Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Business Japanese for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 13 - Asking for Someone on the Phone. Eric here.
Natsuko: こんにちは。 奈津子です。
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to call a company and ask for the person you want to speak to. The conversation takes place in an office.
Natsuko: It's between Linda and the woman who answered her call.
Eric: The speakers are strangers and it’s a business call, so they’ll be using formal Japanese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Woman:はい、あさい商事でございます。
Linda: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。いつもお世話になっております。
: かつまた様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Woman:はい、少々お待ち下さい。
Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Woman:はい、あさい商事でございます。
Linda: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。いつもお世話になっております。
: かつまた様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Woman:はい、少々お待ち下さい。
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Woman: This is Asai Shoji. How can I help you?
Linda: Hello. I’m Linda Baker from ABC Corporation. Thank you for your business.
: Is Mr Katsumata there?
Woman: Yes, he is. Please wait for a moment.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Natsuko, I hear moshimoshi a lot when Japanese people are talking on the phone, but we don’t have it in this lesson’s dialogue, do we?
Natsuko: No. I’d say もしもし is too casual for answering business calls.
Eric: Listeners, as you probably know, moshimoshi is “hello” on the phone.
Natsuko: If I made a phone call to a business establishment and a worker answered the phone saying もしもし, I’d be very surprised.
Eric: What do you mean? It doesn’t sound right?
Natsuko: Well… It doesn’t sound professional. Answering phone calls is a task often given to newcomers at Japanese companies. Through this task, they’re able to learn a lot of things.
Eric: Such as?
Natsuko: Workers’ names, clients’ names, who is doing what, what kinds of projects are going on... and of course business manners.
Eric: I see. So if moshimoshi isn’t a suitable “hello” for business situations, what are we supposed to say?
Natsuko: Give your company’s name plus でございます... Don’t worry – we’ll give our listeners more details in the vocab and phrases section.
Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: いらっしゃる [natural native speed]
Eric: to come, to go, to exist (honorific), V1
Natsuko: いらっしゃる[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: いらっしゃる [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Natsuko: 少々 [natural native speed]
Eric: a moment
Natsuko: 少々[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 少々 [natural native speed]
Eric: And last we have..
Natsuko: お待ち下さい [natural native speed]
Eric: Please wait
Natsuko: お待ち下さい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: お待ち下さい [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Natsuko: ~でございます
Eric: meaning "This is ~.” It’s the most polite copula and it’s often used in a business situation.
Natsuko: When answering a business phone call, say your company’s name and then add でございます。
Eric: Let’s take a look at this lesson’s dialogue. Linda made a phone call to Asai Shoji. A female worker there answered the phone saying...
Natsuko: はい、あさい商事でございます。
Eric: “Hello. This is Asai Shoji. ”
Natsuko: So listeners, remember this pattern...Company name plus でございます.
Eric: Listeners, it’s your turn. Imagine you’re working at ABC Corporation. The phone rings. You answer the phone by saying…?
(wait for 5 sec.)
Natsuko: ABCコーポレーションでございます。
Eric: "This is ABC Corporation." Okay, what's the next word?
Natsuko: 少々
Eric: meaning "a small amount" or "a small number." In this lesson’s dialogue though, it indicates "a small amount of time", so it’s translated as "a moment."
Natsuko: Basically, 少々 is the same as ちょっと or すこし
Eric: meaning “a little” or “a few.”
Natsuko: But 少々 sounds more polite than ちょっと and すこし.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. 少々、お時間をいただけますか。
Eric: .. which means "Excuse me for just a minute."
Natsuko: お時間 means “time.” いただけますか means “Can I receive…?” or “May I have…?” . So お時間を頂けますか literally means “May I have your time?” or “Can I bother you?”
Eric: So when used with the word for “a little”...
Natsuko:少々お時間を頂けますか
Eric: means “Can I bother you for a minute?” or “Excuse me for just a minute.” Okay, what's the next phrase?
Natsuko: お待ちください。
Eric: meaning "Please wait."
Natsuko: 待ってください also means ”Please wait.” But お待ちください is more polite and therefore suitable for business settings.
Eric: Natsuko, what’s the grammar behind this?
Natsuko: Hmm, it’s a bit advanced though...
Eric: I think it will be useful to know anyway.
Natsuko:Okay. The formation is an honorific prefix, o, plus the masu-stem of a verb, plus kudasai. Since it’s a little bit complicated, just try to memorize お待ちくださいas a set. And the most common phrase you’ll hear it in is...少々お待ち下さい
Eric: “Please wait for a moment.”
Natsuko: 少々 means “a little” or “a moment” おまちください means “Please wait.”
Eric: Can we hear that sentence again?
Natsuko: Sure. 少々お待ちください。
Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn to how to call a company and ask for the person you want to speak to.
Natsuko: Here’s the procedure. First, you need to introduce your company name and your name, and make a greeting. Then ask for the person you want to talk to.
Eric: OK. How do you introduce your company name and your name?
Natsuko: The pattern is [Company name] の [Your full name]と申します.
Eric:For example?
Natsuko: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。
Eric: which means “Hello. I am Linda Baker from ABC Corporation.” Okay. After we say our company name and our name, what are we supposed to do next?
Natsuko: Make a greeting by saying いつもお世話になっております。
Eric: which corresponds to “Thank you for your business” in English.
Natsuko:We learned いつもおせわになっております in Lesson 3 didn’t we?
Eric: We did. In this dialogue, the phrase indicates the speaker’s appreciation for having a business relationship. Okay Natsuko, can we hear what Linda said in the dialogue again?
Natsuko: ABCコーポレーションのベーカー リンダと申します。いつもお世話になっております。
Eric:“Hello. I am Linda Baker from ABC Corporation. Thank you for your business.” Natsuko, can you give us an example?
Natsuko: OK. 花井自動車の伊藤文博と申します。いつもお世話になっております。
Eric: “I'm Fumihiro Ito from Hanai Motor Corporation. Thank you for your business.”
Next, we’ll learn how to ask for the person you want to speak to.
Natsuko: Here’s a pattern you can use. [ Name] 様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Eric: meaning “Is Mr./Ms.[ Name] there?” Can we hear a sentence from the dialogue?
Natsuko: Sure. かつまた様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Eric: which means “Is Mr. Katsumata there?” Let’s look at the components one by one.
Natuko: かつまた様
Eric: When you mention your client’s name, you use the extra polite suffix -sama after their family name.
Natuko:は
Eric: the topic marking particle
Natsuko:いらっしゃいます
Eric: the honorific version of the verb meaning “to exist.”
Natsuko:か
Eric: the question particle. So altogether…
Natsuko: かつまた様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Eric: Meaning “Is Mr. Katsumata there?”
Natsuko: Okay. Listeners, it’s time to recap.
Eric: You made a phone call to a company to talk to your client, Ms. Baker. After you have given your company name and your name, you make a greeting saying… ? (wait for 5 sec.)
Natsuko: いつもお世話になっております
Eric: “Thank you for your business.”
Next, you want to ask for Ms. Baker.... “Is Ms. Baker there?” (wait for 5 sec.)
Natsuko: ベーカー様は、いらっしゃいますか。
Eric: Listeners, did you get the answers right?
Natsuko: If you didn’t, please listen one more time.

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Natsuko: またねー

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