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Lesson Transcript

Lower Beginner Season 2 Lesson 2 - What to Say When You Visit a Japanese Home
INTRODUCTION
Matt: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 2 - What to Say When You Visit a Japanese Home. Matt Here.
Natsuko: こんにちは。 I'm Natsuko.
Matt: In this lesson, you’ll learn a set phrase you can use when you visit someone's house, and what to call another person's family members. The conversation takes place at a teacher's house.
Natsuko: It's between David and his teacher.
Matt: As a student, David will be using formal Japanese. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

デービッド: 山中先生、こんにちは。
先生: いらっしゃい。どうぞ。
デービッド: おじゃまします。
(間)
デービッド: わぁ、しゃしんがいっぱいありますね。
先生: それは、わたしのかぞくのしゃしんですよ。
デービッド: すてきなごかぞくですね。こちらは、先生のごりょうしんですか。
先生: そうよ。そして、これが、わたしの兄と姉です。
デービッド: 先生のお姉さんは、先生とそっくりですね。
Matt: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
デービッド: 山中先生、こんにちは。
先生: いらっしゃい。どうぞ。
デービッド: おじゃまします。
(間)
デービッド: わぁ、しゃしんがいっぱいありますね。
先生: それは、わたしのかぞくのしゃしんですよ。
デービッド: すてきなごかぞくですね。こちらは、先生のごりょうしんですか。
先生: そうよ。そして、これが、わたしの兄と姉です。
デービッド: 先生のお姉さんは、先生とそっくりですね。
Matt: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
David: Hello, Teacher Yamanaka.
Teacher: Hi, David. Come in.
David: Thank you.
(Interval)
David: Oh, there are a lot of pictures.
Teacher: Those are my family's pictures.
David: You have a great family. Are these your parents?
Teacher: Yes. And this is my big brother and big sister.
David: Your big sister looks like you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Matt: I think many of our listeners already know that they need to take off their shoes when they come into a Japanese house.
Natsuko: That’s right. In Japan, people are supposed take off their shoes when they enter a house, and in many cases, they change into slippers.
Matt: This custom developed because in traditional Japanese houses, people sit on a floor made of tatami mats and sleep on a futon on the tatami mats.
Natsuko: Right. By taking off their shoes, people could avoid getting these mats dirty. If you come into someone’s house with shoes on, you’ll hear this phrase. くつをぬいでください.
Matt: which means “Take off your shoes please.”
Natsuko: Sometimes this rule applies in offices and restaurants too. If you see a sign that says 土足禁止
Matt: which means “no shoes,” you need to take off your shoes.
Natsuko: Breaking this down, 土足 is a word meaning “foot with shoes” and 禁止 means “prohibition.”
Matt: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Matt: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: いっぱい [natural native speed]
Matt: full, a lot
Natsuko: いっぱい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: いっぱい [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: しゃしん [natural native speed]
Matt: picture
Natsuko: しゃしん[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: しゃしん [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: すてき [natural native speed]
Matt: fantastic, superb, cool
Natsuko: すてき [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: すてき [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: こちら [natural native speed]
Matt: this, here, this person, this direction
Natsuko: こちら[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: こちら [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: りょうしん [natural native speed]
Matt: parents
Natsuko: りょうしん[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: りょうしん [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: 兄 [natural native speed]
Matt: older brother
Natsuko: 兄[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 兄 [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: 姉 [natural native speed]
Matt: older sister
Natsuko: 姉[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 姉 [natural native speed]
Matt: Next we have..
Natsuko: そっくり [natural native speed]
Matt: to the life, identical, living
Natsuko: そっくり[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: そっくり [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Matt: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Natsuko: いらっしゃい。
Matt: meaning "Hello. Welcome. Come on in."
Natsuko: いらっしゃい (Irasshai) comes from the verb, いらっしゃる (irassharu).
Matt: That is an honorific verb you use when you’re talking about someone in an extremely polite way. It means "to come/go" or "to be." You can use this expression to welcome a visitor.
Natsuko: You can't use this in a formal situation. You will want to say, いらっしゃいませ (Irasshaimase) instead.
Matt: You can also hear a shop clerk saying this phrase in front of a shop to attract customers. Can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. For example, いらっしゃい。どうぞ、入ってください。
Matt: ..which means "Welcome. Please come in."
Matt: Okay, what's the next word?
Natsuko: どうぞ。
Matt: meaning "Here you are."
Matt: You can use this word when you give something to someone. You cannot use it when you are asking for something, like in English when you say, "Give me that, please."
Natsuko: どうぞ (Dōzo) is restricted to the meaning of "here you are," or "please (come in)."
Matt: Can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. For example, when you’re invited to someone’s house, you’ll hear お茶です。どうぞ。
Matt: .. which means "Here is some tea..”
Natsuko: When you hear this sentence, make sure to say.. ありがとうございます。
Matt: Which means “Thank you."
Matt: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Natsuko: おじゃまします。
Matt: meaning "Excuse me for interrupting." Can you break this down?
Natsuko: Sure. お (o)is an honorific prefix; じゃま(jama) is a noun meaning “hindrance” or “obstacle;” and します(shimasu) is a -masu form of a verb meaning "to do."
Matt: Altogether, this phrase literally means, "I'm afraid I'll bother you."
Natsuko: This expression is used when you’re entering someone's home.
Matt: Can you give us an example using this word?
Natsuko: Sure. For example, when you enter someone’s house, the host will say.. どうぞ。入って。
Matt: .. which means "Please come on in.”
Natsuko: Then, you enter the house, take off your shoes, and say.. はい。ありがとうございます。おじゃまします。
Matt: Thank you. Excuse me for interrupting." Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Matt: In this lesson, you’ll learn learn what to call another person's family members.
Natsuko: There can be two different situations, and you can use different forms for each case.
Matt: First, when you are talking about your own family members to someone outside the family, you need to use the regular terms.
Natsuko: But when you’re talking about someone else's family members, you need to use polite terms.
Matt: So to summarize – polite form when you’re talking about another’s family, and regular form when talking about your own family.
Natsuko: That’s right. For example, when you’re talking about your father to someone outside your family, you can address him by saying chichi.
Matt: meaning “father.”
Natsuko: But when you’re talking about someone else’s father, you need to say o-tō-san.
Matt: meaning “father of someone else’s family.” Can you give us some sample sentences?
Natsuko: Sure. When I’m talking about my father, for example, I’ll say.. わたしの父は、背が高いです。
Matt: Which means “My father is tall.”
Natsuko: I used the word chichi in this sentence. But if I’m talking about my friend’s father, for example, Matt’s father, I’ll say.. マットさんのお父さんは背が高いです。
Matt: “Matt’s father is tall.” And it’s same for the word meaning “mother” too, right?
Natsuko: Yes. When I’m talking about my mother, I can say haha. わたしの母.
Matt: “my mother”.
Natsuko: But when I’m talking about someone else’s mother, for example, Matt’s mother, I can say.. マットさんのお母さん. I said o-kā-san in this sentence because this is the word for addressing someone else’s mother.
Matt: Okay. What if I want to address them all together by saying “parents”?
Natsuko: In that case, you can say ryōshin for your own parents. For other’s parents, you can say go-ryōshin.
Matt: Okay. What about “older brother”?
Natsuko: It’s simple. The pronunciation is almost the same. Ani for my older brother, and o-nī-san for someone else’s older brother.
Matt: In the PDF lesson notes, you can find the words for older sister, younger brother and younger sister in different situations, so make sure to check them out.
Natsuko: When you see each of the words, you’ll notice that it has either the honorific prefix お or ご at the beginning, or さん at the end. For example, 兄弟 is the word for my own siblings. And for someone else’s brothers, it gets the additional honorific prefix ご and becomes ご兄弟.
Matt: Can you give us another example please?
Natsuko: 弟 is the word for my own younger brother. And for someone else’s younger brother, it gets さん at the end, and becomes 弟さん.
Matt: If you look at them in the PDF lesson notes with Chinese characters or Kanji, you’ll be able to master them much easier, so make sure to check them out. Let’s practice. Try to think of how you’d say each sentence, then Natsuko will give us the answer. First up, if you want to say that your mother is tall, you say,
(Pause)
Natsuko: わたしの母は、背が高いです。
Matt: My mother is tall.
Matt: Next. If you want to say that Matt’s father is a doctor, what do you say? First, “doctor” in Japanese is..
Natsuko: 医者
Matt: So how would you say the full sentence, listeners?
(Pause)
Natsuko: マットさんのお父さんは、医者です。
Matt: Finally, if your older brother is a teacher, you would say...
(Pause)
Natsuko: わたしの兄は、教師です。

Outro

Matt: Well, 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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