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
Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.)
Yūichi: ゆういちです。(Yūichi desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Gomi-San in Mangaland, part 2.
Naomi: マンガの国の五味さん2ですね。(Manga no kuni no Gomi-san tsū desu ne.)
Peter: Okay, to recap last time, it’s funny. We didn’t even talk about the fact that they missed the train.
Naomi: お~、そうそうそう。(Ō, sō sō sō.) They missed the 終電 (shūden).
Peter: The last train.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: So the situation was Gomi-San and
Yūichi: 星野さん。(Hoshino-san.)
Peter: Went out to eat Yakiniku Korean barbeque. 五味さん (Gomi-San) is the 後輩 (kōhai) and 星野さん (Hoshino-san) is the 先輩 (senpai). They went out to Yakiniku. It was very expensive, right? It was…
Yūichi: 高すぎた。(Takasugita.)
Peter: Too expensive. Then they missed the last train. So this conversation picks up at the station as the last train is gone. Naomi-sensei, today’s grammar point is.
Naomi: にくい (nikui) as in わかりにくい (wakarinikui)
Peter: Difficult to understand. In this case, when にくい (nikui) is appended to a verb, it means difficult to, hard to.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.)
Peter: Okay, now the Japanese in this conversation Hoshino-san will be using
Yūichi: Casual Japanese.
Peter: Because he is in a position of higher social status and Gomi-San will be using
Naomi: Polite Japanese.
Peter: Okay, here we go.
DIALOGUE
五味 (Gomi) : あのぉ、先輩。大変言いにくいのですが、タクシー代を貸してください。僕、茨城に住んでいるので、3万くらいかかるんです。
星野 (Hoshino) : え?俺も、もう現金ねーよ。
五味 (Gomi) : じゃ、僕のお気に入りの漫画喫茶に泊まりましょう。
星野 (Hoshino) : 「泊まりましょう?」俺はタクシーで帰るよ。
五味 (Gomi) : え〜。先輩。お願いしますぅ。
星野 (Hoshino) : 嫌だよ。
五味 (Gomi) : え〜。一人では入りにくいし、寂しいし...。(泣)その漫画喫茶は分かりにくい場所にあるし...。
星野 (Hoshino) : 断りにくいなぁ...。わかったよ。行こうぜ。漫画喫茶。
Yūichi: もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。
Yūichi: 今度は、英語が入ります。
五味 (Gomi) : あのぉ、先輩。大変言いにくいのですが、タクシー代を貸してください。
GOMI: Ahhh, senpai. I hate to ask you, but can I borrow some money for the taxi?
五味 (Gomi) : 僕、茨城に住んでいるので、3万くらいかかるんです。
GOMI: Since I live in Ibaraki, it costs about 30 thousand yen.
星野 (Hoshino) : え?俺も、もう現金ねーよ。
HOSHINO: What? I don't have any more money.
五味 (Gomi) : じゃ、僕のお気に入りの漫画喫茶に泊まりましょう。
GOMI: Well then, let’s stay at my favorite Manga-kissa.
星野 (Hoshino) : 「泊まりましょう?」俺はタクシーで帰るよ。
HOSHINO: “Let’s stay?” I’m taking a taxi.
五味 (Gomi) : え〜。先輩。お願いしますぅ。
GOMI: Oh, no. Senpai! Please...
星野 (Hoshino) : 嫌だよ。
HOSHINO: No way.
五味 (Gomi) : え〜。一人では入りにくいし、寂しいし...。(泣)
GOMI: Hmmm. It's difficult to go in alone, and I feel lonely...(crying)
五味 (Gomi) : その漫画喫茶は分かりにくい場所にあるし...。
GOMI: And this Manga-kissa is located in a confusing area...
星野 (Hoshino) : 断りにくいなぁ...。
HOSHINO: It’s hard to say no…
星野 (Hoshino) : わかったよ。行こうぜ。漫画喫茶。
HOSHINO: It’s hard to say no...all right, I’ll go to the Manga-kissa with you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Naomi: はい、ピーターさん。漫画喫茶を説明してください。お願いします。(Hai, Pītā-san. Manga kissa o setsumei shite kudasai.)
Peter: はい。説明させて頂きます。(Hai. Setsumei sasete itadakimasu.) So I will explain or I will try my best. So 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa) is basically a tea or coffee shop that has upon bookshelf of Manga. Now you can go there and you can pay a little bit more than you would at a regular coffee or tea place and the coffee and tea is actually a lot worse but what you get is unlimited access to the Manga there on the shelves. So that was the original one. Now this was over time they have kind of changed and Naomi Sensei, the 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa) of today is a lot different than the 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa) of yesterday. What are some of the amenities that the new ones have?
Naomi: インターネット。(Intānetto.)
Peter: Internet.
Naomi: それからシャワーもありますね。(Sorekara shawā mo arimasu ne.)
Peter: Some of them have showers.
Yūichi: あ~。(Ā.) And free drinks.
Peter: Free drinks. I have seen once where you go into like, an entertainment cockpit. Nice, big chair you can relax in.
Naomi: あ~、そうそうそう。(Ā, sō sō sō.)
Peter: TV in front of you, DVD selection. CDs you put the headphones on, games and cupboards like...
Yūichi: PS2 or PS3 or…
Peter: Yeah.
Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.)
Yūichi: I know a Manga Kissa which has a pool. Pool is ビリヤード (biriyādo)
Naomi: I thought it meant swimming pool. No it’s a pool ビリヤード (biriyādo)
Yūichi: はい、ビリヤード。(Hai, biriyādo.)
Peter: Yuichi used the long version of 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa)?
Naomi: そうですね。(Sā desu ne.) We don’t usually put 10 after it.
Peter: But Yuichi-sensei uses different words.
Yūichi: 満喫 (mankitsu)
Peter: Abbreviated, dropping the が (ga)…
Naomi: And さ (sa).
Peter: And さ (sa).
Yūichi: Yeah we use first character マン (man) and third character キツ (kitsu). 満喫。(Mankitsu.)
Peter: 漫喫 (mankitsu), and what’s the original word?
Yūichi: 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa)
Peter: 漫画喫茶。(Manga kissa.) Really interesting. As the third character and the fourth character word, the っ (tsu) is actually silent kissa but in the shortened version with the first and third character…
Yūichi: 満、喫 (man-kitsu)
Peter: And we should know this. And jumping back to the story a bit that it is pretty common for people who missed the last train to stay at one of these places.
Yūichi: Yeah I have done it once. When I missed the last train, I couldn’t go anywhere else and then I went to 漫画喫茶、満喫 (manga kissa, mankitsu). Then I stayed till 6 o’clock. The first train goes yeah…
Peter: どうでしたか。(Dō deshita ka.) How was it?
Yūichi: Yeah, it was very comfortable.
Naomi: 一人で?(Hitori de?)
Yūichi: 友達とです。はい。(Tomodachi to desu. Hai.)
Peter: で、なおみ先生は?(De, Naomi-sensei wa?)
Naomi: やったことないです。(Yatta koto nai desu.)
Peter: えっ、泊まったことないですか。(E, tomatta koto nai desu ka.) You haven’t stayed over?
Naomi: No. 泊まったことないです。泊まりたくないです。(Tomatta koto nai desu. Tomaritakunai desu.)
Peter: You don’t want to stay there?
Naomi: No.
Peter: あの、JapanesePod101.comのネタためにお願いします。(Ano, Japanīzupoddo no neta no tame ni onegai shimasu.) So in order to understand what we are talking about better, you should try it please.
Naomi: えーっと、じゃああの、お金をください。(Ētto, jā ano, o-kane o kudasai.) Would it be paid?
Peter: Yeah, it’s cheap.
Yūichi: Yeah, very cheap, like less than ¥2000.
Peter: Yeah.
Yūichi: For one night. Yeah, like some foreign tourists stay at Manga Kissa to skimp their money.
Naomi: すごいね。(Sugoi ne.)
Peter: いい作者ですね。(Ii sakusha desu ne.)
Yūichi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: 全然2000円価値がありますね。なおみ先生を満喫で泊まらせる価値がありますね。(Zenzen ni-sen-en kachi ga arimasu ne. Naomi-sensei o mankitsu de tomaraseru kachi ga arimasu ne.) This is like, it’s so worth it, just ¥2000 to make Naomi stay.
Naomi: ピーターは泊まったことありますか。(Pītā wa tomatta koto arimasu ka.)
Peter: ないですけど…。(Nai desu kedo…)
Naomi: じゃあ、なに人に勧めてんのよ。(Jā, nani hito ni susumete n no yo.)
Yūichi: ないんだ。(Nai n da.)
Peter: でも泊まることって、一晩いましたけど。(Demo tomaru koto tte, hito-ban imashita kedo.) I was there a full night because I wanted to be there not to stay overnight. Like I went to the place and I got into the cockpit and they had the DVDs and internet and I just started watching the Matrix 1, then 2, then 3 kind of just 早かったです (hayakatta desu).
Naomi: なるほどね。(Naruhodo ne.)
Yūichi: なるほど。(Naruhodo.)
Peter: Okay, on to the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: First word.
Naomi: タクシー代 (takushīdai)
Peter: Taxi fare.
Naomi: (slow)たくしーだい (takushīdai) (natural speed) タクシー代 (takushīdai)
Peter: Next.
Yūichi: 貸す (kasu)
Peter: To lend.
Yūichi: (slow) かす (kasu) (natural speed) 貸す (kasu)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: かかる (kakaru)
Peter: To take, referring to money or time.
Naomi: (slow) かかる (kakaru) (natural speed) かかる (kakaru)
Peter: Next.
Yūichi: 現金 (genkin)
Peter: Cash, ready money.
Yūichi: (slow) げんきん (genkin) (natural speed) 現金 (genkin)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa)
Peter: Comic café, Manga café.
Naomi: (slow) まんがきっさ (manga kissa) (natural speed) 漫画喫茶 (manga kissa)
Peter: Next.
Yūichi: 泊まる (tomaru)
Peter: To stay.
Yūichi: (slow) とまる (tomaru) (natural speed) 泊まる (tomaru)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 寂しい (sabishii)
Peter: Lonely.
Naomi: (slow) さびしい (sabishii) (natural speed) 寂しい (sabishii)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at some of the phrases and vocab in this lesson. なおみ先生、お願いします。(Naomi-sensei, onegai shimasu.)
Naomi: タクシー代 (takushīdai)
Peter: Taxi fare.
Naomi: 代 (dai) as in 代金 (daikin) means expense. So expense for tax is taxi daikin but we often draw the last kanji 金 (kin) and say タクシー代 (takushīdai).
Peter: え、初めて知った。(E, hajimete shitta.) Like this is the first time I knew that it comes from Daikin.
Naomi: タクシーの代金ですよ。なので、バスの代金。(Takushī no daikin desu yo. Nanode, basu no daikin.) Bus fare will be
Yūichi: バス代 (basudai)
Peter: “Plane fare” would be?
Yūichi: 飛行機代 (hikōkidai)
Peter: Food bill or expenses of food.
Yūichi: 食事代 (shokujidai)
Peter: Phone bill?
Yūichi: 電話代 (denwadai)
Peter: And so on.
Naomi: そうですね。一ヶ月の電話代はいくらですか。(Sō desu ne. Ikkagetsu no denwadai wa ikura desu ka.)
Peter: Yuichi-sensei, how much is your monthly phone bill?
Yūichi: ちょっとわからないですね。(Chotto wakaranai desu ne.) I don’t pay it. So I don’t know.
Naomi: ちょっと待って。また出ちゃった。(Chotto matte. Mata dechatta.) Mommy’s boy!
Yūichi: Still I live with my family so I don’t know. I can’t…
Peter: 日本語でなんといいますか。(Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) Mama’s boy.
Naomi: うそうそうそ。これは冗談、冗談。(Uso uso uso. Kore wa jōdan, jōdan.)
Peter: いやいや、わかるんですけど。(Iya iya, wakaru n desu kedo.)
Naomi: いや、でもね、マザコンっていうのは…。(Iya, demo ne, mazakon tte iu no wa…)
Yūichi: あ~、マザコン。(Ā, mazakon.)
Naomi: It's a bit too strong. So spoiled.
Yūichi: In Japan, right?
Naomi: Probably spoiled is a good word. 甘えん坊、とか甘やかされている。(Amaenbō, toka amayakasarete iru.)
Peter: 甘やかされている。(Amayakasarete iru.)
Yūichi: No, I’m not.
Peter: Nobody is talking about you. Why are you getting so defensive, interesting. Okay, next we have?
Yūichi: 現金 (genkin)
Peter: Cash.
Yūichi: カードの反対の言葉ですよね。(Kādo no hantai no kotoba desu yo ne.)
Naomi: あ~、そうですよね。(Ā, sō desu yo ne.) Real money.
Peter: どうでしょうね。反対って言えないかなあ。(Dō deshō ne. Hantai tte ienai ka nā.) But we get the idea わかりました (wakarimashtia), okay makes sense.
Naomi: 例えば、現金がない。(Tatoeba, genkin ga nai.)
Peter: I don’t have cash.
Naomi: 現金を持ってない。(Genkin o motte nai.)
Peter: Don’t have cash.
Naomi: と言いますね。(To iimasu ne.)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 貸す (kasu)
Peter: To lend.
Naomi: 借りる (kariru) is to borrow. So 私はピーターにお金を貸す (watashi wa Pītā ni o-kane o kasu).
Peter: I will lend money to Peter. So in this sentence, the indirect object, the receiver of the money is marked by に in a cursive sentence.
Naomi: ピーターは私にお金を借りる。(Pītā wa watashi ni o-kane o kariru.)
Peter: Here in this sentence, Peter borrowed money from Naomi. Naomi, the lender, the person being barred from is marked by に (ni).
Naomi: そうですね。~に、~を、貸す。~に、~を、借りる。(Sō desu ne. -ni, -o, kasu. -ni, -o, kariru.)
Peter: So with time, you become more familiar with these. Inside the PDF, we have examples of these. So you definitely want to stop by and check that out. Okay, on to today’s grammar point.

Lesson focus

Peter: Naomi-sensei, what do we have?
Naomi: にくい (nikui)
Peter: So today’s’ grammar point is にくい (nikui) which when appended to the masu-stem of a verb acts as an auxiliary adjective and indicates that something is hard, difficult or almost impossible to do. For example, in today’s conversation we had…
Naomi: 言いにくい。(Iinikui.)
Peter: Hard to say. Now again this is attached to the masu-stem of the verb. If you are having a little trouble with the masu-stems in the original beginner series, we have a series that goes through creating the masu-stem. So you want to go back and check those lessons out. Also inside the grammar bank, we have a very detailed explanation about conjugations and we also have a conjugation chart in the resource material section. So you could check there. So 言いにくい (iinikui) hard to say, what is the original verb here?
Yūichi: 言う (iu)
Peter: To say. We get the masu-stem.
Yūichi: 言い (ii)
Peter: 言い (ii), because the masu form of the verb is
Yūichi: 言います (iimasu)
Peter: The masu-stem, we drop the masu to that we append…
Yūichi: にくい (nikui)
Peter: Hard to. So hard to say. Let’s have another example.
Naomi: 入りにくい (hairinikui)
Peter: Difficult to enter, hard to enter. The original verb here is.
Naomi: 入る (hairu)
Peter: To enter, the masu-stem is
Naomi: 入り (hairi)
Peter: To this we attach
Naomi: にくい (nikui)
Peter: Altogether?
Naomi: 入りにくい (hairinikui)
Peter: Difficult to enter. What was the full sentence?
Naomi: 一人では入りにくいし、寂しいし。(Hitori de wa hairinikui shi, sabishii shi.)
Peter: It’s hard to go in by myself and I am also lonely among other things. I like this 後輩 (kōhai).
Naomi: 甘えん坊ですよね。(Amaenbō desu yo ne.)
Peter: A little spoiled. そう、ちょっとやりすぎね。(Sō, chotto yarisugi ne.) Like I think he is pushing it. Doing a little too much you know. He ordered a lot of food. He asked for a taxi home. He asked the 先輩 (senpai) to stay with him. So やりすぎ (yarisugi) if you remember from the last lesson, やりすぎです (yarisugi desu) is little too much.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) I think Hoshino-san is 優しすぎ (yasashisugi).
Peter: Yeah, a little too easy.
Yūichi: And he is spoiling his 後輩 (kōhai).
Naomi: そうですね。甘やかしてますね。(Sō desu ne. Amayakashite masu ne.)
Peter: But the 後輩 (kōhai) is taking, So...ちょっと判断しにくいですね (chotto handan shinikui desu ne), a little hard to judge. 誰が間違っている。誰がいけない?(Dare ga machigatte iru. Dare ga ikenai?)
Yūichi: 両方ですかね。(Ryōhō desu ka ne.)
Naomi: まだストーリーは続きます。(Mada sutōrī wa tsuzukimasu.) The story will be continued.
Peter: Okay, and let’s just kind of finish out. We had several verbs in today’s lesson. They were.
Naomi: その漫画喫茶はわかりにくい場所にあるし。(Sono manga kissa wa wakarinikui basho ni aru shi.)
Peter: The comic café is located in a place difficult to find. So わかりにくい (wakarinikui), hard to find.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) わかりにくい場所 (wakarinikui basho) is the place difficult to find.
Peter: So as わかりにくい (wakarinikui) preceded 場所 (basho), it acts as an adjective.
Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.)
Peter: So it describes the place. So a place is hard to find and finally we have.
Yūichi: 断りにくいなあ。(Kotowarinikui nā.)
Peter: It’s difficult to say no.
Naomi: ねー、これみんな言ってるよね。ピーターがいないことろで。ピーターに頼まれちゃってさ。断りにくいなあ。(Nē, kore minna itte ru yo ne. Pītā ga inai tokoro de. Pītā ni tanomarechatte sa. Kotowarinikui nā.)
Peter: You know, he was asked to stop it. It’s hard and that we do the same thing with you Naomi-sensei, 誘いにくいなあ (sasoinikui nā). It’s really hard to invite her to do stuff with us.
Naomi: え~、で、多分今、ゆういちさんは、コメントしにくいなあ。(Ē, de, tabun ima, Yūichi-san wa, komento shinikui nā.)
Peter: It’s kind of hard to comment. I don’t know what to say.
Naomi: と、思っていると思います。(To, omotte iru to omoimasu.) I think that’s what he is thinking.
Peter: And again, this Na at the end is, it could be two things like the speaker could be thinking to himself and reflecting to himself or could be used as an emphasizer like when we don’t want to invite Naomi-sensei.
Naomi: なに?(Nani?)

Outro

Peter: Okay, that’s going to do it for today.
Naomi: じゃあ、また。(Jā, mata.)

Grammar

Japanese Grammar Made Easy - Unlock This Lesson’s Grammar Guide

Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

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?

Bonus

Comments

Hide