Learn about describing people's personalities and physical qualities
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Rebecca: What kind of people will Japanese help you find? |
| Naomi: Naomiです。 (Desu.) |
| Rebecca: Rebecca here. Naomi Sensei, こんにちは。 (kon'nichiwa.) |
| Naomi: こんにちは。 (Kon'nichiwa.) |
| Rebecca: お元気ですか。 (Ogenki desuka.) |
| Naomi: はい。でも、ちょっと風邪です。喉が痛いですね。 (Hai. Demo, chotto kaze desu. Nodo ga itai desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: That’s too bad. |
| Naomi: Yeah. でも、頑張ります。 (Demo, ganbarimasu.) レベッカさん (Rebekka-san), what are we studying today? |
| Rebecca: Today we are going to look at how to talk about your type as in what kind of person you like in a boy or girl. What sort of man or woman is your type? |
| Naomi: 面白そうですね。 (Omoshirosō desu ne.) Sounds interesting. |
| Rebecca: So we will be describing people’s personalities and their physical qualities and we are going to do this with the grammar function where you’ve got a noun followed by Ga, then an adjective, the another noun or a body part. So this will become clear as we go on. So today’s conversation is between… |
| Naomi: 西本秋、キム・ミヨン、東春人それからちょっと夏見南さんですね。 (Nishimoto Shū, Kimu Miyon, Higashi Haruhito sorekara chotto Natsumi Minami-san desu ne.) I think they are having lunch. |
| Rebecca: Okay and we will be listening to polite Japanese as usual. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Since they are coworkers. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ランチ |
| (Ranchi) |
| 西本 秋: ミヨンちゃんは どんな人が 好きですか。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Miyon-chan wa don'na hito ga suki desu ka. |
| キム ミヨン: 私は、頭がいい人が好きですね。東さんは？東さんは、どんな女の人がタイプですか？ |
| Miyon Kim: Watashi wa, atama ga ii hito ga suki desu ne. Higashi-san wa? Higashi-san wa, don'na on'na no hito ga taipu desu ka? |
| 東 春人: え？えっとぉ...。うーん。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: E? Ettō....Ū̄n. |
| キム ミヨン: 髪が長い人が 好きですか…それとも、髪が短い人が 好きですか。 |
| Miyon Kim: Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka… soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka. |
| 東 春人: いや、えっと...。うーん。気が強い人が 好きですよ。えっと、それから 声が大きい人が 好きです。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: Iya, etto. ... Ūn. Ki ga tsuyoi hito ga suki desu yo. Etto, sorekara koe ga ōkii hito ga suki desu. |
| 西本 秋: 気が 強い人...声が 大きい人...。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Ki ga tsuyoi hito... Koe ga ōkii hito.... |
| 南 夏見: ハッ、ハ、ハックション！うー。風邪かなあ。 |
| Natsumi Minami: Ha, ha, hakkushon! Ū. Kaze ka nā. |
| Naomi: もう一度おねがいします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| ランチ |
| (Ranchi) |
| 西本 秋: ミヨンちゃんは どんな人が 好きですか。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Miyon-chan wa don'na hito ga suki desu ka. |
| キム ミヨン: 私は、頭がいい人が好きですね。東さんは？東さんは、どんな女の人がタイプですか？ |
| Miyon Kim: Watashi wa, atama ga ii hito ga suki desu ne. Higashi-san wa? Higashi-san wa, don'na on'na no hito ga taipu desu ka? |
| 東 春人: え？えっとぉ...。うーん。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: E? Ettō....Ū̄n. |
| キム ミヨン: 髪が長い人が 好きですか…それとも、髪が短い人が 好きですか。 |
| Miyon Kim: Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka… soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka. |
| 東 春人: いや、えっと...。うーん。気が強い人が 好きですよ。えっと、それから 声が大きい人が 好きです。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: Iya, etto. ... Ūn. Ki ga tsuyoi hito ga suki desu yo. Etto, sorekara koe ga ōkii hito ga suki desu. |
| 西本 秋: 気が 強い人...声が 大きい人...。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Ki ga tsuyoi hito... Koe ga ōkii hito.... |
| 南 夏見: ハッ、ハ、ハックション！うー。風邪かなあ。 |
| Natsumi Minami: Ha, ha, hakkushon! Ū. Kaze ka nā. |
| Naomi: 今度は英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| ランチ |
| (Ranchi) |
| (Lunch) |
| 西本 秋: ミヨンちゃんは どんな人が 好きですか。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Miyon-chan wa don'na hito ga suki desu ka. |
| SHŪ NISHIMOTO: Miyon-chan, what kind of guys do you like? |
| キム ミヨン: 私は、頭がいい人が好きですね。東さんは？東さんは、どんな女の人がタイプですか？ |
| Miyon Kim: Watashi wa, atama ga ii hito ga suki desu ne. Higashi-san wa? Higashi-san wa, don'na on'naa no hito ga taipu desu ka? |
| MIYON KIM: I like smart guys. What about you, Higashi-san? What kind of |
| person is your type? |
| 東 春人: え？えっとぉ...。うーん。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: E? Ettō....Ū̄n. |
| HARUHITO HIGASHI:Ah...Uh... |
| キム ミヨン: 髪が長い人が 好きですか…それとも、髪が短い人が 好きですか。 |
| Miyon Kim: Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka… soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka. |
| MIYON KIM: Do you like people with long hair? or do you like people with short |
| hair? |
| 東 春人: いや、えっと...。うーん。気が強い人が 好きですよ。えっと、それから 声が大きい人が 好きです。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: Iya, etto. ... Ūn. Ki ga tsuyoi hito ga suki desu yo. Etto, sorekara koe ga ōkii hito ga suki desu. |
| HARUHITO HIGASHI:No, Uh...hmmm...I like strong minded people and I like people with |
| loud voices. |
| 西本 秋: 気が 強い人...声が 大きい人...。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Ki ga tsuyoi hito... Koe ga ōkii hito.... |
| SHŪ NISHIMOTO: strong minded people...people with loud voices... |
| 南 夏見: ハッ、ハ、ハックション！うー。風邪かなあ。 |
| Natsumi Minami: Ha, ha, hakkushon! Ū. Kaze ka nā. |
| NATSUMI MINAMI:I think I have a cold. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Rebecca: Well what did you think of today’s conversation? |
| Naomi: うーん、えーと (Ū̄n, ētto) I think 東さん (Higashi-san) likes 南 (Minami). |
| Rebecca: How can you tell? |
| Naomi: 東 (Higashi) said 気の強い人が好きです (ki no tsuyoi hito ga suki desu). |
| Rebecca: He said that he likes strong-minded people and he also said |
| Naomi: 声が大きい人が好きです (Koe ga ōkii hito ga suki desu) |
| Rebecca: And he likes people with a loud voice. Does that describe 南さん (Inami-san) |
| Naomi: The thing is she sneezed at the very last of the dialogue right. |
| Rebecca: Yeah. |
| Naomi: I think that’s a very Japanese thing. If you sneeze once, it means somebody is talking about you. |
| Rebecca: Oh really. Okay I didn’t know that. |
| Naomi: くしゃみ一つは良い噂 (Kushami hitotsu wa yoi uwasa) is rumor. |
| Rebecca: So one sneeze means people are saying nice things about you. |
| Naomi: Yes. |
| Rebecca: Okay. |
| Naomi: くしゃみ二つは、悪い噂 (Kushami futatsu wa, warui uwasa) |
| Rebecca: So two sneezes and they are saying bad things about you. |
| Naomi: そうですね。くしゃみ3つは、風邪。(Sō desu ne. Kushami mittsu wa, kaze.) |
| Rebecca: Three sneezes and you have a cold. Okay, I get it so if someone sneezes in Japan, people say oh someone is talking about you. |
| Naomi: そうですそうです。 (Sō desu sō desu.) So sometimes when people sneeze, they go like oh somebody is talking about me. |
| Rebecca: I see. So 東さん (Higashi-san) said that he likes strong-minded people with a loud voice and then she sneezed. It means a kind of he is talking about her. |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。 (Hai, sō desu.) |
| Rebecca: あーなるほど (Ā, naruhodo) I see. |
| Naomi: くしゃみはヒントですね。 (Kushami wa hinto desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: So the sneeze is a hint that 東 (Higashi) likes 南さん (Minami-san). |
| Naomi: そうです。 (Sō desu.) |
| Rebecca: Okay right. |
| Naomi: Yeah. People say different things about くしゃみ (Kushami). So I look at the Wikipedia and Wikipedia said, くしゃみ一つは、良い噂 (Kushami hitotsu wa, yoi uwasa). |
| Rebecca: So one sneeze is a good rumor about you. |
| Naomi: くしゃみ2つは、悪い噂 (Kushami futatsu wa, warui uwasa) |
| Rebecca: Two sneezes and people are saying bad things about you. |
| Naomi: くしゃみ３つは恋の噂 (Kushami mittsu wa koi no uwasa) |
| Rebecca: Three sneezes and they are talking about your romance or your love life or something. |
| Naomi: くしゃみ４つは (Kushami yottsu wa) Hay fever. |
| Rebecca: Four sneezes and you have Hay fever. Okay so there are a couple of versions of this saying. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: Well in the case of 東さん (Higashi-san) and 南さん (Minami-san) she should have sneezed three times. How many times did she sneeze, just once? |
| Naomi: Just once. |
| Rebecca: Well that’s a good rumor. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: Okay. next time. Next time somebody sneezes because you know in English we say bless you or something like that. In Japan you say someone is talking about you. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: Let’s have a look at today’s vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Rebecca: First item. |
| Naomi: 髪 (kami) |
| Rebecca: hair. |
| Naomi: (slow) かみ (kami) (natural speed) 髪 (kami) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: 短い (mijikai) |
| Rebecca: Short. This is an I- adjective. |
| Naomi: (slow) みじかい (mijikai) (natural speed) 短い (mijikai) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: それとも (soretomo) |
| Rebecca: Or. |
| Naomi: (slow) それとも (soretomo) (natural speed) それとも (soretomo) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: 気 (ki) |
| Rebecca: Feeling, temperament, mood. |
| Naomi: (slow)き (ki) (natural speed) 気 (ki) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: 強い (tsuyoi) |
| Rebecca: Strong, powerful. This is an I- adjective. |
| Naomi: (slow) つよい (tsuyoi) (natural speed) 強い (tsuyoi) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: 声 (koe) |
| Rebecca: Voice. |
| Naomi: (slow) こえ (koe) (natural speed) 声 (koe) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: 風邪 (kaze) |
| Rebecca: Cold as in a respiratory infection. |
| Naomi: (slow) かぜ (kaze) (natural speed) 風邪 (kaze) |
| Rebecca: Next. |
| Naomi: タイプ (taipu) |
| Rebecca: Type. |
| Naomi: (slow) たいぷ (taipu) (natural speed) タイプ (taipu) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Rebecca: Now let’s have a look at some of the more useful phrases from today’s conversation. The first phrase is |
| Naomi: 気が強い (ki ga tsuyoi) |
| Rebecca: Strong minded. |
| Naomi: 気 (Ki) means mood, mind, or temper and 強い (tsuyoi) is strong. So yeah 気が強い (ki ga tsuyoi) strong minded. Usually carries negative meaning. |
| Rebecca: Really? |
| Naomi: Yeah. |
| Rebecca: So some other examples of how to use 気 (ki) or 気が (ki ga) something to talk about people’s personalities. Some other examples would be |
| Naomi: 弱い (Yowai) is weak. So 気が弱い (ki ga yowai) will be |
| Rebecca: Timid. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) The person’s spirit is weak. So chicken-hearted. |
| Rebecca: Yeah okay. |
| Naomi: 私は、気が弱いです。 (Watashi wa, ki ga yowai desu.) |
| Rebecca: 気が弱い。ほんとですか (Ki ga yowai. Honto desu ka) |
| Naomi: レベッカさんは、気が強いですか、気が弱いですか。 (Rebekka-san wa, ki ga tsuyoi desu ka, ki ga yowai desu ka.) |
| Rebecca: どっちなんだろうね。気が弱いかもしれませんね。 (Dotchi nandarou ne. Ki ga yowai kamo shiremasen ne.) |
| Naomi: We have both 気が弱い (Ki ga yowai) |
| Rebecca: So another phrase is 気が長い (ki ga nagai) and 長い (nagai) means long. So 気が長い (ki ga nagai) is your temper is long. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Well not sure temper. |
| Rebecca: Yeah literally you are patient. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) patient. |
| Rebecca: Someone with a lot of patience. And then the opposite of that is. |
| Naomi: 気が短い (Ki ga mijikai) |
| Rebecca: Your temper is short. You are short tempered. |
| Naomi: そうですね。レベッカさんは、気が長いですか、気が短いですか。 (Sō desu ne. Rebekka-san wa, ki ga nagai desu ka, ki ga mijikai desu ka.) |
| Rebecca: どうかな。気が長いかな。 (Dō ka na. Ki ga nagai ka na.) Maybe I am patient, depends. |
| Naomi: そう、そうですよね。私も、気が長いです。 (Sō, sō desu yo ne. Watashi mo, ki ga nagai desu.) |
| Rebecca: You are patient at work but at home, you are not. |
| Naomi: To my mother 気が短いです. (Ki ga mijikai desu). |
| Rebecca: Yeah me too, probably, with my family. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: Alright. Now let’s have a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Rebecca:Today we are going to be looking at how to talk about your preference by using a modified noun and the example is… |
| Naomi: 髪が長い人が好きですか、それとも、髪が短い人が好きですか。 (Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka, soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka.) |
| Rebecca: Now to break this down, 髪が長い人 (kami ga nagai hito) is a person who has long hair. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Rebecca: The noun 人 (hito) is being modified by the phrase 髪が長い (kami ga nagai). So literally what Naomi Sensei just said was do you like people with long hair or do you like people with short hair? |
| Naomi: それとも (Soretomo) means or. |
| Rebecca: Can we have the sentence again just a recap. |
| Naomi: 髪が長い人が好きですか、それとも、髪が短い人が好きですか。 (Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka, soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka.) |
| Rebecca: So I think we’ve got that. Let’s use another example. In the previous lesson, we learned how to say |
| Naomi: チワワは目が大きいです。 (Chiwawa wa me ga ōkii desu.) |
| Rebecca: Yeah チワワ (Chiwawa) have big eyes. So using today’s grammar point, we are going to modify the noun dog using have big eyes. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Dog is 犬 (inu) in Japanese. |
| Rebecca: So we would say |
| Naomi: チワワは目が大きい犬です。 (Chiwawa wa me ga ōkii inu desu.) |
| Rebecca: Chiwawas are the dogs with big eyes. One more time. |
| Naomi: チワワは目が大きい犬です。 (Chiwawa wa me ga ōkii inu desu.) |
| Rebecca: There is a more detailed description of how to do this grammar point in the PDFs. So if you’d like to check that out, please do so. |
| Naomi: レベッカさん、犬が好きですか。 (Rebekka-san, inu ga suki desu ka.) |
| Rebecca: Yes. I like dogs. |
| Naomi: どんな犬が好きですか。 (Don'na inu ga suki desu ka.) What kind of dogs do you like? |
| Rebecca: 体が大きい犬がすきです。 (Karada ga ōkii inu ga suki desu.) |
| Naomi: 体が大きい犬がすきですか。体は (Karada ga ōkii inu ga suki desu ka. Karada wa), body ですね (desu ne). |
| Rebecca: Yes. |
| Naomi: So you like big dog? |
| Rebecca: Yeah I prefer dogs that are large size dogs like I don’t know. Well, we have a Rottweiler in our family. I think it’s not very well known in Japan, that breed. It has a very scary reputation overseas but she is really lovely, trust me. |
| Naomi:そうなんですか。私は、小さい犬が好きです。 (Sō nan desu ka. Watashi wa, chiisai inu ga suki desu.) I have Beagle. |
| Rebecca: You have a Beagle. Oh okay, they are very smart I hear. |
| Naomi: ビーグルは、頭が良いです。でも、私の犬は、頭が悪い犬です。 (Bīguru wa, atama ga ii desu. Demo, watashi no inu wa, atama ga warui inu desu.) |
| Rebecca: Oh the poor thing. So usually Beagles are smart but your Beagle is not. |
| Naomi: Too bad. |
| Rebecca: Oh dear. |
| Naomi: But I still like him. |
| Rebecca: What’s his name? |
| Naomi: ぽんた。 (Ponta.) |
| Rebecca: ぽんた (Ponta) What does ぽんた (ponta) mean? |
| Naomi: I have a cousin. His name is けんた (Kenta) and けんた (Kenta) named the dog ぽんた (Ponta.). I don’t know why he chose that name. |
| Rebecca: 言葉遊び。 (Kotoba asobi.) |
| Naomi: 言葉遊びかな。 (Kotoba asobi ka na.) |
| Rebecca: Just playing with words. Okay, well みなさんは、どんな犬が好きですか (mina-san wa, don'na inu ga suki desu ka). |
| Naomi: Or どんな人がタイプですか (don'na hito ga taipu desu ka). |
Outro |
| Rebecca: 教えてください。 (Oshiete kudasai.) Please leave us a post. |
| Naomi: じゃあまた。 (Jā mata.) |
| Rebecca: See you next time. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 西本 秋: ミヨンちゃんは どんな人が 好きですか。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Miyon-chan wa don'na hito ga suki desu ka. |
| キム ミヨン: 私は、頭がいい人が好きですね。東さんは？東さんは、どんな女の人がタイプですか？ |
| Miyon Kim: Watashi wa, atamagaī hito ga suki desu ne. Higashi-san wa? Higashi-san wa, don'na on'anohito ga taipu desu ka? |
| 東 春人: え？えっとぉ...。うーん。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: E? Ettō....Ū̄n. |
| キム ミヨン: 髪が長い人が 好きですか…それとも、髪が短い人が 好きですか。 |
| Miyon Kim: Kami ga nagai hito ga suki desu ka… soretomo, kami ga mijikai hito ga suki desu ka. |
| 東 春人: いや、えっと...。うーん。気が強い人が 好きですよ。えっと、それから 声が大きい人が 好きです。 |
| Haruhito Higashi: Iya, etto. ... Ūn. Ki ga tsuyoi hito ga suki desu yo. Etto, sorekara koe ga ōkii hito ga suki desu. |
| 西本 秋: 気が 強い人...声が 大きい人...。 |
| Shū Nishimoto: Ki ga tsuyoi hito... Koe ga ōkii hito.... |
| 南 夏見: ハッ、ハ、ハックション！うー。風邪かなあ。 |
| Natsumi Minami: Ha, ha, hakkushon! Ū. Kaze ka nā. |
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