Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: ナツコです。(Natsuko desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: We are back.
Natsuko: We are back, yes.
Peter: With our patient and the story is about to get interesting.
Natsuko: About to.
Peter: About to.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: Well, why don’t we start with today’s topic? Again another interesting word for many reasons and I will get into them right after we give you that word. Natsuko-san, what do we have first?
Natsuko: 記憶喪失 (kioku sōshitsu)
Peter: Amnesia. Now this is basic. Everyone needs to know this word.
Natsuko: I know, I know, basic.
Peter: And I am being serious because Natsuko-san if you were Japanese teacher, right and you ask the student a question and they didn’t know, instead of saying わかりません (wakarimasen) or I don’t know or looking around the room as one of my old teachers would say waiting for the answer to appear out of the heavens.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: You know if you say to the teacher, oh I have amnesia, that should be worth some credit you know?
Natsuko: It depends on the teacher. Maybe he or she will like it but it depends.
Peter: Excellent point. So why don’t we just – you just give us a word one more time and just break it down.
Natsuko: 記憶喪失 (kioku sōshitsu) 
(slow) きおくそうしつ (kioku sōshitsu) (natural speed) 記憶喪失 (kioku sōshitsu)
Peter: Now like many words in Japanese, it seems quite intimidating the first time you hear it but when you take a look at the components, it doesn’t bite. It’s not bad at all.
Natsuko: Exactly.
Peter: What’s the first word we have?
Natsuko: 記憶 (kioku)
Peter: Which is “memory.”
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: This is followed by
Natsuko: 喪失 (sōshitsu)
Peter: To lose.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So literally memory loss, amnesia.
Natsuko: Yeah. It’s easier to understand than the English word.
Peter: Much easier because it’s very logical. In English we have, umm… I am going to stay away from that but yeah I think it’s much more logical, the Japanese way.
Natsuko: You know, explanation is included in the word.
Peter: Yeah. Now how would you say I have amnesia?
Natsuko: 私は記憶喪失です。(Watashi wa kioku sōshitsu desu.)
Peter: So very, very straightforward. I memory loss. I have lost my memory or memories in this case.
Natsuko: All the memories.
Peter: Well probably I could still talk like our patient. Well let’s not try to give too much more away.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: With that said, are you ready for today’s conversation, Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: All right, here we go.
DIALOGUE
病院長 (byōinchō) : 鈴木さん、お疲れ様でした。ここまででいいです。(Suzuki-san, otsukare-sama deshita. Koko made de ii desu.)
鈴木 (Suzuki) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.)
患者 (kanja) : 鈴木さん、ちょっと待ってください。どこへ行くのですか。教えてください。(Suzuki-san, chotto matte kudasai. Doko e iku no desu ka. Oshiete kudasai.)
鈴木 (Suzuki) : 失礼します。(Shitsurei shimasu.)
患者 (kanja) : あなたはだれですか。(Anata wa dare desu ka.)
病院長 (byōinchō) : 初めまして。病院長の田中です。(Hajimemashite. Byōinchō no Tanaka desu.)
患者 (kanja) : 初めまして。私は、私は、私は誰ですか。(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa, watashi wa, watashi wa dare desu ka.)
もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.)
病院長 (byōinchō) : 鈴木さん、お疲れ様でした。ここまででいいです。(Suzuki-san, otsukare-sama deshita. Koko made de ii desu.)
鈴木 (Suzuki) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.)
患者 (kanja) : 鈴木さん、ちょっと待ってください。どこへ行くのですか。教えてください。(Suzuki-san, chotto matte kudasai. Doko e iku no desu ka. Oshiete kudasai.)
鈴木 (Suzuki) : 失礼します。(Shitsurei shimasu.)
患者 (kanja) : あなたはだれですか。(Anata wa dare desu ka.)
病院長 (byōinchō) : 初めまして。病院長の田中です。(Hajimemashite. Byōinchō no Tanaka desu.)
患者 (kanja) : 初めまして。私は、私は、私は誰ですか。(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa, watashi wa, watashi wa dare desu ka.)
次は英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa Eigo ga hairimasu.)
病院長 (byōinchō) : 鈴木さん、お疲れ様でした。ここまででいいです。(Suzuki-san, otsukare-sama deshita. Koko made de ii desu.)
DIRECTOR: Ms. Suzuki, thank you. That’ll be all.
鈴木 (Suzuki) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.)
SUZUKI: Yes, understood.
患者 (kanja) : 鈴木さん、ちょっと待ってください。どこへ行くのですか。教えてください。(Suzuki-san, chotto matte kudasai. Doko e iku no desu ka. Oshiete kudasai.)
SATOSHI: Ms. Suzuki, wait a minute. Where are you going? Please tell me!
鈴木 (Suzuki) : 失礼します。(Shitsurei shimasu.)
SUZUKI: Excuse me.
患者 (kanja) : あなたはだれですか。(Anata wa dare desu ka.)
SATOSHI: Who are you?
病院長 (byōinchō) : 初めまして。病院長の田中です。(Hajimemashite. Byōinchō no Tanaka desu.)
DIRECTOR: How do you do? I'm Mr. Tanaka, the hospital director.
患者 (kanja) : 初めまして。私は、私は、私は誰ですか。(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa, watashi wa, watashi wa dare desu ka.)
SATOSHI: Nice to meet you. I'm, I'm, who am I?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Natsuko-san, what did you think?
Natsuko: This phrase kills me. 私は誰ですか。(Watashi wa dare desu ka.)
Peter: Who am I?
Natsuko: Who am I? You always hear that on dramas.
Peter: Yes, I think so and right around the climax or in these kinds of dramas with all these twisting, turning plots. So while you think it wouldn’t be that useful. It is something you hear.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: 私は誰ですか (watashi wa dare desu ka) or I guess like when someone does some self reflecting. ナツコさん、私は誰ですか。教えてください。(Natsuko-san, watashi wa dare desu ka. Oshiete kudasai.) And see, you can use them in combination. Oh boy! But nevertheless, very fun.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And that’s what it’s all about. Having fun with this amazing language. Now Natsuko-san, are you ready for some vocabulary?
Natsuko: Yes.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: All right, what do we have first?
Natsuko: 病院長 (byōinchō)
Peter: Director of hospital, head of the hospital.
Natsuko: (slow) びょういんちょう (byōinchō) (natural speed) 病院長 (byōinchō)
Peter: Now last week we introduced the word for hospital which is
Natsuko: 病院 (byōin)
Peter: And today the word is
Natsuko: 病院長 (byōinchō)
Peter: So hospital plus head.
Natsuko: Yes. 長 (chō).
Peter: So hospital head, head of the hospital and this 長 (chō) is used in many other instances.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: To indicate the head of some kind of organization.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: For example, we have
Natsuko: 社長 (shachō)
Peter: Head of the company.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: 社 (sha) being company and 長 (chō) being head. Company head, head of the company. So in this case, director of the hospital and again, you have to kind of equate it to the English term when you are translating. Next we have
Natsuko: お疲れ様 (otsukare-sama)
Peter: You worked hard. Thank you for your efforts.
Natsuko: (slow) おつかれさま (otsukare-sama) (natural speed) お疲れ様 (otsukare-sama)
Peter: Now this is a phrase used at the workplace.
Natsuko: Usually yes.
Peter: Excellent point. How about a phrase used when a group of people are doing something together?
Natsuko: That’s nice.
Peter: That’s nice because yeah sporting events and other things like this. So after you’ve given a tremendous effort or in some cases not, this phrase is used.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: お疲れ様でした。お疲れ様。(Otsukare-sama deshita. Otsukare-sama.) And it means thank you for your efforts.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: If we are going to give a rough translation. On we go.
Natsuko: ちょっと (chotto)
Peter: A little.
Natsuko: (slow) ちょっと (chotto) (natural speed) ちょっと (chotto)
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: 教える (oshieru)
Peter: To teach, to inform.
Natsuko: (slow) おしえる (oshieru) (natural speed) 教える (oshieru)
Peter: Now in the conversation we have
Natsuko: 教えてください。(Oshiete kudasai.)
Peter: Now in the conversation, we have what form of 教える (oshieru).
Natsuko: Te-form.
Peter: Which is
Natsuko: 教えて (oshiete)
Peter: Now 教える (oshieru) is the class II verb. So when we conjugate, we drop the る (ru) and we add
Natsuko: て (te)
Peter: So we start with 教える (oshieru) but we get
Natsuko: 教えて (oshiete)
Peter: Then to this in the dialogue we attach
Natsuko: ください (kurasai)
Peter: Please. 教える (oshieru) is to teach, teach please and when we translate this, tell me please. Next we have
Natsuko: 初めまして (hajimemashite)
Peter: Nice to meet you.
Natsuko: (slow) はじめまして (hajimemashite) (natural speed) 初めまして (hajimemashite)
Peter: And finally?
Natsuko: 失礼 (shitsurei)
Peter: Discourtesy, rudeness.
Natsuko: (slow) しつれい (shitsurei) (natural speed) 失礼 (shitsurei)
Peter: Okay Natsuko-san, let’s take a look at this conversation.
Natsuko: Yes.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: So last week we left off. The nurse was about to tell the patient.
Natsuko: Oh yeah.
Peter: Why he was here. それは… (Sore wa…) And to be continued. Now this time she is right about to say it. On walks, the director of the hospital. So we start off with.
Natsuko: 鈴木さん、お疲れ様でした。(Suzuki-san, otsukare-sama deshita.)
Peter: Ms. Suzuki, thank you for your efforts.
Natsuko: ここまででいいです。(Koko made de ii desu.)
Peter: Here is good enough. That will be all. So he doesn’t want her to disclose any information. Walks in, addresses her by her last name and the suffix さん (san).
Natsuko: 鈴木さん (Suzuki-san)
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: お疲れ様でした (otsukare-sama deshita)
Peter: Thank you for your efforts. Again she is working. So she is doing a good job. She is doing her job well or maybe not but again it’s again workplace. So thank you for your efforts. And here the nuance is, please leave like you’ve done enough here. Out you go. This is followed by
Natsuko: ここまででいいです。(Koko made de ii desu.)
Peter: That will be all but let’s take a look at this phrase. First we have
Natsuko: ここ (koko)
Peter: Here.
Natsuko: まで (made)
Peter: To. So here to, up to the point. To as in up to the point to. So literally here up to.
Natsuko: で (de)
Peter: Particle marking the point as in up to here, followed by
Natsuko: いいです (ii desu)
Peter: It’s good. So literally up to here, it’s good. Translate it, that will be all. You’ve done enough. Then we have
Natsuko: はい、わかりました。(Hai, wakarimashita.)
Peter: Yes, understood and now for all you students out there, this is what you should be saying over and over to your Sensei, はい、わかりました。はい、わかりました。(Hai, wakarimashita. Hai, wakarimashita.) Try and make your professor tell you to stop on saying that word. Then we go on to.
Natsuko: 鈴木さん、ちょっと待ってください。(Suzuki-san, chotto matte kudasai.)
Peter: So he calls the Suzuki-san, Ms. Suzuki, please wait. The ちょっと (chotto) is a little, a little, followed by
Natsuko: 待って (matte)
Peter: Wait.
Natsuko: ください (kurasai)
Peter: Please. A little wait please. Now the verb for wait is
Natsuko: 待つ (matsu)
Peter: And this is a class I verb. So the conjugation is a bit different than the class 2 verb we introduced previously. To conjugate 待つ (matsu) into its te-form, 待つ (matsu) becomes
Natsuko: 待って (matte)
Peter: And we attach the ください (kudasai). So ちょっと待ってください (chotto matte kudasai), please wait a little, please wait a second, followed by
Natsuko: どこへ行くのですか。(Doko e iku no desu ka.)
Peter: Where will you go? Now here there is no subject but again it’s inferred. He already addressed Suzuki-san in the previous sentence. So it’s already inferred that he is addressing, he is talking to Suzuki-san. So where are you going Suzuki-san, Ms. Suzuki? Okay, let’s just run through this. First we have.
Natsuko: どこ (doko)
Peter: Where.
Natsuko: へ (e)
Peter: Particle marking direction, followed by
Natsuko: 行く (iku)
Peter: The dictionary form of the verb to go. So literally where to go.
Natsuko: のですか (no desu ka)
Peter: And here this is a pattern used to ask questions. Now in textbooks, you usually see どこへ行きますか (doko e ikimasu ka).
Natsuko: Oh yes.
Peter: Where will you go but in spoken Japanese, it is quite common to use the dictionary form of a verb plus
Natsuko: の (no)
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: ですか (desu ka)
Peter: Here this sentence has a bit more emphasis to it.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But the politeness level is the same. So you can actually try this in your classroom. You can switch instead of 行きますか (ikimasu ka), you can use 行くのですか (iku no desu ka) and politeness level is the same.
Natsuko: Yeah. This form gives the impression that you know, you are more interested in, you know, where about someone is going.
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: You know, どこへ行きますか (doko e ikimasu ka) sounds like where are we going or where do you want to go.
Peter: Just as Natsuko-san said, just not the same kind of enthusiasm or interest is conveyed when using 行きますか (ikimasu ka).
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: All right. So give that a try in your classroom and the best part is you can use this のですか (no desu ka) with other verbs and it’s easier because you could take them in a dictionary form rather than conjugate them.
Natsuko: You are right.
Peter: Then we have
Natsuko: 教えてください。(Oshiete kudasai.)
Peter: Please tell me. And then, Suzuki-san leaves the room and when she leaves, she says
Natsuko: 失礼します。(Shitsurei shimasu.)
Peter: This is followed by
Natsuko: あなたは誰ですか。(Anata wa dare desu ka.)
Peter: So then the patient turns to the director of the hospital and says,
Natsuko: あなたは誰ですか。(Anata wa dare desu ka.)
Peter: Who are you again really twisting the conversation to really get you introduced and familiar with pronouns and things like this. So bear with us. Who are you, followed by
Natsuko: 初めまして。(Hajimemashite.)
Peter: Nice to meet you.
Natsuko: 病院長の田中です。(Byōinchō no Tanaka desu.)
Peter: I am the Director of the hospital Tanaka. Again notice the order here. Position first, name second.
Natsuko: 病院長の (byōinchō no)
Peter: Head of the hospital and head of the hospital 病院長 (byōinchō), followed by の (no), then the name.
Natsuko: 田中です (Tanaka desu)
Peter: Then he goes to respond and we get.
Natsuko: 初めまして。(Hajimemashite.)
Peter: Nice to meet you.
Natsuko: 私は、私は、私は誰ですか。(Watashi wa, watashi wa, watashi wa dare desu ka.)
Peter: That was – Natsuko, have you done this before?
Natsuko: Ah?
Peter: Do you ask this question often because that was really nice intonation.
Natsuko: Thank you. I never tried.
Peter: So yes, I... I... who am I and so on but again we are getting you familiar with these pronouns. How to set the sentences up. Again the content is there to be interesting but inside, we are teaching you some really good sentence structure. So literally, I who am 私は誰ですか (watashi wa dare desu ka). I who am, who am I? Getting you familiar with this. Natsuko-san, what do you think?

Outro

Natsuko: Of course this will continue, right?
Peter: Of course, and I have seen the next scripts. You don’t want to miss the next one.
Natsuko: Okay, sure.
Peter: Further out into space. Hello, もしもし (moshimoshi). That’s going to do for today.
Natsuko: じゃあ、また今度。(Jā, mata kondo.)

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