Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: 夏子です。 (Natsuko desu.)
Peter: Peter here. It’s not good to be the king. So Natsuko-san, what goes around comes around.
Natsuko: I wonder.
Peter: What is today Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: 14th.
Peter: Which makes it March 14. That is so which makes it?
Natsuko: Oh yes I shouldn’t have forget that ホワイトデー (howaitodē).
Peter: White day. Now Natsuko-san, can you tell everybody what that is for people who are not familiar with it?
Natsuko: It’s kind of the opposite of say Valentine’s Day.
Peter: Yes I don’t like the Japanese one and I want an American one if that makes any sense. Yes where we kind of run into trouble with the opposite is the Japanese and the Asian St. Valentine’s Day is the opposite of the Western St. Valentine’s Day which makes White Day the opposite of that.
Natsuko: So confusing.
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: Well it means you know the man who receives chocolate from women on St. Valentine’s Day must give something back to her on this day.
Peter: Yes, oh yes. So it’s collection day for the ladies.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So it’s a great day for you Natsuko-san. How are you doing so far?
Natsuko: Don’t ask me.
Peter: Yeah it makes me feel better. I don’t have to give that much back. So yeah it wasn’t a very good haul for me but yeah so today is white day and in the states, we don’t have anything like this. It’s a one way street. The guys to the girls.
Natsuko: That’s better.
Peter: Yeah. You are very quick with that.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And here at least that kind of works out even and today is that day. So with that said, let’s visit our boss who was quite happy last month.
Natsuko: Oh yes I hope you will remember.
Peter: Let’s see how he is doing today. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsurei shimasu.)
部長: 何だ? (Nan da?)
社員: ええ〜部長、どうしたんですか。大丈夫ですか。 (Ē buchō, dōshita n desu ka? Daijōbu desu ka?)
部長: ああ〜、今日は最悪だ。年に一番嫌いな日だ。ホワイト・デーだよ。 (Ā, kyō wa saiaku da. Nen ni ichiban kirai na hi da. Howaito-dē da yo.)
社員: ああ、そういうことですか。 (Ā, sō iu koto desu ka.)
部長: 25人にチョコをあげましたよ。自己新記録だ。今日はスッカラカンのからっけつだよ!誰がこの日を作ったんだ。ああ〜。 (25 nin ni choko o agemashita yo. Jiko shinkiroku da. Kyō wa sukkarakan no karakketsu da yo! Dare ga kono hi o tsukutta n da. Ā.)
社員: でも、先月いっぱいもらいましたよね。 (Demo, sengetsu ippai moraimashita yo ne.)
部長: でも、先月のことは先月だ。西洋はどうなってる? (Demo, sengetsu no koto wa sengetsu da. Seiyō wa dō natteru?)
社員: 西洋にホワイト・デーはありません。 (Seiyō ni Howaito-dē wa arimasen.)
部長: いいな〜。やっぱり海外がいいな〜。 (Ii nā. Yappari kaigai ga ii nā.)
社員: だめだこりゃ。 (Dame da korya.)
もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegaishimasu.)
社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsurei shimasu.)
部長: 何だ? (Nan da?)
社員: ええ〜部長、どうしたんですか。大丈夫ですか。 (Ē buchō, dōshita n desu ka? Daijōbu desu ka?)
部長: ああ〜、今日は最悪だ。年に一番嫌いな日だ。ホワイト・デーだよ。 (Ā, kyō wa saiaku da. Nen ni ichiban kirai na hi da. Howaito-dē da yo.)
社員: ああ、そういうことですか。 (Ā, sō iu koto desu ka.)
部長: 25人にチョコをあげましたよ。自己新記録だ。今日はスッカラカンのからっけつだよ!誰がこの日を作ったんだ。ああ〜。 (25 nin ni choko o agemashita yo. Jiko shinkiroku da. Kyō wa sukkarakan no karakketsu da yo! Dare ga kono hi o tsukutta n da. Ā.)
社員: でも、先月いっぱいもらいましたよね。 (Demo, sengetsu ippai moraimashita yo ne.)
部長: でも、先月のことは先月だ。西洋はどうなってる? (Demo, sengetsu no koto wa sengetsu da. Seiyō wa dō natteru?)
社員: 西洋にホワイト・デーはありません。 (Seiyō ni Howaito-dē wa arimasen.)
部長: いいな〜。やっぱり海外がいいな〜。 (Ii nā. Yappari kaigai ga ii nā.)
社員: だめだこりゃ。 (Dame da korya.)
次はピーターさんの英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa pītā-san no eigo ga hairimasu.)
社員: 失礼します。 (Shitsureishimasu.)
Peter: Excuse me.
部長: 何だ? (Nanda?)
Peter: What.
社員: ええ〜部長、どうしたんですか。大丈夫ですか。 (Ē buchō, dōshita n desu ka? Daijōbu desu ka?)
Peter: Boss, what’s wrong. Are you all right?
部長: ああ〜、今日は最悪だ。年に一番嫌いな日だ。ホワイト・デーだよ。 (Ā 〜, kyō wa saiakuda.-Nen ni ichiban kiraina hida. Howaito dēda yo.)
Peter: Today is the worst. The worst day of the year, White Day.
社員: ああ、そういうことですか。 (Ā, sō iu koto desu ka.)
Peter: Ah so that’s it.
部長: 25人にチョコをあげましたよ。自己新記録だ。今日はスッカラカンのからっけつだよ!誰がこの日を作ったんだ。ああ〜。 (25-Ri ni choko o agemashita yo. Jiko shin kirokuda. Kyō wa sukkarakan no karakketsuda yo! Dare ga kono Ni~Tsu o tsukutta nda. Ā 〜.)
Peter: I gave chocolates to 25 people. A new personal record, I am broke today. Who made this day? Ah…
社員: でも、先月いっぱいもらいましたよね。 (Demo, sengetsu ippai moraimashita yo ne.)
Peter: But last month you received the lot.
部長: でも、先月のことは先月だ。西洋はどうなってる? (Demo, sengetsu no koto wa sengetsuda. Seiyō wa dō natteru)
Peter: But last month is last month. What’s going on in the west?
社員: 西洋にホワイト・デーはありません。 (Seiyō ni howaito dē wa arimasen.)
Peter: In the west, there is no White Day.
部長: いいな〜。やっぱり海外がいいな〜。 (Ī na 〜. Yappari kaigai ga ī na 〜.)
Peter: How nice! I’d like to live in the west.
社員: だめだこりゃ。 (Dameda korya.)
Peter: Oh this guy must be kidding me.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: 夏子さん、どうでしたか。 (Natsukosan, dōdeshita ka.)
Natsuko: うん。人気者も大変ですね。 (Un. Ninki-sha mo taihen desu ne.)
Peter: It’s tough to be the popular one. Yeah and so the universe is at peace once again. Everything is balanced out.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: His ego yeah. So what goes up must come down and yeah today he comes down hard. Now we want to get into this conversation. So what we are going to do right now is jump to the vocab. Let’s go through these very quickly and let’s take a look because there are a couple of key points in the vocab and some of you, even if you are very, very knowledgeable of Japanese, you might not know especially the last line. Okay, so Natsuko-san, first word please.
Natsuko: 失礼 (shitsurei)
Peter: Discourtesy.
Natsuko: (slow)しつれい (shitsure i) (natural speed)失礼 (shitsurei)
Peter: Next we have
Natsuko: 部長 (buchō)
Peter: Head of a section.
Natsuko: (slow)ぶちょう (bu chō) (natural speed)部長 (buchō)
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: 最悪 (saiaku)
Peter: The worst
Natsuko: (slow)さいあく (sai aku) (sai aku) (natural speed)最悪 (saiaku)
Peter: A quick look at the characters that make up this word. There are two of them. First word being
Natsuko: At most.
Peter: Second word
Natsuko: Bad
Peter: Put them together
Natsuko: Most bad
Peter: The worst. Next we have
Natsuko: 自己新記録 (jiko shin kiroku)
Peter: A new personal record.
Natsuko: (slow)じこしんきろく (ji ko Shin kiro ku) (natural speed)自己新記録 (jiko shin kiroku)
Peter: Five characters that make up this word. So let’s walk into it now. Let’s just break this down a bit. Let’s go with the first word. What’s the first word in there?
Natsuko: 自己 (jiko) self
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: 新 (shin)
Peter: New
Natsuko: 記録 (kiroku)
Peter: Record. One’s new record. Hence?
Natsuko: Personal record.
Peter: New personal record.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay and finally we have
Natsuko: すっからかん (sukkarakan)
Peter: Well one more time.
Natsuko: すっからかん (sukkarakan)
Peter: And Natsuko-san help us out with the meaning here because I have no idea.
Natsuko: Here it means broke.
Peter: Broke. Okay let’s break this down and let’s try and pick this apart because I don’t really know what’s going on here.
Natsuko: (slow)すっからかん (natural speed)すっからかん
Peter: Okay Natsuko-san help us out here. What’s going on?
Natsuko: Uhh I wonder what’s going on too.
Peter: You kind of wonder what’s going on?
Natsuko: Yeah. This is kind of a set phrase or you know an expression used for the state that you don’t have any money.
Peter: Now who uses this phrase? Like at a business lunch, you would say I am completely broke.
Natsuko: I don’t think so. It’s fairly casual.
Peter: Okay conveying that you are completely broke right. Nothing
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: The wallet is empty.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Now is it broken at that time, that current point in time like I have no cash on me but you may have money in the bank or is it meaning like general like I am about to go live on the street?
Natsuko: Well maybe in both ways. Like you know 今日はすっからかん (kyō wa sukkarakan) might mean, you know, today you don’t have any cash.
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: But I think you know, it sounds a bit light. So it’s not a very serious word.
Peter: Okay who uses this word, the young teenagers use this word or kind of all the people. What kind of demographic is using this word?
Natsuko: I don’t have statistics. So I am not sure but…
Peter: General idea. Okay do you use the word?
Natsuko: Occasionally.
Peter: Okay occasionally and what about younger kids?
Natsuko: I am not sure. You know, young people in Japan, they’d like to use strange languages. So I am not sure whether this word is, you know, kind of popular among them but at least they know what it means.
Peter: That’s the next question yeah. It would be understood but go and test it out. Let us know how it goes. One more time, I like this word.
Natsuko: すっからかん (sukkarakan)
Peter: すっからかん。すっからかん。今日はすっからかん。 (Sukkarakan. Sukkarakan. Kyō wa sukkarakan.)

Lesson focus

Peter: Okay let’s run through this conversation. Here we go. Natsuko. First line.
Natsuko: 失礼します。 (Shitsureishimasu.)
Peter: Use one entering rooms and leaving rooms.
Natsuko: Excuse me.
Peter: There it is. Next.
Natsuko: 何だ? (Nanda?)
Peter: Okay what do we have here? Why is that だ (da) at the end?
Natsuko: It’s emphasizing.
Peter: Yeah and of course it’s the boss saying this to a subordinate.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: How does it work the other way boss 何だ (nanda) I didn’t mean to kill you Natsuko-san Yeah you could tell by that reaction that one way street here.
Natsuko: Yes. Sounds pretty strong 何だ (nanda), what’s the business like that.
Peter: Yes, speak your business. Then we have
Natsuko: ええ〜部長、どうしたんですか。大丈夫ですか。 (Ē buchō, dōshita n desu ka? Daijōbu desu ka?)
Peter: Boss what’s wrong? Is everything okay? What about this え~ (e ~) in the beginning?
Natsuko: Well obviously he didn’t expect 部長 (buchō) to be in such a bad mood.
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: So he is kind of surprised at the state.
Peter: Yeah and it might be visual in this case. Like he goes in and he sees the boss crying or what, I don’t know. Something like you know, the 何だ (nanda) preceding it is not too out of the ordinary. The boss is always busy with 30 things on his mind. So just come on, what you got for me but maybe kind of a visual queue, he kind of enters the room, you know 失礼します (shitsureishimasu) and kind of like gauges the situation that the boss is not in good spirits followed by
Natsuko: あ~今日は最悪だ。 (Ā, kyō wa saiakuda.)
Peter: Today is the worst.
Natsuko: 一年で一番嫌いな日だ。 (Ichinen de ichiban kirai na hi da.)
Peter: The worst day of the year followed by
Natsuko: ホワイトデーだ。 (Howaitodē da.)
Peter: You have a White Day. Then we have
Natsuko: ああ、そういうことか。 (Ā, sō iu koto ka.)
Peter: Yes up until now, we’ve always had どういうこと (dō iu koto). What are you talking about? What do you mean? Here it’s
Natsuko: そういうこと。 (Sō iu koto.)
Peter: Ah that thing. So finally someone knows what’s going on.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Until now, no one knew what was going on but now you finally know. So it’s そういうことか (sō iu koto ka) So he’s got it.
Natsuko: 25人にチョコをあげたよ。 (25-Ri ni choko o ageta yo.)
Peter: I gave chocolates to 25 people.
Natsuko: 自己新記録だよ。 (Jiko shin-kiroku da yo.)
Peter: A new personal record and Natsuko, he had another personal record last month. This guy forgets quickly.
Natsuko: 今日はすっからかん。 (Kyō wa sukkarakan.)
Peter: I broke today.
Natsuko: 誰がこんな日を作ったんだ。 (Dare ga kon'na hi o tsukutta nda.)
Peter: Who made this day?
Natsuko: あ~あ。 (A ~ a.)
Peter: Yeah he is not happy followed by
Natsuko: でも先月いっぱいもらいましたよね。 (Demo sengetsu ippai moraimashita yo ne.)
Peter: The devil’s advocate. Just last month he got all of that but he already forgot followed by
Natsuko: でも先月のことは先月だ。 (Demo sengetsu no koto wa sengetsuda.)
Peter: But last month is last month.
Natsuko: 西洋はどうなってる? (Seiyō wa dō natteru?)
Peter: What’s going on in the west? Here we want to point out the どうなってる (dō natteru) what is it becoming? Present progressive can represent states.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So what is the state of the west?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: What’s going on in the west?
Natsuko: 西洋にホワイトデーはありません。 (Seiyō ni howaitodē wa arimasen.)
Peter: They don’t have White Day in the west.
Natsuko: いいなぁ。やっぱり海外がいいなぁ。 (Ī nā. Yappari kaigai ga ī nā.)
Peter: And here he goes, how nice! Just as I thought, overseas is nice, kind of inferring that he’d like to be there. And finally we have
Natsuko: だめだこりゃ。 (Dameda korya.)
Peter: Okay first let’s break this down and then let’s explain it. For those of you who got this, you are really, really knowledgeable in Japan because I imagine there are people who are really unbelievable at Japanese and may not even catch this little joke. So let’s go with this.
Natsuko: だめだこりゃ。 (Dameda korya.)
Peter: Now だめだ (dameda) is straightforward. This is no good.
Natsuko: No good.
Peter: And what about こりゃ (korya).
Natsuko: こりゃ (korya) is – it’s これは (koreha).
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Contracted こりゃ (korya). Now だめだこりゃ (dameda korya) there is nothing unusual about the phrase but Natsuko-san can you elaborate why everybody knows this phrase?
Natsuko: It was used by a very famous comedian group called ドリフターズ (dorifutāzu) and they have this TV program that was really popular among.
Peter: Really popular.
Natsuko: Uh-huh and…
Peter: What was the name of that show?
Natsuko: 八時だよ、全員集合 (Hachi-ji da yo, zen'in shūgō)
Peter: Well one more time, a bit slower
Natsuko: 八時だよ、全員集合 (Hachi-ji da yo, zen'in shūgō)
Peter: Roughly translated
Natsuko: It’s 8 o’ clock. Everyone, gather around.
Peter: Yep it’s 8. Everyone, gather around.
Natsuko: Obviously the program started at 8 o'clock in the evening.
Peter: Yeah and everybody actually probably the whole country gathered to watch this.
Natsuko: Yeah and だめだこりゃ (dameda korya) was frequently used among the jokes like someone says something really stupid and the leader of the group says だめだこりゃ (dameda korya).
Peter: So if you got that, congratulations because there is a show from the 80s, it’s no longer on, but so many…
Natsuko: And actually the leader passed away.
Peter: Yeah and Japan was pretty shaken up about it.
Natsuko: Pretty much yes.
Peter: So kind of like – I guess like you kind of equated to like a Saturday Night Live like in the US where most of the skits they seem done in PROP kind of like a little preparation. It seemed like they were done live in front of a studio audience.
Natsuko: Yes, yes.
Peter: And you know, sometimes like the actors and themselves will be laughing during the skit. It is a really funny program.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And I should thank my wife for making me watch it over and over until I finally liked it.
Natsuko: That’s good.
Peter: So if you got that yeah you are a 上級 (jōkyū) Japanese.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: All right. Do we have a grammar point?
Natsuko: Do we?

Outro

Peter: In today’s lesson, we went over giving and receiving verbs. So あげた (ageta) and もらいました (moraimashita). Now if you stop by the japanesepod101.com, again we will have a write up inside the PDF. Particles here play a crucial role in these sentences. Giving and receiving verbs in Japanese is a very tricky subject. So you definitely want to check out this PDF. Alright, that’s going to do it for today.
Natsuko: じゃ、また明日。 (Ja, mata ashita.

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