Dialogue

Vocabulary

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chigusa: おはよう、オーランド。ちぐさです。 (Ohayō, ōrando. Chigusa desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Chigusa-san. It’s opening week for you.
CHIGUSA: I know.
Peter: It is great to have you. Really great to have you in the studio.
Chigusa: Thank you. It’s great to be here too.
Peter: We are back. Now the pattern is the same. We are here. There are discounts, 25% off any subscription. Then we introduced a lesson and we start the lesson. That’s the way this week is going to go.
Chigusa: Yes I love that. I love doing openings.
Peter: Not only do I love having you, but listeners, they love it too.
Chigusa: Thank you. I hope so.
Peter: Now on to today’s lesson. Today we are talking about money. Now with Japanese money, there is an interesting thing. The one starts on the left side of the decimal point. So rather than being at $0.01 and going up to $1, we start from ¥1 and we go all the way up. So ¥100 a dollar roughly. Then ¥10,000 is just $100. So if you are going out to the supermarket. If you are going out to the supermarket, if you are going out shopping doing some serious shopping, the numbers are going to get really big, really fast. So we got to work on this today.
Chigusa: Right.
Peter: So today, we are talking about big numbers. Two friends are on their way to a music store to check out some instruments. Now Chigusa-san, do you play an instrument?
CHIGUSA: Yes I used to play the electric bass.
Peter: Really?
Chigusa: Rather in high school yeah. Yeah. I have my own electric base, you know.
Peter: No I don’t know. How come you never bring it down to the studio?
Chigusa: Because I don’t play it no more. It’s just an object.
Peter: And was I saying yesterday about Japanese people being very indirect?
Chigusa: かもしれません。 (Kamo shiremasen.)
Peter: Yeah. Well, your answer, your right now answering really threw me off there because that was pretty direct. Okay so but maybe remember this. How much was a guitar?
Chigusa: Around 四万 (shima) or 五万円 (5man'en) including amplifier.
Peter: Yeah about ¥40,000 or ¥50,000.
Chigusa: Yes.
Peter: So yeah, when you play an instrument, you know the big numbers.
Chigusa: Right.
Peter: You know those big numbers.
Chigusa: Yes.
Peter: So today, we are going to talk about those. You will be happy. This one is about guitars.
Chigusa: Yeah.
Peter: Right so check out what we have here. Enjoy, stop by japanesepod101.com. Be sure to leave us a post. After the show, stop by japanesepod101.com. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
店員: いらっしゃいませ! (Irasshaimase!)
よし: 楽器は高いですね!このギターは3万5千円ですよ! (Gakki wa takai desu ne. Kono gitā wa 3 man 5 sen en desu yo!)
夏子: 3万5千円は悪くないですよ。そちらを見て。 (3 man 5 sen en wa warukunai desu yo. Sochira o mite.)
よし: 6万3千円、7万4千円、8万9千円、10万円! (6 man 3 zen en, 7 man 4 sen en, 8 man 9 sen en, 10 man en!)
夏子: ギターとかバイオリンとか、弦楽器は結構高いですよ。 (Gitā toka baiorin toka, gengakki wa kekkō takai desu yo.)
よし: 高いですね。今日はどの楽器を買いますか。 (Takai desu ne. Kyō wa dono gakki o kaimasu ka?)
夏子: 店では買いません。店でいろいろ見ますが、楽天で買います。かなりお得です。 (Mise dewa kaimasen. Mise de iroiro mimasu ga Rakuten de kaimasu. Kanari otoku desu.)
もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Yukkuri onegaishimasu.)
店員: いらっしゃいませ! (Irasshaimase!)
よし: 楽器は高いですね!このギターは3万5千円ですよ! (Gakki wa takai desu ne. Kono gitā wa 3 man 5 sen en desu yo!)
夏子: 3万5千円は悪くないですよ。そちらを見て。 (3 man 5 sen en wa warukunai desu yo. Sochira o mite.)
よし: 6万3千円、7万4千円、8万9千円、10万円! (6 man 3 zen en, 7 man 4 sen en, 8 man 9 sen en, 10 man en!)
夏子: ギターとかバイオリンとか、弦楽器は結構高いですよ。 (Gitā toka baiorin toka, gengakki wa kekkō takai desu yo.)
よし: 高いですね。今日はどの楽器を買いますか。 (Takai desu ne. Kyō wa dono gakki o kaimasu ka?)
夏子: 店では買いません。店でいろいろ見ますが、楽天で買います。かなりお得です。 (Mise dewa kaimasen. Mise de iroiro mimasu ga Rakuten de kaimasu. Kanari otoku desu.)
次はピーターさんの英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa pītā-san no eigo ga hairimasu.)
店員: いらっしゃいませ! (Irasshaimase!)
Peter: Hello and welcome.
よし: 楽器は高いですね!このギターは3万5千円ですよ! (Gakki wa takai desu ne. Kono gitā wa 3 man 5 sen en desu yo!)
Peter: Musical instruments are expensive. This guitar is ¥35,000.
夏子: 3万5千円は悪くないですよ。そちらを見て。 (3 man 5 sen en wa warukunai desu yo. Sochira o mite.)
Peter: ¥35,000 is not such a bad price. Look at that one.
よし: 6万3千円、7万4千円、8万9千円、10万円! (6 man 3 zen en, 7 man 4 sen en, 8 man 9 sen en, 10 man en!)
Peter: ¥63,000, ¥74,000, ¥89,000, ¥100,000.
夏子: ギターとかバイオリンとか、弦楽器は結構高いですよ。 (Gitā toka baiorin toka, gengakki wa kekkō takai desu yo.)
Peter: String instruments such as guitars or violins are quite expensive though.
よし: 高いですね。今日はどの楽器を買いますか。 (Takai desu ne. Kyō wa dono gakki o kaimasu ka?)
Peter: They certainly are expensive. Which instruments will you buy today?
夏子: 店では買いません。店でいろいろ見ますが、楽天で買います。かなりお得です。 (Mise dewa kaimasen. Mise de iroiro mimasu ga Rakuten de kaimasu. Kanari otoku desu.)
Peter: I don’t buy at shops. I look at various instruments at shops but I buy them on Rakuten. They have good deals.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Natsuko-san. What did you think of today’s conversation?
Natsuko: ギターは楽天で買うと安いんでしょうか。 (Gitā wa rakuten de kau to yasui ndeshou ka.)
Peter: Yeah I wonder if it’s cheap if you buy a guitar on Rakuten. Actually before this show, I actually was surfing around a bit on Rakuten to check the prices.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: A saw a violin that was pretty cheap under 一万円 (Ichi-man en) under ¥10,000.
Natsuko: Is that a new one or a used one?
Peter: A new one.
Natsuko: Really.
Peter: Yeah. So I think you can get some pretty good deals out there.
Natsuko: Yeah it seems so.
Peter: Did you ever buy anything on Rakuten? Natsuko-san. Can you fix my pronunciation?
Natsuko: 楽天 (rakuten)
Peter: Rakuten. Not there yet, one more time.
Natsuko: 楽天 (rakuten)
Peter: Rakuten, Rakuten. All right, anyway, you get the correct pronunciation in a bit. Have you bought anything there?
Natsuko: Yes I think I bought a book. There is a book store there?
Peter: There is everything there. Yoshi-san, how about you?
Yoshi: I’ve never tried it yet.
Peter: Yeah I haven’t bought anything there either but my wife has made up for me, definitely. She loves that place. Lots of cheap things there.
Natsuko: Really?
Peter: Yeah and everything is delivered. So with that said, let’s take a look at today’s vocabulary.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: Yoshi-san, first word
Yoshi: いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase)
Peter: Welcome.
Yoshi: (slow)いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) (natural speed)いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase)
Peter: You hear this greeting when you went to shops or other places of business. Basically you remember Natsuko-san, when you hear for this, it’s basically greeting your money. Any place you are going to spend money is where you hear this.
Natsuko: I see.
Peter: So it’s kind of like not greeting you but hello money. So but pretty much anywhere you go and you are going to spend money, you will hear this phrase. Now also related to this is an informal version. Natsuko-san. Can we get that?
Natsuko: いらっしゃい。 (Irasshai.)
Peter: And you may hear this at kind of more informal mom n pop shops.
Natsuko: Yes and maybe a friend inviting me to their house.
Peter: Yeah if you enter someone’s house. So it’s a more informal version of this expression. いらっしゃいませ。 (Irasshaimase.) Okay next we have.
Natsuko: 楽器 (gakki)
Peter: Musical instrument.
Natsuko: (slow)がっき (gakki) (natural speed)楽器 (gakki)
Peter: Notice the slight pause in there. Natsuko-san, can you give it to us one more time?
Natsuko: 楽器 (gakki)
Peter: And this covers all kinds of instruments.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: One of them that we mentioned in today’s episode was
Yoshi: ギター (gitā)
Peter: Guitar.
Yoshi: (slow)ギター (gitā) (natural speed)ギター (gitā)
Peter: Also I am not sure about prices for these. We threw out some prices in today’s dialogue. Natsuko-san, what do you think?
Natsuko: I think there are more expensive guitars.
Peter: Yeah I think they can get up there. So anybody playing the guitar out there, don’t leave too nasty a comment on today’s posts in today’s comments. Okay pretty straightforward though, the word comes from the English word Guitar. Next we have
Natsuko: 万 (man)
Peter: Measure word for 10,000s.
Natsuko: (slow)まん (ma n) (natural speed)万 (man)
Peter: Then we have
Yoshi: 千 (sen)
Peter: 1000 and the measure word for thousands.
Yoshi: (slow)せん (sen) (natural speed)千 (sen)
Peter: Now this word can be used for the word 1000 right Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And it’s also the measure word for thousands.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: Unlike the measure word for 10,000s 万 (man)
Natsuko: 万。 (Man.)
Peter: This one can stand alone. Sen can stand alone meaning 1000.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Natsuko-san, can you quickly count from 1000 to 10,000?
Natsuko: 千 (sen)、二千 (ni-sen)、三千 (san-sen)、四千 (yon-sen)、五千 (go-sen)、六千 (roku-sen)、七千 (nana-sen)、八千 (hachi-sen)、九千 (kyū-sen)、一万 (ichi-man)。
Peter: Okay and then give us from 10,000 to 100,000?
Natsuko: 一万 (ichi-man)、二万 (ni-man)、三万 (san-man)、四万 (yon-man)、五万 (go-man)、六万 (roku-man)、七万 (nana-man)、八万 (hachi-man)、九万 (kyū-man)、十万 (jū-man)。
Peter: Do you want to stop there or do you want to keep going?
Natsuko: Let’s stop here.
Peter: Okay yeah. Now again just a quick review. We didn’t feel the need to put the English in there because it’s sequential. 1000, 2000, 3000 all the way up. Then we had 10,000 to 100,000. Okay next word Yoshi-san.
Yoshi: バイオリン (baiorin)
Peter: Violin.
Yoshi: (slow)バイオリン (baiorin) (natural speed)バイオリン (baiorin)
Peter: Okay and this one comes from the English Violin. This is followed by a very difficult word. Natsuko-san, what do we have?
Natsuko: 弦楽器 (gengakki)
Peter: String instruments.
Natsuko: (slow)げんがっき (gen gakki) (natural speed)弦楽器 (gengakki)
Peter: Now you may have heard the word for instrument in there. Natsuko-san, one more time.
Natsuko: 楽器 (gakki)
Peter: Musical instrument. What’s new in there is the first word.
Natsuko: 弦 (gen)
Peter: Which means
Natsuko: String.
Peter: Okay so very straightforward. String instrument. Now don’t feel bad if you didn’t get this word. I actually was not aware of this word until today. I am not too musically inclined. So I just never knew this word. Very difficult one, 弦楽器 (gengakki). So very advanced vocabulary here, okay. Yoshi-san, what do we have next?
Yoshi: 結構 (kekkō)
Peter: Quite.
Yoshi: (slow)けっこう (kekkō) (natural speed)結構 (kekkō)
Peter: Now in today’s dialogue, we had quite expensive. Yoshi-san?
Yoshi: 結構高いですよ。 (Kekkō takai desu yo.)
Peter: Now this is the same word used in the expression I am fine. I am okay. No thanks. Used to politely decline something but here it’s acting as an adverb meaning quite, very, modifying, expensive. Next we have.
Natsuko: 買う (kau)
Peter: To buy.
Natsuko: (slow)かう (kau) (natural speed)買う (kau)
Peter: Followed by
Yoshi: 店 (mise)
Peter: Store, shop.
Yoshi: (slow)みせ (mise) (natural speed)店 (mise)
Peter: Next we have.
Natsuko: 楽天 (rakuten)
Peter: And as Natsuko said, Rakuten.
Natsuko: (slow)らくてん (rakuten) (natural speed)楽天 (rakuten)
Peter: Now this is a name of an online shopping site, very popular in Japan with the host of different things. You can buy almost anything there. Crabs from Hokkaido, food from Okinawa. Pretty much if you wanted, they have it there.
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: Now I am not sure about the English. So I am not sure if you are going to be able to use it. Natsuko-san. Do you know?
Natsuko: I am not sure either but I think some stores, some online stores there have English sites.
Peter: So it’s a collection of stores on this website.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So if you go there and you search, perhaps a store that has English will come up, okay. Yoshi-san, can we get an example sentence?
Yoshi: 楽天でノートパソコンを買う。 (Rakuten de nōtopasokon o kau.)
Peter: I will buy a laptop on Rakuten. Next we have
Yoshi: かなり (kanari)
Peter: Quite, very.
Yoshi: (slow) かなり (kanari) (natural speed)かなり (kanari)
Peter: And finally.
Natsuko: お得 (o toku)
Peter: Good deal. Reasonable.
Natsuko: (slow)おとく (o toku) (natural speed)お得 (o toku)
Peter: Natsuko-san. Example sentence, please.
Natsuko: このレストランのランチはお得です。 (Kono resutoran no ranchi wa o toku desu.)
Peter: This restaurant’s lunch is a good deal. Okay we spent a lot of time on vocabulary.

Lesson focus

Let’s just take a quick look at today’s dialogue. Natsuko-san. Can you start us off?
Natsuko: いらっしゃいませ。 (Irasshaimase.)
Peter: Welcome your money. Yeah no it’s welcome to the shop. How can we help you? Welcome, how can we help you? Very straightforward, you will hear that at all kinds of places. Even if you are not buying anything, they are just welcoming you to the shop. Then we have
Yoshi: 楽器は高いですね。 (Gakki wa takai desu ne.)
Peter: ‘Musical instruments expensive, aren’t they’ is the literal translation. Again musical instruments are expensive. Aren’t they? Right, the final ね (ne) here is looking for agreement from the listener.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So the speaker feels that it is expensive. So he is throwing out that isn’t it?
Natsuko: Yeah right.
Peter: Throw me a lifeline and then we have?
Yoshi: このギターは3万5千円ですよ。 (Kono gitā wa san-man go-sen en desu yo.)
Peter: ‘This guitar ¥35,000.’ So we translate this guitar is ¥35,000. Now two points here. Again dealing with numbers. Japanese numbers get quick very fast as there is no decimal point. So although prices start from ¥1, they increase fast. So even something that costs USD350 was already in the tens of thousands. That’s how fast things add up. So you can imagine what kind of numbers you need for a house or a car. Really, really well it’s like millions. Tens of millions. So this is why in this lesson, we are focusing on the numbers. Second point of interest is the Yo at the end. This is adding to the shock that that person has over the price of the guitar, really emphasizing the fact that it’s ¥35,000 for this particular instrument. Okay then we have Natsuko-san?
Natsuko: 3万5千円は悪くないですよ。 (san-man go-sen en wa warukunai desu yo.)
Peter: ‘¥35,000 not bad’ is what we have literally. Again the 35,000 is marked by the particle
Natsuko: は (wa)
Peter: Then it’s followed by
Natsuko: 悪くない (warukunai)
Peter: The negative of the adjective.
Natsuko: 悪い (warui)
Peter: Finally we have.
Natsuko: ですよ (desu yo)
Peter: The copula followed by
Natsuko: よ (yo)
Peter: So literally, it would be ‘¥35,000 not bad’ is the verb is actually coming at the end but when we translate, ¥35,000 is not bad. Now this よ adds emphasis because Natsuko-san why do you think we have this よ (yo) here?
Natsuko: Because there are many more expensive guitars.
Peter: Yep that’s it and then you follow this up by saying
Natsuko: そちらを見て。 (Sochira o mite.)
Peter: That direction, look. Now give us the first part again, that direction.
Natsuko: そちら (sochira)
Peter: This is marked by
Natsuko: を (o)
Peter: The object marker を (o) followed by
Natsuko: 見て (mite)
Peter: The て (te) form of
Natsuko: 見る (miru)
Peter: To look. Now what comes after this is inferred. If we had proper Japanese, what would the sentence be?
Natsuko: そちらを見てください。 (Sochira o mite kudasai.)
Peter: Please look in that direction. Then Yoshi-san looks and we get. Get out your calculators.
Yoshi: 6万3千円 (roku-man san-sen en)、7万4千円 (nana-man yon-sen en)、8万9千円 (hachi-man kyū-sen en)、10万円 (jū-man en)
Peter: Now here is the million dollar question. What does that add up to Natsuko-san? Yeah. No we are going to go through and break them down but we just want to get the point across to you that these are some really big numbers. We want you to listen one more time and see if you can get them on your own. Yoshi-san, one more time please.
Yoshi: 6万3千円 (roku-man san-sen en)
Peter: ¥63,000
Yoshi: 7万4千円 (nana-man yon-sen en)
Peter: ¥74,000.
Peter: 8万9千円 (hachi-man kyū-sen en)
Peter: ¥89,000.
Yoshi: 十万円 (jū-man en)
Peter: ¥100,000. Again ¥100,000 is about $1000, probably way off. Again, don’t go by my calculations. I still go by the USD1 to ¥100 which hasn’t been the case in 15 years or so.
Natsuko: Not recently.
Peter: Yeah but it just makes calculating that much easier.
Natsuko: Maybe.
Peter: So rough estimates. Okay so you could see how fast these numbers get up there. Then we have
Natsuko: ギターとかバイオリンとか (gitā toka baiorin toka)
Peter: Guitars and violins
Natsuko: 弦楽器は結構高いですよ。 (Gengakki wa kekkō takai desu yo.)
Peter: String instruments are expensive. Again the emphasizer. Now Natsuko-san, the fact that your character is using so many よ’s (yo)’s, so many emphasizing particles, what does this tell you about your character?
Natsuko: Well that this person knows musical instruments quite well.
Peter: Exactly and Yoshi-san, the fact that you keep getting this emphasizing particle at the end of the sentences, you are at the listening end of course. What does this tell you about your character?
Yoshi: I don’t know much about musical instruments.
Peter: Yeah well Euchi is kind of shocked. Someone in the industry wouldn’t be so surprised at these prices. So again some of the finer details to these conversations between two people. Okay then we have…
Yoshi: 高いですね。 (Takai desu ne.)
Peter: Expensive. Two points of interest here. It’s just an adjective in the polite form. Again, Yoshi-san, if we made this into proper Japanese, what would it be?
Yoshi: 弦楽器は高いですね。 (Gengakki wa takai desu ne.)
Peter: String instruments are expensive. The topic is known. They are talking about string instruments. So here it gets dropped from the sentence. Second point of interest is the ne at the end. This time the speaker is not using it to look for agreement but using it because the speaker agrees. So it’s like this tag game. Listen to this following example to show you the difference between the use of ne. We will have Natsuko-san and Yoshi-san talk about how cold it is. They are going to say the same thing but listen for the difference. Natsuko-san.
Natsuko: 今日は寒いですね。 (Kyō wa samui desu ne.)
Yoshi: そうですね。今日は寒いですね。 (Sōdesu ne. Kyō wa samui desu ne.)
Peter: Okay so Natsuko-san starts off with
Natsuko: 今日は寒いですね。 (Kyō wa samui desu ne.)
Peter: It is cold, isn’t it? Looking for agreement from the listener who is Yoshi, Yoshi-san replies with?
Yoshi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.)
Peter: That’s right.
Yoshi: 今日は寒いですね。 (Kyō wa samui desu ne.)
Peter: It’s cold. Here it’s not looking for agreement. Here it’s confirming. Now if you want to go back to the first sentence Yoshi said, he even used the ne in there. そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) but this is a bit different. Kind of agreeing and also biting time. Kind of like a filler. So lots of ne’s everywhere. Now for all you guys out there, you might want to be a bit careful especially when speaking informal Japanese because it takes some getting used to. You could sound a bit feminine depending on your pronunciation, intonation and how much and how often and where you use it.
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: But we will get you through all of that. No problem. Okay then we have
Yoshi: 今日はどの楽器を買いますか? (Kyō wa dono gakki o kaimasu ka?)
Peter: Today what instrument will you buy?
Natsuko: 店では買いません。 (Mise de wa kaimasen.)
Peter: I don’t buy at stores. Two points of interest here. Natsuko-san. What do we use to mark at stores?
Natsuko: で (de)
Peter: Which is where an action takes place.
Natsuko: 店では買いません。 (Mise de wa kaimasen.)
Peter: I don’t buy at stores.
Natsuko: 店で色々見ますが (Mise de iroiro mimasuga)
Peter: I look at various things at stores. Now here again, で (de) mark stores 色々 (iroiro). So what is 色々 (iroiro) short for?
Natsuko: 色々な楽器 (iroirona gakki)
Peter: And this would be marked with the object marker?
Natsuko: お (o)
Peter: And followed by the verb?
Natsuko: 見ます (mimasu)
Peter: But here again speaking so. This gets cut out along with the particle. So although I look at various instruments at the store
Natsuko: 楽天で買います。 (Rakuten de kaimasu.)
Peter: I buy on Rakuten.
Natsuko: かなりお得です。 (Kanari o toku desu.)
Peter: It’s a pretty good deal.

Outro

Peter: Okay we are out of time. This one ran very long, but so much good information in there. Now what we are going to do today is play that conversation one more time. Let’s see if after the explanation, after going through the vocab words, after going through everything, if it helps hearing it a second time. Alright, 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.)
Peter: Here we go.

Kanji

Review & Remember All Kanji from this Lesson

Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Comments

Hide