Learn how to ask that someone use plain Japanese when you can't understand what they are saying
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: こんにちは。サクラです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. Celebrity survival phrases #6. |
| Sakura: はい。 |
| Peter: Can You Say It In Plain Japanese? I am joined today with a celebrity of our own, Sakura san? |
| Sakura: はい、よろしくお願いします。 |
| Peter: よろしくお願いします。Celebrity Sakura san, I like the sound of that. |
| Sakura: ああ、本当？ Really? |
| Peter: ほ、ほん…… It has a nice ring to it. Don’t get too excited. |
| Sakura: Ah… |
| Peter: Now, what are we talking about today? |
| Sakura: 簡単な日本語 |
| Peter: Simple, simple Japanese. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Or plain Japanese. Now again, Japanese have many different politeness levels. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And some of the politeness levels we will come into contact in interviews or very formal situations is, well, way beyond. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: The realm of comprehension for even intermediate students. So sometimes in order to bring the conversation back into the realm of understanding or at least your understanding, we are going to introduce you to a phrase that will come in very handy. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now Sakura san, what’s the title of this again? |
| Sakura: Celebrity survival phrases. |
| Peter: Now this kind of when you hear survival phrases, you think of something quite easy. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: What do you think of today’s conversation? |
| Sakura: Ahh… |
| Peter: Ahh is right. Ahh… |
| Sakura: Umm…ちょっと…Umm...ちょっと… |
| Peter: Don’t sugar coat it. Come on, tell us what you think? |
| Sakura: ちょっと Difficult. |
| Peter: Yeah okay and I will interpret here. ちょっと in Japanese can be used to explain the context of the question or situation. Here ちょっと difficult is really difficult. We have some really tough conditionals in here, definitely not basic Japanese. |
| Sakura: Ah no. |
| Peter: But again, this is kind of the point that you are going to come into contact with Japanese that’s going to be beyond your comprehension. So we are giving you the tools to bring it back in, say it again or say it the different way, say it easy. All right, Sakura san, are you ready? |
| Sakura: はい。 |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Here we go. |
| Female staff: 少し、個人的なことを聞いてもよろしいですか？ |
| Johnny: はい、どうぞ。 |
| Female staff: もし、生まれ変わったら、また俳優の道を選びますか？ |
| Johnny: すみません。もう少し簡単な日本語でお願いします。 |
| Female staff: えーと……もう一度子どもに戻ったら、また俳優になりたいですか？ |
| Johnny: なるほど。はい、通訳者をお願いします。 |
| ** |
| Female: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Female staff: はい、どうぞ。 |
| Johnny: すこし、こじんてきなことを、きいても、よろしいですか？ |
| Female staff: もし、うまれかわったら、また、はいゆうの、みちを、えらびますか？ |
| Johnny: すみません。もうすこし、かんたんな、にほんごで、おねがいします。 |
| Female staff: もういちど、こどもにもどったら、また、はいゆうになりたいですか？ |
| Johnny: なるほど。はい、つうやくしゃを、おねがいします。 |
| ** |
| Female: 今度は英語が入ります。 |
| Female staff: 少し、個人的なことを聞いてもよろしいですか？ |
| Male: May I ask a bit of a personal question? |
| Johnny: はい、どうぞ。 |
| Male: Yes of course. |
| Female staff: もし、生まれ変わったら、また俳優の道を選びますか？ |
| Male: If you could do it all over again, would you choose to be an actor again? |
| Johnny: すみません。もう少し簡単な日本語でお願いします。 |
| Male: Sorry, in a little easier Japanese please. |
| Female staff: えーと……もう一度子どもに戻ったら、また俳優になりたいですか？ |
| Male: If you could return to your childhood one more time, would you still want to be an actor? |
| Johnny: なるほど。はい、通訳者をお願いします。 |
| Male: I see. Uh interpreter please. |
| ** |
| Peter: Sakura san? |
| Sakura: はい。 |
| Peter: What did you think? |
| Sakura: ちょっと…ね… |
| Peter: There it is. We have our proof, really difficult. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Okay. A lot to cover in there. So let’s start with the vocab. First we have |
| Sakura: 少し |
| Peter: A little. |
| Sakura: す・こ・し、少し |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: 個人的な |
| Peter: Personal. |
| Sakura: こ・じ・ん・て・き・な、個人的な |
| Peter: Next |
| Sakura: 聞く |
| Peter: To hear. |
| Sakura: き・く、聞く |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: 生まれ変わる |
| Peter: To be born again. |
| Sakura: う・ま・れ・か・わ・る、生まれ変わる |
| Peter: I really like this word. This is a compound verb. First we have |
| Sakura: 生まれ |
| Peter: To be born, then we attach |
| Sakura: 変わる |
| Peter: To change, born, change. Be born again. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Next. |
| Sakura: 俳優 |
| Peter: Actor. |
| Sakura: は・い・ゆ・う、俳優 |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: 道 |
| Peter: Street. |
| Sakura: み・ち、道 |
| Peter: Next. |
| Sakura: 選ぶ |
| Peter: To choose. |
| Sakura: え・ら・ぶ、選ぶ |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: 簡単 |
| Peter: Simple. |
| Sakura: か・ん・た・ん、簡単 |
| Peter: Next. |
| Sakura: 戻る |
| Peter: To turn back. |
| Sakura: も・ど・る、戻る |
| Peter: All right. Let’s just go through this conversation and see if we can pull out some really good information. First we have the interviewer. |
| Sakura: 少し、個人的なことを聞いてもよろしですか？ |
| Peter: May I ask you something a little personal? Let’s start with the first part. First we have |
| Sakura: 少し |
| Peter: A little followed by |
| Sakura: 個人的な |
| Peter: Personal. A little personal. |
| Sakura: こと |
| Peter: Thing. A little personal thing. In Japanese, こと is thing. So a little personal thing marked by |
| Sakura: を |
| Peter: Again in Japanese, this is – in Japanese, this marks the object. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: In this sentence, the personal thing is the object. Then we have the verb |
| Sakura: 聞いて |
| Peter: To listen in its て form. Now if you look up a dictionary, you won’t find 聞いてWhat would you find? |
| Sakura: 聞く |
| Peter: This is the dictionary form. When we conjugate to the て form, the く gets replaced with |
| Sakura: い・て、いて |
| Peter: So we have |
| Sakura: 聞いて |
| Peter: So this is the て form. To the て form, we attach |
| Sakura: も |
| Peter: When this も is attached, we interpret this as, even if. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Even if you hear, even if I ask, even if and then the verb. Even if I ask something personal |
| Sakura: よろしいですか？ |
| Peter: Is it good or is it okay. So if we start from the back, we have, is it okay to ask something personal. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Just go backwards. Okay and again, this is |
| Sakura: Um, difficult. |
| Peter: Difficult Japanese and really polite Japanese. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: The よろしい in here is quite polite. In more casual Japanese, you would hear |
| Sakura: いいですか |
| Peter: Yeah. So よろしい is the polite form of いい |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Which is good. All right, on we go. |
| Sakura: はい、どうぞ |
| Peter: Johnny is getting good because yes please, he caught this question. |
| Sakura: Uh good! |
| Peter: So he is getting good. |
| Sakura: そうだよね。 |
| Peter: ジョニーさん、がんばって。 |
| Sakura: うん、がんばって。 |
| Peter: On we go to a little bit of a difficult question, here we go. |
| Sakura: もし、生まれ変わったら、また俳優の道を選びますか？ |
| Peter: If you were born again, would you go down the path of an actor again? Yeah I think that’s right in the beginning of the basic Japanese but…However in the interview, as they are interpreters and people by his side, you know the interviewers will ask anything and everything, but yeah, I wonder. This is an interesting question. So let’s just take a closer look at this. First we have |
| Sakura: もし |
| Peter: Now this indicates a conditional. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: This is often translated as if. Not necessarily the case but it indicates that a conditional will be coming. |
| Sakura: 生まれ変わったら |
| Peter: If you were born again. Now we have the verb which we gave you in the vocab section, the dictionary form which is |
| F:生まれ変わる |
| Peter: Here we use the たらconditional. So we use the plain past plus ら So 生まれ変わる becomes |
| Sakura: 生まれ変わったら |
| Peter: Now again grammar here is a bit difficult. So PDF, check out the PDF. Then we have |
| Sakura: また |
| Peter: Again |
| Sakura: 俳優 |
| Peter: Actor |
| Sakura: の |
| Peter: Possessive. |
| Sakura: 道 |
| Peter: Way. Street. So again, actor street or actor’s way but 道can also mean path. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Path of an actor if we start from the back. Again the path of an actor and this path is what we are choosing. So this gets marked with |
| Sakura: を |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: 選びます |
| Peter: Choose. Choose the path of an actor again. Finally |
| Sakura: か |
| Peter: Question marking particle which indicates that you are asking a question. Huh, so kind of tough stuff here. So on to today’s point. |
| Sakura: Okay. |
| Peter: Now how does our Johnny respond to this? |
| Sakura: すみません。もう少し簡単な日本語でお願いします。 |
| Peter: Excuse me. In a little easier Japanese please. And just an incredible phrase. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Sakura san, I’ve been here for years. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And I still use this phrase especially on the phone. お願いします。簡単な日本語でお願いします。 Let’s take a closer look at this. First we have |
| Sakura: すみません。 |
| Peter: Excuse me followed by |
| Sakura: もう少し |
| Peter: もう here emphasizes a little. So a little more. |
| Sakura: 簡単な |
| Peter: 簡単is easy. Now this is a na adjective again beyond the scope of this lesson but the na adjective when it comes in front of the noun, we put a na in there. So it’s literally the adjective. 簡単and 日本語which 簡単 is modifying but as it comes in front of the noun, we need the な in there. So 簡単な日本語 |
| Sakura: 簡単な日本語 |
| Peter: This is marked with |
| Sakura: 日本語 |
| Peter: This is marked with |
| Sakura: で |
| Peter: So again the person is going to use Japanese. It’s a tool and tools get marked with で followed by |
| Sakura: お願いします |
| Peter: Very polite way to ask something and someone. Here it just means please, please. So altogether we have もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| Sakura: すみません。もうすこし、かんたんな、にほんごで、おねがいします。 |
| Peter: And as this is today’s point, one more time slowly and then quickly. |
| Sakura: すみません。もうすこし、かんたんな、にほんごで、おねがいします。すみません。もう少し簡単な日本語でお願いします。 |
| Peter: So the interviewer tries her best but this is the best she can do. |
| Sakura: もう一度子どもに戻ったら、また俳優になりたいですか？ |
| Peter: If you return, if you went back, if you were a child again, would you still be an actor, would you still want to be an actor and again really difficult stuff. So we are not going to go through this question, stop by, leave us a comment. What we are going to do is go through the next line which is his response. |
| Sakura: なるほど。通訳さん、お願いします。 |
| Peter: I see. Interpreter please. So yeah he didn’t get this one but she is pretty realistic. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: And again, this is something again I think there is a bit of humor in there. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: You know he is trying in Japanese and well let’s explain what the humor is in there, why is this funny or attempting to be funny. |
| Sakura: Because he says なるほど。 |
| Peter: Which means? |
| Sakura: I see. |
| Peter: So it’s like he – oh I got it. |
| Sakura: Yeah but then |
| Peter: But then he says |
| Sakura: 通訳さん、お願いします。 |
| Peter: Which is? |
| Sakura: Interpreter please. |
| Peter: So now is the little bit of humor in there and a bit of realism. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: All right Sakura san, what do you think? |
| Sakura: Yes it was – today’s lesson was funny. Yeah. |
| Peter: What about the other 550 and growing? |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: Ummm ちょっと……。 |
| Sakura: ちょっと……。 |
| Peter: Sakura san, thank you again celebrity Sakura san. |
| Sakura: Hmm… |
Outro |
| Peter: Hmm. Okay that’s going to do it では see you next week. |
| Sakura: では、またね。 |
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