Time for another lesson from Absolute Pimsleur’s Japanese I. If you haven't already done so, you should probably take a quick look at Lesson 1's Transcript from a few days ago. I'm not going for word for word transcripts. It's mostly just the two big conversations at the start and end and the general words and key phrases they use throughout the lesson. Would be a bit redundant to keep listing the repeated sayings and phrases over and over.
As always, these are written in kana with English translations. There's no romanji here, so make sure you've learned all of the kana before even attempting to go through one of these transcripts.
As always, these are written in kana with English translations. There's no romanji here, so make sure you've learned all of the kana before even attempting to go through one of these transcripts.
Intro Conversation
すみません日本(にほん)ごがわかりますか。
Excuse me, do you understand Japanese?
はいすこし。
Yes, a little.
あなたはアメリカじんですか。
Are you American?
はいわたしはアメリカじんです。
Yes, I am American.
えいごがわかりますか。
Do you understand English?
いいえわかりません。
No, I don't understand.
Previous Lesson's Vocabulary
えいご
English
日本(にほん)ご
Japanese language
わかります
I understand
すこし
a little
わかりますか
Do you understand?
いいえ
no
わかりません
I don't understand
New Vocabulary
おはようございます
good morning (polite form)
おはよう
good morning (casual form)
-ございます
added to certain words for politeness
いい
good, nice, fine
てんき
weather
お-
honourific added to beginning of certain words for politeness (see weather)
いいおてんきです。
It's good weather.
いいおてんきですね。
It's good weather isn't it?
ね
right? don't you think? isn't it?
そう
so it is
そうですね。
Literally 'so it is, isn't it' or 'it's so, isn't it?' Basically, it's 'I agree' in a casual, less formal or direct way.
じゃまた。
see you, goodbye
ありがとう。
thanks (casual form)
ありがとうございます。
thank you (polite form)
わたしは日本(にほん)ごがすこしわかります。
I understand a little Japanese (emphatically - as in you express it with 'I' as the subject)
じょず
to be skilled at something / skilled
じょずです。
You are skilled.
じょずですね。
You are skilled, aren't you?
じょずじゃありません。
I am not skilled
日本(にほん)ごがじょずですね。
You are skilled in Japanese, aren't you?
えいごがじょずですね。
You are skilled in English, aren't you?
わたしはじょずじゃありません。
I am not skilled. (emphatically)
Closing Conversation
おはようございます。
Good morning
おはようございます。
Good morning
いいおてんきですね。
It's good / nice / fine weather, isn't it?
そうですね。
It is so, isn't it? /Seems that way. / Agreed.
あなたはアメリカじんすか。
Are you American?
はいわたしはアメリカじんです。
Yes, I am American.
日本(にほん)ごがわかりますか。
Do you understand Japanese?
すこし。日本(にほん)ごがすこしわかります。
A little [bit]. I understand a little [bit of] Japanese.
(she invites you to her Japanese club)
ありがとうございます。
Thank you.
じゃまた
See ya / you.
じゃまた
See ya / you.
Notes
お-
When used before certain words, this makes them more polite. It's not to be confused with を, which is pronounced the same way as お and is typically a particle in sentences that may make it appear like the word has お in front of it. Some examples are おてんき, better know as weather, which we learned this lesson, おさけ, which is (o-)sake, the Japanese rice wine or general word for alcohol, and おべんと, which is (o-)bento, a Japanese boxed lunch, not to be confused with American lunchboxes.
Politeness & Honourifics
Japan's culture is very passive aggressive. Their language reflects this in the numerous levels of politeness words can take on, depending on a person's rank, position, social standing, grade level of students, family members or friends. -ございます is one form of politeness that can be applied to thanking someone. If it's typically someone you don't know, a teacher, boss or only a casual acquaintance, you are best suited using the polite form.
Other forms of politeness come with honourifics attached to peoples' names. －さん, －さま, and －ちゃん are just a few of the ways you can address people. －さん is the most common and could be equated to a Mr or Mrs. These are reserved for others. You never attach one to your own name. －ちゃん is usually reserved for children and females, but is not typically something you would address someone you don't know with. Using it for older males will probably be seen as insulting. Same with elderly women or people you don't really know. －さま is a really polite suffix and is typically associated with a royalty-like position. It's not quite the same as Lord, King or Queen, but think of it as addressing someone with a lot of respect. You probably will never use this in conversation, but it shows up in anime, manga and other literature and probably with certain Japanese figureheads.
じゃ
This is a casual form of でわ. じゃ's a lot more common, especially for a less polite form, so feel free to use it over the less frequent and more poilite でわ. I just wanted to point out that there are other forms of this in case you see でわ in the future and don't know what it means or can't figure out why it's replacing じゃ seemingly at random.
ます & ません
You've probably already noticed something odd about these two suffixes popping up with words, such as わかります and わかりません. Both are also opposite, one being understand and the other don't understand. As you can guess, the ます is positive and the ません. These are conjugations of わかり and you will see later other conjugations of that and other words, such わかりました, which is simply 'understood', as opposed to 'I understand'.
For reference, ますis the semi-formal, non-past positive form for the verb stem わかり, as well as many others. ません is simply the opposite of that, being the semi-formal, non-past negative form. I won't bog you down with an overwhelming amount of grammar that I, myself, am still struggling to grasp, so I'll cut this little note short here. I just want you to be aware of small things and patterns like this one that you should be catching onto as we progress through Pimsleur's and other material.
すみません日本(にほん)ごがわかりますか。
Excuse me, do you understand Japanese?
はいすこし。
Yes, a little.
あなたはアメリカじんですか。
Are you American?
はいわたしはアメリカじんです。
Yes, I am American.
えいごがわかりますか。
Do you understand English?
いいえわかりません。
No, I don't understand.
Previous Lesson's Vocabulary
えいご
English
日本(にほん)ご
Japanese language
わかります
I understand
すこし
a little
わかりますか
Do you understand?
いいえ
no
わかりません
I don't understand
New Vocabulary
おはようございます
good morning (polite form)
おはよう
good morning (casual form)
-ございます
added to certain words for politeness
いい
good, nice, fine
てんき
weather
お-
honourific added to beginning of certain words for politeness (see weather)
いいおてんきです。
It's good weather.
いいおてんきですね。
It's good weather isn't it?
ね
right? don't you think? isn't it?
そう
so it is
そうですね。
Literally 'so it is, isn't it' or 'it's so, isn't it?' Basically, it's 'I agree' in a casual, less formal or direct way.
じゃまた。
see you, goodbye
ありがとう。
thanks (casual form)
ありがとうございます。
thank you (polite form)
わたしは日本(にほん)ごがすこしわかります。
I understand a little Japanese (emphatically - as in you express it with 'I' as the subject)
じょず
to be skilled at something / skilled
じょずです。
You are skilled.
じょずですね。
You are skilled, aren't you?
じょずじゃありません。
I am not skilled
日本(にほん)ごがじょずですね。
You are skilled in Japanese, aren't you?
えいごがじょずですね。
You are skilled in English, aren't you?
わたしはじょずじゃありません。
I am not skilled. (emphatically)
Closing Conversation
おはようございます。
Good morning
おはようございます。
Good morning
いいおてんきですね。
It's good / nice / fine weather, isn't it?
そうですね。
It is so, isn't it? /Seems that way. / Agreed.
あなたはアメリカじんすか。
Are you American?
はいわたしはアメリカじんです。
Yes, I am American.
日本(にほん)ごがわかりますか。
Do you understand Japanese?
すこし。日本(にほん)ごがすこしわかります。
A little [bit]. I understand a little [bit of] Japanese.
(she invites you to her Japanese club)
ありがとうございます。
Thank you.
じゃまた
See ya / you.
じゃまた
See ya / you.
Notes
お-
When used before certain words, this makes them more polite. It's not to be confused with を, which is pronounced the same way as お and is typically a particle in sentences that may make it appear like the word has お in front of it. Some examples are おてんき, better know as weather, which we learned this lesson, おさけ, which is (o-)sake, the Japanese rice wine or general word for alcohol, and おべんと, which is (o-)bento, a Japanese boxed lunch, not to be confused with American lunchboxes.
Politeness & Honourifics
Japan's culture is very passive aggressive. Their language reflects this in the numerous levels of politeness words can take on, depending on a person's rank, position, social standing, grade level of students, family members or friends. -ございます is one form of politeness that can be applied to thanking someone. If it's typically someone you don't know, a teacher, boss or only a casual acquaintance, you are best suited using the polite form.
Other forms of politeness come with honourifics attached to peoples' names. －さん, －さま, and －ちゃん are just a few of the ways you can address people. －さん is the most common and could be equated to a Mr or Mrs. These are reserved for others. You never attach one to your own name. －ちゃん is usually reserved for children and females, but is not typically something you would address someone you don't know with. Using it for older males will probably be seen as insulting. Same with elderly women or people you don't really know. －さま is a really polite suffix and is typically associated with a royalty-like position. It's not quite the same as Lord, King or Queen, but think of it as addressing someone with a lot of respect. You probably will never use this in conversation, but it shows up in anime, manga and other literature and probably with certain Japanese figureheads.
じゃ
This is a casual form of でわ. じゃ's a lot more common, especially for a less polite form, so feel free to use it over the less frequent and more poilite でわ. I just wanted to point out that there are other forms of this in case you see でわ in the future and don't know what it means or can't figure out why it's replacing じゃ seemingly at random.
ます & ません
You've probably already noticed something odd about these two suffixes popping up with words, such as わかります and わかりません. Both are also opposite, one being understand and the other don't understand. As you can guess, the ます is positive and the ません. These are conjugations of わかり and you will see later other conjugations of that and other words, such わかりました, which is simply 'understood', as opposed to 'I understand'.
For reference, ますis the semi-formal, non-past positive form for the verb stem わかり, as well as many others. ません is simply the opposite of that, being the semi-formal, non-past negative form. I won't bog you down with an overwhelming amount of grammar that I, myself, am still struggling to grasp, so I'll cut this little note short here. I just want you to be aware of small things and patterns like this one that you should be catching onto as we progress through Pimsleur's and other material.
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