Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Yoshi: おはよう、ガボローネ。よしです。
Peter: Peter here. As always, brought to you by Erklaren, the translation and interpretation specialists. Yoshi san, us again.
Yoshi: ちょっと寂しいですね。
Peter: Yeah but our luck will change as one of the lovely ladies will be along shortly. In the meantime, apologies. You will have to put up with Yoshi and me as we explain to you what today’s lesson is going to be about. Yoshi san, what are we talking about today?
Yoshi: ルミナリエ。
Peter: And this is associated with which city?
Yoshi: 神戸ですね。
Peter: Now we will have a detailed explanation about this later in the lesson. For now, we just wanted to give you the topic we are talking about and that is Kobe Luminarie festival. So we will be talking about this topic plus some grammar points and some phrases. Okay, with that said, let’s get into today’s lesson. Here we go.
DIALOGUE
夏子: 先週末神戸へ行ってきました。
よし: 神戸ですか。
夏子: そうですよ。神戸ルミナリエって聞いたことありますか。
よし: ええ、見てきましたか。
夏子: 見てきましたよ。
よし: いいな~。ええ、どうでしたか。
夏子: 最高でした。何よりも、夜の街の雰囲気は一番よかったです。道のライトがきらきら光っていて、おしゃれな人が多くて、まるで映画のようでした。夜の街は寒いけど、でも温めてくれる人がいたから...
よし: あの、先週末彼女と銀座へ行ってきましたが、雰囲気はちょっとちがいますね。彼女はとても不満でした。私も彼女を神戸に連れて行った方がいいですね。
夏子: そうですね。
もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。
夏子: 先週末神戸へ行ってきました。
よし: 神戸ですか。
夏子: そうですよ。神戸ルミナリエって聞いたことありますか。
よし: ええ、見てきましたか。
夏子: 見てきましたよ。
よし: いいな~。ええ、どうでしたか。
夏子: 最高でした。何よりも、夜の街の雰囲気は一番よかったです。道のライトがきらきら光っていて、おしゃれな人が多くて、まるで映画のようでした。夜の街は寒いけど、でも温めてくれる人がいたから...
よし: あの、先週末彼女と銀座へ行ってきましたが、雰囲気はちょっとちがいますね。彼女はとても不満でした。私も彼女を神戸に連れて行った方がいいですね。
夏子: そうですね。
次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。
夏子: 先週末神戸へ行ってきました。
NATSUKO: I went to Kobe last weekend.
よし: 神戸ですか。
YOSHI: Kobe?
夏子: そうですよ。神戸ルミナリエって聞いたことありますか。
NATSUKO: That's right. Have you heard of the Kobe Luminarie?
よし: ええ、見てきましたか。
YOSHI: What, you saw it?
夏子: 見てきましたよ。
NATSUKO: Yes, I did.
よし: いいな~。ええ、どうでしたか。
YOSHI: You're so lucky. How was it?
夏子: 最高でした。何よりも、夜の街の雰囲気は一番よかったです。道のライトがきらきら光っていて、おしゃれな人が多くて、まるで映画のようでした。夜の街は寒いけど、でも温めてくれる人がいたから...
NATSUKO: It was superb. Above all, the night atmosphere in Kobe was the best. The street lights were glittering, and there were many stylishly dressed people. It was just like a movie. It was cold at night, but there was someone to keep me warm...
よし: あの、先週末彼女と銀座へ行ってきましたが、雰囲気はちょっとちがいますね。
YOSHI: Well, last weekend I went to Ginza with my girlfriend, but the atmosphere was somewhat different.
彼女はとても不満でした。私も彼女を神戸に連れて行った方がいいですね。
She was not happy. I should also take her to Kōbe, shouldn't I?
夏子: そうですね。
NATSUKO: Yes, you should.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Natsuko san この会話は、どうでしたか。
Natsuko: いいですね、ロマンチックで。
Peter: いいですね。よしさんは?
Yoshi: 私も行って見たいですね。
Peter: 誰と?
Yoshi: リーさんと行きたいですね。
Peter: Congratulations Lee-san. You’ve just won an all expense paid trip to Kobe with Yoshi san.
Natsuko: すごい。 For Christmas.
Peter: Yeah 2010 or maybe later.
Yoshi: If she was behaving this year, maybe
Natsuko: From Santa Claus?
Yoshi: Yes.
Peter: Yoshi Claus. All right, Natsuko san, 助けてください。
Natsuko: 無理です。
Peter: Why don’t we move on to vocabulary? How does that sound?
Natsuko: It sounds good.
Peter: Yeah I think it sounds really good to you and probably half of our listeners maybe more. Maybe everyone except for Lee-san. Okay enough. Deep breaths.
VOCAB LIST
Peter: First word, Yoshi san お願いします。
Yoshi: 神戸
Peter: The city of Kobe.
Yoshi: (slow)こうべ (natural speed) 神戸
Peter: Now the pronunciation here, there is a long vowel in there. When we say it in English, most people just say Kobe, a very short vowel but it’s really Kobe, a long O vowel in there and it’s renowned for the Kobe beef. Anything else renowned for, what’s it renowned for in Japan?
Natsuko: And it’s a very beautiful town with lots of slopes. It’s a hilly place, isn’t it?
Peter: Yeah kind of, I think surrounded by the hills.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And the architecture is very, very unique.
Natsuko: Yes because it’s one of the places in Japan where western people first settled in.
Peter: Yeah so there is a mix of Japanese and western, very, very interesting and probably more than anything, everybody is dressed so nice.
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: I think they are really like a fashion police or something because I mean in Tokyo, people are dressed nice but when you come back from Kobe, you kind of realize they are not dressed that nice.
Natsuko: Really, you like that way better?
Peter: I mean Kobe yeah well maybe we will have someone go down there and do a special report on the fashion of Kobe but really, really nice. All right with that said, there is something else Kobe is known for. Natsuko san お願いします。
Natsuko: 神戸ルミナリエ
Peter: Kobe Luminarie festival.
Natsuko: (slow)こうべるみなりえ (natural speed) 神戸ルミナリエ
Peter: Now Natsuko san, can you tell us about this event?
Natsuko: I’ve never been there but I see lots of photos and some news coverage. It’s a really beautiful illumination, isn’t it?
Peter: Really beautiful, so beautiful that over 5 million people each year go to see it.
Natsuko: That’s amazing.
Peter: Oh yeah, good luck getting a hotel room. They said during this season, as I said in our previous podcast, 100% occupancy of the hotels. Yoshi san 100%
Yoshi: It’s amazing.
Peter: Yeah. Nobody has 100%. It’s never 100% but yeah apparently here during the busy season, it is packed. Now let’s tell you a little bit about this event. Now this event started back in 1995, the same year of the Hanshin Awaji earthquake which struck on January 17.
Natsuko: Oh yes that was horrible.
Peter: Really terrible earthquake. Did a lot of damage to Kobe. I believe over 7000 people lost their lives.
Natsuko: Yeah about that.
Peter: Maybe under it, maybe 6000, in between there. So it was a devastating event. A lot of the infrastructure of the city was damaged. So the same year 1995, this actually started as an event as a memorial for the people who lost and all the damage that was done because of that earthquake. So it started out as a memorial but so many people turned out that they kept putting on each year and the number of people that came to see it kept growing. It evolved into this tourist magnet and each year as we said around 5 million people attend this event. Now it has actually started in Tokyo but to recover, to help the city of Kobe recover, they actually moved it.
Natsuko: Oh really?
Peter: Yeah.
Natsuko: I didn’t know that.
Peter: Yeah neither did I until this morning. Yes that’s apparently what happened. Now Tokyo also had something right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And what was that Natsuko san?
Natsuko: 東京ミレナリオ
Peter: Now this was held up until last year right?
Yoshi: Right.
Peter: 2005 to 2006. So last year, the end of last year to the beginning of this year. Now this year 2006 to 2007, I haven’t found anything on the net about it.
Natsuko: I think the event is already over.
Peter: Yeah but it’s kind of strange. They held it for a few years about 7 years in a row.
Natsuko: Yes but I heard that last year’s was the last event. It was the final.
Peter: Umm it seemed like a very big tourist attraction but any way, so these are two, well this is one very popular tourist attraction at this time of the year. So if you stop by japanesepod101.com, we will have more information about Kobe illumination, Kobe Luminarie now which by the way is not an English word. This was taken from Italian. So the Japanese do have the rare occasion when they take words – foreign words from different languages but in most cases, the root language is English. Okay on to the next word
Yoshi: きらきら
Peter: Twinkle.
Yoshi: (slow)きらきら (natural speed) きらきら
Peter: Now this is an onomatopoeia. Now this one represents the action of the shining. So a close English translation will be twinkle. Now it’s usually used in combination with the verb Yoshi san
Yoshi: 輝く
Peter: Now this is also to twinkle, to shine. Can you give us an example sentence? There is one that I used to use about girls' eyes and twinkling.
Yoshi: 星がきらきらと輝いている。
Peter: That wasn’t it but yeah the stars are sparkling bright. Sparkle, twinkle, to shine, so it’s that sparkly, twinkly action.
Yoshi: ピーターさん、もう一つ、お願いします。
Peter: Yoshi san, help me out, Yoshi san, help me out.
Yoshi: ピーターさん、もう一つ、例文をお願いします。
Peter: よしさん、お願いします。
Yoshi: We used to say it about Natsuko san.
Peter: Natsuko san would you like to hear it?
Natsuko: Yeah of course.
Peter: 夏子さん。夏子さんの目はまぶしいほどきらきら輝いている。
Natsuko: ああ。それは誰に言ったんですか?ピーターさん。
Yoshi: How many...
Peter: 数え切れないですね。 Too many but yeah the success rate is quite low. What do you get when you divide by zero, pretty low. Alright, this is – we are marching right along here. Yeah I don’t know, it’s something about the air in the studio today but yeah we are having fun. I hope you are having fun and please try out that line on your teacher or when you get a bad grade, it works quite well. Sensei, Natsuko san, did it work for you?
Natsuko: I am not sure about that.
Peter: Yoshi san, did it work for you?
Yoshi: Of course.
Peter: All right. Nice, I think you are the first person it worked on so…
Yoshi: Even though it was for Natsuko san, it worked for me.
Peter: It has that effect. You know, not straightforward, anybody around you, anything within listening to this. Okay excellent next one, お願いします。
Natsuko: 雰囲気
Peter: Atmosphere.
Natsuko: (slow)ふんいき (natural speed)雰囲気
Peter: Atmosphere. Yoshi san 例文、お願いします。
Yoshi: そのお店はアットホームな雰囲気だった。
Peter: That store has a very relaxed atmosphere. That store has a very feel at home atmosphere. Natsuko san, can we get one more example?
Natsuko: そのレストランは夜景がきれいでとても雰囲気がよかった。
Peter: That restaurant has a beautiful night view and a very nice atmosphere. Next we have
Yoshi: 何よりも
Peter: More than anything.
Yoshi: (slow)なによりも (natural speed)何よりも
Peter: Now this too reminds me of another pick up line. All right..
Natsuko: What’s happening today?
Yoshi: Too late Peter, you have to give it to….
Peter: No Yoshi, it’s your turn. Why don’t you – you have the gem box, open up that box, share a bit.
Yoshi: I have never said anything in Japanese.
Peter: Natsuko-san... Okay let’s just get…
Natsuko: I am kind of lost.
Peter: Let’s just get the example sentence.
Natsuko: これは私にとって何よりも大切なものです。
Peter: For me, there is nothing more important than this but what’s this is the question. Next we have
Natsuko: おしゃれ
Peter: Smart dresser, stylist.
Natsuko: (slow)おしゃれ (natural speed)おしゃれ
Peter: Now this can be used as a な adjective as was the case in today’s’ dialogue. Natsuko san, what do we have?
Natsuko: おしゃれな人
Peter: A smart dressed person, a well dressed person. In Kobe, there are a lot of people like this. In today’s dialogue, we used it as a na adjective but it can also be used in different ways. Natsuko san.
Natsuko: おしゃれする
Peter: And what about if we wanted to say Yoshi san is stylish. How we say Yoshi san is stylish. Yoshi san has on some fine threads.
Natsuko: よしさんはおしゃれですね。
Peter: Next we have.
Yoshi: まるで
Peter: As if
Yoshi: (slow)まるで (natural speed)まるで
Peter: Now this is often paired with ようだ as if, looks as if. So まるで something, something ようだ. In the dialogue, what do we have Yoshi san?
Yoshi: まるで映画のようでした。
Peter: It was like a movie. Can we have an example sentence, Yoshi san?
Yoshi: その光景はまるで夢のようだった。
Peter: That site was like a dream. That scene was like a dream. Next.
Natsuko: 銀座
Peter: Place in Tokyo.
Natsuko: (slow)ぎんざ (natural speed)銀座

Lesson focus

Peter: Okay we spent a lot of time on vocabulary and time is winding down. We only have time to cover a few things in here. So what I’d like to take a look at first is Natsuko san
Natsuko: 温めてくれる人
Peter: Someone, a person to keep me warm. Now notice again in English, when we explain, the explanation of that person comes after. In Japanese, it precedes the noun. So here we have 温めて to warm, くれる to receive, to receive being warmed person is the literal translation but here we translate it as someone to keep me warm and yes on a cold night, you need one of those. Okay next point, we want to take a look at is
Natsuko: 行ってきました
Peter: We also had
Natsuko: 見てきました
Peter: Now this means when we attach くる to the て form of another verb, it means to go, to do that thing and come back. 行ってきました I went and came back 見てきました I saw and came back. This is the past tense. Now if this was the non-past tense, it would mean I will go, do that and come back 行ってきます. I will go and come back 見てきます, I will look and come back.

Outro

Peter: Okay more about this inside the PDF. We are going to have a nice write up plus lots of more PDF promises inside the PDF. All right, that’s going to do for today.
Natsuko: じゃ、また明日ね。
Yoshi: またね。

Kanji

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