Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: 夏子です。 (Natsuko desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Rock, paper, scissors.
Natsuko: Fried chicken.
Peter: We are going to find out. So just bear with us. Today we are going to be looking at explaining nouns. So again in English, usually the explanation comes after the noun. When describing a noun, usually this follows the noun but in Japanese, this precedes the noun. So we are going to be taking a look at this today. Natsuko-san, today’s conversation is between who?
Natsuko: Mother and two children.
Peter: So we are going to have what kind of Japanese?
Natsuko: Informal.
Peter: Okay. Anything else we need to know today? I think maybe you could help us a little bit with this. What game are they playing?
Natsuko: じゃんけん (jan ken)
Peter: Which is
Natsuko: Rock, paper, scissors.
Peter: Yep. Hence the title. With that said, here we go.
DIALOGUE
母: 鳥のから揚げ、買ってきたわよ。 (Tori no kara-age, katte kita wa yo.)
子どもたち: わ~い、やったー! (Wāi, yatta!)
母: ふたりで分けて、食べてね。 (Futari de wakete, tabete ne.)
太郎: 何個あるのかな? (Nan ko aru no kana?)
光秀: 6個あるよ。 (Rokko aru yo.)
太郎: じゃあ、じゃんけんで勝った人が好きなのをとろう。 (Jā, janken de katta hito ga suki na no o torō.)
子どもたち: じゃんけんぽん! (Janken pon!)
光秀: わーい、勝った!じゃあ、これと、これと、これね。 (Wāi, katta! jā, kore to, kore to, kore ne.)
太郎: ちぇっ、大きいのばっかりとったな! (Che, ōkii no bakkari totta na!)
もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.)
母: 鳥のから揚げ、買ってきたわよ。 (Tori no kara-age, katte kita wa yo.)
子どもたち: わ~い、やったー! (Wāi, yatta!)
母: ふたりで分けて、食べてね。 (Futari de wakete, tabete ne.)
太郎: 何個あるのかな? (Nan ko aru no kana?)
光秀: 6個あるよ。 (Rokko aru yo.)
太郎: じゃあ、じゃんけんで勝った人が好きなのをとろう。 (Jā, janken de katta hito ga suki na no o torō.)
子どもたち: じゃんけんぽん! (Janken pon!)
光秀: わーい、勝った!じゃあ、これと、これと、これね。 (Wāi, katta! jā, kore to, kore to, kore ne.)
太郎: ちぇっ、大きいのばっかりとったな! (Che, ōkii no bakkari totta na!)
次は英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa eigo ga hairimasu.)
母: 鳥のから揚げ、買ってきたわよ。 (Tori no karaage, kattekita wa yo.)
I went and bought fried chicken!
子どもたち: わ~い、やったー! (Wa ~ i, yatta ̄ !)
Yay!
母: ふたりで分けて、食べてね。 (Futari de wakete, tabete ne.)
Split them between yourselves and eat them, OK?
太郎: 何個あるのかな? (Nan-ko aru no ka na?)
How many are there? (I wonder).
光秀: 6個あるよ。 (6-Ko aru yo.)
There are six!
太郎: じゃあ、じゃんけんで勝った人が好きなのをとろう。 (Jā,jan kende katta hito ga suki na no o torou.)
OK, the one who wins by janken can take the ones he likes!
子どもたち: じゃんけんぽん! (Jan kenpon!)
Rock, Paper, Scissors!
光秀: わーい、勝った!じゃあ、これと、これと、これね。 (Wa ̄ i, katta! Jā, kore to, kore to, kore ne.)
Yay, I won! So, this one and this one, and this one, OK.
太郎: ちぇっ、大きいのばっかりとったな! (che, ōkii no bakkari totta na!)
You took all the big ones!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Natsuko-san, 今日の会話、どう思いましたか? (Kyō no kaiwa, dō omoimashita ka?)
Natsuko: Sounds very familiar to me.
Peter: Really?
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: What part?
Natsuko: Well I had a big brother and a little sister and you know, it always happened.
Peter: Really?
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: But 3D way, the first person loses and then two people go on right?
Natsuko: Yeah right. It’s a tournament.
Peter: Okay kids gather around. Who is going to eat today? Let’s see.
Natsuko: No, no, no.
Peter: Basically it’s rock, paper, scissors for food.
Natsuko: Yeah.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: All right. Enough of that. Let’s take a look at the vocab and then get into today’s lesson. We are going to dissect it. Here we go.
Natsuko: 鶏の唐揚げ (tori no karaage)
Peter: Fried chicken.
Natsuko: (slow)とりのからあげ (torino kara age) (natural speed) 鶏の唐揚げ (tori no karaage)
Peter: Let’s divide this up a bit. First we have
Natsuko: 鶏の (tori no)
Peter: Chickens. It’s actually a bird.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Birds because 鶏 (tori) is bird but what other kind of fried birds are there? None right? So when you think of 鶏の唐揚げ (tori no karaage) it’s usually chicken.
Natsuko: Usually.
Peter: Anything else, any other birds?
Natsuko: Well in that case, we specify.
Peter: Yeah so here the 鶏 (tori) is literally bird but we translate it as chicken. This is followed by the possessive no. So it’s literally birds or chickens.
Natsuko: 唐揚げ (karaage)
Peter: Okay and help us out with this. First we have the から (kara)
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Which is
Natsuko: Chinese style I think.
Peter: And あげ (age)
Natsuko: Fry, deep fry.
Peter: Deep fried. So yeah, probably deep fried chicken is probably a little bit better.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: And now when we say it’s probably it’s even defined a little more because the chicken is breaded with some kind of flavoring.
Natsuko: Yeah so in the case of Kentucky Fried Chicken, you use Mr. Cornell’s Spice right, Magic Spice but in Japan, you use Soy sauce, some ginger and maybe some sake and you sprinkle it with flour and deep fry.
Peter: So it is coated in flour?
Natsuko: Yes
Peter: And flavored?
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: And very good. Now this food has 居酒屋 (izakaya) written all over it?
Natsuko: Yeah it’s one of the most popular dishes in Japan.
Peter: At 居酒屋 (izakaya)
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: And sometimes it actually have the 弁当 (bentō) which you can pick up with 唐揚げ弁当 (karaage bentō)
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Now the reason the chicken is in front of it is because there are other types of fried or deep fried dishes. Can you name a few?
Natsuko: タコの唐揚げ (tako no karaage)
Peter: Octopus – Deep fried Octopus prepared in a similar way.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: And we can also have squid or some other kinds of things. Next we have
Natsuko: じゃんけん (jan ken)
Peter: Rock, paper, scissors.
Natsuko: (slow)じゃんけん (jan ken) (natural speed) じゃんけん (jan ken)
Peter: Now Natsuko-san, can you just walk us through the timing? In English, it’s One-strike-three-SHOOT or rock, paper, scissors shoot or some kind of timing like this.
Natsuko: Oh it’s in the conversation right?
Peter: Yep one more time.
Natsuko: じゃんけんぽん! (Jan kenpon!)
Peter: So it’s じゃんけん (jan ken) and what’s the last one?
Natsuko: ぽん (pon)
Peter: With the N at the end, right?
Natsuko: Uhoo.
Peter: ぽん (pon)
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: じゃんけんぽん (jan kenpon)
Natsuko: ぽん (pon)
Peter: And you release your hand on ぽん (pon) right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So it’s じゃんけん (jan ken) and at the same time you say ぽん (pon)
Natsuko: ぽん (pon)
Peter: You release your weapon. All right and finally we have
Natsuko: ばっかり (bakkari)
Peter: All.
Natsuko: (slow)ばっかり (bakkari) (natural speed) ばっかり (bakkari)
Peter: Now please listen to the difference between this word and what we have introduced so many times up to date ばっかり (bakkari). Okay this is not the same word. This word has a short pause in it in between the ば (ka) and the か (ka). So Natsuko-san, can you give us this word one more time, please listen.
Natsuko: ばっかり (bakkari)
Peter: Hear that short pause in there.
Natsuko: ばっかり (bakkari)
Peter: As opposed to ばかり (bakkari)
Natsuko: ばかり (bakari)
Peter: There is no pause in there, very quick flow and this is the one that we use in grammatical structures.

Lesson focus

Peter: Okay now that we covered that, let’s take a look at the conversation. Natsuko-san, first line.
Natsuko: 鶏の唐揚げ、買って来たわよ。 (tori no karaage, katte kita wa yo.)
Peter: Literally this means fried chicken, I bought and came back. Literally.
Natsuko: Well it’s very straightforward.
Peter: Now who is the subject here?
Natsuko: Me, myself.
Peter: The speaker.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: In this case, it’s the mother. So she went and she bought the chicken and she came back. Notice no particle marking the object. If we did put a particle in, how would this sentence read?
Natsuko: 鶏の唐揚げを、買って来た。 (tori no karaage o, katte kita.)
Peter: The object marker お (o) but here it’s left out. It dropped right out of there along with the subject. Then we have 買って来た (katte kita). Bought and came back.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Bought and came back. We have the て (te) form of a verb followed by 来る (kuru). So it’s actually てくる (te kuru).
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: But we have the verb 買う (kau) to buy. We make it into the te form.
Natsuko: 買って (katte)
Peter: Attach the verb to come.
Natsuko: 来る (kuru)
Peter: To get.
Natsuko: 買って来る (katte kuru)
Peter: To buy and come back and here it’s the past, informal past. So 来る (kuru) becomes
Natsuko: 来た (kita)
Peter: So I went, bought and came back. I bought it and came back. Another point of interest in this sentence is the sentence ending particle va. Now Natsuko-san, what kind of speaker will use this particle?
Natsuko: Women.
Peter: Yeah it’s a particle that comes at the end of the sentence indicating a slightly emphatic tone basically she is letting everyone know she is back with the food.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: We have two sentence ending particles. わよ (wa yo).
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But わ (wa) always comes before the other sentence ending particles.
Natsuko: Yeah right. You don’t say よわ (yowa).
Peter: No よわ (yowa) Okay the kid’s response to this.
Natsuko: わーい、やったー! (Wa ̄ i, yatta ̄ !)
Peter: Why is an interjection showing excitement, joy, all right followed by our good old.
Natsuko: やったー! (Yatta ̄ !)
Peter: And the intonation says it all. This is an expression. It literally means I did it. Plain past tense of やる (yaru) to do but it means more than that.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Here it means all right. Yes, it is showing their happiness.
Natsuko: Yeah, like you know, the joy of achievement.
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: Howzatt!
Peter: I get yeah.
Natsuko: Well they didn’t achieve anything here but…
Peter: Well I guess they achieved the fact that they had their mother go out and get the food and come back.
Natsuko: I see yeah, yeah, yeah.
Peter: But yeah it’s the joy. Natsuko I think that’s a perfect explanation. You know, usually you say it to yourself when you do something really good. やったー! (Yatta ̄ !) Pass a test やったー! (Yatta ̄ !) or you know, you get someone’s phone number or you know, do something that you are happy about, it’s やったー! (Yatta ̄ !) Here it’s also used when you get something good. Even when something is brought to you.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: And here they are receiving the chicken. That’s why they are happy. Let’s move on. Next we have.
Natsuko: 二人でわけて食べてね。 (Futari de wakete tabete ne.)
Peter: The mother is giving instructions. Split them between yourselves and eat them, okay. We have
Natsuko: 二人で (futari de)
Peter: The two of you. 二人 (futari) is two people. で (de) means to do with two people. So the two of you.
Natsuko: わけて (wakete)
Peter: Split them up. So the two of you split them up. Now again this is informal Japanese. If you saw this in a textbook, Natsuko-san, what would it look like?
Natsuko: 二人で唐揚げをわけて (Futari de karaage o wakete)
Peter: The two of you, the fried chicken, divide up. So the chicken is in there. It’s just inferred and understood.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: And again, this is where the transitive and intransitive verbs come into play. This verb 分ける (wakeru) is a transitive verb.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: So it needs something you know you need to divide up something.
Natsuko: You are right.
Peter: And that something is the chicken. It’s just that in informal Japanese, it’s left out because it’s inferred.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: The two you divide this up but this, the chicken is left out. The two of you, divide up. After you divide up and
Natsuko: 食べてね。 (Tabete ne.)
Peter: 食べて (Tabete) Eat. Sentence ending particle here is ね (ne). So adding emphasis. 食べてね (tabete ne) So now the kids are in charge and now, they are under kids lawer and kids lawer is made up and rules and laws are decided by Rock, Papers, Scissors and first they start off with
Natsuko: 何個あるのかなぁ。 (Nanko aru no ka nā.)
Peter: How many are there? I wonder. We can tell by the way they are speaking that they haven’t seen it yet. They got this bag of chicken. Natsuko-san, what tells us if they haven’t seen it?
Natsuko: かな (ka na)
Peter: Which means that they are not sure. They are wondering.
Natsuko: Aaha.
Peter: So the literal translation is how many are there.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: But because we hear this かなぁ (ka nā), they haven’t looked in the bag. Yet we know that by the way they are speaking and the words they use. Small things are counted with 個 (ko), the counter word for 唐揚げ (karaage) is 個 (ko). So that’s why 何個 (nango), how many ある (aru) the verb to exist. The next line we have.
Natsuko: 六個あるよ。 (Rokko aru yo.)
Peter: There are six. Again yo emphasizing the fact that there are six followed by
Natsuko: じゃあ、じゃんけんで勝った人が好きなのを取ろう。 (Jā, janken de katta hito ga suki na no o torou.)
Peter: All right, here we go. First we have
Natsuko: じゃあ (jā)
Peter: Interjection. Okay biting time. Let’s see.
Natsuko: じゃんけんで (janken de)
Peter: Rock, paper, scissors by. Here this is indicating a tool by which means they will decide. Even though it’s not a physical tool, it’s a tool for this purpose and that’s why it’s marked by で (de).
Natsuko: 勝った人が (katta hito ga)
Peter: The winner literally won the past tense of to win followed by
Natsuko: 人 (hito)
Peter: Person. So if we stop here, we have, okay. Then we go to a person and work our way backwards. The person who won by rock, paper, scissors. This is describing the person. じゃんけんで勝った (Jan kende katta) Won by rock, paper, scissors and this is describing the person. So we have the person who wins by rock, paper, scissors marked by
Natsuko: が (ga)
Peter: The subject marking particle.
Natsuko: 好きなのを取ろう (suki na no o torou)
Peter: 好きなの (suki na no) The ones you like and this is where の (no) comes in again. の (no) is describing the thing, the ones.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: That is light and again 好きな (suki na) is describing the won or in this case, again it’s Japanese plural ones because they are six. を (o) object marking particle. Then we have
Natsuko: 取ろう (torou)
Peter: Will take.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: So put it altogether, we have the one who wins by rock, paper, scissors will take the ones he likes.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Now we have
Natsuko: じゃんけんぽん (jankenpon)
Peter: They started off followed by
Natsuko: わーい、勝った。 (Wa ̄ i, katta.)
Peter: Somebody won.
Natsuko: じゃあこれと、これと、これね。 (Jā kore to, kore to, kore ne.)
Peter: In between, we have that と (to).
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: This and this and this. Finally we have.
Natsuko: ちぇっ、大きいのばっかり取ったな。 (Che, ōkii no bakkari totta na.)
Peter: What is ちぇっ (che).
Natsuko: Shoot.
Peter: Yeah an interjection “shoot,” “shucks”. 大きいの (ōkii no), the big ones. Again, this の (no) here means ones.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: We covered this in a previous lesson where it’s のは (no wa) the ones.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: 大きいの (ōkii no) Here it would be following this. What’s left out is the object marker を (o). He is taking the big ones. This is followed by.
Natsuko: ばっかり (bakkari)
Peter: All and finally.
Natsuko: 取ったな。 (Totta na.)
Peter: He took all the big ones. He took only the big ones.

Outro

Peter: All right, now it is going to do for today’s lesson and Natsuko-san, anything to add?
Natsuko: Just try 唐揚げ (karaage) in 居酒屋 (izakaya).
Peter: Yes.
Natsuko: It’s highly recommendable.
Peter: All right, that is going to do for today.
Natsuko: じゃ、また明日。 (Ja, mata ashita.)

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