Learn the differences between formal and informal Japanese
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Kat: Kat here. Show some respect for your Japanese elders. |
| Kat: なおみ先生、元気ですか。(Naomi-sensei, genki desu ka.) |
| Naomi: うーん。元気じゃない。(Ūn. Genki ja nai.) |
| Kat: You're not well? What's wrong? |
| Naomi: I just wanted to review what we learned in the last lesson by saying 元気じゃない (genki ja nai). Actually, I'm very well thanks. 私は元気です。(Watashi wa genki desu.) So don't worry. |
| Kat: Well, I'm glad to hear that. |
| Naomi: キャットさんは元気？(Kyatto-san wa genki?) |
| Kat: 元気です！(Genki desu!) I'm fine, thank you for asking. In this lesson, we'll review the differences between formal and informal speech. |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place again at school. And the conversation is between Kent and his teacher, Ms. Kurokawa. |
| Naomi: What's the formality level of the conversation? |
| Kat: Kent will be trying his best to speak formally to his teacher. The teacher is also speaking formally. Okay, so let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei) : 赤木君、赤木ケントくん。(Akagi-kun, Akagi Kento-kun.) |
| ケント (Kento):なに？(Nani?) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):「なに」じゃない、「なんですか」です。("Nani" ja nai, "nan desu ka" desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| ケント (Kento):なんですか。先生。(Nan desu ka. Sensei.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):授業は難しいですか。(Jugyō wa muzukashii desu ka.) |
| ケント (Kento):英語は難しくないです。(Eigo wa muzukashikunai desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):でも、他は・・・簡単じゃないです。(Demo, hoka wa... kantan ja nai 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.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei) : 赤木君、赤木ケントくん。(Akagi-kun, Akagi Kento-kun.) |
| ケント (Kento):なに？(Nani?) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):「なに」じゃない、「なんですか」です。("Nani" ja nai, "nan desu ka" desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| ケント (Kento):なんですか。先生。(Nan desu ka. Sensei.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):授業は難しいですか。(Jugyō wa muzukashii desu ka.) |
| ケント (Kento):英語は難しくないです。(Eigo wa muzukashikunai desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):でも、他は・・・簡単じゃないです。(Demo, hoka wa... kantan ja nai desu.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei) : 赤木君、赤木ケントくん。(Akagi-kun, Akagi Kento-kun.) |
| Kat: Akagi, Kent Akagi. |
| ケント (Kento):なに？(Nani?) |
| Kat: Yeah? |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):「なに」じゃない、「なんですか」です。("Nani" ja nai, "nan desu ka" desu.) |
| Kat: It's not "Yeah," it's "Yes, what is it?" |
| ケント (Kento):すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| ケント (Kento):なんですか。先生。(Nan desu ka. Sensei.) |
| Kat: I'm sorry. Yes, Ms. Kurokawa, what is it? |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):授業は難しいですか。(Jugyō wa muzukashii desu ka.) |
| Kat: How are you getting on? Are your classes difficult? |
| ケント (Kento):英語は難しくないです。(Eigo wa muzukashikunai desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):でも、他は・・・簡単じゃないです。(Demo, hoka wa... kantan ja nai desu.) |
| Kat: English isn't difficult. But the rest...aren't easy. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: It sounds like the teacher was a bit worried about Kent. |
| Kat: Right, he's not a native Japanese speaker remember, and so it sounds like the classes he's taking which are just normal Japanese high school classes must be a bit difficult for him. |
| Naomi: Have you taken classes in Japanese? |
| Kat: Apart from Japanese language classes, you mean? Yeah, I actually took Advanced French in Japanese at my Japanese university. |
| Naomi: すごい。(Sugoi.) |
| Kat: Which was, I don't know, a stupid choice. As well as something called 日本事情 (Nihon jijō). |
| Naomi: Wow, so how did they go? What was hard about it? |
| Kat: Well, translating French into Japanese was not much fun I have to say. But 日本事情 (Nihon jijō), which was basically 'Japanese Current Affairs', was really useful and interesting, although obviously quite challenging in terms of vocabulary at that time. |
| Naomi: ふーん。すごい！(Fūn. Sugoi!) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Kat: OK, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Naomi : 大丈夫 (daijōbu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, all right, no problem |
| Naomi : 大丈夫 (daijōbu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi : 大丈夫 (daijōbu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi : 英語 (Eigo) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: English language |
| Naomi : 英語 (Eigo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi : 英語 (Eigo) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, and next. |
| Naomi : 難しい (muzukashii) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: difficult |
| Naomi : 難しい (muzukashii) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi : 難しい (muzukashii) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi : 簡単 (kantan) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: simple, easy |
| Naomi : 簡単 (kantan) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi : 簡単 (kantan) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi : 授業 (jugyō) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: class, lesson |
| Naomi : 授業 (jugyō) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi : 授業 (jugyō) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: Now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Naomi: The first word we'll look at is 大丈夫 (daijōbu). |
| Kat: “Okay”, “all right”, “no problem.” I can tell you that this will be one of the words you use most in Japanese. |
| Naomi: That's very true! We use this word all the time. You can use it as a question... 大丈夫？(Daijōbu?) You have to use a rising intonation to make it a question. |
| Kat: To answer in the affirmative, though, make sure the intonation doesn't go up. 大丈夫。(Daijōbu.) Just like that. |
| Naomi: So, let's say that I see Kat having trouble with something. Using informal Japanese, I could say… キャット、大丈夫？(Kyatto, daijōbu?) “Are you okay, Kat?” |
| Kat: うん、大丈夫。(Un, daijōbu.) “Yeah, I'm fine.” So as you can see, nothing changes but the intonation here. |
| Naomi: Also, I should point out that what we are asking about depends on context. |
| Kat: Ah, good point! Just asking 大丈夫 (daijōbu)? is like a general “are you okay?” But depending on the situation it might mean “is it okay?” or “is this okay?”, etc. |
| Naomi: Or is this good? |
| Kat: Exactly, yeah. Okay, so the next word we'll look at is... |
| Naomi: 英語 (Eigo) |
| Kat: “English language.” |
| Naomi: Note that the 語 (go) is a suffix meaning language. |
| Kat: That's right, so all language names will have 語 (go) in them. You remember the word for Japanese language, right? |
| Naomi: That would be 日本語 (Nihon-go). It's the name of Japan, 日本(Nihon) plus this suffix meaning language, 語 (go). |
| Kat: This rule of country name plus 語 (go) works for pretty much every country. There are a few exceptions, however. The word for English is one of them, 英語 (Eigo). Whereas the word for England is イギリス (Igirisu). What's the word one more time? |
| Naomi: 英語 (Eigo) |
| Kat: Okay, and the next word is... |
| Naomi: 授業 (jugyō) |
| Kat: “Class”, “lesson.” You can use this word to refer to classes taken at school. |
| Naomi: In the dialogue, Kurokawa-sensei asked Kent how his classes were. |
| Kat: How exactly did she ask that question? |
| Naomi: 授業は難しいですか。(Jugyō wa muzukashii desu ka.) |
| Kat: “Are your classes difficult?” |
| Naomi: And the word for difficult is actually our next vocab. |
| Kat: That's right, what's the word again? |
| Naomi: 難しい (muzukashii) |
| Kat: “Difficult”, or “hard.” |
| Naomi: You hear this word a lot too. |
| Kat: Yes, you really do. It's used to express the idea that something is hard or difficult to do, but it's also used a lot to refuse a request, wouldn't you say, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: Ah, that's a really good point! In Japanese, when people want to say that something cannot be done or is not possible, they say it is 難しい (muzukashii). |
| Kat: A little difficult. |
| Naomi: Instead of saying “it can't be done” straight out. |
| Kat: Or just saying “no”. Japanese people don't like to flat out say “no”, so keep that in mind! If you make a request and then someone answers that it's 難しい (muzukashii), that basically means it can't be done - or they don't want to do it! |
| Naomi: Exactly. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson, we'll review some formal and informal sentences side by side. Up until now we have been focusing mainly on informal grammar, so now we'd like to show you how it compares to formal grammar. |
| Naomi: So first, let's talk about formal speech. |
| Kat: Okay, sounds good. In this series, we've seen bits and pieces of formal speech here and there. If you listened to the previous Newbie Series before this one, then you are almost likely familiar with formal speech. In formal speech, verbs are in the ます (masu) form, and adjectives and nouns are followed by the copula です (desu), such as... |
| Naomi: 難しいです (muzukashii desu) |
| Kat: “It's difficult.” |
| Naomi: Or 私は学生です (watashi wa gakusei desu) |
| Kat: “I'm a student.” With whom do we use formal speech? |
| Naomi: You use it with teachers, superiors, those who are of higher social status, and people who you don't know. The exception to the last one is children - you normally wouldn't use formal language to a young child, even if you don't know him or her. |
| Kat: That's right. I used to make that mistake when I first came to Japan. You know, if a child ran into me I would say「危ないです」とか (“abunai desu” toka), “it's dangerous!” But really, you can if a child is really small you would say 危ない (abunai). “It's dangerous.” OK, and then, we have informal speech, which is what we've been focusing on in this series. In informal speech, verbs and adjectives are in their dictionary forms, with no です (desu) or ます (masu). For example… |
| Naomi: おいしい！(Oishii!) |
| Kat: Delicious! |
| Naomi: Or 元気？(Genki?) |
| Kat: How are you? Now, with whom do we use informal speech? |
| Naomi: It's used with friends, family, peers who are your same age or status, and those who are of lower status. |
| Kat: Okay, now first, we're going to review some common everyday expressions in both styles of speech. This is a review, so we're going to make it interactive. Basically, we'll give you a formal expression - please say the expression in informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: Pretend like you are greeting your friends! |
| Kat: Exactly. Are you ready? The first one is... |
| Naomi: おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And the answer is… |
| Naomi: おはよう。(Ohayō.) |
| Kat: The informal way to say “good morning.” |
| Naomi: おはよう。(Ohayō.) You just leave off the ございます (gozaimasu) at the end. |
| Kat: Great, and the next one is... |
| Naomi: おやすみなさい。(Oyasuminasai.) |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And the answer is... |
| Naomi: おやすみ。(Oyasumi.) |
| Kat: The informal way to say “good night.” |
| Naomi: おやすみ。(Oyasumi.) You just leave off the なさい (nasai) at the end. |
| Kat: Great, and the last one is... |
| Naomi: ごめんなさい。(Gomen nasai.) |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And the answer is… |
| Naomi: ごめん。(Gomen.) |
| Kat: The informal way to say “I'm sorry.” |
| Naomi: ごめん。(Gomen.) You just leave off the なさい (nasai) at the end. |
| Kat: Great, how did you do? Now, let's try the same thing with adjective and noun sentences. We'll give you a simple sentence in formal Japanese - please say that same sentence in informal Japanese. Here's the first one for you! |
| Naomi: この授業は難しいです。(Kono jugyō wa muzukashii desu.) |
| [short pause] |
| Kat: Here's the translation as a hint. “This class is difficult.” |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And what would that be in informal Japanese? |
| Naomi: この授業は難しい。(Kono jugyō wa muzukashii.) You could also drop the particle and say... この授業、難しい。(Kono jugyō, muzukashii.) |
| Kat: So the particle is optional, and you leave off です (desu). Great. Here's the next one. |
| Naomi: それは何ですか。(Sore wa nan desu ka.) |
| [short pause] |
| Kat: Here's the translation as a hint. “What is that?” |
| [pause] |
| Kat: What would that be in informal Japanese? |
| Naomi: それは何？(Sore wa nani?) You could also drop the particle and say... それ、何？(Sore, nani?) |
| Kat: So again, the particle is optional, and 何ですか (nan desu ka) becomes simply 何？(nani?) |
| Naomi: Remember for informal speech なに (nani) is used whereas for formal speech 何ですか (nan desu ka) is used. |
| Kat: Great, and here's the next one, which is the answer to the question. |
| Naomi: これはそばです。(Kore wa soba desu.) |
| [short pause] |
| Kat: Here's the translation as a hint. “This is soba.” |
| [pause] |
| Kat: What would that be in informal Japanese? |
| Naomi: これは、そば。(Kore wa, soba.) You could also drop the particle and say... これ、そば。(Kore, soba.) |
| Kat: Okay - how did you do? Were you able to change the sentences into informal Japanese? |
| Naomi: Remember that this style of Japanese is great for using with friends and family members, so it's really helpful to know! |
Outro |
| Naomi: Well, that's all for this lesson - thanks for listening, everyone! |
| Kat: Until next time! |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また！(Jā, mata!) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei) : 赤木君、赤木ケントくん。(Akagi-kun, Akagi Kento-kun.) |
| ケント (Kento):なに？(Nani?) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):「なに」じゃない、「なんですか」です。("Nani" ja nai, "nan desu ka" desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| ケント (Kento):なんですか。先生。(Nan desu ka. Sensei.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 黒川先生 (Kurokawa-sensei):授業は難しいですか。(Jugyō wa muzukashii desu ka.) |
| ケント (Kento):英語は難しくないです。(Eigo wa muzukashikunai desu.) |
| ケント (Kento):でも、他は・・・簡単じゃないです。(Demo, hoka wa... kantan ja nai desu.) |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide