Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 6 - Looking For Your Friends in Japan. Becky Here.
Natsuko: こんにちは。 なつこです.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask or say where someone is located.. The conversation takes place at a host family's house.
Natsuko: It's between David and his host mother.
Becky: The speakers are a student and his host mother. The student will be using formal Japanese to his host mother. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

デービッド: ケンタくんは、今、どこにいますか。
ホストマザー: ケンタは、まだ 学校にいますよ。
デービッド: タイチくんは?
ホストマザー: タイチは、にわにいますよ。
デービッド: にわ?
ホストマザー: ほら、タイチは、あそこにいますよ。
デービッド: あ、犬がいますね。かわいいですね!ぼく、犬が大すきです。
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
デービッド: ケンタくんは、今、どこにいますか。
ホストマザー: ケンタは、まだ 学校にいますよ。
デービッド: タイチくんは?
ホストマザー: タイチは、にわにいますよ。
デービッド: にわ?
ホストマザー: ほら、タイチは、あそこにいますよ。
デービッド: あ、犬がいますね。かわいいですね!ぼく、犬が大すきです。
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
David: Where is Kenta-kun right now?
Host Mother: Kenta is still at school.
David: How about Taichi-kun?
Host Mother: Taichi is in the garden (Niwa).
David: Niwa?
Host Mother: Look, Taichi is over there.
David: Oh, there is a dog. It’s cute! I like dogs very much.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Natsuko, do Japanese people like having pets at home?
Natsuko: Well.. in the past, people used to keep dogs on chains outside their houses.
Becky: But not anymore, right?
Natsuko: That’s right. Like in other countries, many people in Japan keep their dogs inside now.
Becky: I see.
Natsuko: The more dogs stay in the house, the less they bark. I don’t think it’s as common to hear dogs barking in Japan as it used to be. I’m even a little surprised when I hear a dog bark!
Becky: Is it expensive to have a pet in Japan?
Natsuko: Keeping a pet costs more than many people are willing to spend, especially when it comes to veterinary bills. I think cat cafes are popular for this reason.
Becky: Ah yes, I've heard of these! You can see and play with lots of cats, all in one place. You just need to pay for a drink to stay there.
Natsuko: Since it’s not your own pet, it’s not quite the same, but you can still enjoy quality time with the cats, which is good.
Becky: Why not check one out when you’re in Japan, listeners? Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: 今 [natural native speed]
Becky: now
Natsuko: 今[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 今 [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: どこ [natural native speed]
Becky: where
Natsuko: どこ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: どこ [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: いる [natural native speed]
Becky: to be, to exist
Natsuko: いる[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: いる [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: 学校 [natural native speed]
Becky: school
Natsuko: 学校[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 学校 [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: にわ [natural native speed]
Becky: garden
Natsuko: にわ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: にわ [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: かわいい [natural native speed]
Becky: pretty, cute, lovely, charming
Natsuko: かわいい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: かわいい [natural native speed]
Becky: And last..
Natsuko: 大すき [natural native speed]
Becky: love, really like
Natsuko: 大すき[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 大すき [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: タイチくんは?
Becky: meaning "How about Taichi?" . Can you break down this phrase?
Natsuko: Sure. First we have タイチくん, which is the name Taichi and the suffix kun, which is commonly used with a boy’s name, followed by the particle は.
Becky: When you want to ask “How about A?”, you can use this structure, “A + particle (Natsuko: は).
Natsuko: Right. “A + particle は?”
Becky: You can use this when it's clear you are asking about person A from the context. This is a shortened question sentence, so you need to say this expression with a rising intonation.
Natsuko: That’s right. タイチくんは?
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Natsuko: Sure! For example, when someone says いちろうは、元気ですよ。
Becky: meaning “Ichiro is good.”
Natsuko: You can maintain the conversation by saying よかった。たいちくんは?
Becky: “That's good. How about Taichi?" Okay, what's the next word?
Natsuko: ほら
Becky: meaning "look, listen". This word is used as an interjection to draw someone's attention to something. You can use this when you want someone to see something and focus their attention on it. So, usually you can point to the object you want that person to see.
Natsuko: But listeners, you shouldn't use this in a formal conversation.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. When there’s a shooting star, you can point at it and say ほら、あのほし、見て。
Becky: “Look! Look at that star.”
Becky: Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask or say where someone is in Japanese. First, let’s take a look at how to say where you are.
Natsuko: All you have to do is say わたしは
Becky: meaning "as for me"
Natsuko: then add the name of the place, plus the place marker に (ni).
Becky: For example, if you’re at the company office, you can say..
Natsuko: わたしは会社に. 会社 is the word meaning “company,” so I added it with the place marker に.
Becky: Altogether, that will be..
Natsuko: わたしは会社に. Finally, you add います (imasu). います is the equivalent of あります (arimasu), meaning “to exist," but います is used when referencing animate objects, like people and animals.
Becky: Once more, all together, how can we say “I’m at the company?”
Natsuko: わたしは会社にいます
Becky: Then how can you talk about someone else, like the location of my father, for example?
Natsuko: You can simply replace わたし with that person's name or the pronouns..
Becky: So “my father is at the company” will be..
Natsuko: 父は会社にいます。父 is the word meaning “my father.”
Becky: So the structure is the same, but with a different noun, right?
Natsuko: That’s right. If the person’s name is John, and he’s at the company, you can say.. ジョンは、かいしゃにいます。
Becky: “John is in the office.”
Natsuko: Make sure you don’t use the verb あります. あります is the verb for inanimate objects, so you should use the verb います when you’re talking about a person.
Becky: Okay. Now, let’s take a look at how to make a question asking someone’s location.
Natsuko: Let’s use the statement sentence and change it into question form bit by bit.
Becky: First, let’s make a sentence saying “John is at the company.”
Natsuko: In Japanese, it’s ジョンは、かいしゃにいます。 ジョン is the person’s name, John, and かいしゃ means “a company.”
Becky: To turn this into the question “Where is John?” what should we do next?
Natsuko: First, simply replace the location, かいしゃ (kaisha) with the word どこ (doko). どこ (doko) is a question word meaning "where."
Becky: So with the new word, it becomes..
Natsuko: ジョンは、どこにいます。
Becky: Then, you can add the question marker at the end of the sentence.
Natsuko: That’s か (ka), so it becomes ジョンは、どこにいますか。
Becky: So let’s hear them again one by one. “John is in the office” in Japanese is..?
Natsuko: ジョンは、かいしゃにいます。
Becky: And.. “Where is John?” is..?
Natsuko: ジョンは、どこにいますか。
Becky: Using this pattern, how can we say “Where are you?” in Japanese?
Natsuko: When you want to ask, "Where are you?" you can just say どこ に いますか (doko ni imasu ka).
Becky: So.. Japanese people don’t say the subject “you”
Natsuko: That’s right. We don’t usually use あなた(anata), which means “you”; we use the person’s name instead.
Becky: For example, if the other person’s name is Tanaka, what can you say?
Natsuko: たなかさんは、どこにいますか。
Tanaka-san wa, doko ni imasu ka.
Becky: This literally means “Where is Mr. Tanaka?” but it can be used to mean “Where are you, Mr. Tanaka?”. You have to rely on the context to understand which version it means.

Outro

Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Make sure to check out the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Natsuko: またね。

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