Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 16 - Where Does This Japanese Bus Go? Becky here.
Natsuko: こんにちは。なつこです。
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask a bus driver if the bus will go to your destination. The conversation takes place in a bus.
Natsuko: It's between David and a bus driver.
Becky: The speakers are a passenger and a bus driver, so they’ll be using formal Japanese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
デービッド: すみません、このバスは、「西町としょかん前」まで行きますか。
うんてんしゅ: このバスは、行きません。でも、「西町ゆうびんきょく前」は、とおります。そのバスていから ちかいですよ。
デービッド: どれくらいですか。
うんてんしゅ: １０分くらいですよ。
デービッド: そうですか。。。あのバスは、「西町としょかん前」 まで 行きますか。
うんてんしゅ: あのバスも、行きません。あ、うしろのバスが行きます。
デービッド: わかりました。じゃ、うしろのバスにのります。ありがとうございました。
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
デービッド: すみません、このバスは、「西町としょかん前」まで行きますか。
うんてんしゅ: このバスは、行きません。でも、「西町ゆうびんきょく前」は、とおります。そのバスていから ちかいですよ。
デービッド: どれくらいですか。
うんてんしゅ: １０分くらいですよ。
デービッド: そうですか。。。あのバスは、「西町としょかん前」 まで 行きますか。
うんてんしゅ: あのバスも、行きません。あ、うしろのバスが行きます。
デービッド: わかりました。じゃ、うしろのバスにのります。ありがとうございました。
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
David: Excuse me, does this bus go to "Nishimachi Toshokan-mae (library)" bus stop?
Driver: No, this doesn’t. But this bus goes to "Nishimachi Yubinkyoku-mae". The library is near that bus stop.
David: How far is it from there?
Driver: It's about ten minutes.
David: I see…. How about that bus? Does it go to "Nishimachi Toshokan-mae" bus stop?
Driver: No, that bus does not go there either. Oh, the bus behind does go there.
David: I see. I’ll take the bus behind, thank you so much.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Natsuko, I heard that in Japan, there are different systems for calculating bus fare.
Natsuko: Yes. We have two systems. One is a flat rate system, which is common in cities. The other one is a changing rate system which depends on the distance. It is often used in rural areas.
Becky: How do you pay a bus fare with the changing rate system?
Natsuko: Basically we have an IC card. When you get on a bus with a changing rate system, you will need to swipe your IC card to record the stop where you got on, and then swipe the card again when you get off to pay the fare.
Becky: I see, that sounds very convenient. You just need to charge your IC card and you don't need to worry about calculating how much you should pay.
Natsuko: That’s right!
Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: としょかん [natural native speed]
Becky: library
Natsuko: としょかん[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: としょかん [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: ゆうびんきょく [natural native speed]
Becky: post office
Natsuko: ゆうびんきょく[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: ゆうびんきょく [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: とおる [natural native speed]
Becky: to pass by, to go through
Natsuko: とおる[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: とおる [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: バスてい [natural native speed]
Becky: bus stop
Natsuko: バスてい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: バスてい [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: 前 [natural native speed]
Becky: front, ago, before
Natsuko: 前[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 前 [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: まで [natural native speed]
Becky: to (as in: to a place)
Natsuko: まで[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: まで [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: から [natural native speed]
Becky: from
Natsuko: から[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: から [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: ちかい [natural native speed]
Becky: close, near
Natsuko: ちかい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: ちかい [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: 後ろ [natural native speed]
Becky: back, behind
Natsuko: 後ろ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 後ろ [natural native speed]
Becky: And last..
Natsuko: くらい [natural native speed]
Becky: approximately, about
Natsuko: くらい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: くらい [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is...
Natsuko: どれくらい
Becky: meaning "how long,” “how much,” “how many,” “how far". You can use this phrase to ask how long something will last, how much something is, or how far something is.
Natsuko: Right. Using どれくらい you can ask about time, quantity, number, or even length or distance.
Becky: Natsuko, can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. For example, let’s imagine you want to ask someone where the station is, and how far it is. You can say.. どれくらいですか。
Becky: “How far is that?”
Natsuko: Then, the other person might say 30分くらいです
Becky: “It takes about 30 minutes.”
Natsuko: In this answer, くらい is also used to mean “about.”
Becky: Okay, what's the next word?
Natsuko: まえ
Becky: It describes the location of something and means "in front".
Natsuko: If you want to say that something is “in front of A” in Japanese you should say.. Aの前.
Becky: In Japan, this word is often used in the name of bus stops. For example…
Natsuko: 西町としょかん前
Becky: which means "in front of Nishimachi Library".
Natsuko: 西町としょかん is the name for “Nishimachi Library” and it ends with 前 meaning “in front of.”
Becky: Okay, what's the last word?
Natsuko: うしろ
Becky: meaning "behind". When you want to refer to something behind you, in Japanese it is...
Natsuko: うしろの then the noun.
Becky: For example you can say...
Natsuko: うしろのくるま
Becky: “the car behind me.” Or you can use this phrase to mean “behind someone”. For example, “Behind me” is
Natsuko: わたしのうしろ. Using the same pattern, you can say あなたのうしろ to mean “behind you.”
Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask a bus driver if the bus will go to your destination. To ask a question like this, you can use the following sentence structure…
Natsuko: このバスは、plus [name of YOUR DESTINATION] plus まで 行きます か。
Becky: which means “Does this bus go to [YOUR DESTINATION]?” Natsuko, let's break down this sentence to see the meaning of each word.
Natsuko: Sure. このバスは means “this bus”, まで means “to” as in "to a destination", 行きます is a verb meaning "to go" and か is a question marking particle.
Becky: So, if you want to go to the bus stop called “Nishimachi toshokan mae”, you can say...
Natsuko: このバスは、「西町としょかん前」まで行きますか。
Becky: “Does this bus go to the "Nishimachi Toshokan-mae" bus stop?” Natsuko, what if I want to ask, “does that bus go to my destination?”
Natsuko: It' really simple. Just replace この, meaning “this” with あの, meaning “that”. Altogether we'll have あのバスは
Becky: meaning “that bus”.
Natsuko: For example you can say...あのバスは、"上野びじゅつかん前"まで行きますか。
Becky: "Does that bus go to "Ueno Bijutsukan mae" bus stop?".
Natsuko: You can also replace あの or この with うしろの. It will be うしろのバスは...
Becky: which means “the bus behind this one”. So, if you want to ask if the bus behind goes to Tokyo Station, you can say,
Natsuko: うしろのバスは、東京えきまで行きますか。
Becky: "Does the bus behind this one go to Tokyo Station?"
Becky: If you don't know the bus stop name, you can just say the destination you are going to instead of the bus stop name.

Outro
Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. For more information and examples, please check the lesson notes. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Natsuko: またねー

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