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Lesson Transcript

*****Opening********
Jessi:Hi everyone! Welcome to the New JLPT N3 Prep Course at JapanesePod101.com. I'm Jessi and I'm here joined by Naomi-sensei.
Naomi:こんにちは、みなさん。直美です。前回は文字語彙の問題1と問題2を勉強しました。
Jessi:In Lesson1, we covered how to prepare for 問題1 and 問題2 in the Kanji and Vocab section.
Naomi:このレッスンは、問題3と4を勉強します。
Jessi:In this lesson, Lesson 2, we'll cover 問題 3 and 問題4 of the Kanji and Vocabulary section.
:*****Instructions********
Jessi:First of all, Naomi-sensei, can you read the instructions for 問題3?
Naomi:(カッコ)に入れるのに最もよいものを、1・2・3・4から一つえらびなさい。
Jessi:Fill in the blank to complete the sentence. Choose the best answer from 1 to 4.
Naomi:カッコ is 'brackets' or 'blank'. So in もんだい3 you need to choose the appropriate vocab word according to the context.
Jessi:This section is designed to test how much vocabulary you know. Okay, how about the instructions for もんだい4?
Naomi:下線のぶんに意味が近いものを、1・2・3・4から一つえらびなさい。
Jessi:Which of the following words or phrases has the closest meaning to the underlined part? Choose the best answer from 1 to 4.
Naomi:You need to find the word or phrase that means the same thing as the underlined part.
Jessi:This section is designed to test your knowledge on the meanings of different words and phrases.
:****もんだい3&4******
Jessi: Okay, let's get into how to prepare for もんだい 3&4.
Naomi: カタカナの言葉と擬音語擬態語(onomatopoeia)の問題は毎年必ず出ます。
Jessi:Questions that test your knowledge about Katakana words and onomatopoeia appear on the test every year.
Naomi:少なくとも、2004年から2010年は毎年出ていました。Well at least form year 2004 to 2010...
Jessi: OK. Let's start with katakana words. There are so many katakana words that show up in daily life, aren't there.
Naomi: Yes, definitely.
Jessi: In the PDF, there is a list of common katakana words and their synonyms, or words that have the same meaning, in Japanese. Naomi-sensei, can you read some of the words from the list?
Naomi: Sure. The first one is... アイディア
Jessi: Listeners, can you guess the meaning? Can you say it again?
Naomi:アイディア
Jessi:It means "idea". Now, it can be rephrased in Japanese as?
Naomi:考え.(idea or thought)
Jessi:Next Katakana word please.
Naomi:アルコール.
Jessi:That's a tough one. もう一度言ってください。
Naomi:アルコール
Jessi:Alcohol. And the synonym is?
Naomi:酒
Jessi: How about one more example.
Naomi:サイン
Jessi:Which can be rephrased in Japanese as?
Naomi:署名
Jessi:Signature.
It might seem easy, because a lot of katakana words come from English, but you still have to be careful. Some of them may have different meanings from the English word, or might come from another language.
Naomi: Yes, and also, the pronunciation is usually very different.
**Onomatopoeia**
Jessi: Naomi-sensei, you said there's another type of word that shows up a lot on the JLPT - onomatopoeia!
Naomi: そうです - onomatopoeia, which are known as 擬音語 and 擬態語 in Japanese, are common on the JLPT.
Jessi: What are they, exactly? Well, 擬音語 are words that mimick sounds or voices, and 擬態語 are words that mimick states.
Naomi: Yes, phrases like ざーざー to describe the sound of falling rain, or きらきら to describe the sound of something sparkling.
Jessi: In the PDF, we have a chart of onomatopoeia that have shown up on the JLPT in the past 6 years, and.. actually, I noticed that most of them seem to be 擬態語. That is, onomatopoeia that describe the state of something.
Naomi: Yes, I would say you're right. I would say that 擬態語 are probably more common on the test.
Jessi: So go through some of them from that list here.
Naomi: Sounds good. The first one is ぐっすり (to sleep soundly) and こっそり (to do something secretly)
Here's a sample sentence. 妻がぐっすり眠っていたので、こっそりウチを出てきた。
Jessi: My wife was sound asleep, so I secretly left the house.
Naomi: たっぷり (plenty, full) のんびり (leisurely, laid-back)
時間はたっぷりあります。急がないでのんびり行きましょう。
Jessi: We have tons of time. Let's not rush and take it easy.
Naomi: ぴったり (exact, fitting) このTシャツは彼にぴったりだ。
Jessi:This t-shirt is perfect for him.
Naomi: ぼんやり (vaguely, faintly)
彼の顔をぼんやりと覚えている。
Jessi: I vaguely remember his face. You know, interestingly enough, a lot of these kinds of onomatopoeia that describe states end in り. Maybe you caught on to that already.
Naomi: You're right! Many of them are also made up of four characters as well.
Jessi: Because of these similarities, I think they all might start to run together.. so this is where seeing and hearing them used in context is really helpful.
Naomi: One way to do that is through our Onomatopoeia series!
Jessi: Good advice! Our Onomatopoeia series introduces you to all kinds of these types of words. So if you're preparing for N3 and want to brush up on your onomatopoeia, I recommend giving that series a listen as well.
Naomi: I also recommend that you go over expressions that contain repetition, such as 次々, だんだん, and so on.
Jessi: Let's go over a few, shall we?
Naomi: Sure! First, 次々
Jessi: in succession, one by one
Naomi:次 means "next" 
Jessi:So literally つぎつぎ means "next next." It describes the situation something happens right after the next.
Naomi:Like "boom-boom-boom".
Jessi:Next one is?
Naomi: だんだん
Jessi:"gradually"
Naomi:だん is step "
Jessi:So "Step by step" "in small steps" "by degrees"or "gradually"
Naomi: 別々・・・別 is "separate" べつべつ literally means "separate separate"
Jessi:べつべつ means "individually"or"separately"
Naomi: たびたび
たび in this take means "Time"or"occasion"
So たびたび means "time to time"
Jessi: or "repeatedly, frequently". These kinds of repeating phrases are usually adverbs - they describe the way an action is done.
Naomi: There are more of those expressions, as well as other useful ones in the PDF, so don't forget to check it out.
Jessi: Okay, and that's all the time we have for this lesson. Join us next time as we review もんだい5, Question 5 of the Kanji and Vocab section. Until next time!
Naomi:じゃまた!

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