Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Jessi: What is This Delicious Japanese Dish? ジェシーです。(Jeshii desu.)Jessi here!
Naomi: こんにちは!なおみです。(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu.) Hi everyone, Naomi here!
Jessi: Thanks for joining us in this Absolute Beginner series. In the last lesson, we learned how to say that something belongs to someone.
Naomi: Yes! For example, わたしのいえ (watashi no ie)
Jessi: “My house.”
Naomi: And in this lesson, you’ll learn to ask what something is.
Jessi: Yes. Basically, you’ll be able to ask “What’s this?” and “What’s that?” So when someone puts a Japanese dish in front of you that you’ve never seen before…
Naomi: You’ll be able to ask what it is.
Jessi: Exactly! Okay, so speaking of food, in this conversation, Taylor, Masato, and Kaori are all sitting down to eat!
Naomi: Yes, Taylor has cooked them dinner.
Jessi: Mmm… sounds good. Let’s listen in to the conversation!

Lesson conversation

(timer goes off)
テイラー:はい、どうぞ! (Hai, dōzo!)
かおり:うわ~ すごーい!(Uwā sugo~i!)
かおり&まさと:いただきます。(Itadakimasu.)
まさと:(munch munch munch) うーん。おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)
テイラーさん、これは、なんですか?(Teirā-san, kore wa, nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Let's listen to the conversation again slowly.
テイラー:はい、どうぞ! (Hai, dōzo!)
かおり:うわ~ すごーい!(Uwā sugo~i!)
かおり&まさと:いただきます。(Itadakimasu.)
まさと:((munch munch munch)うーん。おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)
テイラーさん、これは、なんですか?(Teirā-san, kore wa, nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Now let’s listen to it with the translation.
テイラー:はい、どうぞ! (Hai, dōzo!)
Jessi: Okay, here you go!
かおり:うわ~ すごーい!(Uwā sugo~i!)
Jessi: Oh, wow!
かおり&まさと:いただきます。(Itadakimasu.)
Jessi: Let's eat! (Literally, We are about to receive this meal.)
まさと: (munch munch munch)うーん。おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)
Jessi: (munch munch munch) Mmm. This is great!
テイラーさん、これは、なんですか?(Teirā-san, kore wa, nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Taylor, what is this?
Post conversation banter
Jessi: Well Naomi, we actually had a lot of new words and phrases in this conversation!
Naomi: We sure did.
Jessi: The first one was...?
Naomi: すごい!(sugoi!)
Jessi: Can we hear one more time slowly?
Naomi: すごい。(sugoi.)
Jessi: And again at natural speed?
Naomi: すごい。(sugoi.)
Jessi: すごい!(Sugoi!) Meaning "wow", "great", or "amazing". Basically, you can use this anytime you are impressed by something.
Naomi: When Taylor placed the food in front of them, Kaori said すごい!(sugoi!)
Jessi: Like "Oh, wow!" She was really impressed by the food. It probably looked really good!
Naomi: Yes, it also was something she wasn't used to.
Jessi: Okay. So now the food has been placed before them. Now on to our next word. What did Masato and Kaori say before they ate?
Naomi: いただきます!(Itadakimasu!)
Jessi: Can we hear one more time slowly?
Naomi: いただきます。(Itadakimasu.)
Jessi: いただきます! And this a phrase that you say before eating.
Naomi: Right. You are giving thanks for the meal you are about to have.
Jessi: It's a good phrase to use anytime you eat, but especially if someone has cooked something for you.
Naomi: Yes! Saying いただきます (Itadakimasu) is a way to show appreciation.
Jessi: So in the dialogue, Masato and Kaori said いただきます! (Itadakimasu!) before eating the dinner that Taylor had made for them.
Naomi: If you visit someone's house and they make dinner for you, please try saying いただきます (Itadakimasu) before you eat!
Jessi: Okay Naomi, and the last word is...?
Naomi: おいしい (Oishii)
Jessi: Can we hear one more time slowly?
Naomi: おいしい (Oishii)
Jessi: おいしい (Oishii), meaning "good" or "delicious" when talking about food.
Naomi: Masato starts eating the food and says うーん、おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)
Jessi: "Mmm, this is great!" If someone makes food for you and you want to tell them that it's good, you can use this word. おいしい!(Oishii!)
Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask what something is.
Naomi: Do you remember Lesson 9, where we learned how to make a question?
Jessi: We took our AはBです (A wa B desu) pattern, and added か (ka) at the end. AはBですか? (A wa B desu ka?) “Is A B?”
Naomi: Right. We'll be using this structure to ask what something is.
Jessi: Okay, so let's get started. In the dialogue, Masato took a bite of his meal, said "Wow" This is great!" and then asked "What is this?"
Naomi: AFTER he ate it.
Jessi: Right, after he ate it. He just dug right in. So first, let's learn how to say "What is this?"
Naomi: As you may remember, "this" is これ (kore). The word for "what" in this case is なん (nan).
Jessi: So if we put those in place of A and B in our sentence structure we mentioned earlier, we get...
Naomi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?) One more time slowly?
Naomi: これは なんですか?
Jessi: And one more time regular speed.
Naomi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: And that means "What is this?" Listeners, repeat after Naomi.
Naomi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
[Pause] - これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Great! Now, remember that これ (kore) means "this", so when we ask this question, we're talking about something that we have, or something that is close to us.
Naomi: Exactly. If you want to talk about something that someone else has...
Jessi: Like "what's THAT?", then you would use それ (sore) in place of これ (kore).
Naomi: As you may have guessed, それ (sore) means "that".
Jessi: So to sum it up, we have...
Naomi: これ (kore)
Jessi: This, and...
Naomi: それ (sore)
Jessi: That. So how would we sa, "What's that?"
Naomi: それはなんですか。(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?) One more time slowly?
Naomi: それは なんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: And again at normal speed.
Naomi: それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: And that means, "What is that?" Listeners, repeat after Naomi.
Naomi: それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
[Pause] - それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Okay, great! Now you're equipped with two ways to ask what something is - what is this? and what is that?
Naomi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?) and それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Now, let's use them in a role-play situation! Let's say that Naomi is an acquaintance of yours, and she is giving you a gift. Ask her "what is this?" Here's a hint, remember that "this" is これ。
Naomi: はい、どうぞ! おみやげです。(Hai, dōzo! Omiyage desu.)
[Pause] - これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Okay! If you said...
Naomi: これはなんですか?(Kore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Then great job! How about one more? You see Naomi eating something, some kind of food you haven't seen before. Ask her "what is that?" Here's a hint, remember that the word for "that" is それ (sore).
Naomi: (Eating) う~ん、おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)
[Pause]
Jessi: If you said...
Naomi: それはなんですか?(Sore wa nan desu ka?)
Jessi: Excellent job!! Naomi, what was it, by the way? That looks good!!
Naomi: ようかんです。(Yōkan desu.)
Jessi: See you all next time!
Naomi: じゃまた!(Ja mata!)

Lesson conversation

(timer goes off)
テイラー:はい、どうぞ! (Hai, dōzo!)
かおり:うわ~ すごーい!(Uwā sugo~i!)
かおり&まさと:いただきます。(Itadakimasu.)
まさと:((munch munch munch)うーん。おいしい!(ūn. Oishii!)

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