Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
こんにちは (konnichi wa)
Hello and welcome to Japanese Survival Phrases!
This course is designed to provide you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Japan. So join us for Japanese Survival Phrases! You will be surprised at how far a little Japanese will go.
Now before we jump in, remember to stop by SurvivalPhrases.com, click on Japanese, and there you’ll find the transcript for this lesson, the accompanying PDF, and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a post!
LESSON
My name is Sachiko Nakagome, your language teacher and cultural guide throughout this introductory course. Now I know that foreign names can be difficult to remember. So I break down my name so that it leaves a strong impression on you. My first name is Sachiko, Sa-chi-ko, which means happy child. My parents wanted me to be a happy child. Isn’t that sweet? My last name is Nakagome, Na-ka-go-me, which doesn’t really mean anything in particular except you write it with the characters for “inside” and “include.” So I was raised in Osaka and New York which explains why I talk so fast. My job is to help make your trip to Japan as enjoyable as possible. A few words here and there can really help you get around, get connected with the locals and share heartwarming experiences. I want you and everyone you encounter in Japan to have a great time.
So stay tuned to Sach and ganbatte kudasai, which means “hang in there” in Japanese. Now wherever your destination maybe, manners are must! And in this respect, Japan is no different. So in our very first lesson, we will be taking a look at a phrase, there is no excuse not to bring with you to Japan. Again I will stress this over and over. A little bit of the language can go such a long way.
In Japanese, “thank you” is arigatō, a-ri-ga-to-u. Let’s break this down by syllable. A-ri-ga-to-u. Now here it is again. Arigatō. Now similar to other languages, there are more casual ways and polite ways to express this phrase. Let’s start with, you guessed it, the casual way. In Japanese, “thanks” is dōmo or arigatō but remember, arigatō is quite often followed by gozaimasu which makes it very polite. Dōmo is actually an abbreviated form. Let’s take a look at dōmo.
Slowly it’s dōmo, do-u-mo, dōmo. This is the simplest and shortest way of saying thank you so there is no excuse for you not to know this. Again, it’s dōmo. Can you repeat that? Dōmo. Great. It’s much safer to stick with arigatō gozaimasu or be even more polite. For those very special occasions when someone goes above and beyond the call of being kind. When someone is extremely generous or for any other time that you are extremely grateful, we have the following phrase. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu, which is roughly equivalent to thank you so very much oh my my! Once again it’s Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu and if you notice, it’s all the phrases we covered put together in one sentence. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu. Again it means thank you so much oh my my!
So let’s just recap here going from most polite to most casual. “Thank you very much” is Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu, Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu. “Thank you” is arigatō gozaimasu and the shortest, quickest, dirtiest way is dōmo. Again, dōmo. There is no excuse for you not to know this.
Okay, so to close out today’s lesson, let’s practice what you’ve just learned. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. You got that? I will give you a few seconds before I give you the answer. So good luck, ganbatte kudasai, which can also mean “good luck” in Japanese.
Okay, here we go.
“Thank you.” Arigatō gozaimasu. Arigatō gozaimasu.
Next question.
“Thank you very much.” Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu. Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu.
And the quick and dirty way, “thanks.” Dōmo, Do-u-mo. Dōmo.

Outro

All right, that’s going to do it for today.
remember to stop by SurvivalPhrases.com, there you’ll find the accompanying PDF and transcript of today’s lesson. And if you stop by, be sure to leave us a post!
“See you later,” which in Japanese is mata ne.

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