Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: こんにちは、ナツコです。 (Konnichiwa, Natsuko desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Natsuko-san,
Natsuko: はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: 今日はとっても面白いレッスンですよ。 (Kyō wa tottemo omoshiroi ressun desu yo.)
Natsuko: え? 今日は何についてのレッスンなんですか? (E? Kyō wa nani ni tsuite no ressun nan desu ka?)
Peter: Well, today we have a very interesting lesson and it’s about Baseball.
Natsuko: Oh that’s interesting.
Peter: Well, depending on what sports you like, it could be interesting or not but this conversation is interesting for everybody. The reason being is because we are dealing with umpires.
Natsuko: That would be interesting. You know, everyone has some kind of opinion about umpires.
Peter: That’s right. Even if baseball is not your sport, you can carry this over to referees in any sport.
Natsuko: Yes, sure, any sports.
Peter: Anyone. So can you just give us a little bit of background about this conversation. Who is in the conversation, kind of what politeness level and so on.
Natsuko: It’s actually not a conversation between the two for the first part, right. A pitcher throwing a ball.
Peter: Aha!
Natsuko: And the umpire calling the count.
Peter: And the first part, he is kind of reacting in his mind to what the umpire is doing or how he is calling the game but then what happens is, well you will find out and in the end, they have a conversation.
Natsuko: Yes and I don’t say it’s quite polite.
Peter: Well, let’s put it this way. For everybody out there who has been asking about really strong informal Japanese, we will call it Friday night Japanese. Well, here is your chance because this is very strong language, casual conversation but it’s necessary.
Natsuko: Well umm be careful to use this kind of you know language. Definitely agree that you must know.
Peter: Yes depending on which side of the conversation you are in. Now, this conversation stems from our celebrity survival phrases.
Natsuko: Really?
Peter: Yep because we had that course going and on one of the episodes, a pitcher from the SoftBank Hawks stopped by our message board.
Natsuko: Oh yes right.
Peter: And left us a message. His name is Chris Nikolsky but he likes to be called by his nickname which is
Natsuko: ニコちゃん (Niko-chan) Cute.
Peter: Yeah he says….
Natsuko: How sweet!
Peter: Easy Natsuko-san. So yeah, he said he gets a very favorable response from people when he tells him about this. So this episode is for ニコちゃん (Niko-chan)
Natsuko: Wow!
Peter: Anyways this is for any baseball players out there. And for people, for Japanese players playing in the majors, perhaps they can use their English translation.
Natsuko: Oh yes, sure. We got to recommend this to Matsuzaka.
Peter: Yes I am sure, he could really use it. Oh boy, okay so we have to put a little bit of a kind of – a little bit of warning that the language will be strong in this lesson.
Natsuko: Yes, yes, kind of harsh.
Peter: Harsh. So with that said, are you ready Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Are you really ready?
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: All right. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
アンパイア:ボール!
Anpaia: Bōru!
ピッチャー:(あれ? さっきはあのコースはストライクだったんだけどな。まあいいや、まだ2ストライク1ボール。気を取り直してと。)
Picchā:(Are? Sakki wa ano kōsu wa sutoraiku datta n da kedo nā. Mā ii ya, mada tsū (2) sutoraiku wan bōru. Ki o tori naoshite to.)
アンパイア:ボール!
Anpaia: Bōru!
ピッチャー:(えっ? ストライクだろう! どこ見てんだ、あのアンパイア。これで三振だ。)
Picchā:(E? Sutoraiku darō! Doko mite n da, ano anpaia. Kore de sanshin da.)
アンパイア:ボール。
Anpaia: Bōru.
ピッチャー:(おいおい。あのボールがボールだって? 直球だったのに。我慢にも程があるぞ、あの、へぼアンパイア!)
Picchā:(Oioi. Ano bōru ga bōru da tte. Chokkyū datta? noni. Gaman ni mo hodo ga aru zo, ano, hebo Anpaiā!)
アンパイア:ボール、フォアボール、ランナー一塁!
Anpaia: Bōru, foa bōru, rannā ichirui!
ピッチャー:(大きい声で)おい、ふざけんなよアンパイア! 今のがボールだって? さっきからどこに目つけてんだよ! 何球ストライクボール投げてると思ってんだ。
Picchā:(Ōkii koe de) Oi, fuzaken na yo anpaia! Ima no ga bōru da tte. Sakki kara doko ni me tsukete n da yo! Nankyū sutoraiku bōru nagete ru to omotte n da.
アンパイア:貴様、私を侮辱する気か。ピッチャー退場!
Anpaia: Kisama, watashi o bujoku suru ki ka. Picchā taijō!
もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri onegaishimasu.)
<繰り返し> ()
今度は英語が入ります。
(Kondo wa eigo ga hairimasu.)
アンパイア:ボール!
Anpaia: Bōru!
Umpire: Ball!
ピッチャー:(あれ。さっきはあのコースはストライクだったんだけどな。まあいいや、まだ2ストライ
ク1ボール。気を取り直してと。)
Picchā:(Are. Sakki wa ano kōsu wa sutoraiku datta n da kedo nā. Mā ii ya, mada tsū (2) sutoraiku wan bōru. Ki o tori naoshite to.)
Pitcher: (Huh? Just a minute ago that same pitch was called a strike. Whatever, it's still two strikes and one ball. I've gotta focus).
アンパイア:ボール!
Anpaia: Bōru!
Umpire: Ball!
ピッチャー:(えっ? ストライクだろう! どこ見てんだ、あのアンパイア。これで三振だ。)
Picchā:(E? Sutoraiku darō! Doko mite n da, ano anpaia. Kore de sanshin da.)
Pitcher: What? I'm pretty sure that was a strike. Where is that umpire looking? This should be a strikeout.
アンパイア:ボール。
Anpaia: Bōru.
Umpire: Ball!
ピッチャー:(おいおい。あのボールがボールだって? 直球だったのに。我慢にも程があるぞ、あの、へぼアンパイア!)
Picchā:(Oioi. Ano bōru ga bōru da tte? Chokkyū datta noni. Gaman ni mo hodo ga aru zo, ano, hebo Anpaiā!)
Pitcher: Now wait a minute! You're saying that ball was a ball? Even though that ball was straight!? My patience is running out. What a sad excuse for an umpire!
アンパイア:ボール、フォアボール、ランナー一塁!
Anpaia: Bōru, foa bōru, rannā ichirui!
Umpire: Ball! Ball four, take your base.
ピッチャー:(大きい声で)おい、ふざけんなよアンパイア!今のがボールだって? さっきからどこに目つけてんだよ!何球ストライクボール投げてるとおもってんだ。
Picchā:(Ōkii koe de) Oi, fuzaken na yo anpaia! Ima no ga bōru da tte? Sakki kara doko ni me tsukete n da yo! Nankyū sutoraiku bōru nagete ru to omotte n da.
Pitcher:(In a loud voice) Hey, Blue*, don't mess with me! You call that a ball? Where did your eyes go? How many strikes do you think I threw?
アンパイア:貴様、私を侮辱する気か。ピッチャー退場!
Anpaia: Kisama, watashi o bujoku suru ki ka. Picchā taijō!
Umpire: Okay wiseguy, feel like insulting me? You're out!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: ナツコさん。 (Natsuko-san.)
Natsuko: はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: 今日の会話はどう思いましたか? (Kyō no kaiwa wa dō omoimashita ka?)
Natsuko: うーん、あの、よくあることかもしれないですね。 (Ūn, ano, yoku aru koto kamo shirenai desu ne.)
Peter: Yeah maybe these things happen quite often.
Natsuko: Yes. I see a lot of these on sports news.
Peter: Really?
Natsuko: Yes. Not very often but you know occasionally.
Peter: Now when I watch sports in the US, I can sometimes lip-read and I could catch the polite, the pleasantries being exchanged between the umpire and the players or player. So is this the case? Can you usually read the lips of the players in Japanese?
Natsuko: Oh yes, sometimes.
Peter: And would this conversation accurately reflect what they are saying?
Natsuko: I think so.
Peter: All right. So then we got a great conversation.
Natsuko: It’s pretty realistic, I guess.
Peter: Okay. Yeah I mean for some people out there who have this image that Japanese are always very polite and always very formal, you should really check out Japanese baseball especially when dealing with the umpires because you know actually a US umpire came over here.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And he was shocked at the way he was treated compared to the US.
Natsuko: Oh yes, I heard that the style is very different and also the level of the umpire if there is a gap between Japanese baseball and US Major League.
Peter: Really?
Natsuko: Yes I heard that it’s very difficult to become an umpire in the Major League but not so much, that maybe not so hard for Japanese baseball.
Peter: Hmm..
Natsuko: Quite an interesting issue to compare.
Peter: All right. Yeah we have to ask some of our listeners, our baseball playing listeners out there.
Natsuko: Yeah sure.
Peter: Okay so shall we start with the vocab?
VOCAB LIST
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay what do we have first?
Natsuko: ボール (bōru)
Peter: “Ball.” Now this can be ball as in strike some balls or ball as in baseball.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So two here or as in any ball. So the physical object or ball that strikes.
Natsuko: Yes ぼ・お・る「ボール」 (Bo oru `bōru')
Peter: Then we have
Natsuko: ストライク (sutoraiku)
Peter: Strike.
Natsuko: す・と・ら・い・く「ストライク」 (Su to-ra i ku `sutoraiku')
Peter: Next we have
Natsuko: 気を取り直す (kiwotorinaosu)
Peter: Change the mood.
Natsuko: き・を・と・な・お・す「気を取り直す」 (Ki o tona o su `kiwotorinaosu')
Peter: First we have here
Natsuko: 気 (ki)
Peter: Which is “feeling” or “spirit,” followed by
Natsuko: を (o)
Peter: Object marking particle. This is followed by
Natsuko: 撮り直す (tori naosu)
Peter: To retake.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: We have two verbs here. The first verb is
Natsuko: 取る (toru)
Peter: “To take.” Followed by
Natsuko: 直す (naosu)
Peter: To fix.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But we are going to combine them here into a compound verb and that compound verb is, one more time.
Natsuko: 撮り直す (tori naosu)
Peter: So the first verb, we take the ます (masu) stem 取り (tori) and we attach it just as it is to 直す (naosu). And here we have the compound verb and when 直す (naosu) is using a compound verb, it means “to redo.”
Natsuko: Yes usually.
Peter: So in this case “retake.” In the case you eat something
Natsuko: 食べ直す (tabe naosu)
Peter: To re-eat.
Natsuko: Re-eat.
Peter: Well actually…
Natsuko: To eat again.
Peter: To eat again but with the hope of filling some kind of internal craving.
Natsuko: Oh yes.
Peter: So maybe you didn’t eat enough.
Natsuko: Or maybe you ate something that wasn’t to your taste.
Peter: Yeah. So here in this case, the mood is not good. So you are going to try to remake the mood.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Change the mood into something good.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Positive thinking. 気を取り直す (ki o torinaosu)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay then we have
Natsuko: 三振 (sanshin)
Peter: “Strikeout” in baseball.
Natsuko: さ・ん・し・ん「三振」 (Sa n shi n `sanshin')
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: 直球 (chokkyū)
Peter: Straight ball.
Natsuko: ちょっ・きゅ・う直球 (Cho kyu u chokkyū)
Peter: Next we have
Natsuko: 我慢 (gaman)
Peter: Patience.
Natsuko: が・ま・ん「我慢」 (Ga ma n `gaman')
Peter: Followed by
Natsuko: 程 (hodo)
Peter: Limit.
Natsuko: ほ・ど「程」 (Ho do `hodo')
Peter: Then we have a very interesting word here. Natsuko-san,
Natsuko: ヘボ (hebo)
Peter: “Poor hand” or someone who bungled something.
Natsuko: Not good.
Peter: Not good at.
Natsuko: Doing, yes.
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: へ・ぼ「ヘボ」 (e bo `hebo')
Peter: Where is the intonation here like the pitch accent?
Natsuko: ヘ・ボ (e bo)
Peter: Start high, go low.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: ヘボ (hebo) and what is – is this a combination of a few words?
Natsuko: I am not sure but it’s very casual, slightly slangy.
Peter: Yeah I heard something about the first part, the へ (e) is from 下手 (heta)
Natsuko: Ah, maybe yeah.
Peter: 下手 (heta) and the ボ (bo), umm ボケ (boke)?
Natsuko: Umm…
Peter: Not sure but…
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Yeah not good at something. I would say maybe a klutz?
Natsuko: Oh yes, not maybe strong but it's a very casual word.
Peter: Yeah. Not for business meetings, not for polite situations. And again, the conversation is very strong. So this is kind of a strong language. If you say this to someone, umm yeah got to be very careful.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Again, we are teaching you for your knowledge. General knowledge.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Not for usage. Then we have
Natsuko: フォアボール (foabōru)
Peter: “Walk” in baseball.
Natsuko: ふぉ・あ・ぼ・お・る「フォアボール」 (fo a bo oru `foabōru')
Peter: Then we have
Natsuko: 一塁 (ichirui)
Peter: First base.
Natsuko: い・ち・る・い「一塁」 (i chiru i `ichirui')
Peter: And now something for all you manga fans or anime fans out there. This is a word that you will come across quite often in anime. Not a very polite word. So we are going to give our explicit warning for this word. Natsuko-san,
Natsuko: 貴様 (kisama)
Peter: “You” in a very vulgar way.
Natsuko: き・さ・ま「貴様」 (ki-sa ma `kisama')
Peter: And I was laughing a bit because I like the intonation on that. Can you give it to us one more time, Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: 貴様 (kisama)
Peter: 貴様 (kisama) Can you help us out with this?
Natsuko: It used to be a very polite word, very honorific way to call someone because you can see that when you know the kanji, 貴 (taka) means precious and 様 (sama) is the honorific.
Peter: So it’s very polite.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: In the past.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Stress on in the past.
Natsuko: So originally it was used as a very polite way to refer to someone but I don’t know why it changed.
Peter: Luckily for us, Maki knows. So if you stop by JapanesePod101.com and ask Maki.
Natsuko: Oh sure, he knows.
Peter: He knows because there is a feudal connection here and that’s his specialty, Japanese history. So stop by JapanesePod101.com, leave us a post on the message board asking Maki, マキさん、教えてください (makisan, oshiete kudasai) please tell me, please tell me the story behind this.
Natsuko: I want to know.
Peter: So you can post Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: Oh yeah. Okay.
Peter: おお、どう……。 (Ō, dō…….) Next word.
Natsuko: 侮辱 (bujoku)
Peter: Insult, contempt.
Natsuko: ぶ・じょ・く「侮辱する」 (Bu jo ku `bujoku suru')
Peter: And this is usually paired with a verb. What verb is that?
Natsuko: 侮辱する (bujoku suru)
Peter: So this is a する (suru) verb?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And you see this, I see this mostly in the sports section of the newspaper.
Natsuko: Really?
Peter: Yeah I always read that Nikkan Sports and it always has this combination.
Natsuko: Where
Peter: Well if a team gets beat very badly, then they use this word 侮辱 (bujoku)
Natsuko: Really. Not 屈辱 (kutsujoku)
Peter: That’s the one. So what’s the difference? Wait, first let’s just go to that word 屈辱 (kutsujoku).
Natsuko: く・つ・じょ・く (ku tsu jo ku)
Peter: And that is ‘embarrass’?
Natsuko: Yes, embarrassment.
Peter: That’s the one I always see. Finally we have
Natsuko: 退場 (taijō)
Peter: Leave, leaving.
Natsuko: た・い・じょ・う「退場」 (Ta i jo u `taijō')
Peter: Now this isn’t limited to just baseball.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: There are many instances when we use this word, leaving some kind of important event.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But I think the main thing here is, when there are other people around. So 退場する (taijō suru).
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: You leave in front of everybody.
Natsuko: So it’s like leaving the scene.
Peter: Perfect explanation.
Natsuko: Something is still going on but you leave there.
Peter: Ah. In this case, there is a game still going on.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But he had to leave.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay. Are you ready, Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: はい。 (Hai.)
Peter: This is one of the most fun or interesting conversations that
we are going to go over and we hope ニコちゃん (niko-chan) gets the chance to use this.
Natsuko: And I hope you will use one.
Peter: I hope ニコちゃん (niko-chan) uses it but just in case
Natsuko: Well he can be prepared.
Peter: It never hurts to be prepared. Okay, what do we have here? So we start off with the umpire and he starts off with
Natsuko: ボール (bōru)
Peter: So a “ball”. Now, the pitcher's reaction again, he is not saying this. He is thinking this.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So what is he thinking right now?
Natsuko: あれ? さっきはあのコースはストライクだったんだけどな。 (Are? Sakki wa ano kōsu wa sutoraiku datta n da kedo na.)
Peter: First we have an interjection. First we have
Natsuko: あれ? (Are?)
Peter: Which here expresses not a location but expresses surprise.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: That something didn’t work out the way it was expected to.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And we find out in the next sentence what that was. That was?
Natsuko: さっきはあのコースはストライクだったんだけどな。 (Sakki wa ano kōsu wa sutoraiku datta n da kedo na.)
Peter: “Just before this same pitch was a strike. What’s going on?” First we have
Natsuko: さっき (sakki)
Peter: Before.
Natsuko: は (wa)
Peter: Topic marking particle followed by
Natsuko: あの (ano)
Peter: That.
Natsuko: コース (kōsu)
Peter: “That course” is the literal translation. That course but “that pitch”
Natsuko: は (wa)
Peter: Again two topic marking particles. Now again sometimes we have this.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And what the double va does is, adds emphasis. This is followed by
Natsuko: ストライクだった (sutoraiku datta)
Peter: “Strike was.” “That pitch in that location was a strike.” Then we have
Natsuko: ~んだけどな (~ n da kedo na)
Peter: ~んだけどな (~ n da kedo na) So here what this does is, adds to the feeling of the speaker and to his surprise.
Natsuko: He is questioning the situation.
Peter: Yes and again, this kind of comes from the inferred, what would be inferred after it. So literally we have before that pitch in that location was a strike but now it’s not. うーん、だけどなあ (ūn, da kedo nā) It’s like hmm but…
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: To translate literally but what’s inferred here is umm but now it’s not. Just not said. Then we have
Natsuko: まあ、いいや。 (Mā, ii ya.)
Peter:Ah it’s okay, whatever.
Natsuko: まだ2ストライク1ボール (Mada 2 sutoraiku 1 bōru)
Peter: “It’s still one ball, two strikes.” Now in Japanese, they flip the order. They give the strikes first and the balls after.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But still two strikes in one ball. For those of you out there not familiar with baseball, one more strike it would be and out. So all he has to do is get one more.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Strike and four balls here would equal a walk and that’s what he definitely doesn’t want to do. So it’s just one.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: He has three more chances to get this batter out. So he is still in good shape. So he says,
Natsuko: 気を取り直してと (ki o torinaoshite to)
Peter: Okay. “Think positive, change the mood.” So here again, forget that, don’t worry about that. Don’t let that get to you, 気を取り直そう (ki o torinaosou) then he throws the next pitch.
Natsuko: ボール (bōru)
Peter: Another “ball”. So now it’s two in two. So his reaction?
Natsuko: え? ストライクだろう? (E? Sutoraiku darou?)
Peter: “Hah that’s a strike right.” Literally “strike, right?” What’s inferred here was that pitch.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: It just doesn’t have to be said ストライクだろう (sutoraiku darou). That’s inferred.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Then we have
Natsuko: どこ見てんだ、あのアンパイア (Doko mite nda, ano anpaia)
Peter: Some really interesting Japanese. Give it to us one more time, nice and slow.
Natsuko: どこ見てんだ、あのアンパイア (Doko mite nda, ano anpaia)
Peter: “Where the heck is this umpire looking” and that was the nice version. You can ratchet it up a few notches in your mind to kind of what a little more accurately this expression reflects.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But let’s just take a look. I think the best way to start would be, what would this be in polite Japanese?

Lesson focus

Natsuko: あのアンパイアはどこを見ているんですか? (Ano anpaia wa doko o mite iru n desu ka?)
Peter: Very polite. Where is that umpire looking but again in this kind of casual and especially angry casual, most things get dropped.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So all the particles that Natsuko-san just gave us, the は (wa), the を (o), object marker o, they are all dropped.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And we are left with
Natsuko: どこ見てんだ (doko mite nda)
Peter: We have the interrogative for “where” どこ (doko) then we have
Natsuko: 見てんだ (mite nda)
Peter: And this is extremely strong. So this is quite strong and used only in informal conversation.
Natsuko: Yes, sure.
Peter: So let’s start with that root verb. We have the verb “to see.”
Natsuko: 見る (miru)
Peter: And as we said in the textbook sentence, it would be 見てます (mitemasu). So 見る (miru) when in the te-form becomes
Natsuko: 見て (mite)
Peter: Then we want the present progressive looking. So we attach
Natsuko: いる (iru)
Peter: So we have
Natsuko: 見ている (mite iru)
Peter: And then we want the polite form of that. Yeah so we have “looking,” so we have 見ている (mite iru) but in this case when you are talking in this manner, the いる (iru) gets dropped and we replace it with
Natsuko: んだ (nda)
Peter: So…
Natsuko: It’s the question form. It’s the abbreviation for どこを見ているのだ (oko o mite iru noda)
Peter: Really.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So give it to us one more time?
Natsuko: 見ているのだ (mite iru noda)
Peter: So the いるの (iru no) gets conjugated into
Natsuko: ん (n)
Peter: ん (n)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: That’s very convenient. Kind of like “looking” instead of hitting that look in.
Natsuko: Yeah you are right. Just like that.
Peter: So literally we have we are looking at this umpire. Where is this umpire looking? That's the feeling. So just to give you another example. If I wanted to say in a really dissimilar way, Natsuko-san, well actually you probably want to say it to me because I eat some strange things. What are you eating? How would you say that?
Natsuko: 何食べてんだ? (Nani tabete nda?)
Peter: So that いるのだ (iru no da) gets shortened to just
Natsuko: んだ (n da)
Peter: So we have んだ (n da). Now please do not go practicing this in a classroom. Professor, teacher, look what I learned in the JapanesePod101.com, again certain situations call for this. Now if you are with your friends and it’s a very – especially if you have a lot of guy friends, they may use this in just regular conversation.
Natsuko: Yes. You know that’s very casual and you know, you use it very regularly.
Peter: It’s the question form that’s a bit strong.
Natsuko: It’s not a question form. It’s just a very casual way, casual and friendly way to say some kind of statement.
Peter: Got it. So then we have
Natsuko: あのアンパイア (ano anpaia)
Peter: “That umpire.” This is very similar to the English, that Natsuko-san. This is quite strong when you attach あの (ano) in front of something.
Natsuko: Well, it depends on the context.
Peter: Depending on the intonation, this could be quite a strong statement.
Natsuko: You are right.
Peter: あのアンパイア……。あのアンパイアはとてもいいですね。 (Ano anpaia……. Ano anpaia wa totemo ii desu ne.)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So it’s the intonation that it gives it away here.
Natsuko: Yes and the context.
Peter: Very important.
Natsuko: I noticed here that the order is the opposite from the usual textbook form.
Peter: Yeah, very good point.
Natsuko: どこ見てんだ (doko mite n da) usually does not come first but last but this frequently happens especially when in spoken Japanese.
Peter: The order, almost free rein to put things where you would like them.
Natsuko: Yes. I think that’s because you know the way to emphasize or focus on some part of the sentence.
Peter: Yeah this is extremely common again in spoken Japanese, not so much the case in written Japanese.
Natsuko: Not so much, yes.
Peter: Yeah. So please definitely pay attention to that when you are listening to Japanese. Next we have.
Natsuko: これで三振だ。 (Kore de sanshin da.)
Peter: This one will be a strikeout. Referring to his next pitch, literally “this strike out is”. So he is holding the ball in his hand, これで (kore de). Then we have
Natsuko: ボール (bōru)
Peter: So he misses again and now he is – I think he’s had enough because what do we have?
Natsuko: おいおい (oioi)
Peter: Hey, hey.
Natsuko: あのボールがボールだって? (Ano bōru ga bōru datte?)
Peter: “That ball is a ball hah!” Followed by
Natsuko: 直球だったのに (chokkyū datta noni)
Peter: “It was a straight pitch.” So right down the middle. Here we have だったのに (datta noni) Even though it was this, in this case, it was an unfavorable pitch.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: It was an unfavorable outcome and that it was a ball. Then we have
Natsuko: 我慢にも程があるぞ (Gaman ni mo hodo ga aru zo)
Peter: “There is a limit to my patience”. Literally we have first
Natsuko: 我慢 (gaman)
Peter: Patience.
Natsuko: にも (ni mo)
Peter: に (ni) is pointing to the direction. Then we have
Natsuko: も (mo)
Peter: Also followed by
Natsuko: 程 (hodo)
Peter: “Limit”. So “patience to also limit.”
Natsuko: が (ga)
Peter: “There is.” So “there is a limit to patience” and referring to his patience.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Then we have finally
Natsuko: あのヘボアンパイア! (Ano heboanpaia!)
Peter: “That really bad umpire.” Finally we have
Natsuko: ボール、フォアボール、ランナー一塁! (Bōru, foabōru, ran'nā ichirui!)
Peter: So he throws the next pitch, it’s a ball, ball four, the runner gets a free pass to first base. That’s it, he had enough. So we get
Natsuko: おい、ふざけんなよ、アンパイア! (Oi, fuzaken na yo, anpaia!)
Peter: “Hey, get out of here umpire.” Again we gave you the PG version. What do you say is the more accurate translation?
Natsuko: Like that is enough or no joke here.
Peter: How about knock it off, hey, knock it off! That’s enough.
Natsuko: Yes. I’ve had enough.
Peter: I’ve had enough umpire. So let’s just go over this. おい is hey, again very…
Natsuko: Very strong.
Peter: Very strong when getting someone’s attention and then we have
Natsuko: ふざけんなよ (fuzaken na yo)
Peter: This comes from the verb
Natsuko: ふざける (fuzakeru)
Peter: To joke around.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And what is this a contraction of?
Natsuko: ふざけるな (fuzakeru na)
Peter: This is again the order ふざけるな (fuzakeru na)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Ordering someone, no joking around. The る (ru) and な (na) get contracted to.
Natsuko: ふざけんな (fuzaken na)
Peter: Again very – when speaking in these situations, contraction is all over the place and this is the contraction. Again if we give you one more example, eating, Natsuko-san sees Peter eating again, you would say
Natsuko: そんなに食べんなよ (Son'nani taben na yo)
Peter: “Don’t eat that much” or anyway let’s just move on. Then we have
Natsuko: 今のがボールだって? (Ima no ga bōru datte?)
Peter: “You call that a ball?” This is short for something dropped there. If we had the textbook out, it would be
Natsuko: 今のボール (ima no bōru)
Peter: The ball now’s ball, the ball thrown right now is a ball だって (datte) you said followed by
Natsuko: さっきからどこに目つけてんだよ! (Sakki kara doko ni me tsukete nda yo!)
Peter: Starting from before, where are you looking, where the heck you are looking with the same conjunction and contraction as above. This again is
Natsuko: 目をつけている。 (Me o tsukete iru.)
Peter: And it gets contracted down to
Natsuko: 目つけてん (me tsukete n)
Peter: Finally we have
Natsuko: 何球ストライクボール投げてると思ってんだ。 (Nani-kyū sutoraikubōru nage teru to omotte nda.)
Peter: I think I was on a number of strikes or how many strikes do you want me to throw and again we have the conjugation of ~と思ってる (~ to omotteru) which gets contracted to
Natsuko: ~と思ってんだ (~ to omotte nda)
Peter: And this umpire has very short, very short tolerance for people talking about it because he only said a few things. He says
Natsuko: 貴様、私を侮辱する気か! (Kisama, watashi o bujoku suru ki ka!)
Peter: You – you want to insult me?
Natsuko: *ピッチャー、退場! (* Pitchā, taijō!)
Peter: You are out of here ニコちゃん (niko-chan) Don’t let this happen to you.
Natsuko: No, not.
Peter: Ah Natsuko-san ニコちゃん、こうならないように祈ってますね。 (Niko-chan, kō naranai yō ni inottemasu ne.)
Natsuko: 気を付けてくださいね。 (Ki o tsukete kudasai ne.)
Peter: Yeah so ニコちゃん (niko-chan) just kind of observed what other pitchers are talking about to the umpire.
Natsuko: I think that this may be not appropriate for those who are playing but maybe we can use this as you know, those who are watching the game.
Peter: Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: Well, you know people kind of complain over watching a TV game and says, you know, oh that’s a strike, like that you know complaining.
Peter: That’s a good point. I thought you – like I pictured someone in the stands you know, telling people to go to the game and yell these things out.
Natsuko: Well that may be kind of rude but you know watching TV and we tend to do this, right.
Peter: All right, that is going to do it for today.
Natsuko: Pretty long lesson today.

Outro

Peter: Too long ニコちゃん (niko-chan) we really hope you liked this lesson and actually all you other foreign pitchers out there and 松坂 (matsuzaka).
Natsuko: Watch out.
Peter: Did you have a bonus track on, like for Matsuzaka how he could really say this in English because we kind of toned it down, where the heck you are looking.
Natsuko: Well that depends on, you know, what the listeners want.
Peter: All right. Check out for the bonus track. We are going to have a bonus track. All right, that’s going to do it for today.
Natsuko: じゃあ、また今度ね! (Jā, mata kondo ne!)

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