Episode 9 – Japanese Made Easy

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Exercises Only

This is Greg, Welcome to Episode 9 of Japanese Made Easy. Let’s quickly learn how to talk about languages while getting in some review. First, a new word. Just listen.

英語(えいご) 英語 (eigo) 

It’s the word for a common language, but I don’t want to get into which one just yet. We’ll come back to it later in the lesson. First listen and start to participate when you think you have the idea.

When I went to フランス (furansu) I heard a lot of people speakingフランス語 (ご) (furansugo) 

When I went to ロシア(roshia)  Pretty much everybody was speaking ロシア語 (roshiago) 

When I went to Mexico… Everybody was speaking　スぺイン語 (Supeingo) 

…did I catch you off-guard with that one?

Probably.. but see how your brain automatically picked up the pattern and tried to apply it? Let’s adjust for that one.. The people in Mexico and in Spain, primarily spoke…

スぺイン語 (Supeingo) 

Osaka is located in …

日本(にほん) 日本 (nihon) So Japanese people or…

日本人(にほんじん) (nihion-jin)  Speak what language?

日本語(にほんご) (nihongo) 

The language we are learning in this podcast is what?

日本語 (nihongo) and the word we heard at the beginning.

The most common language spoken in Canada, and the U.S. is?

英語 (eigo) 

And, what language am I speaking right now?

英語 (eigo) 

When you hear a country name you say the primary language that they speak.

オーストラリア (Ōsutoraria) ….. and the language? 英語 (eigo) 

ニュージーランド(Nyūjīrando) ….. 英語 (eigo)

日本 (nihon)  日本語 (nihongo)　For the next one, using “and” tell me two languages…

カナダ (kanada)　英語とフランス語　(eigo to furansugo) 英語とフランス語 (eigo to furansugo) 

What one language is common in

スぺインとメキシコ? (Supein to mekishiko?) スぺイン語 (Supeingo) which is, of course just Spanish.

ロシア人(じん) (roshia-jin) speak what language? ロシア語 (roshiago) 

What language am I speaking right now?

英語 (eigo)

How about across the Atlantic in

イギリス イギリス (igirisu)  You know James bond is from

イギリス (igirisu) 　When I think of イギリス (igirisu)

Big Ben, and those Red double decker busses come to mind. What’s the widely spoken language in

イギリス？ (Igirisu?) 英語　(eigo)

Somebody asks what languages you can speak, tell them..

“English and Japanese.”

英語と日本語 (Eigo to nihongo) 

Let’s get a new word… Repeat after our native speaker.

今(いま）(ima)　今  (ima) as always lets get the meaning from context.

I overheard and angry customer say to an employee. “I demand to see your manager right 今(ima) .”

When do you want to leave… “今 (ima) or later?” Better make a decision.

“It’s 今 (ima) or never.”

So in English we say “now”. In Japanese they say..

今 (ima)

In the following example sentences make a mental note of where

今 (ima) occurs in the sentence. For example, in the front, in the middle, or the end.

In a Starbucks a woman sitting at the table next to me called somebody on her phone. Seems they were supposed to meet and the woman has been waiting. I heard her ask…

今どこ？ (Ima doko?)  Can you guess what she’s asking? One more time..

今どこ？ (Ima doko?) 

Hold on to that thought for a second and lets continue.

Seems the person on the other end didn’t really hear the question, so the lady asks again saying…

今、どこにいる？ (Ima, doko ni iru?) 

今、どこにいる？ (Ima, doko ni iru?) 

So we’re hearing にused for the first time in a different situation, but this is precisely why SLT is important. Let’s break it down, and watch how easy this is now.

今、どこにいる？(Ima, doko ni iru?) 

“Now”, doko is where, then we have に is the target location of the following action word.. or “verb”, and いる from our ga aru ga iru pattern, was exist, or existing.

So that’s , Now, where, is the target location of (exist), The “you” in the sentence is implied since we are asking the person directly. In semi-natural English this could translate as… Now, where are you? More naturally, Where are you right now?

Ok, so you are on the phone.

Ask somebody where they are right now? Literally, Now, Where, target location, exist?

今、どこにいる？(Ima, doko ni iru?) How about the short version, with you being implied. Just, “Now, where?”

今、どこ？(Ima, doko?) 

So we asked somebody where they are. How would we follow up with who they’re with? Literally asking, “Who with?”

誰と？(Dare to?) 

Before moving on lets learn a quick new cognate.. a place where we can go shopping…

デパート (Depāto)　デパート(Depāto)  I mentioned that cognates are often shortened in Japanese, so can you guess what this is the short version of if it were English? In the U.S. I think most people have heard of the

デパート (Depāto)  called Macy’s in New York City.

Imagine a mom decides to give her daughter a call. Using “に” (ni) how would mom ask, “Where are you right right now? “

今、どこにいる？ (Ima, doko ni iru?) and the daughter answers…

今。。。デパートにいるよ。(Ima, depāto ni iruyo.)Now, department store ni exist, and we heard

よ at the end, which gives the feeling that the information was likely not known to the listener.

Let’s get another word that works well with this construction.

レストラン　(resutoran)　レストラン (resutoran) 

Do you want to stay home tonight for dinner or go out to a

レストラン (resutoran) Remember the time word goes at the beginning.

Try saying.. I’m at a restaurant right now.

今、レストランにいるよ。(Ima, resutoran ni iruyo.) How would you say.. I went to a restaurant…

レストランに行ったよ。(Resutoran ni ittayo.) 

These days we can talk to people all over the world on our phones through various messaging apps in audio and video.

So, Kenji is in downtown Osaka on a Saturday and feels like going to karaoke. He contacts various friends on his list. First, is his close female friend Mayumi. Just listen. No need to repeat.

Kenji: 真由美(まゆみ)ちゃん、今どこ？ (Mayumi chan, ima doko?) 
Mayumi: 今？ (Ima?) 
Mayumi: 今。。雅治(まさはる)とスペインにいるよ。(Ima.. Masaharu to supein ni iruyo.) 
Kenji: え？今、スペイン? 雅治(まさはる)と？(E? Ima, supein? Masaharu to?) 
Mayumi: そう。(Sou.) 

真由美ちゃん、今どこ？(Mayumi chan, ima, doko?) 

今？(Ima?) She questions.. as in Now? Then she continues..

今。。(Ima…) 雅治とスぺインにいるよ。(Masaharu to Supein ni iruyo.)  Now.. Masaharu と, or Masaharu with, Spain ni exist yo… Now, I’m in Spain. I’m in Spain right now. よ, on the end giving the feeling that this information is possibly new or will change his perspective a bit.

Kenji wasn’t expecting that answer and says…

え？今スぺイン? (E? Ima supein?) 

This え？is just a sound like.. Huh? as he’s surprised to hear that she just happens to be in Spain. Then

今、スペイン？ (Ima, supein?) 

Now.. Spain? But again things are often dropped and implied in Japanese so in natural English this would be “You’re in Spain right now?” Then we had

雅治と？ (Masaharu to?) 　With Masaharu? and she says…

そう。(Sou.) そう (sou)  is a casual affirmative, like saying.. “That’s right.” or “Yep.”

Here’s the dialog again without my comments.

Kenji: 真由美ちゃん、今どこ？(Mayumi chan, ima doko?) 
Mayumi: 今？(Ima?) 
Mayumi: 今、雅治とスペインにいるよ。 (Ima, Masaharu to supein ni iruyo.) 
Kenji: え？今, スペイン? 雅治と？ (E? Ima, supein?  Masaharu to?) 
Mayumi: そう。(Sou.) 

And with that Mayumi is off having fun in Spain, and Kenji… Well.. anyway.. Let’s take a break…

—————————- Tip Of The Day ——————————–

Here’s a universal fact worth noting about languages. Short words tend to have many meanings. Long words tend to have just one. And the reason is simple: Languages only have so many short words to go around, so they have to use them for lots of situations.

Take the word “on” in English. As in, “Is the TV on?” So, “on” means “currently operating” Are the lights on? Are the lights currently operating?

Yet if I say, The book is on the table, “on” has a very different meaning. The book is currently operating the table? No. The book is located uponthe table.

Yet, when we say, “I’m on the train to Boston right now.” Do you really mean you’re located upon the train? No, you actually mean that you are riding inside of the train.

If I say to a friend, “Hey are we still on for Friday?” This version is like… Is our previously made agreement to meet still in effect?

Nowhere near any of the other three meanings. I could go on and on about on…

The takeaway here is that little words often have lots of meanings, so don’t fix just one in your head.

Particles aren’t words per se, but they fall under the same idea. I’ll run through a few examples to highlight how this applies to “ni”.

In English we might say, “Write on the paper.” In Japanese it would be like this.. “Paper に write.” The paper is the target location of the action word, to write. “The bank に go.” The bank is the target location of the action word, to go. In English this would be… Go to the bank…

Talking about a train.. “Kyoto station に stopped.” Kyoto station is the target location of the action word, to stop. In English we’d say, “Stopped at Kyoto station.

So in those three examples ni would have been translated as “on the paper”, “to the bank”, and “at the station”.

This is why you don’t want to think of “ni” as having one meaning, and instead think in terms of the pattern or the Super Literal Translation or S.L.T, which in this situation was “is the target location of the following action word.”

—————————- Tip Of The Day ——————————–

Ok, let’s do a little bit of a workout with each line from the dialog. We’ll practice placing various parts where applicable. So imagine it’s a voice call. Ask your close female friend named Keiko where she is right now?

恵子(けいこ)ちゃん、今どこ？(Keiko chan, ima doko?) 

How would she answer.. I’m at the department store right now.

今、デパートにいるよ。(Ima, depāto ni iruyo. )  Same thing but at the convenience store.

今、コンビニにいるよ。(Ima, konbini ni iruyo.)  at a restaurant.

今、レストランにいるよ。(Ima, resutoran ni iruyo.)   I’m in the UK.

今、イギリスにいるよ。 (Ima, igirisu ni iruyo.) See how we change it from at, to in, but the particle is still “ni” or target location?

Reply.. “Huh? The UK?

え？イギリス？ (E? igirisu?)  Say.. I’m in Sapporo right now.

今、札幌(さっぽろ)にいるよ。(Ima, sapporo ni iruyo.)  That’s unexpected. Say.. Huh, Sapporo?

え？札幌？(E? Sapporo?) 
You text your Japanese friend who is living in

オーストラリア (Ōsutoraria) 　You ask…

今、どこ？ (Ima, doko?)  How would she reply.. “Japan target location, exist.”

日本にいるよ。(Nihon ni iruyo.)  That’s surprising.. You say… “Huh, Japan?”

え？日本？(E? Nihon? )  She gives an affirmative confirmation… like, “Yeah, that’s right.”

そう。(Sou.) 

How do you change the word for the country

フランス (Furansu)  to the word for the language?

フランス語 (Furansugo) 

How would you tell a friend… I went to England?

イギリスに行った。 (Igirisu ni itta.) 

How would you say.. Huh? You went to England?

え？イギリスに行ったの？(E? Igirisu ni ittano?)  

Again, this was our casual question with “の” that gives the feeling of expecting a bit more of an explanation, than just a yes or no, answer.

Actually he also went to the birthplace of pasta and pizza..

イタリア　 イタリア (Itaria)  In polite Japanese try saying.. I’m going to Italy.

イタリアに行きます。(Itaria ni ikimasu.)  How would you say “Italian” speaking of the language?

イタリア語(ご) (Itariago)  How would you change that to a person from Italy, or the nationality?

イタリア人（じん）(Itariajin) 

Recalling our word for “now” 今 (ima)

How would tell a person, “I’m in Italy right now.”

今、イタリアにいるよ。(Ima, itaria ni iruyo.)  Did you remember to put “now” at the beginning of the sentence?

Same idea, but change it to polite Japanese, and change the country to Japan. Tell a person, I’m in Japan.

今、日本にいますよ。(Ima, nihon ni imasuyo.) And finally, in

日本語 (nihongo)  what’s the word for the English language?

英語 (eigo)

So, how did you do with all of those? I probably sound like a broken record, but it needs to be said: If you got most of those, and if you’re following along pretty well with all this, then you’re doing awesome.

As I always say, “Japanese can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be.” It just comes down to the techniques that are used.

Anyway, be sure to visit JapaneseMadeEasy.com for the downloads and keep those question and comment emails coming.