Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sakura, Yoshi, Peter: おはよう、サラエボ。
Sakura: さくらです。
Yoshi: よしです。
Peter: Peter here. As always, brought to you by Erklaren, the translation and interpretation specialist. Sakura san
Sakura: こんにちは。
Peter: こんにちは。 I think this week you are going to be our opening specialist. Openings only but it’s great to hear your voice even if it’s for just a little bit.
Sakura: ちょっとだけね。
Peter: And Yoshi san will be staying with us for the whole show. よろしくお願いします。
Yoshi: よろしくお願いします。
Peter: Okay today we will be talking about “looks like”. Now last week, we talked about “looks like”. This week, we will be talking about using it with the negative. Sakura san, how can we say it looks like Yoshi will eat that cake?
Sakura: よしはあのケーキを食べそうです。
Peter: Today we are going to talk about the negative form of that sentence. There is a slight change in there. We will have to use the negative form plus a little something you are going to find out later in the show. With that said, let’s listen to today’s conversation. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
よし: 104,105,106, はい、ここです。(ベルがなる音)
ちぐさ: おかしいな。何で出ないのかなあ?
よし: 何時の約束?
ちぐさ: 8時。
よし: 今は?
ちぐさ: ちょうど8時。おかしいなあ。
よし: 電気もついていないし、彼はいなさそうだ。
ちぐさ: 彼の車もなさそう。彼はどうしたんだろう。
よし: せっかく君の誕生日なのにね。
One more time. Slowly, please.
もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。
よし: 104,105,106, はい、ここです。(ベルがなる音)
ちぐさ: おかしいな。何で出ないのかなあ?
よし: 何時の約束?
ちぐさ: 8時。
よし: 今は?
ちぐさ: ちょうど8時。おかしいなあ。
よし: 電気もついていないし、彼はいなさそうだ。
ちぐさ: 彼の車もなさそう。彼はどうしたんだろう。
よし: せっかく君の誕生日なのにね。
This time, Chigusa-san and Yoshi-san will give the Japanese, and I will give the English.
よし: 104,105,106, はい、ここです。(ベルがなる音)
YOSHI: 104,105,106, Ah, here it is.(Bell rings)
ちぐさ: おかしいな。何で出ないのかなあ?
CHIGUSA: That's weird. I wonder why he isn't answering?
よし: 何時の約束?
YOSHI: What time are your plans for?
ちぐさ: 8時。
CHIGUSA: 8 o'clock.
よし: 今は?
YOSHI: What time is it now?
ちぐさ: ちょうど8時。おかしいなあ。
CHIGUSA: It's 8 on the dot. That's strange.
よし: 電気もついていないし、彼はいなさそうだ。
YOSHI: The lights are even off, and it seems like he's not here.
ちぐさ: 彼の車もなさそう。彼はどうしたんだろう。
CHIGUSA: It seems like his car's not here either. I wonder what happened to him.
よし: せっかく君の誕生日なのにね。
YOSHI: Man, I can't believe he'd do something like that on your birthday.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: ちぐささん。今日の会話はどうですか?
Chigusa: 何か裏がありそうですね。
Peter: Yeah it seems like there is something more to this. よしさんは?
Yoshi: うーん。気になりますね。
Peter: Yeah I am wondering a bit too. What do you think is going to happen? Chigusa-san. You want to take a guess?
Chigusa: なんか、びっくりパーティーとか?
Peter: Chigusa-san. You give me a way.
Chigusa: Oops!
Peter: Oops!
Chigusa: I mean えっと maybe he is really not here.
Peter: All right. Well anyhow I’ll translate what Chigusa just said because maybe some people out there like to be surprised.
Chigusa: はい。
Peter: I mean how could you なんていう人ですね。目の前、原稿があって… You know it’s coming…
Chigusa: No but really when I didn’t know what was coming next, I guess right.
Peter: よしさん、どうですか?この言い訳?
Chigusa: 本当です。
Yoshi: じゃあ、信じましょう。
Peter: よしさん。 Okay because Yoshi said we will give you the benefit of the doubt. Okay let’s move on to today’s vocab although we really don’t have too much vocab. What we will do is we will really thoroughly look at one of the key words in today’s lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: Yoshi san, what would that keyword be?
Yoshi: おかしい
Peter: Strange, funny.
Yoshi: (slow)おかしい (natural speed) おかしい
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: Now the interesting thing about this word is it can mean strange as in weird but it can also mean funny as in hysterical, really entertaining. So it has this dual meaning. It depends on the context okay. So what we are going to do now is give you some examples. Yoshi san, give us one.
Yoshi: 頭がおかしい。
Peter: Something wrong with one’s mind. Could you give us an example sentence and don’t use me or Chigusa.
Yoshi: 彼は頭がおかしいんじゃない?
Peter: There is something wrong with that guy, isn’t there? Okay we will stick with this meaning of something wrong. Chigusa-san.
Chigusa: 何かがおかしい。
Peter: There is something wrong. There is something not right. What kind of situation will we use this in?
Chigusa: When something is not right or different from usual.
Peter: Maybe if you went back to your room and there are things moved around.
Chigusa: Yeah.
Peter: Something wrong here, we could say.
Chigusa: うん。何かがおかしい。
Peter: In the previous lesson in the elevator when Natsuko was thinking to herself, Yoshi san, we used this next phrase.
Yoshi: 彼、どこかおかしい。
Peter: There is something wrong with him. There is something not right about him. Now let’s just take a quick look through these examples. In the first one, we had head strange. Head is strange literally which was 頭がおかしい。 Head is strange and we interpret this as he is crazy, something wrong in the head. The next one was 何かがおかしい something strange and we interpret this as something is not right. Finally we had どこかがおかしい somewhere he is strange. So there is something wrong with this guy somewhere, somewhere is wrong. Something is wrong with this guy. Okay and these are all in the strange kind of category but if you hear it, chances are it probably means what we are going to talk about now, funny, entertaining. So Yoshi san, if you are laughing really hard, what would be natural to say in this situation?
Yoshi: おかしすぎる。この漫画、おかしすぎる。
Peter: This comic is too funny. So here we have おかしすぎる too funny, it’s too funny, it’s hysterical. A lot of times if I watch TV with my friends, they are watching some comedians and they just keep saying おかしい they will be crying and saying this word, it’s so funny. So this is probably the sense. This is probably the meaning that will be intended when you hear it used. Now if people are looking at you and using it the other way, then something is not right. Something – maybe you want to change something about your clothes or something else.

Lesson focus

Peter: Now that we went over that word, let’s take a look at the conversation. First line we had
Yoshi: 104,105,106.はい、ここです。
Peter: And Yoshi san, pretty straightforward. Here what are we looking at? Where are we? Where is this conversation taking place?
Yoshi: At some apartment or in a mansion and they are looking at the room numbers.
Peter: Now it’s funny you said mansion. In English, when you say mansion, I think of a huge house. Chigusa-san. You know what I am talking about right?
Chigusa: Yeah.
Peter: Is that because of the English or because you live in the huge house.
Chigusa: Because of the English. I don’t live in a huge house.
Yoshi: But that’s what I meant.
Peter: Really?
Chigusa: Oh!
Yoshi: No.
Peter: Ah Yoshi! You have a future in diplomatic relations bluffing and bluffing and bluffing but when we say mansion in Japanese, what are we referring to here?
Chigusa: It’s like an upgraded apartment.
Peter: Yeah the rooms are next to each other, it’s not your individual house or domicile. It’s been a while since I used that word. So yeah the rooms are together so….
Chigusa: Yeah like in Japan, usually when you say apartment, it kind of means like really cheaper, not very clean houses, I mean apartments but when you say mansion in Japan, it means a bit more gorgeous place.
Peter: Yeah step up.
Chigusa: Yeah.
Peter: Don’t be shy to say it. You feel free to classify people.
Chigusa: No, no, no, no but it is right?
Yoshi: Right.
Peter: Yeah so we have apartments which is Yoshi san
Yoshi: アパート
Peter: Then we have
Chigusa: マンション
Peter: Which Chigusa said is kind of like we should really go through these one day and really clarify because even I get confused with, like the co-ops and all the things going on here. Okay but yeah this is a much nicer place okay but it’s clear here when you hear the way Yoshi is talking about these numbers, it should indicate that he is talking about apartments. Yoshi san, what about the way you said these numbers gives it away. What indicates that you are talking about residencies?
Yoshi: 104
Peter: It’s that マル referring to zero. Now this is almost exclusively for apartment buildings or sometimes with telephones but pretty much when you are talking about a residency. The zero rather than saying the word for zero which is
Yoshi: レイ or ゼロ
Peter: Usually that gets substituted with
Yoshi: マル
Peter: Now when I say residences, I am talking about all addresses in general like buildings in address or something like this and the reason he is walking by them so quickly is he is at an apartment and he is walking right in front of the doors and he could read the numbers right off the doors. Okay this is followed by
Chigusa: おかしいなぁ。
Peter: That’s weird, that’s strange. Now what we want to point out here is the なぁ。 Chigusa-san, why would you add this on? What’s the difference between おかしい and おかしいなぁ。
Chigusa: Adding the なぁ gives it more thought like you are wondering.
Peter: Yeah you are trying to figure out your mind.
Chigusa: Yeah.
Peter: Why he is not here in this particular case. So almost like you are biting time. You are still kind of, it hasn’t fully processed in your mind なぁ followed by
Chigusa: なんで出ないのかなぁ。
Peter: Why doesn’t appear I wonder is what we have literally. Okay we went through this one to answering the door and answering the phone and we used the verb
Chigusa: 出る
Peter: Okay and here it’s the informal version 出ない. After that and before the kana, we have the particle かな which adds a little more emphasis and we have a long あ at the end of かな rather than the short あ. Okay and again and it indicates the speaker is wondering about something. Here why the person isn’t answering the door. Yoshi san chimes in with
Yoshi: 何時の約束?
Peter: What time were you scheduled to meet literally? What times promise, what time followed by possessive promise but again we interpret here. What time were you supposed to meet? Here we have
Chigusa: 8時。
Peter: Straightforward 8 o’ clock followed by
Yoshi: 今は?
Peter: Now. Again a lot is inferred in Japanese. We are talking about the time. So Yoshi san, if you put this into proper Japanese, what would the full sentence be?
Yoshi: 今は何時?
Peter: Now what time but literally of course interpret, what time is it now but here it's fine just to say 今は and now. So we could have that exchange at what time we are supposed to meet? 8 o’ clock and now, it doesn’t really make sense in English but you can get the gist of how the Japanese works and now okay, followed by
Chigusa: ちょうど8時。
Peter: 8 on the nose. What makes on the nose
Chigusa: ちょうど
Peter: Okay and also we hear this one with money. Is that right?
Chigusa: Right.
Peter: If you pay exactly the amount, if it’s 1843円 and that’s the amount you give, they would say
Chigusa: ちょうどお預かりします。
Peter: That’s the amount on the nose. Okay followed by
Chigusa: おかしいなぁ。
Peter: So still wondering here. That’s strange followed by
Yoshi: 電気もついていないし。
Peter: And the lights are even off. Here we have the word for light followed by the particle も. Lights also. Then we have
Yoshi: ついていない
Peter: The negative present progressive. So literally it’s lights also not being on but here what we have to do is remember that in Japanese, the present progressive can also represent an existing state. For example, if we were to say, the lights are on. Yoshi san,
Yoshi: ついている
Peter: And the word for lights
Yoshi: 電気
Peter: So give us the whole sentence. The lights are on
Yoshi: 電気がついている
Peter: The lights are on. Literally lights being on but again it’s in the state of being on. So we can say the lights are on. They are in this state of being on. Now what’s interesting here is the verb that we use with electricity and lighting. Yoshi san, what’s this verb?
Yoshi: つく
Peter: This is the intransitive verb to be turned on. Now the transitive verb to turn on is
Yoshi: つける
Peter: Okay so we have the intransitive
Yoshi: つく
Peter: And the transitive
Yoshi: つける
Peter: To be turned on and to turn on. Now the intransitive represents a state. It’s existing in the state and when it’s in the present progressive, we have this existing state of being turned on. So we have the TV is being turned on. So when we are talking about the lights or electronic appliances, we use the present progressive of the intransitive verb つく which is
Yoshi: ついている
Peter: Okay and here it represents the state of being turned on. Okay so ついている represents the state of being turned on. Here in the dialogue, we have
Yoshi: ついていない
Peter: Not being turned on. And again that’s literal. What we have to do is interpret, not turned on. Lights also not turned on literally but we interpret, the lights are also not turned on. Okay then this is followed by し which means among other things. So the lights aren’t turned on. There is no noise but he just didn’t say these things but there are other factors that leads into the conclusion that
Yoshi: 彼はいなさそうだ。
Peter: It seems like he is not here. Okay now we talked about using looks like, seems with い adjectives. What you do is you drop the い and add そう. Now a simple way to think of this is, ない the informal negative conjugation ない can be treated as an い adjective. All we do is we drop the い and we add そう. This is what it would seem but when doing this, we have to insert さ, the syllable さ. So instead of なそう we wind up with なさそう. Yoshi san, can you just give us that pronunciation one more time.
Yoshi: なさそう
Peter: So we have here one more time?
Yoshi: 彼はいなさそうだ。
Peter: It seems like he is not here. And this is followed by Chigusa-san?
Chigusa: 彼の車もなさそう。
Peter: It also seems like his car is not here.
Chigusa: 彼はどうしたんだろう。
Peter: I wonder what happened to him and finally we have
Yoshi: せっかく、君の誕生日なのにね。
Peter: And it’s your birthday. Okay now we want to take a look at what comes after 君の誕生日 This is followed by Yoshi san
Yoshi: なのに
Peter: And this adds regret. It’s something regrettable. You know, it’s her birthday and he is not here which makes it even worse that he is not there now.

Outro

Peter: Okay, we are running out of time. So that is going to do it for today’s lesson.
Chigusa: またね。
Yoshi: またね。

Kanji

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