed down at japanesepod101.com. If you ever come to visit, yeah T-Shirt.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: Even like a tank top I think is acceptable.
VOCAB LIST
Peter:All right, let’s get into this vocab and let’s run through this conversation real quick.
Sakura: はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: What do we have first?
Sakura: 着る (kiru)
Peter: Wear
Sakura: (slow)きる (kiru) (natural speed)着る (kiru)
Peter: Now the verb 着る (kiru) in Japanese there are a few verbs and just hearing 着る (kiru), there is no way to tell if this means to wear, to cut or a different verb. So there are two ways to tell. If it’s spoken Japanese, of course its context. In written Japanese, we have
Sakura: Kanji
Peter: Yes. And this one is
Sakura: To wear.
Peter: Yeah but sorry my fault. This one we can also find in
Sakura: Yes the kanji used for 着る (kiru) is also used to mean arrive.
Peter: Next we have
Sakura: 鏡 (kagami)
Peter: Mirror.
Sakura: (slow)かがみ (kagami) (natural speed)鏡 (kagami)
Peter: And the kanji for this is sometimes a bit complicated but I like this kanji and I think it makes so much sense. It’s made up of three radicals.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: First we have
Sakura: Gold.
Peter: Which is very, very nice. Then we have
Sakura: Stand.
Peter: Followed by right below that.
Sakura: It looks like to see but there is one horizontal bar missing.
Peter: So it’s kind of like looking but I can’t use this as a pneumatic. How is my pronunciation Sakura-san? I had some feedback about my pronunciation about the word pneumatic. So hopefully I got that. So I use this stand, look at gold. It’s a mirror.
Sakura: Yes but just remembering that there is one horizontal bar missing.
Peter: Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Sakura: Yes, yes, yes, but it’s good.
Peter: But it’s close enough right?
Sakura: Yes, yes, yes. I think so.
Peter: Like Sakura-san standing looking at herself gold.
Sakura: Umm…
Peter: And I have a question for all of our listeners. Which one of today’s hosts do you think has a mirror at their desk? Now is it Peter or Sakura-san? I will let you be the judge of that. On we go.
Sakura: 素晴らしい (subarashii)
Peter: Wonderful, amazing and a word you will hear quite often in Japan.
Sakura: (slow)すばらしい (subarashii) (natural speed)素晴らしい (subarashii)
Peter: Then we have
Sakura: お似合い (oniai)
Peter: Well matched.
Sakura: (slow)おにあい (o ni ai) (natural speed)お似合い (oniai)
Peter: And this can also mean to suit one looks good on. Lots of different meanings here.
Sakura: It comes from 似合う (niau) which is – has to say meaning. お似合い (oniai) is used by shop clerks.
Peter: To indicate that something looks very good on the customer. It’s a very polite way to say.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: Looks good on.
Sakura: And also you can say somebody and somebody are お似合い。お似合いだね。お似合いですね。 (Oniai. Oniai da ne. Oniai desu ne.)
Peter: They look good together.
Sakura: Yeah.
Peter: Or they are a good match. We are talking about a couple.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: Okay. Sakura-san, do you hear that a lot?
Sakura: No. はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: Okay I personally like to use this one. I see Sakura-san wearing one of those masks to prevent colds.
Sakura: はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: Alright next we have.
Sakura: お客様 (okyakusama)
Peter: An honored guest. Of course you will hear this if you are shopping.
Sakura: (slow)おきゃくさま (o kyaku-sama) (natural speed)お客様 (okyakusama)

Lesson focus

Peter: Now let’s get into today’s conversation. We start off with
Sakura: すみません。 (Sumimasen.)
Peter: Excuse me
Sakura: このジャケット、着ていいですか。 (Kono jaketto, kite ii desu ka.)
Peter: May I wear this jacket as in try it on? Now let’s take a look here. It’s quite interesting. First we have.
Sakura: この (kono)
Peter: This.
Sakura: ジャケット (jaketto)
Peter: This jacket.
Sakura: 着て (kite)
Peter: Wear.
Sakura: いい (ī)
Peter: Okay. Good.
Sakura: ですか。 (Desu ka.)
Peter: Is it, literally this jacket wear is good but we translate this as is it all right or may I wear this jacket. Let’s take a look at what’s happening in the sentence. You know there is no object marker. If we had the object marker, what would it be?
Sakura: このジャケットを着ていいですか。 (Kono jaketto o kite ii desu ka.)
Peter: It would follow を (o) after the jacket but again the customer speaking, he is using polite Japanese but as it’s spoken Japanese, sometimes things are left out. Another very important thing and something that might hide the grammatical structure of this sentence is we have 着ていい (kite ī). Now the proper grammar here is actually
Sakura: 着てもいいですか。着ても、いい。 (Kite mo ii desu ka. Kite mo, ī.)
Peter: Yes that も (mo) indicating even if, even if I wear this jacket is it okay. And we translate this as may I. So in Spoken Japanese, the object marker got dropped, the も (mo) following the て (te) form of the verb got dropped. The いいですか (ii desu ka) is the same. This is followed by
Sakura: どうぞ。 (Dōzo.)
Peter: Please is the literal translation but here go ahead, of course.
Sakura: こちらに鏡がありますよ。 (Kochira ni kagami ga arimasu yo.)
Peter: Over here we have a mirror. And very straightforward, first we have
Sakura: こちら (kochira)
Peter: Which is the polite way to say ‘this way’?
Sakura: に. (Ni.)
Peter: Indicating direction.
Sakura: 鏡 (kagami)
Peter: Mirror.
Sakura: が (ga)
Peter: Subject marker.
Sakura: ありますよ (arimasu yo)
Peter: We have the polite form of the verb ある (aru) there is and よ is emphasizing letting the person know that in addition to just wearing it, you can see how it looks right this way. Then we have
Sakura: とてもお似合いですよ。 (Totemo oniaii desu yo.)
Peter: Which is oh, it looks good on you. It really looks good on you which really tells us nothing about how it looks because this is sales.
Sakura: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Peter: Then we have
Sakura: ダークグレーはお客様にぴったりです。 (Dākugurē wa okyakusama ni pittarii desu.)
Peter: Dark grey looks great. Dark grey is perfect on you. Now let’s just go through the sentence because again a lot is inferred. First we have
Sakura: ダークグレー (dākugurē)
Peter: And of course, this is the colors. Now once you get used to these katakana words, they are going to sound very natural. At first they are a bit daunting but yes dark grey. Then we have
Sakura: は (wa)
Peter: Topic marking particle. So we are talking about the color here.
Sakura: お客様 (okyakusama)
Peter: On you. It’s a very polite way to talk about the customer.
Sakura: に (ni)
Peter: Direction on because it’s on the customer.
Sakura: ぴったり (pittari)
Peter: Perfect, just right, perfect fit.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: Fits perfectly. When we are talking about this color, so a perfect color for you.
Sakura: です。 (Desu.)
Peter: Is.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: This is followed by
Sakura: そうですかね。 (Sō desu ka ne.)
Peter: Now Sakura-san, we have that’s right そうです (Sō desu) but this かね (kane) what does this indicate here. We have the question marking particle followed by ね (ne). So is he sold on the idea?
Sakura: No.
Peter: Oh no, so he is kind of like debating right?
Sakura: そう。そうですね。 (Sō. Sō desu ne.)
Peter: So the salesman sees red or the salesman sees the opportunity and he tries to close the deal by saying.
Sakura: 合わせてあちらの黒いズボンもはいてみてはどうですか。 (Awasete achira no kuroi zubon mo haite mite wa dō desu ka.)
Peter: How about trying on those black pants over there. Put them together.
Sakura: はぁ。 (Hā.)
Peter: Hmm... But let’s just back up a second. So 合わせて (awasete) is
Sakura: Together.
Peter: Yeah put them together. Then we have
Sakura: あちら (achira)
Peter: Over there.
Sakura: の (no)
Peter: Over theirs.
Sakura: 黒い (kuroi)
Peter: Black.
Sakura: ズボン (zubon)
Peter: Pants. ズボン (zubon) is pants. Pants in Japanese is actually
Sakura: うん。 (Un.) Underwear ね (ne)
Peter: Yeah so it’s the same pants. You will be talking about someone’s underwear. So…
Sakura: Yeah but if you say パンツ (pantsu), it’s going to be trousers. Recently…
Peter: Ah yes.
Sakura: Yeah recently. パンツ。 (Pantsu.)
Peter: Got it.
Sakura: If you say パンツ (pantsu), it’s going to be different.
Peter: Okay let’s hear those one more time.
Sakura: パンツ (pantsu)
Peter: And
Sakura: パンツ (pantsu)
Peter: And the latter is the trousers.
Sakura: No.
Peter: Oh boy! Which is why you want to be very careful.
Sakura: パンツ (pantsu) is trousers ね. パンツ (Ne. Pantsu) Going down is underwear.
Peter: Okay so going up
Sakura: Yes パンツ (pantsu).
Peter: Is the trousers.
Sakura: Trousers.
Peter: Going down
Sakura: パンツ。 (Pantsu.)
Peter: The underwear.
Sakura: Underwear.
Peter: Got it.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: This is marked by
Sakura: も. (Mo.)
Peter: Also so in addition to the jacket, then we have
Sakura: はいてみては (haite mite wa)
Peter: Okay first is the verb. To put something on. Now in English, we have to wear to put on and this is all one verb. Now in Japanese, we have different verbs for different motions. When you put something on your upper body, it’s 着る (kiru).
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: But when you pull something up on your lower body, it’s
Sakura: はく。(Haku.)
Peter: And when we have the te form of this, it is
Sakura: はいて (haite)
Peter: And はいてみて (haite mite) is to try as in try on. Then we have
Sakura: どうですか。 (Dō desu ka.)
Peter: How about. So how about trying on the black pants over there. Put them together and then he responds with
Sakura: はぁ。 (Hā.)
Peter: And then here it is
Sakura: 素晴らしい。 (subarashii.)
Peter: Come on, that’s not a 素晴らしい (subarashii).
Sakura: 素晴らしい! (subarashii!)
Peter: There it is now I am maybe interested in buying. Then we have
Sakura: この色はお客様にぴったりでございますよ。 (Kono iro wa okyakusama ni pittari de gozaimasu yo.)
Peter: This color is perfect for you. And even now he changes です (desu) to でございます (de gozaimasu) which means the same thing just a little more polite. This color is perfect for you. And the customer
Sakura: はぁ。 (Hā.)
Peter: So still not decided right.

Outro

Peter:All right, so we have to see what happens here but yeah a couple of key points today. Wearing things in Japanese, there are different verbs and we covered two today, upper body and lower body.
Sakura: Yes.
Peter: For us, that’s going to do for today.
Sakura: またね。 (Mata ne.)

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