Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Kinoshita in the computer department Part 1. Naomi-sensei, Season 3.
Naomi: あ~、3シーズン目。(Ā, san-shīzun-me.)
Peter: In this third season much like beginner lesson season 2, we will be covering topics, grammar points and vocab that we covered in previous beginner lessons plus of course, we will be introducing new grammar points, new vocab and lots of new topics. Speaking of new topics, Naomi-sensei.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: What are we talking about today?
Naomi: 今日はコンピューターです。(Kyō wa konpyūtā desu.)
Peter: Today we are talking about computers.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) I think they are at 電気屋さん (denkiya-san).
Peter: An electronic shop.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: And who is this conversation between?
Naomi: 店員さんと木下さん。(Ten’in-san to Kinoshita-san.)
Peter: A store employee and Mr. Kinoshita. So what kind of Japanese can we expect today?
Naomi: Polite Japanese.
Peter: Polite Japanese.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: Now we would expect polite Japanese but as Mr. Kinoshita is a customer, now the shop clerk has to speak polite Japanese. In fact, the shop clerk speaks an extremely polite form of Japanese.
Naomi: そうでした、そうでした。(Sō deshita, sō deshita.) Yeah, you are right. I am wrong.
Peter: And Mr.Kinoshita being a customer, he has the option to speak any kind of Japanese he wants and today he chooses to speak casual Japanese. So we have this conversation between someone who is speaking ultra polite Japanese and someone who is speaking casual Japanese. So welcome to Beginner Season 3. Don’t worry. We can get you through all of this. For now, let’s stay closer to the conversation. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませー!(Irasshaimasē!)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : あれっ?!あなた、この前のデパートの店員さんじゃない?!(Are?! Anata, kono mae no depāto no ten’in-san ja nai?!)
店員 (ten’in) : はぁ?いえいえ、デパートで働いたことなどありません。(Hā? Ie ie, depāto de hataraita koto nado arimasen.)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : ほんとうー…?(Hontō…?)
店員 (ten’in) : 私はウソなど申しません!(Watakushi wa uso nado mōshimasen!)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : はぁ。。。。あ、ところで今日はACアダプターが欲しいんだけど。(Hā.... a, tokorode kyō wa ēshī adaputā ga hoshii n da kedo.)
店員 (ten’in) : お客さま、ご覧ください!!!500ギガのハードディスクドライブ。きっとお客様の新しいACアダプターに合うと思いますよ。(O-kyaku-sama, goran kudasai!!! Go-hyaku giga no hādo disuku doraibu. Kitto o-kyaku-sama no atarashii ēshī adaputā ni au to omoimasu yo.)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : いやいや、僕はこのACアダプターだけ欲しいんだけど。。。(Iya iya, boku wa kono ēshī adaputā dake hoshii n da kedo…)
店員 (ten’in) : ですがお客様、こちらの商品を買えば200ポイント付いてきますよ!!(Desu ga o-kyaku-sama, kochira no shōhin o kaeba ni-hyaku pointo tsuite kimasu yo!!)
Naomi: もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegai shimasu.)
店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませー!(Irasshaimasē!)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : あれっ?!あなた、この前のデパートの店員さんじゃない?!(Are?! Anata, kono mae no depāto no ten’in-san ja nai?!)
店員 (ten’in) : はぁ?いえいえ、デパートで働いたことなどありません。(Hā? Ie ie, depāto de hataraita koto nado arimasen.)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : ほんとうー…?(Hontō…?)
店員 (ten’in) : 私はウソなど申しません!(Watakushi wa uso nado mōshimasen!)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : はぁ。。。。あ、ところで今日はACアダプターが欲しいんだけど。(Hā.... a, tokorode kyō wa ēshī adaputā ga hoshii n da kedo.)
店員 (ten’in) : お客さま、ご覧ください!!!500ギガのハードディスクドライブ。きっとお客様の新しいACアダプターに合うと思いますよ。(O-kyaku-sama, goran kudasai!!! Go-hyaku giga no hādo disuku doraibu. Kitto o-kyaku-sama no atarashii ēshī adaputā ni au to omoimasu yo.)
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : いやいや、僕はこのACアダプターだけ欲しいんだけど。。。(Iya iya, boku wa kono ēshī adaputā dake hoshii n da kedo…)
店員 (ten’in) : ですがお客様、こちらの商品を買えば200ポイント付いてきますよ!!(Desu ga o-kyaku-sama, kochira no shōhin o kaeba ni-hyaku pointo tsuite kimasu yo!!)
Naomi: 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.)
店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませー!(Irasshaimasē!)
CLERK: Welcome!
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : あれっ?!あなた、この前のデパートの店員さんじゃない?!(Are?! Anata, kono mae no depāto no ten’in-san ja nai?!)
KINOSHITA: What? Hey, aren't you the clerk from the department store I went to the other day?
店員 (ten’in) : はぁ?いえいえ、デパートで働いたことなどありません。(Hā? Ie ie, depāto de hataraita koto nado arimasen.)
CLERK: Huh? No sir, I've never worked at a department store.
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : ほんとうー…?(Hontō…?)
KINOSHITA: Are you sure....?
店員 (ten’in) : 私はウソなど申しません!(Watakushi wa uso nado mōshimasen!)
CLERK: I never tell lies.
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : はぁ。。。。あ、ところで今日はACアダプターが欲しいんだけど。(Hā.... a, tokorode kyō wa ēshī adaputā ga hoshii n da kedo.)
KINOSHITA: Okay... Oh, today, I am looking for an AC adapter.
店員 (ten’in) : お客さま、ご覧ください!!!500ギガのハードディスクドライブ。きっとお客様の新しいACアダプターに合うと思いますよ。(O-kyaku-sama, goran kudasai!!! Go-hyaku giga no hādo disuku doraibu. Kitto o-kyaku-sama no atarashii ēshī adaputā ni au to omoimasu yo.)
CLERK: Sir, please take a look! A hard disk drive with 500 gigabytes! This will surely go well with your new AC adapter.
木ノ下 (Kinoshita) : いやいや、僕はこのACアダプターだけ欲しいんだけど。。。(Iya iya, boku wa kono ēshī adaputā dake hoshii n da kedo…)
KINOSHITA: Um... I just want this AC adapter....
店員 (ten’in) : ですがお客様、こちらの商品を買えば200ポイント付いてきますよ!!(Desu ga o-kyaku-sama, kochira no shōhin o kaeba ni-hyaku pointo tsuite kimasu yo!!)
CLERK: But sir, if you purchase this product, you will receive 200 points!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Naomi-sensei, 電気屋 (denkiya), ギガ (giga), メガ (mega)… what a conversation!
Naomi: Well I think you invited the wrong person. I am a big computer 音痴 (onchi).
Peter: So you are not good at computers okay. Let’s bring everybody else up to speed. What does this ‘Onchi’ mean?
Naomi: Tone deaf.
Peter: So it’s a common term used when I go to a karaoke.
Naomi: あ~、そうですね。ピーターさん、音痴ですか。(Ā, sō desu ne. Pītā-san, onchi desu ka.)
Peter: 音痴です。(Onchi desu.) So I am tone deaf. I can’t sing well. This word and concept has also been adapted to other things.
Naomi: 例えば (tatoeba), for example, 方向 (hōkō) is direction. So 方向音痴 (hōkō onchi) means
Peter: Somebody with no sense of direction.
Naomi: 運動は “exercise” なので、運動音痴…。(Undō wa “exercise” na node, undō onchi…)
Peter: Someone who is not good at exercising or sports. Yes I am looking at you, Naomi-sensei.
Naomi: そんなことない。(Sonna koto nai.) で (de), the word I used is computer 音痴 (onchi).
Peter: So someone who is not good at computers and staying on this topic, there is also 機械音痴 (kikai onchi), right?
Naomi: あ、そうそうそう。機械音痴も大丈夫です。(A, sō sō sō. Kikai onchi mo daijōbu desu.)
Peter: Someone who is not good at using machines or gadgets.
Naomi: うん、そうですね。(Un, sō desu ne.) あの (ano), you can actually create your own word.
Peter: Really.
Naomi: Yeah, I think so. わかんないけど。みなさんは何音痴ですか。(Wakannai kedo. Mina-san wa nani onchi desu ka.)
Peter: Okay, everybody what are you not good at? All right, I like that. Anybody who has any other ones they want to add, please stop by Japanesepod101.com and leave us a comment. Starting off season 3.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: Okay, now let’s get into vocab. There is actually a lot we have to cover and oh, not to mention the conversation. A lot of really polite Japanese that we want to go over. So let’s take a look at the vocab. What do we have first?
Naomi: ACアダプター (ēshī adaputā)
Peter: AC adapter.
Naomi: (slow) エーシーアダプター (ēshī adaputā) (natural speed) ACアダプター (ēshī adaputā)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: ギガ (giga)
Peter: Giga
Naomi: (slow) ギガ (giga) (natural speed) ギガ (giga)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: ハードディスクドライブ (hādo disuku doraibu)
Peter: Hard disc drive.
Naomi: (slow) ハードディスクドライブ (hādo disuku doraibu) (natural speed) ハードディスクドライブ (hādo disuku doraibu)
Peter: These katakana words are just something else. Let me try this one. ハードディスクドライブ。(Hādo disuku doraibu.)
Naomi: あ~、ちょっとね、音痴な感じ。(Ā, chotto ne, onchi na kanji.)
Peter: Let me go through the next one. We will try this one again later. Let me try to regroup at the studio here after that. Pity I'm just stuck. What do you have next?
Naomi: ご覧 (goran)
Peter: Look, inspection, try.
Naomi: (slow) ごらん (goran) (natural speed) ご覧 (goran)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 商品 (shōhin)
Peter: Product.
Naomi: (slow) しょうひん (shōhin) (natural speed) 商品 (shōhin)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: ポイント (pointo)
Peter: Point.
Naomi: (slow) ポイント (pointo) (natural speed) ポイント (pointo)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 付く (tsuku)
Peter: To be recorded.
Naomi: (slow) つく (tsuku) (natural speed) 付く (tsuku)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 申す (mōsu)
Peter: Humble form of to say, to be called.
Naomi: (slow) もうす (mōsu) (natural speed) 申す (mōsu)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: Okay Naomi-sensei, let’s take a closer look at some of the terms we covered. What do you have first?
Naomi: ご覧 (goran)
Peter: Which is the honorific, 尊敬語 (sonkeigo) for to look, to try. Now 尊敬語 (sonkeigo) is not that difficult. Basically what you are doing here is you are putting the person you are speaking with in a higher social status by the words you use. So there is a corresponding word in regular Japanese.
Naomi: 見る (miru)
Peter: So simply, this means to look instead of 見る (miru) to look, we use ご覧 (goran) and we lift that person up okay but simply you can translate it in your mind as 見る (miru) to look.
Naomi: 例えば、見てください。(Tatoeba, mite kudasai.)
Peter: Please look.
Naomi: ご覧ください。(Goran kudasai.)
Peter: Please look but this time you are taking the person you are speaking with.
Naomi: That change from 見る (miru) to ご覧 (goran) is kind of irregular. So that’s something you have to memorize.
Peter: When you go shopping, you will hear this term because you are the customer and the customer is elevated to a higher position. So the person at the store will say はい、ご覧ください (hai, goran kudasai). Please look and usually at this.
Naomi: ここを見てください。(Koko o mite kudasai.)
Peter: It would be in a rather casual situation or it’s still polite but not as polite as you’d want to treat somebody who may purchase something.
Naomi: ここを見てください。(Koko o mite kudasai.)
Peter: Please look here.
Naomi: ここをご覧ください。(Koko o goran kudasai.)
Peter: Please look here, same meaning but this time we are increasing the politeness level.
Naomi: もうちょっと丁寧にいきましょう。こちらをご覧ください。(Mō chotto teinei ni ikimashō. Kochira o goran kudasai.)
Peter: Please look here.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.)
Peter: I noticed the intonation changes in English.
Naomi: And your facial expression too.
Peter: Yeah, we are going to get a video camera in here sometimes. Okay, what do you have next?
Naomi: 申す (mōsu)
It’s not a big thing but if ください (kudasai) comes after a verb, it should be written in ひらがな (hiragana) not in 漢字 (kanji).
Peter: Now this is a mistake that even Japanese people make.
Naomi: I don’t think many Japanese people realize this.
Peter: Yeah, I always thought they did it because you will see it a lot in, especially advertisements. They are just wrong.
Naomi: そうそうそうそう。(Sō so so so.)
Peter: But I always thought that they needed to save space, one character instead of two.
Naomi: If you are using a computer, sometimes computers automatically change the character to Kanji so….
Peter: Anyway, you can take the time to point that they are wrong. すみません、間違っています。 (Sumimasen, machigatte imasu.) Okay, let’s move on to the next word and before we do that, ハードディスクドライブ (hādo disuku doraibu).
Naomi: あっ、すごい!(A, sugoi!)
Peter: I got it.
Naomi: Perfect.
Peter: All right. Yes, I am going to pepper this in throughout the rest of the lesson. But I might stop here since I got it right. Okay, what do we have next?
Naomi: 申す (mōsu)
Peter: Now. This is a humble expression meaning to say. Humble expressions in Japanese font 謙譲 (kenjō). Now with 謙譲 (kenjō) you are lowering your status to increase the other person’s status. It’s kind of like if you are standing on the Olympic platform you know gold, silver, bronze, you are both standing on the gold and then you step down to the silver, you are lowering your status so the other person stays high.
Naomi: なるほど。(Naruhodo.)
Peter: なるほど。(Naruhodo.)
Naomi: わかった、か…? (Wakatta, ka…?) The important thing is you use humble expression for your own action, not someone else’s action usually.
Peter: So let's kind of sum up. So we can sum up 謙譲 (kenjō) like this. You are lowering your position and it’s usually an action that you do. So can we kind of equate it to kneeling and when you kneel, it’s a humble action. So maybe this will help it stick together.
Naomi: すごい。(Sugoi.)
Peter: Let’s come with a word.
Naomi: はい。ウソを言いました。(Hai. Uso o iimashita.)
Peter: So with 申す (mōsu) all we are going to do is swap out 申す (mōsu) for you to say they are used interchangeably. For example, how can we say he told a lie?
Naomi: 彼はウソを言いました。(Kare wa uso o iimashita.)
Peter: Now what will be a polite way, not the humble way or not a very honorific way but a polite way to say I told a lie?
Naomi: ウソを言いました。(Uso o iimashita.)
Peter: I told a lie. Of course, here the subject just dropped. Now what’s the humble way of saying it?
Naomi: ウソを申しました。(Uso o mōshimashita.)
Peter: So we just, same noun, same object. We just replace 言いました (iimashita) with
Naomi: 申しました (mōshimashita).
Peter: And in doing that in making that swap, we are lowering our position therefore increasing the politeness level of the statement.

Lesson focus

Peter: Naomi-sensei, what do we have in today’s conversation?
Naomi: 私はウソなど申しません。(Watashi wa uso nado mōshimasen.)
Peter: Very similar to the example we just gave but a couple key differences. Let’s get it one more time, please.
Naomi: 私はウソなど申しません。(Watashi wa uso nado mōshimasen.)
Peter: I never tell lies. Let’s take a look at the sentence by the components.
Naomi: 私 (watashi)
Peter: I, followed by?
Naomi: は (wa)
Peter: Topic marking particle.
Naomi: ウソ (uso)
Peter: Lie.
Naomi: など (nado)
Peter: Which is a particle roughly equivalent to the English et cetera. Then we have
Naomi: 申しません (mōshimasen)
Peter: The negative form of
Naomi: 申します (mōshimasu)
Peter: To say. So don’t say. So literally we have I lies et cetera don’t say. I don’t tell lies and this is an extremely polite way to say it. So it adds a little bit of drama to it.
Naomi: In a conversation, I would probably say 私はウソなんか言わない (watashi wa uso nanka iwanai).
Peter: And if you caught that, Naomi gave us the very casual and formal way of saying the same expression. One more time.
Naomi: 私はウソなんか言わない。(Watashi wa uso nanka iwanai.)
Peter: When speaking casual Japanese, なんか (nanka) is inserted quite often something like so I wouldn’t lie or anything like that.
Naomi: There is a explanation about なんか (nanka) and なんて (nante) in a PDF.

Outro

Peter: So you definitely want to check that. In addition, we will have a detailed write up about everything we covered today.
Naomi: 寒いですから、風邪なんか引かないでください。(Samui desu kara, kaze nanka hikanaide kudasai.)
Peter: It’s cold out there. So watch yourself and don’t catch a cold. That’s going to do for today.

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