Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: おはよう、カルガリー。ナツコです。(Ohayō, Karugarī. Natsuko desu.)
Yoshi: おはよう、カルガリー。ヨシです。(Ohayō, Karugarī. Yoshi desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #97. All right, what a show we have for you today! Natsuko-san, when I first came to Japan, I had such trouble understanding what was going on with the voicemail. Recently we had a visitor who said he was really interested in learning what they were saying, what was going on and what were the options because you know, you get all these options.
Natsuko: I see.
Peter: What to do with the message, what to do.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: So today is the first part of a two-part series. Today we are going to introduce part of what the voicemail is saying and tomorrow, we are going to finish it off.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: This is going to come in really handy.With that said, we are going to get into today’s lesson. All right, here we go.
DIALOGUE
よし (Yoshi) : 彼女たち遅いな〜。(Kanojo-tachi osoi nā.)
たけ (Take) : 本当に来るのかな〜。もう11時だぜ。(Hontō ni kuru no ka nā. Mō jū ichi-ji da ze.)
よし (Yoshi) : じゃあ、もう一度彼女たちに電話する。(Jā, mō ichi-do kanojo-tachi ni denwa suru.)
[携帯留守電] (Keitai Rusuden) AUお留守番センターに接続します。合図の音がしましたら3分以内に伝言をどうぞ。(Ēyū O-rusuban Sentā ni setsuzoku shimasu. Aizu no oto ga shimashitara san-pun inai ni dengon o dōzo.)
よし (Yoshi) : あ〜、もしもし。よしですけど。今11時です。確かに約束の時間は10時ですけど。たけさんといつまでも待ってますので、よろしくお願いします。(Ā, moshimoshi. Yoshi desu kedo. Ima jū ichi-ji desu. Tashika ni yakusoku no jikan wa jū-ji desu kedo. Take-san to itsumademo matte masu node, yoroshiku onegai shimasu.)
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.)
よし (Yoshi) : 彼女たち遅いな〜。(Kanojo-tachi osoi nā.)
たけ (Take) : 本当に来るのかな〜。もう11時だぜ。(Hontō ni kuru no ka nā. Mō jū ichi-ji da ze.)
よし (Yoshi) : じゃあ、もう一度彼女たちに電話する。(Jā, mō ichi-do kanojo-tachi ni denwa suru.)
[携帯留守電] (Keitai Rusuden) AUお留守番センターに接続します。合図の音がしましたら3分以内に伝言をどうぞ。(Ēyū O-rusuban Sentā ni setsuzoku shimasu. Aizu no oto ga shimashitara san-pun inai ni dengon o dōzo.)
よし (Yoshi) : あ〜、もしもし。よしですけど。今11時です。確かに約束の時間は10時ですけど。たけさんといつまでも待ってますので、よろしくお願いします。(Ā, moshimoshi. Yoshi desu kedo. Ima jū ichi-ji desu. Tashika ni yakusoku no jikan wa jū-ji desu kedo. Take-san to itsumademo matte masu node, yoroshiku onegai shimasu.)
Yoshi: 次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Pītā-san no Eigo ga hairimasu.)
よし (Yoshi) : 彼女たち遅いな〜。(Kanojo-tachi osoi nā.)
YOSHI: The girls are late!
たけ (Take) : 本当に来るのかな〜。もう11時だぜ。(Hontō ni kuru no ka nā. Mō jū ichi-ji da ze.)
TAKE: I wonder if they are really coming. It is already 11 o'clock!
よし (Yoshi) : じゃあ、もう一度彼女たちに電話する。(Jā, mō ichi-do kanojo-tachi ni denwa suru.)
YOSHI: Okay, I'll call the girls one more time.
[携帯留守電] (Keitai Rusuden)
AUお留守番センターに接続します。(Ēyū O-rusuban Sentā ni setsuzoku shimasu.)
[Mobile Phone Answering Machine] Connecting to AU voicemail center.
合図の音がしましたら3分以内に伝言をどうぞ。(Aizu no oto ga shimashitara san-pun inai ni dengon o dōzo.)
When the signal sounds, please leave a message within 3 minutes.
よし (Yoshi) : あ〜、もしもし。よしですけど。今11時です。(Ā, moshimoshi. Yoshi desu kedo. Ima jū ichi-ji desu.)
YOSHI: Uh, this is Yoshi. It's 11 o'clock.
よし (Yoshi) : 確かに約束の時間は10時ですけど。(Tashika ni yakusoku no jikan wa jū-ji desu kedo.)
YOSHI: As I recall, the agreed upon time was 10 o'clock.
よし (Yoshi) : たけさんといつまでも待ってますので、よろしくお願いします。(Take-san to itsumademo matte masu node, yoroshiku onegai shimasu.)
YOSHI: I'll wait with Take for however long it takes, so I'm hoping to hear from you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: So Natsuko-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san what he thinks of today’s episode.
Natsuko: ヨシさん、今日の会話、どう思いました?(Yoshi-san, kyō no kaiwa, dō omoimashita?)
Yoshi: え~、よくあることですね、これ。(Ē, yoku aru koto desu ne, kore.) It's a very common thing to happen.
Peter: Very common.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And I can’t even remember what it was like without cell phones. Now at least you can call and find out and get directions but do you remember what it’s like without cell phones?
Natsuko: Yeah, it used to be really hard to find someone when you are lost.
Peter: Yeah, well what a generation we are living in now. Okay, so much to cover in today’s episode. Now, in today's episode, the first part, Natsuko-san, there are two gentlemen speaking.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Now what kind of Japanese are they using?
Natsuko: They are using very casual language.
Peter: Yeah, and what does this tell us about the relationship?
Natsuko: I guess that they are very close friends.
Peter: Yeah, and what about the girls they are meeting?
Natsuko: Oh, I think it must be the first time, or maybe the second or third time they are meeting. So they are not so intimate.
Peter: Yeah, and how do we know this?
Natsuko: By the way Yoshi recorded his message.
Peter: Okay, and what did he use?
Natsuko: Formal language.
Peter: Yeah, and this is what we want to point out. When two friends are speaking, they are going to speak very casually but when they are speaking to someone they are not so intimate with, they are going to switch to the formal or more polite and then the next step we are going to take you through is of course business and other things, customers. So again we are going to go through the layers. We are building the base in polite Japanese and now we are going to start working towards seeing which Japanese do you use in what kind of situations and this is going to be huge. Right, Yoshi-san?
Yoshi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: Okay, first let’s just take a quick look at the conversation between the two friends. Now what we are going to do is have Natsuko-san and Yoshi-san give you the conversation in polite Japanese and Natsuko-san, we are going to have to ask you to play the role of Take.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: All right. Try and deepen that voice just a bit.
Natsuko: Oh, you are right.
Peter: Here we go.
Yoshi: 彼女たち、遅いですね。(Kanojo-tachi, osoi desu ne.)
Natsuko: 本当に来るのでしょうか。もう11時ですよ。(Hontō ni kuru no deshō ka. Mō jū ichi-ji desu yo.)
Yoshi: それでは、もう一度彼女たちに電話します。(Soredewa, mō ichi-do kanojo-tachi ni denwa shimasu.)
Peter: You can see the glaring difference between these two conversations. Now, today there is so much inside these lessons. So what we are going to do is just briefly go over some of the points rather than a full comparison because we just don’t have the time. We are going to go over some points about the casual conversation and the first one we want to start with is Yoshi-san, can you give us the first sentence one more time, please?
Yoshi: 彼女たち、遅いなぁ。(Kanojo-tachi, osoi nā.)
Peter: Now this final particle
Yoshi: なぁ(nā)
Peter: Now this is an exclamatory particle showing above the average emotion. It adds the emphasis on the adjective rather than just they are late. They are late…
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Really emphasizing this. Okay, next we have, ナツコさん、お願いします。(Natsuko-san, onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: もう11時だぜ。(Mō jū ichi-ji da ze.)
Peter: What we want to talk about here is the informal of the copula です (desu), which is
Natsuko: だ (da)
Peter: And what came after that?
Natsuko: ぜ (ze)
Peter: Now this is a sentence ending particle emphasizer
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Usually used by males.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And inside of although, this sentence, it’s already 11, what’s there is we’ve been waiting over an hour. There is a lot inside of this.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: It adds a lot more to the meaning of this sentence.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: As opposed to just its 11 and finally in the last sentence, the last verb is in the plain present. Yoshi-san, that is
Yoshi: 電話する (denwa suru)
Peter: And to make that polite of course just change the する (suru) to
Yoshi: します (shimasu)
Peter: Okay, so again casual conversation among two intimate friends.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: All right, Natsuko-san, let’s get into this vocab because we have a lot.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: First one.
Natsuko: 留守電 (rusuden)
Peter: Voice mail, answering machine.
Natsuko: (slow)るすでん (rusuden) (natural speed) 留守電 (rusuden)
Peter: Now Natsuko-san, this is actually an abbreviation of
Natsuko: 留守番電話 (rusuban denwa)
Peter: Now let’s take this word apart. This is actually five characters, five Chinese characters, Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: Yes, but it is not so difficult.
Peter: There you have it. Listen to Natsuko-san. She knows what she is talking about. Not so difficult at all. What about the first part of the word? What do we have?
Natsuko: 留守 (rusu)
Peter: This is away from home, absence.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Then we add on
Natsuko: 番 (ban)
Peter: Now when we add the verb する (suru), this turns into look after the house, mind the house, stay at home.
Natsuko: Yes. 留守番する (rusuban suru)
Peter: Then we add on, Yoshi-san.
Yoshi: 電話 (denwa)
Peter: Phone. The phone that stays at home and looks after the house.
Natsuko: Sounds convenient.
Peter: Yeah. I hope in the near future, we will have some 留守 (rusu) robots and other things to take care of the house.
Natsuko: Yeah, it’s almost on the market, right?
Peter: We are almost there, right?
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: I know they had one that watches your house with the camera and that connects to the internet.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But we are almost there. Ah and 留守 (rusu) cook, oh we could – ah…what a nice future we have. Okay Natsuko-san, can you give us an example?
Natsuko: ヨシの留守電にメッセージを入れました。(Yoshi no rusuden ni messēji o iremashita.)
Peter: I left a message in Yoshi’s voice mail. Next we have
Yoshi: 接続 (setsuzoku)
Peter: Connection.
Yoshi: (slow)せつぞく (setsuzoku) (natural speed) 接続 (setsuzoku)
Peter: And how do we turn this into a verb?
Yoshi: We can add する (suru) and 接続する (setsuzoku suru)
Peter: All right. Yoshi-san, can you ask Natsuko-san to give us an example?
Yoshi: ナツコさん、例をお願いします。(Natsuko-san, rei o onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: はい。インターネットに接続する。(Hai. Intānetto ni setsuzoku suru.)
Peter: To connect to the internet and once you connect to the internet, you are
Natsuko: 接続中 (setsuzokuchū)
Peter: With the final character being the character for middle. And let’s get an example sentence from Yoshi-san.
Natsuko: ヨシさん、例文をお願いします。(Yoshi-san, reibun o onegai shimasu.)
Yoshi: はい。コンピューターをネットワークに接続する。(Hai. Konpyūtā o nettowāku ni setsuzoku suru.)
Peter: To connect the computer to the network.
Yoshi: 次のキーワードをお願いします。(Tsugi no kīwādo o onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: 合図 (aizu)
Peter: Signal, sign.
Natsuko: (slow)あいず (aizu) (natural speed) 合図 (aizu)
ヨシさん、例文をお願いします。(Yoshi-san, reibun o onegai shimasu.)
Yoshi: 審判の合図でスタートしてください。(Shinpan no aizu de sutāto shite kudasai.)
Peter: Start on the judge’s signal.
Natsuko: 次のキーワードをお願いします。(Tsugi no kīwādo o onegai shimasu.)
Yoshi: 以内 (inai)
Peter: Within
Yoshi: (slow)いない (inai) (natural speed) 以内 (inai) 
ナツコさん、例文をお願いします。(Natsuko-san, reibun o onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: はい。10分以内に行きます。(Hai. Juppun inai ni ikimasu.)
Peter: I will go within 10 minutes.
Natsuko: 新曲がランキングで10位以内に入りました。(Shinkyoku ga rankingu de jū-i inai ni hairimashita.)
Peter: The new song ranked within the top 10.
Yoshi: ナツコさん、次のキーワードをお願いします。(Natsuko-san, tsugi no kīwādo o onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: 伝言 (dengon)
Peter: Message.
Natsuko: (slow)でんごん (dengon) (natural speed) 伝言 (dengon)
Yoshi: ナツコさん、ピーターに伝言をお願いできますか。(Natsuko-san, Pītā ni dengon o onegai dekimasu ka.)
Peter: Natsuko-san, can I ask you to leave a message with Peter?
Natsuko: いいですよ。(Ii desu yo.)
Peter: Yes. Lots of vocab in there and lots of sample sentences. Now there is a couple we want to just take one more look at, actually one we want to take one more look at. Natsuko-san, in the first sample sentence, we said
Natsuko: ヨシの留守電にメッセージを入れました。(Yoshi no rusuden ni messēji o iremashita.)
Peter: Now notice the verb we use with a message here. What’s the verb we use?
Natsuko: 入れる (ireru)
Peter: To put in. So in the translation, we have to translate it a bit differently because in English, we say left the message but in Japanese, put in a message.
Natsuko: Yes, it’s like recording the message.
Peter: Yeah, okay so these are paired together. Now one more thing we want to look at. In today’s dialogue, we used AU, one of the major cell phone carriers in Japan. Now we want to point out, there are variety, the biggest by far is
Natsuko: Docomo.
Peter: Yes. Now when you call Docomo, they have a bit of a different message. So what we want to do now is give you another common phrase you may hear in some of the other ones. What did we have for AU when the signal sounds?
Natsuko: 合図の音がしましたら (aizu no oto ga shimashitara)
Peter: What’s another common one?
Natsuko: ピーっと鳴ったら (Pī tto nattara)
Peter: もう一度お願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: ピーッと鳴ったら (Pī tto nattara)
Peter: When the ピー (pī) sounds, Natsuko-san, what’s this ピー (pī)? What does this mean?
Natsuko: Is it an abbreviation for Peter?
Peter: All right, I am asking Yoshi. Yoshi-san, what does this mean?
Yoshi: That’s the sound of the beeping.
Peter: Yeah in Japanese, they often use.
Natsuko: ピーッ (pī)

Lesson focus

Peter: All right. Now on to today’s grammar point. All right, today’s grammar point is
Natsuko: たら (tara)
Peter: Now the たら (tara) conditional roughly corresponds to when, if and after. There are three uses and it depends on the context. Natsuko-san, which one did we introduce today?
Natsuko: When.
Peter: When the signal sounds, something, something. Okay, now this construction is used often with the plain past form plus
Natsuko: ら (ra)
Peter: Now in this pattern, we want to point out that the subordinate clause comes first and then it ends with
Natsuko: たら (tara)
Peter: And then we have the main clause.

Outro

Peter: All right, that’s going to do for today.
Natsuko: じゃあ、また明日ね。(Jā, mata ashita ne.)
Yoshi: またね。(Mata ne.)

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