Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Rebecca: Did you get everyone Japanese Souvenirs?
Naomi: Naomiです (desu).
Rebecca: Rebecca here.
Naomi: 最後のレッスンですね。 (Saigo no ressun desu ne.)
Rebecca: Yep, it's our last lesson. Well today we are going to be looking at giving お土産 (o-miyage).
Naomi: お土産。 (o-miyage.)
Rebecca: お土産。 (o-miyage.)
Naomi: お土産は何ですか。 (o-miyage wa nan desu ka.) Souvenir?
Rebecca: Yeah they are souvenirs. I think perhaps the culture, souvenir culture in Japan and elsewhere is different. So maybe we should talk about that later. What’s today’s conversation going to be about?
Naomi: 今日はファブリツィオが四国から帰りました。 (Kyō wa Faburitsio ga Shikoku kara kaerimashita.)
Rebecca: Fabrizio came back from his trip to Shikoku.
Naomi: And he is giving his お土産 (o-miyage) to his coworker.
Rebecca: Right. So he is giving his colleague some お土産 (o-miyage), some souvenirs. So we will be listening to polite Japanese as usual because the conversation takes place among colleagues and today’s conversation is using the grammar that we have already learned in the Style You and Beyond series.
Naomi: そうですね。復習のレッスンですね。 (Sō desu ne. Fukushū no ressun desu ne.) Review lesson.
Rebecca: So let’s listen to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
ファブリツィオ: ただいまぁ。みなさん。四国の お土産、一六タルトです。私と 
冬果さんから です。どうぞ。甘くて 美味しいですよ。
Fabrizio: Tadaimā. Mina-san. Shikoku no o-miyage, ichiroku-taruto desu. Watashi to Fuyuka-san kara desu. Dōzo. Amakute oishii desu yo.
キム ミヨン: うわー。ありがとうございます。天気は どうでしたか。
Kim Miyon: Uwā. Arigatō gozaimasu. Tenki wa dō deshita ka.
ファブリツィオ: 毎日、良い天気でした。でも、ちょっと寒かったです。
Fabrizio: Mainichi, yoi tenki deshita. Demo, chotto samukatta desu.
東 春人: へぇー。道後温泉には 行きましたか。
Higashi Haruhito: Hē. Dōgo-onsen ni wa ikimashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: はい。とても 良い温泉でした。こんぴらさんへも 行きました。
Fabrizio: Hai. Totemo yoi onsen deshita. Konpira-san e mo ikimashita.
南 夏見: うどんは 食べましたか。
Minami Natsumi: Udon wa tabemashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: もちろん、食べました。安くて すごく美味しかったです。そうそ
う、それから 内緒ですが、冬果さんの 運転は 下手で 怖かったで
す。
Fabrizio: Mochiron, tabemashita. Yasukute sugoku oishikatta desu. Sō sō, sore kara naisho desu ga, Fuyuka-san no unten wa heta de kowakatta desu.
皆: あはははは。
Everyone: Ahahahaha.
ファブリツィオ: あ...秋。秋は コルダクルミさんの ファンですね。
Fabrizio: A... Shū. Shū wa Koruda Kurumi-san no fan desu ne.
秋: ...え...あ...そうですが…。
Shuu: ... E... A... Sō desu ga….
ファブリツィオ: はい。どうぞ。四国のお土産です。
Fabrizio: Hai. Dō zo. Shikoku no o-miyage desu.
秋: え...これ...コルダクルミのサイン??ありがとう! ファブリツィオ!
Shuu: E... Kore... Koruda Kurumi no sain?? Arigatō! Faburitsio!
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 onegaishimasu.)
ファブリツィオ: ただいまぁ。みなさん。四国の お土産、一六タルトです。私と 
冬果さんから です。どうぞ。甘くて 美味しいですよ。
Fabrizio: Tadaimā. Mina-san. Shikoku no o-miyage, ichiroku-taruto desu. Watashi to Fuyuka-san kara desu. Dōzo. Amakute oishii desu yo.
キム ミヨン: うわー。ありがとうございます。天気は どうでしたか。
Kim Miyon: Uwā. Arigatō gozaimasu. Tenki wa dō deshita ka.
ファブリツィオ: 毎日、良い天気でした。でも、ちょっと寒かったです。
Fabrizio: Mainichi, yoi tenki deshita. Demo, chotto samukatta desu.
東 春人: へぇー。道後温泉には 行きましたか。
Higashi Haruhito: Hē. Dōgo-onsen ni wa ikimashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: はい。とても 良い温泉でした。こんぴらさんへも 行きました。
Fabrizio: Hai. Totemo yoi onsen deshita. Konpira-san e mo ikimashita.
南 夏見: うどんは 食べましたか。
Minami Natsumi: Udon wa tabemashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: もちろん、食べました。安くて すごく美味しかったです。そうそ
う、それから 内緒ですが、冬果さんの 運転は 下手で 怖かったで
す。
Fabrizio: Mochiron, tabemashita. Yasukute sugoku oishikatta desu. Sō sō, sore kara naisho desu ga, Fuyuka-san no unten wa heta de kowakatta desu.
皆: あはははは。
Everyone: Ahahahaha.
ファブリツィオ: あ...秋。秋は コルダクルミさんの ファンですね。
Fabrizio: A... Shū. Shū wa Koruda Kurumi-san no fan desu ne.
秋: ...え...あ...そうですが…。
Shuu: ... E... A... Sō desu ga….
ファブリツィオ: はい。どうぞ。四国のお土産です。
Fabrizio: Hai. Dō zo. Shikoku no o-miyage desu.
秋: え...これ...コルダクルミのサイン??ありがとう! ファブリツィオ!
Shuu: E... Kore... Koruda Kurumi no sain?? Arigatō! Faburitsio!
Naomi: 今度は英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa eigo ga hairimasu.)
ファブリツィオ: ただいまぁ。みなさん。四国の お土産、一六タルトです。私と 
冬果さんから です。どうぞ。甘くて 美味しいですよ。
Fabrizio: Tadaimā. Mina-san. Shikoku no o-miyage, ichiroku-taruto desu. Watashi to Fuyuka-san kara desu. Dōzo. Amakute oishii desu yo.
FABRIZIO: I’m back. Mina-san. I brought Ichiroku-tart as a souvenir from
Shikoku. It’s from Fuyuka-san and me. Please have some. It’s sweet
and tasty
キム ミヨン: うわー。ありがとうございます。天気は どうでしたか。
Kim Miyon: Uwā. Arigatō gozaimasu. Tenki wa dō deshita ka.
KIM MIYON: Wow, thank you. How was the weather?
ファブリツィオ: 毎日、良い天気でした。でも、ちょっと寒かったです。
Fabrizio: Mainichi, yoi tenki deshita. Demo, chotto samukatta desu.
FABRIZIO: We had good weather every day, but it was a little bit cold.
東 春人: へぇー。道後温泉には 行きましたか。
Higashi Haruhito: Hē. Dōgo-onsen ni wa ikimashita ka.
HIGASHI HARUHITO:I see. Did you go to Dougo-hot spring?
ファブリツィオ: はい。とても 良い温泉でした。こんぴらさんへも 行きました。
Fabrizio: Hai. Totemo yoi onsen deshita. Konpira-san e mo ikimashita.
FABRIZIO: Yes, we did. It was very nice hot spring. We also went to Konpirasan.
南 夏見: うどんは 食べましたか。
Minami Natsumi: Udon wa tabemashita ka.
MINAMI NATSUMI:Did you eat udon?
ファブリツィオ: もちろん、食べました。安くて すごく美味しかったです。そうそ
う、それから 内緒ですが、冬果さんの 運転は 下手で 怖かったで
す。
Fabrizio: Mochiron, tabemashita. Yasukute sugoku oishikatta desu. Sō sō, sore kara naisho desu ga, Fuyuka-san no unten wa heta de kowakatta desu.
FABRIZIO: Of course, I did. It was cheap and delicious. Oh, there’s more. You
can’t tell this Fuyuka, but she is terrible at driving and it was scary.
皆: あはははは。
Everyone: Ahahahaha.
EVERYONE: Hahahahaha.
ファブリツィオ: あ...秋。秋は コルダクルミさんの ファンですね。
Fabrizio: A... Shū. Shū wa Koruda Kurumi-san no fan desu ne.
FABRIZIO: Hey, Shuu. You are a fan of Koroda Kurumi, right?
秋: ...え...あ...そうですが…。
Shuu: ... E... A... Sō desu ga….
SHUU: Ah.. yeah...
ファブリツィオ: はい。どうぞ。四国のお土産です。
Fabrizio: Hai. Dō zo. Shikoku no o-miyage desu.
FABRIZIO: Here you are. It’s a souvenir from Shikoku.
秋: え...これ...コルダクルミのサイン??ありがとう! ファブリツィオ!
Shuu: E... Kore... Koruda Kurumi no sain?? Arigatō! Faburitsio!
SHUU: Is... this an autograph of Koroda Kurumi?? Thank you, Fabrizio!!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Rebecca: Yeah Naomi Sensei and I have been having a really interesting conversation about お土産 (miyage) and it turns out, it is very different in – well any way in Australia to what it is in Japan and if you are going to translate お土産 (o-miyage) you can translate it as a Souvenirs right but お土産 (o-miyage) correct me if I am wrong Naomi Sensei but お土産 (o-miyage) in Japan is usually something you give to other people.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Most of the time yes for my neighbors, colleagues, friends.
Rebecca: I think that if you say Souvenir in English, to me anyway that means something I bought on my travel to remind me of the experiences I had there. It’s not necessarily something that I give to other people.
Naomi: そうなんですか。 (Sōna n desu ka.)
Rebecca: Like sometimes I will buy stuff overseas to give to people but I think of that more as a present than a souvenir.
Naomi: これ、お土産です (Kore, o-miyagedesu) This is a souvenir for you. You don’t say that.
Rebecca: I think it’s more like what you’ve experienced. It’s a reminder of what you’ve experienced yourself. So I bought you a souvenir. You could say that but I don’t know. It just feels kind of strange yeah. I got you a present or I got you this when I was overseas. It’s not really a souvenir for that person because they haven’t actually been there.
Naomi: 面白い (omoshiroi)
Rebecca: Maybe I am thinking about this too closely but any way certainly お土産 (o-miyage) culture in Japan is very different to souvenir culture if there is such a thing in Australia. We don’t bring back boxes and boxes of sweets and all sorts of tiny little things every time we go away to give to everybody. It’s not really the done thing.
Naomi: そうですか。 (Sō desu ka.)
Rebecca: Because you mentioned that you give some to your neighbors and to your coworkers and this kind of thing.
Naomi: 大変ですね。 (Taihen desu ne.)
Rebecca: Yeah apparently it’s quite stressful. It can be quite stressful for people who go.
Naomi: Yeah. I like shopping. So buying お土産 (o-miyage) doesn’t bother me but for the people who don’t like shopping yeah especially men.
Rebecca: There is a lot of pressure you have to bring back お土産 (o-miyage). It’s rude isn’t it if you go away on holidays from your workplace and then don’t give anyone anything when you come back.
Naomi: It’s not rude but if you took day offs, I think most people bring back their お土産 (o-miyage).
Rebecca: Right yeah. You know I saw a really interesting thing at Narita airport the other day. I was in Terminal 1 I think it is and there is an international Souvenir stand right at the back and it’s got souvenirs from Italy and France and all over the world and what you do is before you go on holidays, you order your お土産 (o-miyage) there. You know you can get boxes of chocolate or I don’t know, socks or I don’t know what they sell but any way you can order your Italian souvenirs at Narita airport and they will deliver it to your house in time for when you get back. So you don’t actually have to buy anything in Italy and carry it all the way home. You can buy it at Narita.
Naomi: Wow.
Rebecca: And I thought yeah, and I thought well this is really, this is really very Japanese way of doing the whole Souvenir thing. I mean so you buy stuff for your friends or whatever.
Naomi: So the お土産 (o-miyage) shop is located in a departure area.
Rebecca: Yes.
Naomi: Wow.
Rebecca: So you go there and you order your 15 boxes of Italian chocolate or whatever and they will have it delivered to your home in time for when you get back from your Italian holiday so you don’t actually have to buy it in Italy and take it all the way back home in your suitcase and it saves a lot of trouble.
Naomi: There are so many souvenir shops in Tokyo station too. People who went on a business trip.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Naomi: And came back to Tokyo station and they buy お土産 (o-miyage) there.
Rebecca: Right not from Tokyo right. This お土産 (o-miyage) are from
Naomi: From all over Japan.
Rebecca: I didn’t know that okay. So you don’t have to buy it at your destination. You can buy it when you get back to Tokyo and…
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: See that kind of defeats the purpose of getting a souvenir. To me that seems like strange. A souvenir is something that you buy where you go. That seems like in Japan, what’s more important is that you bring something to give to your friends as long as they don’t know you didn’t get it actually in Italy or whatever. It doesn’t matter. I mean it’s just a different idea of what a souvenir is.
Naomi: Souvenir の, お土産の土産 (no, o-miyage no miyage). The Kanji 土産 (miyage) is like birth.
Rebecca: Right.
Naomi: So there is something which is from that area is the meaning of お土産 (o-miyage).
Rebecca: Yeah.
Naomi: オーストラリアのお土産でTimTamを買ってきました。 (Ōsutoraria no o-miyage de timutamu o katte kimashita.)
Rebecca: Oh Tim Tams yeah.
Naomi: Tim Tam store. コアラのチョコレート (koara no chokorēto)
Rebecca: Yeah, yeah.
Naomi: I forgot the name.
Rebecca: Caramello Koalas.
Naomi: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebecca: Is that a chocolate?
Naomi: There is caramel.
Rebecca: Yeah, yeah well I forgot about them.
Naomi: 私は、TimTamとコアラベアー? (Watashi wa, timutamu to koarabeā?)
Rebecca: Caramello Koalas
Naomi: Caramello Koalas
Rebecca: Yeah with just a little plug for Cadbury there. They give us free Caramello Koalas.
Naomi: Caramello Koalas とTimTamのお土産をオーストラリアで買いました (to timutamu no o-miyage o ōsutoraria de kaimashita).
Rebecca: See they are good although Tim Tams, they are sort of a bit hard to give to people. Aren’t they like you can’t – you have to give them the whole pack.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) なので (Nanode) to my coworkers.
Rebecca: Right okay. Well actually I have bought omiyage the Japanese way once when I went to Australia, I came back and I forgot to get somebody omiyage. So I went to Kichijoji which is a place in Tokyo which is great to get lots of international foods. It’s very easy to find Tim Tams there. So I went and I bought them some Tim Tams from Kichijoji. I forgot to buy them a present, yeah.
Rebecca: Yeah I know. Well I was still an Australian souvenir. It was just you know via way of Tokyo.
Naomi: 恥ずかしいね。 (Hazukashii ne.)
Rebecca: Little embarrassed. Anyway if you come, that’s actually another interesting thing to talk about is when you give someone omiyage or maybe I don’t know if you call this omiyage but if any of our listeners were to go to a host family, they would bring things from their home country.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) お土産は多分必要ですね。 (o-miyage wa tabun hitsuyō desu ne.)
Rebecca: So you would call that omiyage if you bring a gift from your home town yeah. So see I don’t know if we call that souvenirs in English either. That would be a present but anyway so you need to bring gifts from your home country or your hometown if you go and visit a host family and another thing I find really interesting is that you give it as soon as you arrive or you don’t give it at the end of the visit. You give it at the start of the visit right? Sort of to say よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu).
Naomi: よろしくお願いします (Yoroshiku onegaishimasu) and omiyage would be really nice topic to talk about with your host family.
Rebecca: Yeah that’s right. So you arrive, you can give them Tim Tams or something and explain about Australian food and…
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: It gives you a topic of conversation.
Naomi: はい。 (Hai.)
Rebecca: Yeah I didn’t know about giving that straight away like when you first arrived. We had a lot of host brothers and sisters come to stay at my house. So I knew that that was what you did in Japan because they would always give us presents on the first night and so when I went to Japan for the first time, I gave presents on the first night but I think probably it’s more common in Australia any way to give a present at the end of your visit to say thank you for having me.
Naomi: 知らなかった。そうなんですか。 (Shiranakatta. Sōna n desu ka.)
Rebecca: Rather than よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu) thank you for having me. Thank you for your trouble.
Naomi: 勉強になりました (Benkyō ni narimashita) I didn’t know that.
Rebecca: It’s not rude to give it at the start, not at all but I think it’s probably more common to do it at the end if you are Australian.
Naomi: 面白い、面白い。 (Omoshiroi, omoshiroi.)
Rebecca: Yeah it’s interesting how something like gift giving can be so different so this omiyage. Okay so well let’s have a look at today’s vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Rebecca: Now the first item is.
Naomi: お土産 (o-miyage)
Rebecca: Meaning souvenir or present.
Naomi: (slow) おみやげ (omiyage) (natural speed) お土産 (o-miyage)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 一六タルト (ichiroku taruto)
Rebecca: A famous local sweet from Matsuyama in Shikoku.
Naomi: (slow) いちろくたると (ichiroku taruto) (natural speed) 一六タルト (ichiroku taruto)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 甘い (amai)
Rebecca: Sweet. This is an I adjective.
Naomi: (slow) あまい (amai) (natural speed) 甘い (amai)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 天気 (tenki)
Rebecca: With the elements.
Naomi: (slow) てんき (tenki) (natural speed) 天気 (tenki)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 寒い (samui)
Rebecca: Cold. This is an I adjective.
Naomi: (slow) さむい (samui) (natural speed) 寒い (samui)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 内緒 (naisho)
Rebecca: Secret, secrecy.
Naomi: (slow) ないしょ (naisho) (natural speed) 内緒 (naisho)
Rebecca: Next item.
Naomi: 下手 (heta)
Rebecca: Not good at, not skillful.
Naomi: (slow) へた (heta) (natural speed) 下手 (heta)
Rebecca: Last item.
Naomi: ファン (fan)
Rebecca: A fan, a supporter.
Naomi: (slow) ふぁん (fan) (natural speed) ファン (fan)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Rebecca: In today’s vocab section, we will be looking at an expression from the dialogue which is
Naomi: いい天気 (Ii tenki)
Rebecca: Good weather, nice weather. Naomi Sensei, can you explain what each element in this phrase means?
Naomi: いい (Ii) means good, 天気 (tenki) means weather.
Rebecca: Okay pretty easy.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: So a sample sentence.
Naomi: わあー今日は良い天気ですね。 (Wā ̄ kyō wa yoi tenki desu ne.)
Rebecca: Wow it’s a great day today. Isn’t it.
Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) 天気 (Tenki) itself means good weather. So you could say 今日は天気ですね (kyō wa tenki desu ne).
Rebecca: Yeah I have heard that. That’s kind of the first time it’s sort of は (wa)? It’s weather today.
Naomi: It’s weather today.
Rebecca: Yeah and it’s not short for – sometimes people say 今日はお天気ですね (kyō wa otenki desu ne).
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: They put an O on it.
Naomi: お天気 (Otenki) is more common word for good weather.
Rebecca: Right. So if you hear 天気 (tenki) by itself or just お天気 (otenki) without any adjective describing what kind of 天気 (tenki), what kind of weather, then that means it’s good weather.
Naomi: そうですね。「お天気屋さん」知ってます? (Sō desu ne. `Otenki-ya-san' shittemasu?)
Rebecca: No, what does that mean?
Naomi: Otenki is good weather.
Rebecca: Right.
Naomi: And 屋 (ya) is shop or business place.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Naomi: And さん (san) is like Mister or Miss. お天気屋さん (Otenki-ya-san) is a person who changes their personality according to their feeling. When you are happy, you are super happy but when you are in a bad mood, you could be so mean to people.
Rebecca: Okay. So we call that a temperamental person I think. We don’t really have a phrase or maybe we do. They are just not very nice. So… Otenki-ya.
Naomi: Otenkiya.
Rebecca: Okay well this is – it’s a slight aggression but what about 晴れ女 晴れ男 (hare on'na hareotoko)
Naomi: 私はね、雨女です。 (Watashi wa ne, ame on'na desu.)
Rebecca: Okay. So, 雨女 (ame on'na) you are a rain girl.
Naomi: That means everywhere I go it rains.
Rebecca: So on your big day or you are organizing a picnic or it’s your wedding or something, it’s going to rain.
Naomi: はい、そうです。 (Hai, sō desu.)
Rebecca: And the opposite is 晴れ女 (hare on'na).
Naomi: 晴れ女. (Hare on'na.)
Rebecca: For someone who the weather is always nice for on that special day.
Naomi: 晴れ (Hare) is sunny.
Rebecca: Yeah. And you can say 晴れ男 (hareotoko).
Naomi: そうですね。レベッカさんは晴れ女、それとも雨女 (Sō desu ne. Rebekka-san wa hare on'na, soretomo ame on'na)
Rebecca: Well it doesn’t rain much in Australia so it’s fine most of the time.
Naomi: でも (Demo) You are not Otenkiya?
Rebecca: I don’t know. Am I?
Naomi: I think so. No you are not お天気屋さん (otenki-ya-san).
Rebecca: 有難うございます (Arigatō gozaimasu) Thank you.
Naomi: Let’s do one more sentence. 天気はどうでしたか (Tenki wa dōdeshita ka)
Rebecca: How is the weather?
Naomi: 天気 (tenki)
Rebecca: Weather.
Naomi: は (wa)
Rebecca: The topic marker.
Naomi: どう (dō)
Rebecca: How.
Naomi: でした (deshita)
Rebecca: Past form of the copular です (desu)
Naomi: か (ka)
Rebecca: Question marker.
Naomi: Weather how was it? という感じですね。 (To iu kanji desu ne.)
Rebecca: Yeah it’s like opposite to English or round the other way. How is the weather? And the last expression that we will look at from today’s dialogue is
Naomi: 下手 (heta)
Rebecca: Not skillful.
Naomi: It’s a Na ending adjective right 下手な (heta na)
Rebecca: 下手な (Heta na), yeah that’s right and the opposite is
Naomi: 上手 (Jōzu) which means to be good at or to be skillful at.
Rebecca: And in the dialogue, we heard Fabrizio complaining about Fuyuka’s driving. That was when we heard 下手 (heta)
Naomi: そうですね。下手で怖かったです。(Sō desu ne. Heta de kowakatta desu.)
Rebecca: She was really bad and I was frightened. He was a really terrible driver.
Naomi: 下手 (Heta) and 上手 (jōzu) are irregular reading
Rebecca: Of the Kanji?
Naomi: はい (Hai). So you should be very careful.
Rebecca: Oh, yeah right! I see. Coz some of you looking at the PDF will notice that 下手 (heta) is written with the kanji for “down” 下 (shita), or “under”, and then 手 (te), which is “hand”. And 上手 (jōzu) is written with the kanji for “up” or “above” 上 (jō), and again the kanji for 手 (te) “hand”. And the readings of those kanji’s are a little unusual. Normally 下 (shita) is not read as へ (e). 上手? (Jōzu?)
Naomi: 上手の「手」もちょっと違う。 (Jōzu no `te' mo chotto chigau.)
Rebecca: Ok, the ず (zu) reading of the hand kanji is unusual. So you just have to remember, these are a little bit odd, but you’ll hear them a lot of time probably.
Naomi: そうですね。下手な歌手 (Sō desu ne. Hetana kashu)
Rebecca: Terrible singer.
Naomi: 下手な歌だなとか (Hetana utada na toka)
Rebecca: A really bad song, no good. And then when you say something in Japanese 日本語がお上手ですね (Nihongo ga o jōzu desu ne). You’ll hear that quite a lot, even if you’re 下手 (heta). Especially if you’re 下手 (heta), because people would want to encourage you and make you feel good so they’ll say you’re 上手 (jōzu), even if you’re 下手 (heta) to make you feel better.
Naomi: They’re trying to be nice.
Rebecca: They’re trying to be nice, yeah that’s right, I think so too. They’re trying to encourage you.
Naomi: Since Japanese people are bad at foreign languages, we feel happy when the foreigner tried to speak Japanese.
Rebecca: Yeah, so you’ll hear people say that you’re 上手, because they want to express their happiness.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Or they like you, probably.
Rebecca: Yes.

Lesson focus

Rebecca: Now we don’t have a new grammar point today, we’ll be reviewing using the past tense. So Naomi-先生 (sensei) and I are going to have a conversation, a short dialogue in Japanese, see if you can listen to our conversation and follow what we’re saying.
Naomi: 十一月に名古屋に行きました。 (11Gatsu ni nagoya ni ikimashita.)
Rebecca: へ、どうして? (E, dōshite?)
Naomi: 友達のウェディングです。 (Tomodachi no wedingu desu.)
Rebecca: 名古屋城に行きましたか。 (Nagoya-jō ni ikimashita ka.)
Naomi: Nagoya Castle? いいえ、行きませんでした。忙しかったです。 (Iie, ikimasen deshita. )
Rebecca: So did you follow what we were saying? Naomi先生 (sensei) went to Nagoya in November.
Naomi: はい。 (Hai.)
Rebecca: And I said “why?”
Naomi: どうして? (Dōshite?)
Rebecca: And she said...
Naomi: 友達のウェディングです。 (Tomodachi no wedingu desu.)
Rebecca: For my friend’s wedding
Naomi: はい。 (Hai.)
Rebecca: And I asked her if she has been to 名古屋城 (nagoya-jō) to Nagoya Castle.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) 名古屋 (Nagoya) is Nagoya, and 城 (shiro) is castle. So castle in Nagoya.
Rebecca: There’s a famou castle in Nagoya, is it a reconstruction though?
Naomi: Yeah.
Rebecca: It’s a rebuild of an old castle. And Naomi先生 (sensei) said that she hadn’t.
Naomi: 行きませんでした。 (Ikimasendeshita.)
Rebecca: She didn’t go, and did you get the reason? She was…
Naomi: 忙しかったです。 (Isogashikatta desu.)
Rebecca: She was busy, so she couldn’t go.
Naomi: So did you go anywhere recently?
Rebecca: はい。 (Hai.)
Naomi: どこへ行きましたか? (Doko e ikimashita ka?)
Rebecca: 週末に九州に行きました。 (Shūmatsu ni Kyūshū ni ikimashita.)
Naomi: へ、九州? (E, kyūshū?)
Rebecca: 初めてでした。 (Hajimete deshita.)
Naomi: Oh, it was your first time.
Rebecca: Yes.
Naomi: 何をしましたか? (Nani o shimashita ka?)
Rebecca: 長崎に行きました。 (Nagasaki ni ikimashita.)
Naomi: 長崎に行きました。何を食べましたか? (Nagasaki ni ikimashita. Nani o tabemashita ka?)
Rebecca: 皿うどんを食べました。 (Sara udon o tabemashita.)
Naomi: どうでしたか? (Hōdeshita ka?)
Rebecca: おいしかったです。 (Oishikatta desu.)
Naomi: よかったですね。 (Yokatta desu ne.) So did you catch what Rebecca-san ate?
Rebecca: 皿うどん。 (Sara udon.)
Naomi: 皿うどんを食べました。 (Sara udon o tabemashita.)
Rebecca: I ate sara-udon.
Naomi: What’s sara-udon?
Rebecca: A plate of noodles?
Naomi: そのままだね。 (Sono mama da ne.)
Rebecca: It’s… I don’t know how to describe it. Usually udon is in soup, but 皿うどん (sara udon) is not in the soup.
Naomi: It’s like a fried noodle?
Rebecca: They’re not fried, they’re soft
Naomi: 本当? (Hontō?)
Rebecca: They’re soft. Actually the menu came with these explanations “sara-udon noodles are soft, they’re not crisp.”
Naomi: Ok. I don’t know why I had an image of crispy sara-udon.
Rebecca: Yeah I don’t know either… さらさら (sarasara)? I’m not sure, I don’t know why, but they have this on the menu too. I think a lot of people think they’re crispy too. I think sara-udon is kind of like a famous dish from Kyushu.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) お土産を買いましたか? (o-miyage o kaimashita ka?)
Rebecca: カステラを買いました。 (Kasutera o kaimashita.)
Naomi: へ、そうですか。 (E, sō desu ka.)
Rebecca: I bought カステラ (kasutera). My omiyage was カステラ (kasutera). ごめんなさい皆さんの分買ってないです。 (Gomen'nasai mina-san no bun katte nai desu.)
Naomi: Don’t worry! 大丈夫ですよ。 (Daijōbu desu yo.)
Rebecca: 失礼ですね。 (Shitsurei desu ne.) I didn’t buy a lot of omiyage actually, I just bought one カステラ (kasutera).
Naomi: For yourself?
Rebecca: No, no, no, for a friend. Because I’m going to dinner at her house, and I’m going to bring her カステラ (kasutera) from the 異人堂 (ijin-dō) , “the foreigner hall”, well that’s the name of the shop, because カステラ (kasutera) is like this heavy sponge cake.
Naomi: I think it’s from Portugal?
Rebecca: Yeah yeah, as most of you probably know, Nagasaki was the place where foreigners were allowed to come and live on Dejima, on the island in the bay of Nagasaki. That was the only place you could trade with the outside world in Japan during the period of isolation, so there was a lot of Western food came into Japan through Nagasaki, like カステラ (kasutera) (castella), which is this sponge cake.
Naomi: And 天ぷら (tempura), right?
Rebecca: Yeah, I think so. It’s written like, 天ぷら (tempura) it’s not a Japanese word, is it?
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: It kind of sounds funny, 天ぷら (tempura).
Naomi: 天ぷら. (tempura.)
Rebecca: なおみ先生は九州に行きましたか? (Naomi sensei wa Kyūshū ni ikimashita ka?)

Outro

Naomi: No, I’ve never been to Nagasaki or Kyushu. じゃ,皆さんは最近どこへ行きましたか? (Ja, mina-san wa saikin doko e ikimashita ka?)
Rebecca: So where have you guys been recently?
Naomi: And 何を食べましたか? (Nani o tabemashita ka?)
Rebecca: And what did you eat there?
Naomi: Because I love food.
Rebecca: Me too.
Naomi: じゃ、また。 (Ja, mata.)
Rebecca: Thanks for listening.
DIALOGUE
ファブリツィオ: ただいまぁ。みなさん。四国の お土産、一六タルトです。私と 
冬果さんから です。どうぞ。甘くて 美味しいですよ。
Fabrizio: Tadaimā. Mina-san. Shikoku no o-miyage, ichiroku-taruto desu. Watashi to Fuyuka-san kara desu. Dōzo. Amakute oishii desu yo.
キム ミヨン: うわー。ありがとうございます。天気は どうでしたか。
Kim Miyon: Uwā. Arigatō gozaimasu. Tenki wa dō deshita ka.
ファブリツィオ: 毎日、良い天気でした。でも、ちょっと寒かったです。
Fabrizio: Mainichi, yoi tenki deshita. Demo, chotto samukatta desu.
東 春人: へぇー。道後温泉には 行きましたか。
Higashi Haruhito: Hē. Dōgo-onsen ni wa ikimashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: はい。とても 良い温泉でした。こんぴらさんへも 行きました。
Fabrizio: Hai. Totemo yoi onsen deshita. Konpira-san e mo ikimashita.
南 夏見: うどんは 食べましたか。
Minami Natsumi: Udon wa tabemashita ka.
ファブリツィオ: もちろん、食べました。安くて すごく美味しかったです。そうそ
う、それから 内緒ですが、冬果さんの 運転は 下手で 怖かったで
す。
Fabrizio: Mochiron, tabemashita. Yasukute sugoku oishikatta desu. Sō sō, sore kara naisho desu ga, Fuyuka-san no unten wa heta de kowakatta desu.
皆: あはははは。
Everyone: Ahahahaha.
ファブリツィオ: あ...秋。秋は コルダクルミさんの ファンですね。
Fabrizio: A... Shū. Shū wa Koruda Kurumi-san no fan desu ne.
秋: ...え...あ...そうですが…。
Shuu: ... E... A... Sō desu ga….
ファブリツィオ: はい。どうぞ。四国のお土産です。
Fabrizio: Hai. Dō zo. Shikoku no o-miyage desu.
秋: え...これ...コルダクルミのサイン??ありがとう! ファブリツィオ!
Shuu: E... Kore... Koruda Kurumi no sain?? Arigatō! Faburitsio!
BONUS TRACK DIALOGUE
ファブリツィオ (Faburitsio): あ〜、今日は3ヶ月ぶりの休みでーす。あー、天気もいいし、子供たちも遊ぶくらい天気もいいし。あぁ、お買い物にでも行きます。
お〜、バーニーズ ニューヨークです!私のお気に入りの店でーす!今すぐ行きまー…あれ?バ…ス?あー!マンマミー…!
Ā, kyō wa san-kagetsu buri no yasumi dēsu. Ā, tenki mo ii shi, kodomo-tachi mo asobu kurai tenki mo ii shi. Ā, o-kaimono ni demo ikimasu.
Ō, Bānīzu Nyū Yōku desu! Watashi no o-kiniiri no mise dēsu! Ima sugu ikimā… are? Ba...su? Ā! Manma mī…!

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