Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chigusa: おはよう、キャンベラ。ちぐさです。(Ohayō, Kyanbera. Chigusa desu.)
Yoshi: おはよう、キャンベラ。ヨシです。(Ohayō, Kyanbera. Yoshi desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #113. Chigusa-san and Yoshi-san, it is great to have you back, Yoshi-san two days in a row and we are going to keep it going from here on out.
Yoshi: All right. I am ready.
Peter: Now Chigusa-san, can I ask you something?
Chigusa: Sure.
Peter: Do girls and guys speak the same in Japanese?
Chigusa: No, we have sort of feminine words and masculine words.
Peter: Aaha.
Chigusa: And we use it accordingly.
Peter: So what we are going to do today is not only look at that but we are also going to look at informal speech. Yoshi-san, what would you say the ratio of polite Japanese to informal Japanese you use on a daily basis is?
Yoshi: About 3 to 7 polite Japanese to informal Japanese.
Peter: So you use informal Japanese a lot more?
Yoshi: Yes.
Peter: Because you are such a popular guy of all these friends, right?
Yoshi: Yes.
Peter: I get it now. I see. Yeah, well I use polite Japanese a lot more. Well maybe I don’t have that many friends. Chigusa-san, what about you?
Chigusa: 4 to 6.
Peter: But again you are using more informal Japanese than polite Japanese.
Chigusa: Yes.
Peter: Now this isn’t the case with everybody but what we want to point out here is that it’s a part of everyday life whether you use it yourself, you are going to hear it on TV, on the trains, other people’s conversations, listening to music, songs. It is all around you. Now the key to using it is knowing when to use it and we are going to take a minute here to explain some rules to you. Yoshi-san, who do you use informal Japanese with when you are speaking with whom?
Yoshi: To my friends and to my family.
Peter: Family is definite. So we would like to say that you have this intimate circle and anyone who falls into this intimate circle, chances are likely that you use informal Japanese. When you meet someone off the bat, no matter if they are the same age or younger than you or what kind of Japanese do you use?
Yoshi: Formal Japanese.
Peter: Meaning です・ます (desu masu) Japanese, polite Japanese which we call 丁寧 (teinei), 丁寧語 (teinei-go) polite Japanese but as time goes on and you get to know each other more and more and sometimes, it can happen really fast, which will you switch to?
Yoshi: Informal Japanese.
Peter: So it’s kind of a feeling out situation, the rules on this are not concrete. Sometimes you will use polite Japanese inside your family, sometimes you will use it with even close friends. So there are no concrete rules. It’s kind of a feel out thing that you will get the hang of when you have more and more friends and you speak in more and more situations. Now with that said, we are going to give you one conversation. It is the same conversation but we are going to have it between two girls who are really good friends and two guys who are also really good friends. Now you will notice inside this conversation that there are different points. While the conversation is the same, there are feminine and masculine touches to it. So we want you to listen to the conversation, pick up what you can get and try and pick up the differences because it’s the exact same conversation. We wrote it, we gave it to the girls and guys and they put their touches on how they would speak when speaking to close friends. Now remember, this is a conversation between extremely good friends. We want to warn you again and again, you can rub some people the wrong way using this Japanese in the wrong situation. However it’s an intrical part of the language. So we have to start some time and here is the point. So with that said, please listen to the first conversation between two good girlfriends and then a later conversation between two good guy friends. All right, here we go.
DIALOGUE
(女性形) (Joseikei)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : もしもし。ともちゃん?(Moshimoshi. Tomo-chan?)
とも (Tomo) : うん。(Un.)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あのね、今夜お料理を作るの。一緒に食べない?(Ano ne, kon’ya o-ryōri o tsukuru no. Issho ni tabenai?)
とも (Tomo) : いいね。何食べるの?(Ii ne. Nani taberu no?)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
とも (Tomo) : 食べたい!一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Tabetai! Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : 本当に?ありがとう!(Hontō ni? Arigatō!)
Chigusa: 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.)
(女性形) (Joseikei)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : もしもし。ともちゃん?(Moshimoshi. Tomo-chan?)
とも (Tomo) : うん。(Un.)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あのね、今夜お料理を作るの。一緒に食べない?(Ano ne, kon’ya o-ryōri o tsukuru no. Issho ni tabenai?)
とも (Tomo) : いいね。何食べるの?(Ii ne. Nani taberu no?)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
とも (Tomo) : 食べたい!一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Tabetai! Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : 本当に?ありがとう!(Hontō ni? Arigatō!)
(男性形) (Danseikei)
浩二 (Kōji) : もしもし。ともや?(Moshimoshi. Tomoya?)
ともや (Tomoya) : うん。(Un.)
浩二 (Kōji) : あのさあ、俺今夜料理を作るんだ。一緒に食べない?(Ano sā, ore kon’ya ryōri o tsukuru n da. Issho ni tabenai?)
ともや (Tomoya) : いいねぇ。何食べるの?(Ii nee. Nani taberu no?)
浩二 (Kōji) : 俺の自慢の手作り餃子だよ。(Ore no jiman no tezukuri gyōza da yo.)
ともや (Tomoya) : 食べたい!一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Tabetai! Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
浩二 (Kōji) : よろしく!(Yoroshiku!)
Yoshi: 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.)
(男性形) (Danseikei)
浩二 (Kōji) : もしもし。ともや?(Moshimoshi. Tomoya?)
ともや (Tomoya) : うん。(Un.)
浩二 (Kōji) : あのさあ、俺今夜料理を作るんだ。一緒に食べない?(Ano sā, ore kon’ya ryōri o tsukuru n da. Issho ni tabenai?)
ともや (Tomoya) : いいねぇ。何食べるの?(Ii nee. Nani taberu no?)
浩二 (Kōji) : 俺の自慢の手作り餃子だよ。(Ore no jiman no tezukuri gyōza da yo.)
ともや (Tomoya) : 食べたい!一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Tabetai! Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
浩二 (Kōji) : よろしく!(Yoroshiku!)
Yoshi: 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.)
(女性形) (Joseikei)
(Feminine)
亜紀子 (Akiko) : もしもし。ともちゃん?(Moshimoshi. Tomo-chan?)
AKIKO: Hello,Tomo?
とも (Tomo) : うん。(Un.)
TOMO: Yeah.
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あのね、今夜お料理を作るの。(Ano ne, kon’ya o-ryōri o tsukuru no.)
AKIKO: Listen, I'm cooking tonight.
亜紀子(Akiko) : 一緒に食べない?(Issho ni tabenai?)
AKIKO: You wanna eat together?
とも (Tomo) : いいね。何食べるの?(Ii ne. Nani taberu no?)
TOMO: That sounds good. What are you eating?
亜紀子 (Akiko) : あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
AKIKO: My special hand-made dumplings.
とも (Tomo) : 食べたい!(Tabetai!)
TOMO: I want to eat that!
とも (Tomo) : 一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
TOMO: I'll go with you to buy the ingredients.
亜紀子 (Akiko) : 本当に?ありがとう!(Hontō ni? Arigatō!)
AKIKO: Really? Thank you!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Yoshi-san, let’s ask Natsuko-san what she thought of today’s conversations, plural there.
Yoshi: ナツコさん、今日の会話はどうでしたか。(Natsuko-san, kyō no kaiwa wa dō deshita ka.)
Natsuko: いいですね。私も餃子を食べたいです。(Ii desu ne. Watashi mo gyōza o tabetai desu.)
Peter: Translation, please.
Natsuko: It was good and I want to eat Gyoza, too.
Peter: Me too yes and we are going to get into all that in a minute. So why don’t we just start off with Gyoza actually.
Natsuko: Oh yes.
Peter: Before that, we’d like to stress that umm…How can we put this. The conversation was based on a girl’s conversation and we tried to take it just like that and plug it into a guy’s conversation. Natsuko-san, how did that work out?
Natsuko: Quite interesting among boys.
Peter: Yeah, so what we are stressing here is not so much the content of their conversation but how they are saying it.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And Yoshi-san, is this the conversation you have often?
Yoshi: Yeah, why not?
Natsuko: Umm, why not?
Yoshi: What’s wrong with guys cooking?
Natsuko: I definitely support guys cooking.
Peter: I wasn’t trying to imply anything but I…Okay anyway, let’s do this. We are going to run through the vocab and then we are going to do a comparison between the way the guys and the girls speak.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: All right, so first why don’t we start off with the word you gave us? What are we talking about there?
Natsuko: 餃子 (gyōza)
Peter: Dumplings.
Natsuko: (slow)ぎょうざ (gyōza) (natural speed) 餃子 (gyōza)
Peter: This is taken from the Chinese word Jiaozi. Natsuko-san, do you like Gyoza?
Natsuko: I love them.
Peter: Okay, give us some of the types of Gyoza because there are a lot.
Natsuko: Okay. 焼き餃子 (yakigyōza)
Peter: Fried dumplings.
Natsuko: 水餃子 (suigyōza)
Peter: Boiled dumplings.
Natsuko: 蒸し餃子 (mushigyōza)
Peter: Steam dumplings.
Natsuko: 揚げ餃子 (agegyōza)
Peter: Deep fried dumplings. Keep them coming.
Yoshi: ヨシの自慢の手作り餃子 (Yoshi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza)
Peter: Yoshi’s special dumplings but what kind of dumplings?
Yoshi: Handmade.
Peter: Handmade. On to our next keyword but wait, let’s just – don’t go so fast. I want to stay on this topic of dumplings a bit longer. We gave you the way they were prepared and served and now what goes inside them, that’s a completely different story.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Almost anything can go in there.
Natsuko: Yes, right.
Peter: Anything.
Natsuko: Anything.
Peter: So the standard is probably Pork.
Natsuko: Yes, Minced Pork and some vegetables. ヨシさん、どんな餃子が好きですか。(Yoshi-san, donna gyōza ga suki desu ka.)
Yoshi: えー、私は焼き餃子が好きですね。(Ē, watashi wa yakigyōza ga suki desu ne.)
Natsuko: 私もです。(Watashi mo desu.)
Peter: 私もです。(Watashi mo desu.) Yeah, the 焼き餃子 (yakigyōza) is where it’s at.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But not too good for the body I think.
Natsuko: Really?
Peter: Really.
Natsuko: Really?
Peter: Really.
Natsuko: Are you sure?
Peter: I am sure. Lots of oil in there, Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: Umm, but I think it's better than deep fried ones.
Peter: Yes, but not as good as boiled ones.
Natsuko: Maybe.
Peter: Tit for tat here. Let’s move on to the way they were prepared in today’s lesson or should I say the way they will be prepared later on when they make them.
Yoshi: 手作り (tezukuri)
Peter: Handmade, made by hand.
Yoshi: (slow)てづくり (tezukuri) (natural speed) 手作り (tezukuri)
Peter: This word is made up of two words. The first word and the first character in there is
Yoshi: 手 (te)
Peter: Meaning hand. Second word
Yoshi: 作り (zukuri)
Peter: And this is derived from the verb
Yoshi: 作る (tsukuru)
Peter: Meaning to make. We put them together and it’s the literal translation. Hand made, made by hand. It’s as simple as that. Natsuko-san, can you give us an example sentence?
Natsuko: このクッキーは手作りです。(Kono kukkī wa tezukuri desu.)
Peter: This cookie is handmade. This cookie is made by hand.
Natsuko: この服は母の手作りです。(Kono fuku wa haha no tezukuri desu.)
Peter: These clothes were handmade by mother. Next we have, Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: 自慢 (jiman)
Peter: Self praise, boastfulness.
Natsuko: (slow)じまん (jiman) (natural speed) 自慢 (jiman)
Peter: Now this word can have a negative nuance to it but used in today’s dialogue, it is very positive.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Meaning to it.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Something that you are most proud of. A dish that you are proud of.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Natsuko-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san what his specialty dish is.
Natsuko: ヨシさんの自慢の料理は何ですか。(Yoshi-san no jiman no ryōri wa nan desu ka.)
Peter: Anytime Yoshi-san. You made a cake for Takase-san?
Yoshi: 私の自慢の料理はバナナシェイクです。(Watashi no jiman no ryōri wa banana sheiku desu.)
Peter: Your specialty dish is a Banana shake?
Yoshi: やめようかな。(Yameyō ka na.)
Natsuko: Specialty.
Peter: What do you think, Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: Maybe we can have a try.
Peter: But well before we make any rash decisions, how about you Yoshi-san?
Yoshi: ナツコさんの自慢の料理は何ですか。(Natsuko-san no jiman no ryōri wa nan desu ka.)
Natsuko: 私の自慢の料理はカレーです。(Watashi no jiman no ryōri wa karē desu.)
Yoshi: Hah….
Natsuko: なにそれ。(Nani sore.) Why are you so shocked?
Yoshi: Are you okay, Peter-san?
Peter: Your specialty dish is curry?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: My favorite food in Japan of course is curry.
Natsuko: Well most people. It’s quite different from, you know, those original curry in India or Thai, but Japanese curry.
Peter: Yes, my wife makes really, really good curry.
Natsuko: Uh…
Peter: All right. Let’s get back to the story. Last we have
Yoshi: 材料 (zairyō)
Peter: Ingredients, material.
Yoshi: (slow)ざいりょう (zairyō) (natural speed) 材料 (zairyō)
Peter: Please listen to these next two example sentences. What we are going to stress here is that it can be used for food as well as projects together. So ingredients and material, please listen.
Yoshi: 工作の材料を集める。(Kōsaku no zairyō o atsumeru.)
Peter: To gather craft material as in kid’s crafts, what they would make. Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: カレーの材料を買う。(Karē no zairyō o kau.)
Peter: To buy curry ingredients. Sounds very nice.

Lesson focus

Peter: Now again yes, stressing here that this word can be used for both ingredients and material. Now what we want to do is look at the conversations between the girls and the guys. Now obviously the intonation is much different and if you are a guy, you want to kind of mimic the guy’s conversation, see where they go high and low and if you are a female listener, listen to the girl’s conversation. That’s what you want to kind of mimic but you also want to be able to understand what the other party is saying. When I first came to Japan, I had a really tough time understanding the guys and they speak in a lower tone, quicker. So this is going to be great practice for you. Try to really listen in. First let’s take a look at the differences in the conversations. Now Natsuko-san, give us something different about the initial greeting. In the female conversation
Natsuko: もしもし、ともちゃん?(Moshimoshi, Tomo-chan?)
Peter: So what do we have here?
Natsuko: ちゃん (chan)
Peter: An affectionate suffix usually used with someone in your inner circle.
Natsuko: Yes, usually.
Peter: Of intimate friends.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: Again you really before you use this suffix, it’s a very, very affectionate suffix. You should really know where you stand in a relationship or in the relationship between you and the person you are saying it to. Here they are really, really good friends and it’s commonly used among females.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Now we compare this with Yoshi-san, what did you do when you made the phone call?
Yoshi: もしもし、ともや?(Moshimoshi, Tomoya?)
Peter: Which is
Yoshi: My friend’s name.
Peter: Now is this his first name or last name?
Yoshi: It’s a first name.
Peter: So again very intimate friend. And again, you can have intimate friends who you call by their last names. The name calling again is determined by the development of time. How you first met….
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Again when you first meet someone, it’s very formal and then it just goes from there. So there are no real rules or concrete structure to this. Next, one thing I’d like to point out. In the second line, both the female speaker and the male speaker, instead of saying the word はい (hai) for yes, what word do they use?
Yoshi: うん (un)
Natsuko: うん (un)
Peter: Natsuko-san, what does this mean?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Very informal way.
Natsuko: Yes, like yeah.
Peter: I think that’s a really good translation yeah. It can also be used to recognize that someone is speaking. So if someone is telling a story, you may hear the occasional うん (un) interjection.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So it’s used in multiple contexts. A good way to measure how long you’ve been in Japan is the frequency of
Natsuko: うん (un)
Peter: In your conversations and when you are listening to someone speak for foreigners, it’s a really good litmus test, really good. Informal situations, you don’t want to use this. You want to stick with
Yoshi: はい (hai)
Peter: Key point we wanted to point out there. From here, let’s take a look at the first filler that you guys used.
Natsuko: あのね (ano ne)
Peter: Now the first part by itself is used as a filler but the feminine touch here is
Natsuko: ね (ne)
Peter: Which is commonly used by females.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: It’s a habit that lots of foreign guys studying in Japanese tend to pick up from their teachers and their female friends. So many people first start off speaking with kind of a feminine accent.
Natsuko: I see.
Peter: So this phrase is very nostalgic. Now on the guys side, we have
Yoshi: あのさ (ano sa)
Peter: Same first part but what’s the latter part?
Yoshi: さ (sa)
Peter: Uses a filler, like. In English, like. No real meaning, like. Okay this is followed by
Natsuko: 今夜、お料理を作るの。(Kon’ya, o-ryōri o tsukuru no.)
Peter: On the guys side, we have
Yoshi: 俺、今夜料理を作るんだ。(Ore, kon’ya ryōri o tsukuru n da.)
Peter: Okay. The difference here is Yoshi-san, how did you refer to yourself?
Yoshi: 俺 (ore)
Peter: For guys, there are many ways to refer to yourself. The standard and polite way would be
Yoshi: 私 (watashi)
Peter: Another polite way but for younger people, it would be
Yoshi: 僕 (boku)
Peter: And finally there is
Yoshi: 俺 (ore)
Peter: Yoshi-san, how would you explain this?
Yoshi: It’s informal and also sounds very masculine.
Peter: You will often hear this among guys in informal situations. Many people refer to themselves in this manner. Now again these are two very close friends and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using it in this context. However you would not want to use this in a polite situation. Right, Yoshi-san?
Yoshi: Right.
Peter: Even if you end the sentence in polite Japanese, the fact that you refer to yourself in this manner is not appropriate for polite situations. Okay, and now the big difference here and Natsuko, you ended your sentence with
Natsuko: の (no)
Peter: Yoshi-san, you ended your sentence with
Yoshi: んだ (n da)
Peter: This is a contraction of the phrase のだ (no da) which indicates the speaker is explaining something. In this case, tonight he is going to be cooking and it can also be used to ask about an explanation for something. Also it can be used for emotion. So many uses here but here it’s used to let the listening party know that he is doing something. This is followed by
Natsuko: あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
Peter: Then we have similar phrases shared by both. Just the intonation is quite different. Those similar phrases are
Natsuko: 一緒に食べない?(Issho ni tabenai?)
Peter: Now notice the intonation here. We have the plain non-past and the way we make it into a question is just the intonation.
Natsuko: 食べない?(Tabenai?)
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: いいね。(Ii ne.)
Peter: Sounds good. Again we leave out the copula altogether. Then we have
Natsuko: 何食べるの?(Nani taberu no?)
Peter: This question. In the informal Japanese, you will often find questions end in
Natsuko: の (no)
Peter: So intonation or sentences that end in
Natsuko: の (no)
Peter: Are common patterns for asking questions in informal Japanese. Again a particle left out here, a subject left out here. So much is inferred. Then we move on to a difference…
Natsuko: あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
Peter: Now how did you refer to yourself here?
Natsuko: あたし (atashi)
Peter: Which is a feminine way for the subject to refer to themselves.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Contrast this with
Yoshi: 俺 (ore)
Peter: So a main difference here. The masculine and feminine way to refer to yourself. Okay, at the end of this sentence, one more time, Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: あたしの自慢の手作り餃子。(Atashi no jiman no tezukuri gyōza.)
Peter: No copula. The sentence ends there on dumplings, Gyoza. Contrast this with
Yoshi: 俺の自慢の手作り餃子だよ。(Ore no jiman no tezukuri gyōza da yo.)
Peter: Where the copula in the plain form is added plus the particle
Yoshi: よ (yo)
Peter: Emphasizing his statement. So again a more masculine way to say it. Then we have similar phrases
Natsuko: 食べたい!一緒に材料を買いに行くよ。(Tabetai! Issho ni zairyō o kai ni iku yo.)
Peter: The guys also say the same thing here. This is followed by
Natsuko: 本当に?ありがとう!(Hontō ni? Arigatō!)
Peter: Much more compassionate answer. Really, thank you. Whereas a guy, whereas in the masculine side, we have
Yoshi: よろしく!(Yoroshiku!)
Peter: Which can be translated and interpreted many ways and here maybe like a casual thanks.
Natsuko: Yes.

Outro

Peter: So to get your ear accustomed to hearing the different ways of speaking. With that said, that’s going to do for today’s episode.
Natsuko: じゃあ、また明日ね。(Jā, mata ashita ne.)
Yoshi: またね。(Mata ne.)

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