Learn how to describe the location of something in Japanese
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Get Insider Information from the Locals。 In the previous lesson, you learned how to ask where something is. |
| Naomi: Right. Like トイレはどこですか。Where's the bathroom? |
| Peter: In this lesson, you'll learn how to say where something is. |
| Naomi: For example,あそこにトイレがあります。 |
| Peter: There's a bathroom over there. |
| Naomi: We'll also go over the verb わかります to understand. |
| Peter: Right. You'll learn how to say "I understand" "I don't understand" and so on. |
| Peter: OK.This lesson's conversation takes place in |
| Naomi: タクシー a taxi. |
| Peter: So you'll hear some useful words and phrases for taking a taxi. |
| Peter: The conversation is between: |
| Naomi: アシュリーとタクシーの運転手 |
| Peter: Ashley and a taxi driver. Ashley is taking a taxi to her company in Nihombashi in the morning. Because this conversation is between a taxi driver and a passenger, you'll hear |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| Peter: Please also check the verb conjugation lessons as a reference. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 運転手:どちらまで。 |
| アシュリー:ネッサン自動車まで。 |
| 運転手:え？どこまでですか？ |
| アシュリー:日本橋のネッサン自動車まで。 |
| 運転手:うーん。住所、わかりますか。 |
| アシュリー:はい、わかります。これです。 |
| 運転手:ああ、はい。わかりました。 |
| (Starts driving) |
| 運転手:お客さん、日本語、わかりますか。 |
| アシュリー:はい、ちょっと。 |
| 運転手:日本語、上手ですね。 |
| アシュリー:運転手さんも、上手ですね。 |
| 運転手:日本橋に、いいてんぷら屋がありますよ。 |
| アシュリー:本当ですか。名前、わかりますか。 |
| 運転手:あー、ちょっと・・・わかりません。すみません。 |
| (Taxi stops) |
| 運転手:3320円です。 |
| アシュリー:はい。それから、領収書ください。 |
| 運転手:はい、お釣りと領収書。 |
| :それから、はい、これ、地図です。 |
| :これ、駅。これ、てんぷら屋。 |
| :わかります？オッケイ? |
| アシュリー:はい。オッケイです。 |
| :ありがとうございました。 |
| 運転手:どちらまで。 |
| Peter: Where to? |
| アシュリー:ネッサン自動車まで。 |
| Peter: Nessan Automotive. |
| 運転手:え？どこまでですか？ |
| Peter: Eh? Where? |
| アシュリー:日本橋のネッサン自動車まで。 |
| Peter: Nessan Automotive in Nihonbashi. |
| 運転手:うーん。住所、わかりますか。 |
| Peter: Hmm...do you know the address? |
| アシュリー:はい、わかります。これです。 |
| Peter: Yes, I do. Here it is. |
| 運転手:ああ、はい。わかりました。 |
| Peter: Ahh, okay. I got it. |
| (Starts driving) |
| Peter(Starts driving) |
| 運転手:お客さん、日本語、わかりますか。 |
| Peter: Do you understand Japanese, ma'am? |
| アシュリー:はい、ちょっと。 |
| Peter: Yes, a little. |
| 運転手:日本語、上手ですね。 |
| Peter: Your Japanese is good! |
| アシュリー:運転手さんも、上手ですね。 |
| Peter: Your Japanese is good, too. |
| 運転手:日本橋に、いいてんぷら屋がありますよ。 |
| Peter: You know, there's a good tempura restaurant in Nihonbashi. |
| アシュリー:本当ですか。名前、わかりますか。 |
| Peter: Really? Do you know the name? |
| 運転手:あー、ちょっと・・・わかりません。すみません。 |
| Peter: Ah, actually...I don't. Sorry. |
| (Taxi stops) |
| Peter(Taxi stops) |
| 運転手:3320円です。 |
| Peter: That'll be 3320 yen. |
| アシュリー:はい。それから、領収書ください。 |
| Peter: Okay. And I'd like the receipt please. |
| 運転手:はい、お釣りと領収書。 |
| Peter: Okay, here's your change and your receipt. |
| :それから、はい、これ、地図です。 |
| Peter: And... Here's a map. |
| :これ、駅。これ、てんぷら屋。 |
| Peter: This is the station. This is the tempura restaurant. |
| :わかります？オッケイ? |
| Peter: Do you understand? Okay? |
| アシュリー:はい。オッケイです。 |
| Peter: Yes! Okay. |
| :ありがとうございました。 |
| Peter: Thank you very much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: So Nessan automobile where Ashley works for is located in Nihonbashi? |
| Naomi: It seems like it. |
| Peter: Nihonbashi.... Nihon...Japan bashi ....bridge? So Nihonbashi is Japan bridge? |
| Naomi: Right. Actually there's a bridge called にほんばし in Nihonbashi area. Nihonbashi is a business district in Tokyo. |
| Peter: Are there any interesting tourist spots? |
| Naomi: Well, it's a business district, so I'm not sure...There is the Tokyo Stock exchange, Japan Bank and some nice department stores in Nihombashi. |
| Peter: Also ii tempura-ya？A good tempura restaurant? |
| Naomi: Sure. Tempura is deep fried fish or vegetables. 屋 means store, seller, restaurant. |
| Peter: So Tempura-ya is a tempura restaurant. |
| Naomi: I said Ya is a store but you can't use ya by itself. |
| Peter: You have to attach ya to something else. Correct? |
| Naomi: はい。For example ラーメン屋 |
| Peter: Ramen place. |
| Naomi: すし屋 |
| Peter: Sushi bar. |
| Naomi: 本屋 |
| Peter: book store. Also I'd like to mention one more thing. |
| Naomi: What is it? |
| Peter: San! As in Untenshu-san. Untenshu is driver and san is like Mr. or Ms. in English. So untenshu-san is Mr. Driver. Is it common to address someone with "occupation ＋san"? |
| Naomi: Yeah, I think it's common and it's totally appropriate. For example, ウエイトレスさん、ウエイターさん。 |
| Peter: Ms. waitress. Mr. waiter. |
| Naomi: I guess you don't do that in English. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Naomi 住所 [natural native speed] |
| Peter address |
| Naomi 住所 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi 住所 [natural native speed] |
| Naomi 上手 [natural native speed] |
| Peter skilled, good at;Adj(na) |
| Naomi 上手 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi 上手 [natural native speed] |
| Naomi 本当 [natural native speed] |
| Peter really, truly, truth, reality |
| Naomi 本当 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi 本当 [natural native speed] |
| Naomi 領収書 [natural native speed] |
| Peter receipt |
| Naomi 領収書 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi 領収書 [natural native speed] |
| Naomi 駅 [natural native speed] |
| Peter station |
| Naomi 駅 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi 駅 [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. |
| Naomi: 上手 |
| Peter: skilled, good at. In the dialogue, the driver said... |
| Naomi: 日本語、上手ですね。 |
| Peter: Literally,"Japanese, skillful isn't it." Of course it means "your Japanese is good." or "You speak good Japanese." |
| Now, this IS the phrase you'll hear allllll the time in Japan. You come to Japan, and right after you say a word or two, literally everyone will start saying |
| Naomi: 日本語上手ですね。 |
| Peter: Your Japanese is good. |
| Naomi: That might be a bit of an exaggeration., but ...yeah, basically true. What they are trying to do is communicate or maybe encourage you to speak Japanese. |
| Peter: So it doesn't really mean that your Japanese is good. |
| Naomi: Well, I think that depends! But to be honest, I don't think people say this phrase based on their observation. It's more like a greeting. |
| Peter: I really liked Ashley's response though... |
| Naomi: Ah...運転手さんも上手ですね。 |
| Peter: You're pretty good too. Your Japanese is good too. |
| Naomi: も means "too" |
| Peter: There's a write up about the particle "mo" in the PDF. So please check it out. |
| Peter: The next word is |
| Naomi: どちら |
| Peter: which way, which direction, where, which one. In the dialogue, the driver said |
| Naomi: どちらまで |
| Peter: Where to? |
| Naomi: This どちら means "where." まで means "to." |
| Peter: For the usage of "Made" please check lessons 8 and 10. |
| Naomi: どちら is polite version of どこ where. |
| Peter: So the taxi driver could say... |
| Naomi: どこまで？ |
| Peter: "where to." But "Dochira made" is more polite than "Doko made" For more information about Dochira, look at appendix 9. |
| Naomi: 領収書 |
| Peter: Official receipt. Now, Naomi-sensei, it this RYOUSHUUSHO? or RYOUSHUUSHOO. short vowel at the end or long vowel at the end. Because I hear them both. |
| Naomi: Both are correct. りょうしゅうしょー or りょうしゅうしょ. It doesn't really matter. But りょうしゅうしょう or りょうしゅうしょ is not a regular receipt. |
| Peter: It's the one you give to the tax accountant, right? What do you call the regular receipt? |
| Naomi: レシート |
| Peter: The next word is |
| Naomi: 本当 |
| Peter: really, truly, truth, reality. In the conversation Ashley said. |
| Naomi: 本当ですか |
| Peter: Is it true? or Oh really? |
| Naomi&Peter: 本当 means truth ですis かquestion. So is it true. |
| Naomi: I use this phrase a lot. 本当 in an informal situation, and 本当ですかin a formal situation. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: In this lesson you'll learn how to describe the location of something using the word Naomi: あります "to exist" |
| Peter: And you'll also learn how to talk about understanding using the verb |
| Naomi: わかります"to understand" |
| Peter: First of all. Let us introduce how to describing location in Japanese.Naomi-sensei, can we have a sample sentence? |
| Naomi: Sure. エジプトにピラミッドがあります。 |
| Peter: There are pyramids in Egypt. This sentence is describing the where pyramids are located, right. Let's take a closer look at this sentence. |
| Naomi&Peter: Let's look at the first part of this sentence. エジプト"Egypt" に" particle which indicates place. In this case "ni" corresponds with English preposition "in""at"or "on" |
| Peter: The big difference is that though, English "in""at""on" are prepositions. So you put those in front of a noun. For example, in Egypt, at the station, on the first floor. |
| Naomi: Whereas Japanese particles are post position so you have to put them AFTER the noun. For example, エジプトに、駅に 一階に |
| Peter: So the first part of the sentence was |
| Naomi: エジプトに |
| Peter: So In Egypt. And the sentence is followed by |
| Naomi: ピラミッドがあります。 |
| Peter: "There's a pyramid" or "there are pyramids" Let's beak down this phrase. |
| Naomi&Peter: ピラミッド pyramid が particle あります to exist. Arimasu was already introduced in Lesson 6. So literally "Pyramids exist" "There's a pyramid" or "there are pyramids" |
| Peter: Can you say the sentence again. |
| Naomi: エジプトにピラミッドがあります。 |
| Peter: In Egypt, there are pyramids. There are pyramids in Egypt. |
| Naomi: So the pattern is [ place ] に [ thing ] があります。 |
| Peter: There's a [thing] in [place]. So first you start with the location, followed by the location particle ni (に), then the item, followed by the subject particle ga (が), and end it all with arimasu (あります). |
| Naomi: Right. ロビーにトイレがあります。 |
| Peter: In the lobby, there are restrooms. There are restrooms in the lobby. |
| Naomi: 一階にトイレがあります。 |
| Peter: On the first floor, there are restrooms. There are restrooms on the first floor. OK. Try to say "There are restrooms at the station." You start with the location and ni so... |
| Naomi: 駅に |
| Peter: Then "There are restrooms." |
| Naomi: トイレがあります。 |
| Peter: Say the whole sentence, please? |
| Naomi: 駅にトイレがあります。 |
| Peter: Great! Let's move on to the next grammar point. |
| Naomi: The conjugation of a verb わかります "to understand". |
| Peter: Right. Wakarimasu means "to understand" and is one of the most useful verbs you'll learn in Japanese. When wakarimasu is used by itself, it means... |
| Naomi: I understand. わかります。 |
| Peter: "I understand" or "I know" As we mentioned in previous lessons again and again, you can form a yes-no question by simply adding "ka" to the end of the sentence. |
| Naomi: わかりますか |
| Peter: means "Do you understand?" So....When your teacher asks you, |
| Naomi: わかりますか Do you understand? |
| Peter: and if you do understand you say... |
| Naomi: はい、わかります。Yes. I understand. |
| Peter: What if you don't understand?... |
| Naomi: Replace ます with ません |
| Peter: Right. Change masu into masen, that way, you can form the negative. Let's take a look at the conjugation. To understand is |
| Naomi: わかります |
| Peter: take away masu. You have... |
| Naomi: わかり |
| Peter: Now, attach masen, to get |
| Naomi: わかりません. |
| Peter: I don't understand. Let's go back to the question. When someone asks you... |
| Naomi: わかりますか。Do you understand? Do you know? |
| Peter: And if you do understand or have the knowledge, |
| Naomi: はい、わかります Yes. I understand or I know. |
| Peter: If you don't |
| Naomi: いいえ、わかりません No. I don't understand. I don't know. |
| Peter: OK. Let's also check the past tense form of wakarimasu. When someone finishes explaining something, and then you want to say "I understand", as in "Now I understand something that I didn't know about before." you say... |
| Naomi: わかりました |
| Peter: instead of wakarimasu. Wakarimashita is the past form of wakarimasu. |
| Naomi: Very simple. ます became ました. So わかりました |
| I think the nuance of わかりました is similar English "I got it now" or "I got you". |
| Peter: When you want to say that you understand something that someone has just explained to you (as in "I see" or "I get it now"), it is better to use the past tense, wakarimashita. |
| Naomi: Basically, you hear わかります in the middle of the explanation or when talking about knowledge, whereas わかりました is used after the explanation. |
| Peter: So during the lesson, you tend to hear the teacher asking you... |
| Naomi: わかりますか。 |
| Peter: But after the explanation or after the class, you tend to hear |
| Naomi: わかりましたか。 |
| Peter: OK. Let's recap this lesson with a quiz. The quiz will be multiple choice. We'll give a question and three possible answers. Your job is to guess the answer. OK. The first question. |
| Which of the following words means "address” as in physical address in Japanese? |
| Naomi: A) 住所 B)日本語 C) 駅 |
| Peter: The answer is? |
| Naomi: A)住所 |
| Peter: 日本語 is the Japanese language. 駅 is train station. OK. The next question. What does "日本語上手ですね" mean? |
| A)Do you speak Japanese? B)Your Japanese is good. C)Are you Japanese? |
| Peter: The answer is B) Your Japanese is good. |
| Naomi: 日本語上手ですね。B)Your Japanese is good. |
Outro |
| Peter: That concludes this lesson. In the next lesson, Ashley will visit the headquarters of Nessan Automobile, so you'll learn some useful expressions at working environment. |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。 |
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