Learn the honorific form of the Japanese language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです！ |
| Peter: Peter here! Please Speak Respectfully to My Japanese Parents! In this lesson, you will learn how to use extra formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 You'll also learn how to make extra Formal requests, such as お待ちください。 |
| Peter: Please wait. Where does this conversation take place? |
| Naomi: 会社 と 駅です |
| Peter: First, the speakers are talking in the office and then they walk to the train station. Who is this conversation between? |
| Naomi: 下山新さんと上司ですね。 |
| Peter: Shin Shimoyama and his boss. What's the formality level of this conversation? |
| Naomi: 丁寧 |
| Peter: Formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: では聞きましょう。 |
| Peter: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 下山 新:じゃ、すみません。お先に失礼します。 |
| 部長:あ、もう、お帰りになりますか？下山様。 |
| 下山 新:へ？ああ、部長。すみません。今日、僕の誕生日なんですよ。 |
| 部長:だから、彼女とデートなさるんですね。 |
| : 仕事より彼女の方が大切だとお思いになっているんですね。そうですか。 |
| 下山 新:本当にすみません。 |
| 部長:冗談だよ。俺ももう帰るよ。駅まで一緒に行こう。 |
| 駅のアナウンス: １番線に電車がまいります。線の内側でお待ちください。 |
| 部長:そういえば、「足立医院」って家から近いか？ |
| 下山 新:ええ。近いですよ。俺が生まれた病院ですよ。 |
| 部長:今、大きいニュースになっているぞ。「赤ちゃんを間違えた」って。 |
| 下山 新:へー。そうなんですか。ひっどい話ですね。 |
| Naomi: もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくり、お願いします。 |
| 下山 新:じゃ、すみません。お先に失礼します。 |
| 部長:あ、もう、お帰りになりますか？下山様。 |
| 下山 新:へ？ああ、部長。すみません。今日、僕の誕生日なんですよ。 |
| 部長:だから、彼女とデートなさるんですね。 |
| : 仕事より彼女の方が大切だとお思いになっているんですね。そうですか。 |
| 下山 新:本当にすみません。 |
| 部長:冗談だよ。俺ももう帰るよ。駅まで一緒に行こう。 |
| 駅のアナウンス: １番線に電車がまいります。線の内側でお待ちください。 |
| 部長:そういえば、「足立医院」って家から近いか？ |
| 下山 新:ええ。近いですよ。俺が生まれた病院ですよ。 |
| 部長:今、大きいニュースになっているぞ。「赤ちゃんを間違えた」って。 |
| 下山 新:へー。そうなんですか。ひっどい話ですね。 |
| Naomi: 今度は、英語が入ります。 |
| 下山 新:じゃ、すみません。お先に失礼します。 |
| Lady: If you excuse me, I'll be leaving now. |
| 部長:あ、もう、お帰りになりますか？下山様。 |
| Lady: Oh, you are returning home already, Mr. Shimoyama? |
| 下山 新:へ？ああ、部長。すみません。今日、僕の誕生日なんですよ。 |
| Lady: Huh? Ohh, Manager. Please excuse me...it's my birthday today, you see. |
| 部長:だから、彼女とデートなさるんですね。 |
| Lady: So...you're going on a date with your girlfriend, aren't you? |
| : 仕事より彼女の方が大切だとお思いになっているんですね。そうですか。 |
| Lady: You think that your girlfriend is more important than work, is that it...? |
| 下山 新:本当にすみません。 |
| Lady: I'm really sorry! |
| 部長:冗談だよ。俺ももう帰るよ。 |
| Lady: Just joking! I'm on my way out too. |
| : 駅まで一緒に行こう。 |
| Lady: Let's go together to the station. |
| 駅のアナウンス: １番線に電車がまいります。線の内側でお待ちください。 |
| Lady: The train will be arriving at Track One. Please wait inside the line. |
| 部長:そういえば、「足立医院」って家から近いか？ |
| Lady: I just remembered something...is Adachi Hospital close to your house? |
| 下山 新:ええ。近いですよ。俺が生まれた病院ですよ。 |
| Lady: Yes, it is. That's the hospital I was born at. |
| 部長:今、大きいニュースになっているぞ。 |
| Lady: It's making headlines right now. |
| : 「赤ちゃんを間違えた」って。 |
| Lady: They say that they had a baby mix-up. |
| 下山 新:へー。そうなんですか。ひっどい話ですね。 |
| Lady: Wow, really? That's awful! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: 部長, Shin's boss uses extra formal language to Shin... Why is that? Shin's his subordinate, right? |
| Naomi: あ～そうそうそう。でも、He said he was joking, didn't he? He said 冗談だよ。 |
| Peter: Ah, so he was just playing around. |
| Naomi: うん。 |
| Peter: I see. Now if you look at the transcript, you'll notice that before he said 冗談だよ he was speaking extra formally. But after he said 冗談だよ he started speaking informally. |
| Naomi: In this case, he was joking. But I think sometimes people use extra formal language when they're being sarcastic. I believe you do that in English too, right? |
| Peter: Yes. I actually do this sometimes to joke around. |
| Naomi: へええ。In Japanese? |
| Peter: Of course! かんべ様 |
| Naomi: I like that. |
| Peter: So the interesting thing here is that I'm elevating Naomi sensei, calling her by her last name |
| Naomi: Plus, 様 |
| Peter: When she is actually a subordinate. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: OK. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word is: |
| Naomi: 冗談 [natural native speed] |
| Peter: joke |
| Naomi: 冗談 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 冗談 [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Naomi: まいる [natural native speed] |
| Peter: (humble language) to go, to come, to visit |
| Naomi: まいる [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: まいる [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Naomi: 番線 [natural native speed] |
| Peter: track number, platform |
| Naomi: 番線 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 番線 [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Naomi: 医院 [natural native speed] |
| Peter: clinic |
| Naomi: 医院 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 医院 [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Naomi: ひどい [natural native speed] |
| Peter: cruel, terrible |
| Naomi: ひどい [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: ひどい [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| The first one we are looking at is? |
| Naomi: ひどい |
| Peter: cruel, terrible |
| Naomi: If someone is being mean to you, you can say ひどい! |
| Peter: That's mean! In the dialogue, Shin inserted a stop around it, right? |
| Naomi: あ～そうそう。Yeah, he said ひっどい |
| Peter: And that is for emphasis, right? |
| Naomi: Exactly.It's used in very informal spoken language. You can't apply this rule to all adjectives, though. |
| Peter: Can you give us some examples? |
| Naomi: Sure. 安い(cheap) becomes やっすい たかい(expensive)becomes たっかい. So how about this? まずい(taste bad) becomes? |
| Peter: まっずい。 |
| Naomi: そう。まっずい。 |
| Peter: OK. What's the next one we'll look at? |
| Naomi: 医院 |
| Peter: "clinic" |
| Naomi: 医院は病院より小さいです。 |
| Peter: So you say that 医院 "clinic" is smaller than 病院 "a hospital"? |
| Naomi: そうです。Right. And we don't usually say 医院に行きます "I'm going to a clinic". Instead we say "病院にいきます"(I'm going to a hospital) or "医者にいきます"(I'm going to a doctor) even if you're going to a clinic. |
| Peter: OK. So when do you use the this word 医院？ |
| Naomi: ん～とねぇ、It's usually part of the name of a clinic. Like 足立医院。"Adachi clinic" |
| Peter: And also, don’t you have a katakana word? For clinic? |
| Naomi: あ、そうね。クリニック。 |
| Peter: Ok. And finally, the last word is? |
| Naomi: 1番線 |
| Peter: Platform one, track number one |
| Naomi: 気をつけてください。Because you cannot use 番線 by itself. |
| Peter: It always has to come after a number, right? |
| Naomi: Right. そうです。 Like 一番線(platform one) 二番線(platform two) 三番線(platform three) |
| Peter: So how do you say just "platform"then? |
| Naomi: We say ホーム |
| Peter: ホーム？ |
| Naomi: そうです。 |
| Peter: On to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: In this lesson, you'll learn an extra formal way of requesting that someone do something. |
| Naomi: I think you're already familiar with this grammar in some set phrases. Like お待ちください。 |
| Peter: "Please wait" Said in a extremely polite Japanese. The formation is [honorific prefix "o"＋masu stem of a verb＋kudasai] |
| Let's start with the phrase "Please wait". Naomi-sensei. How do you say "to wait" |
| Naomi: 待つ |
| Peter: the masu form is? |
| Naomi: 待ちます |
| Peter: Drop masu to get a masu stem |
| Naomi: まち |
| Peter: Add お the honorific prefix to the beginning of it |
| Naomi: お待ち |
| Peter: Finally, addください |
| Naomi: お待ちください。 |
| Peter: "Please wait." Let's do one more example. Let's say "Insert your money"or "Put your money in". Naomi-sensei, how do you say "to insert?" |
| Naomi: 入れる |
| Peter: The masu form is? |
| Naomi: 入れます |
| Peter: the masu stem is? |
| Naomi: いれ |
| Peter: Add the honorific prefix お to the beginning of it |
| Naomi: おいれ |
| Peter: Then add ください after it. |
| Naomi: お入れください |
| Peter: "Please insert". How do you say "Insert your money"? |
| Naomi: お金をお入れください |
| Peter: "Please insert your money" |
| Naomi: You'll hear this phrase at ticket machines at the station. |
| Peter: Exactly. Now, in a business situation, when an employee (or a machine) makes a request or gives advice or instructions to a customer, this [o＋masu stem of a verb＋kudasai] is used more often than [ te from of a verb＋kusadai]. |
| Naomi: そうですね。The machine never say お金を入れてください。It says お金をお入れください。 |
| Peter: Let's review this lesson with a quiz. How do you say "Please take your train ticket"? Here's a hint. "to take" is とる "train ticket" is (切符) [pause] |
| “Please take a train ticket” is? |
| Naomi: 切符をおとりください。 |
| Peter: OK listeners, listen and repeat. "Please take your train ticket." |
| Naomi: 切符をおとりください。 |
| Peter: Say "Please take your train ticket." in Japanese. |
| Naomi: [pause] 切符をおとりください。 |
| Peter: OK. There's a detailed write up about the usage of sonkeigo, or honorific language in the lesson notes. Be sure to check it out! That's all for this lesson. |
| Naomi: And for this series! シリーズも終わりです。Beginner Series Season 5 has come to end. |
| Peter: Thank you for listening, everyone! See you in the next series. |
| Naomi: 次のシリーズで会いましょう。じゃ、また。 |
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