Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Jessi: Make Sure You Have The Time of Your Life in Japan!
Naomi: ナオミです。(Naomi desu.)
Peter: Peter here. Okay, Naomi-sensei, what are we talking about today?
Naomi: Today we are continuing on with the taxi story line.
Peter: Now in the last lesson, Minami decided to take a taxi to Yokohama hotel and then, what happened?
Naomi: Hit traffic.
Peter: That’s right. So today we will find out what happens. Today what is the function? What are we talking about today, Naomi-sensei?
Naomi: Today we are talking about time.
Peter: And the grammar point is the particle
Naomi: から (kara)
Peter: Which means from. Now the conversation is between a customer and the taxi driver. So we will be using
Naomi: Polite Japanese.
Peter: And the conversation takes place
Naomi: In a taxi.
Peter: All right. So with that said, let’s get into today’s lesson.
DIALOGUE
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半!?うわー。(Roku-ji han?! Uwā.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 仕事ですか。(Shigoto desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : いえ。友達のパーティーです。(Ie. Tomodachi no pātī desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : ああ、パーティーですか。パーティーは 何時からですか。(Ā, pātī desu ka. Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半から です。(Roku-ji han kara desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 何時まで ですか。(Nan-ji made desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 八時半まで です。(Hachi-ji han made desu.)
もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半!?うわー。(Roku-ji han?! Uwā.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 仕事ですか。(Shigoto desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : いえ。友達のパーティーです。(Ie. Tomodachi no pātī desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : ああ、パーティーですか。パーティーは 何時からですか。(Ā, pātī desu ka. Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半から です。(Roku-ji han kara desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 何時まで ですか。(Nan-ji made desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 八時半まで です。(Hachi-ji han made desu.)
今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半!?うわー。(Roku-ji han?! Uwā.)
NATSUMI MINAMI: Half past six? Oh, no!
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 仕事ですか。(Shigoto desu ka.)
TAXI DRIVER: Heading to work?
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : いえ。友達のパーティーです。(Ie. Tomodachi no pātī desu.)
NATSUMI MINAMI: No. My friend's party.
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : ああ、パーティーですか。パーティーは 何時からですか。(Ā, pātī desu ka. Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
TAXI DRIVER: Oh, a party. What time does the party start?
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半から です。(Roku-ji han kara desu.)
NATSUMI MINAMI: At six thirty.
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 何時まで ですか。(Nan-ji made desu ka.)
TAXI DRIVER: What time does the party go until?
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 八時半まで です。(Hachi-ji han made desu.)
NATSUMI MINAMI: Until eight thirty.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: ナオミ先生、東京から横浜まで遠いですか。(Naomi-sensei, Tōkyō kara Yokohama made tōi desu ka.)
Naomi: It depends on where you are going in Yokohama and where you are now.
Peter: Okay, okay come on.
Naomi: でも、東京駅。(Demo, Tōkyō Eki. ) 駅 (eki) means station. 東京駅から横浜駅まで遠くないです。(Tōkyō Eki kara Yokohama Eki made tōkunai desu.)
Peter: So from Tokyo station to Yokohama station isn’t far.
Naomi: If you are taking a train.
Peter: Yeah, the express train is about 20 minutes?
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.)
Peter: So it’s really close.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.) Only 20分 (ni-juppun).
Peter: 近いですね。(Chikai desu ne.)
Naomi: はい。近いです。(Hai. Chikai desu.)
Peter: It’s close.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: So before I came to Japan, Tokyo and Yokohama are two really big cities. And you kind of imagine, two big cities very far away or far apart from each other, but these two cities are located quite near each other.
Naomi: 近いですね。(Chikai desu ne.)
Peter: とても近いです。 (Totemo chikai desu.)
VOCAB LIST
Peter: Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocab. First word.
Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto)
Peter: Work.
Naomi: (slow) しごと (shigoto) (natural speed) 仕事 (shigoto)
Peter: Starting out low, rising on ご (go) and staying high.
Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: パーティ (pātī)
Peter: Party.
Naomi: (slow) ぱーてぃ (pātī) (natural speed) パーティ (pātī)
Peter: Starts high, drops low on the second syllable and stays low.
Naomi: パーティ (pātī)
Peter: Next we have
Naomi: から (kara)
Peter: From.
Naomi: (slow) から (kara) (natural speed) から (kara)
Peter: Starts high and drops low.
Naomi: から (kara)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 友達 (tomodachi)
Peter: Friend.
Naomi: (slow) ともだち (tomodachi) (natural speed) 友達 (tomodachi)
Peter: Starts low, rises on も (mo) the second syllable and stays high.
Naomi: 友達 (tomodachi)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 8時半 (hachi-ji han)
Peter: 8:30.
Naomi: (slow) はちじはん (hachi-ji han) (natural speed) 8時半 (hachi-ji han)
Peter: Starts low, rises on ち (chi), the second syllable, stays high until the last syllable where it drops down.
Naomi: 8時半 (hachi-ji han)
Peter: Next.
Naomi: 6時半 (roku-ji han)
Peter: 6:30.
Naomi: (slow) ろくじはん (roku-ji han) (natural speed) 6時半 (roku-ji han)
Peter: Again starts low, rises on the second syllable the く (ku), stays high until the final syllable where it drops again.
Naomi: 6時半 (roku-ji han)

Lesson focus

Peter: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and let’s take a look at them being used. First we have
Naomi: 友達 (tomodachi)
Peter: Naomi-sensei, can you give us an example sentence, please?
Naomi: 私の友達はタクシーの運転手です。(Watashi no tomodachi wa takushī no untenshu desu.)
Peter: My friend is a taxi driver. Now let’s take a closer look at the sentence. First we have
Naomi: 私の (watashi no)
Peter: My. If you remember, 私 (watashi) is a personal pronoun that can mean either I or me depending on whether it’s the subject or the object. It will mean I or me respectively. When it’s followed by の (no), it becomes my, the possessive. My what?
Naomi: 友達 (tomodachi)
Peter: So my friend. This is followed by
Naomi: は (wa)
Peter: The topic marking particle. Then this is followed by
Naomi: タクシー (takushī)
Peter: Taxi. And taxi is followed by
Naomi: の (no)
Peter: So it’s possessive. Taxi’s
Naomi: 運転手 (untenshu)
Peter: Taxi’s driver literally and of course we can also go the other way. Driver of taxi. Taxi driver. So up until this point, we have my friend taxi driver
Naomi: です (desu)
Peter: Is. So my friend taxi driver is. My friend is a taxi driver. Now Naomi-sensei,
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: If my friend was a bus driver, it would be
Naomi: 私の友達はバスの運転手です。(Watashi no tomodachi wa basu no untenshu desu.)
Peter: So the only thing that changes here is
Naomi: タクシー (takushī) to バス (basu).
Peter: That’s it. All right let’s take a look at another vocab word. Next we have
Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto)
Peter: Work. Naomi-sensei, can you give us an example sentence?
Naomi: 仕事は何ですか。(Shigoto wa nan desu ka.)
Peter: What’s your job?
Naomi: But it’s not a very polite question. Is it?
Peter: Really?
Naomi: Like what’s your job. You use that phrase in a conversation?
Peter: While we don’t say it, it’s an easy way to ask somebody what they are doing. So I think it’s okay at this level.
Naomi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and if you put お (o) in front of 仕事 (shigoto), that makes the sentence more polite.
Peter: For example,
Naomi: お仕事は何ですか。(O-shigoto wa nan desu ka.)
Peter: What is your work? Same thing but now it’s much more polite and now you know, I think the more vague you get, the politer it becomes because if I met someone, I may just say お仕事 は?(o-shigoto wa?) with the rest inferred. And maybe it’s not that direct. So maybe it’s a little politer?
Naomi: That really depends on how you say it and what kind of facial expression you are wearing. And what kind of person you are but yeah お仕事は何ですか (o-shigoto wa nan desu ka) or お仕事は?(o-shigoto wa?) are perfectly acceptable.
Peter: Yeah, so see it’s just a matter of dressing this up to make it into a perfectly acceptable and a perfectly polite question and of course with the お仕事は?(o-shigoto wa?) what comes after it is inferred. So of course the お仕事は何ですか (o-shigoto wa nan desu ka) that 何ですか (nan desu ka), what is it is inferred. So that’s a very nice way of cleaning it up.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.)
Peter: Okay. Now let’s move on to today’s grammar point. Naomi-sensei, what is today’s grammar point?
Naomi: から (kara)
Peter: から (kara) is a particle used to indicate the starting position in this case of an action. Therefore we treat this as the English equivalent of from. The particle is often paired with まで (made), which when talking about time means until. So together, if you use から (kara) and まで (made) talking about time, you get the from until pattern. Let’s go back to where から (kara) appeared in this conversation. Can you repeat that sentence?
Naomi: パーティは何時からですか。(Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
Peter: What time is the party from? Let’s take a closer look at this sentence. First we have
Naomi: パーティは (pātī wa)
Peter: So the party, marked by the topic marking particle は (wa). This is followed by
Naomi: 何時 (nan-ji)
Peter: What time.
Naomi: から (kara)
Peter: From.
Naomi: です (desu)
Peter: Is.
Naomi: か (ka)
Peter: Question, party what time from is and of course, we translate this as what time is the party from or what time does the party start. Let’s give one more example how we can apply this. What was the answer in the conversation?
Naomi: In the conversation, it says 6時半からです (roku-ji han kara desu).
Peter: Literally 6:30 from is.
Naomi: But the subject is missing, right?
Peter: Yes, it’s inferred.
Naomi: はい。(Hai.) So the sentence should be パーティは6時半からです。(Pātī wa roku-ji han kara desu.)
Peter: The party is from 6:30, but we can leave it out because it was said in the previous sentence. Again so much can be inferred in Japanese and when things are inferred, the subject of the topic can be left out. So that allows us to say 6:30 from or in English, from 6:30.
Naomi: 6時半からです。(Roku-ji han kara desu.)
Peter: Let’s give a few more examples of how this works. Naomi-sensei, can we have an example sentence?
Naomi: 仕事は何時からですか。(Shigoto wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
Peter: Literally work from what time is, but of course we translate this as what time does your work start. Your work from what time. This is answered with
Naomi: 仕事は9時からです。(Shigoto wa ku-ji kara desu.)
Peter: My work starts at 9 o’ clock. I work from 9 o’ clock.
Naomi: Of course you could say 9時からです (ku-ji kara desu). That’s okay, too.
Peter: Leaving out
Naomi: 仕事は (shigoto wa)
Peter: To make it that much easier. Interestingly enough here, if we change the time. Say I start my work at 10 o’ clock
Naomi: 仕事は10時からです。(Shigoto wa jū-ji kara desu.)
Peter: The only thing that changes here is the time. Actually just the number in this sentence but again the time is the only thing that changes. The からです (kara desu) stays the same. My work starts from 10 o’ clock.
Naomi: 本当ですか。(Hontō desu ka.)
Peter: 本当ですよ。(Hontō desu yo.) From 10 o’ clock. All right, let’s try one more pattern and let’s incorporate the two particles we kind of touched on in the grammar section. The から (kara) with まで (made). Okay, so we are going to give you the pattern から (kara) from, まで (made) until. Naomi-sensei, what do we have first?
Naomi: 仕事は何時から何時までですか。(Shigoto wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka.)
Peter: From what time to until what time do you work? So we are twisting it a bit but.
Naomi: Yeah, it’s a little bit strange English. I mean to me it sounds no problem but….
Peter: But I just haven’t heard that pattern in a while. Let’s just go through this sentence. First we have
Naomi: 仕事は (shigoto wa)
Peter: The topic marked by the topic marking particle, followed by
Naomi: 何時から (nan-ji kara)
Peter: Literally what time from, but from what time. Then we have
Naomi: 何時まで (nan-ji made)
Peter: Literally what time until, but of course we translate this until what time.
Naomi: ですか (desu ka)
Peter: Is it. So from what time until what time do you work or is your work.
Naomi: 仕事は何時から何時までですか。(Shigoto wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka.)
Peter: And then the answer to this is
Naomi: 仕事は9時から5時までです。(Shigoto wa ku-ji kara go-ji made desu.)
Peter: My work is from 9 AM to 5 PM or until 5 PM.
Naomi: PM and AM are missing but people would understand.
Peter: Yeah.
Naomi: 大丈夫ですね。(Daijōbu desu ne.)
Peter: Unless you work in the night shift.

Outro

Peter: So with that said, that is going to do for today.
Naomi: じゃあ、さようなら。(Jā, sayōnara.)
DIALOGUE
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半!?うわー。(Roku-ji han?! Uwā.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 仕事ですか。(Shigoto desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : いえ。友達のパーティーです。(Ie. Tomodachi no pātī desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : ああ、パーティーですか。パーティーは 何時からですか。(Ā, pātī desu ka. Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 六時半から です。(Roku-ji han kara desu.)
タクシーの運転手 (Takushī no untenshu) : 何時まで ですか。(Nan-ji made desu ka.)
南 夏見 (Minami Natsumi) : 八時半まで です。(Hachi-ji han made desu.)

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