Читать книгу Japanese Phrase A Day Practice Pad - Sam Brier - Страница 13
ОглавлениеWORK/STUDY
Days 32–60
Oshigoto wa nan desu ka?
What do you do?
Watashi wa isha / Eigo no sensei desu.
I’m a doctor / an English teacher.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“No の” is a possessive article, which means that the two words on either side of “no” go together. “Eigo no sensei means “English teacher.”
Doko de hataraite masu ka?
Where do you work?
Byōin / Kōkō de hataraite masu.
At a hospital / high school.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Doko どこ” means “Where?” Question words are usually found at the end of a sentence, but interrogatives such as “where,” who” and “when” are sometimes found at the beginning.
Gojibun no oshigoto ga suki desu ka?
Do you like your job?
Hai, suki desu.
Yes, I like it.
Iie, amari (suki ja arimasen).
Not much.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
When answering “Iie いいえ,” “No,” you can omit “suki ja arimasen きじゃあり ません,” which means “I don’t like.”
Jetto Puroguramu ni tsuite kiita koto ga arimasu ka?
Have you heard of the JET Program?
もちろんです。
Mochiron desu.
Of course.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
The JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program is run through the Japanese Board of Education, and places native English speakers from around the world in Japanese public schools to teach English. Applications are usually due in December and can be requested through the Japanese consulate nearest you.
Nani o benkyō shite imasu ka?
What are you studying?
Nihongo / Eigo / Chūgokugo o benkyō shite imasu.
I’m studying Japanese / English / Chinese.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Nihon 日本” means “Japan” and “Chūgoku 中国” means “China.” “Ei 英” means “United Kingdom.” When combined with these and most other countries, “go 語” means “language.” Therefore, “Eigo 英語” literally means “United Kingdom’s language.” However, the English taught in Japanese schools is mostly American English.
Doko de benkyō shite imasu ka?
Where are you studying?
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
The verb “benkyō 勉強” means “to study.” To make this verb the present continuous tense, “shite imasu しています” is added.
Nihon ni mō dore kurai imasu ka?
How long have you been in Japan?
Ichi-nichi / Is-shūkan / Ik-ka-getsu / Ichi-nen desu.
1 day / week / month / year.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Ichi 一” means “one.” When you want to say “one week” or “one year,” the “ichi” is shortened to “i” and the first letter of “week” and “year” is said with almost a stutter.
Yasumi ni wa doko e ikimasu ka?
Where are you going for the holiday?
Mada kimete imasen.
I haven’t decided yet.
○○へ行きます。
○○ e ikimasu.
I will go to [place name].
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
There are 14 national holidays in Japan. Golden Week comprises four national holidays that fall within days of each other, usually from the end of April to early May: Shōwa (Emperor) Day, Constitution Day, Green Day, and Children’s Day.
Ato dono kurai Nihon ni imasu ka?
How long will you be in Japan?
Futsuka / Ni-shūkan / Ni-kagetsu / Ni-nen desu.
2 days / weeks / months / years.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Ni 二” means the number “2.” But Japanese have a particular way to count people, days and some other objects. When counting days, one day becomes “Ichinichi 1 日”; two days becomes “futsuka 2 日”; three days becomes “mikka,” and the list goes on.
Naze Nihongo o benkyō shite imasu ka?
Why are you studying Japanese?
Nihonjin no kareshi/ kanojo ga iru kara desu.
Because I have a Japanese boyfriend / girlfriend.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“-Jin” is added to a country to make the nationality. For example: “Nihon” means “Japan,” but “Nihonjin means “Japanese person.” Likewise, “Amerika アメリ カ” means “America,” and “Amerikajin アメリカ人” means “American person.”
Nihongo ga yomemasu / kakemasu ka?
Can you read / write Japanese?
Sukoshi nara (dekimasu).
Only a little.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Learning Japanese will make learning Chinese and Korean much easier, or vice-versa. Korean and Japanese share a similar grammatical structure, and both Chinese and Korean also share many Japanese kanji, which originated in China. The pronunciation of words is also sometimes similar.
Pen / Hon o karite mo ii desu ka?
Can I borrow your pen / book?
はい、どうぞ。
Hai, dōzo.
Sure (Yes), please go ahead.
Sumimasen, ima tsukatte imasu.
Sorry, I’m using it now.
Kore (ip-pon) shika nai node…
This is the only one I have...
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
In this kind of conversation, Japanese people usually don’t say “no” directly. Instead, they often say why the thing is impossible; in the second response above, for instance, it’s that “I only have this pen (so I can’t lend it to you).”
Kore / Are wa nan desu ka?
What is this / that?
Kore / Are wa watashi no jisho desu.
This / that is my dictionary.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
There are several types of dictionaries in Japan. Usually, a person will have one dictionary for English to Japanese, and another one for Japanese to English. There are also other kinds of dictionaries. One, for example, contains only foreign words and their katakana translations.
Are wa dare desu ka?
Who is that?
Are wa watashitachi no sensei desu.
That’s our teacher.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Tachi 達” shows plural, and is an ending added to “watashi 私” or “boku ぼく” to mean “we.”
Kare / Kanojo no namae wa nan desu ka?
What’s his / her name?
Kare no namae wa Seiji desu.
His name is Seiji.
Kanojo no namae wa Keiko desu.
Her name is Keiko.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
At the end of a sentence or alone, “Nan desu ka? ですか” means “What?” or “What is…?” A casual way to ask “What?” on its own is simply: “Nani? .”
Seiji(-san) wa doko desu ka?
Where is Seiji?
Shigoto chū desu.
He’s at work.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Doko desu ka? どこですか” means “Where?” or “Where is…? In colloquial speech, you can say “Doko? どこ” to more simply ask “Where?”
Keiko(-san) wa doko desu ka?
Where is Keiko?
Gakkō desu.
She’s at school.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
“-Ko 子” is a common ending for female names. A lot of Japanese women over 30 years old have names that end with “-ko 子.” It means “child” and is a term of endearment.
“South Korea” to “North Korea” wa Nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do you say “South Korea” and “North Korea”
(in Japanese)?
“Kankoku” to “Kita Chōsen” desu.
“Kankoku” and “Kita Chōsen.”
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
There are long-distance ferries from a few cities in Japan (including Osaka) to Pusan, South Korea. There is also a 3-hour hydrofoil between Fukuoka and Pusan that operates several times a day.
“Nai-tā” wa eigo de nan desu ka?
What is “nai-tā” in English?
「Baseball game at night」です。
“Baseball game at night” desu.
It’s a night game.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Contending with sumō (wrestling) 相撲, baseball is the most popular sport in Japan, and many words for this sport are taken directly from English, since that’s where the vocabulary derives from.
Kore / Are wa nan desu ka?
What are these / those?
Kore / Are wa go-hon yubi sokkusu desu.
These / Those are toe socks.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Sometimes you can find items at a much lower price at a dollar store, which in Japan is called a “hyaku-en 百円” store or “100 Yen” store. (Usually, the exchange rate to the USD is about 100 Yen.)
Hiragana / Katakana / Kanji de dō kakimasu ka?
How do you write it in hiragana / katakana / kanji?
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Hiragana, katakana and kanji are regularly used together in the same sentence. Therefore, you can ask this question—“How do you write it?”—by specifying one of the three Japanese “alphabets.”
Sore wa donna kanji desu ka?
What character is it?
“Tokyō” no “Kyō” desu.
It’s the “kyo” in Tokyo.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
The kana you see written in small type above kanji is called furigana. It gives you the sounds of the kanji, so that you know how to pronounce it.
Nihongo wa muzukashii desu ka?
Is Japanese difficult?
Totemo muzukashii / kantan desu.
It’s very difficult / easy.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
The slang for the Tokyo dialect is “Tokyo-ben 東京弁.” More formally, it’s called “hyōjun-go 標準語.” The Osaka dialect is called “Osaka-ben 大阪弁.” In Osaka-ben, the word for “very” is “meccha めっちゃ.”
Nihongo o dono kurai benkyō shite imasu ka?
How long have you been studying Japanese?
Yaku ik-ka-getsu/ ni-ka-getsu/ san-ka-getsu/ yon-ka-getsu/ go-ka-getsu desu.
About one / two / three / four / five months.
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
No matter how long you’ve been in Japan, it’s quite likely that someone will comment on your chopstick skills: “Oh—you can use chopsticks very well.” It’s meant to be a compliment. A simple smile or “Arigatō” is the typical answer.
Sumimasen. Wakaranai node motto yukkuri hanashite kudasai.
Excuse me, I don’t understand… Can you speak slower?
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Learning a new language can be confusing when words are slurred or abbreviated by native speakers. For example, you may sometimes encounter “Sumimasen すみませ ん” pronounced as “Suimasen すいません.”
Ima nan to iimashita ka?
What did you say?
Mō ichido onegai shimasu.
Please say it again.
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
“Mō ichi do is a common expression that means “one more time.” It can be used in a variety of circumstances, just like in English.
Sensei, sumimsen. Shitsumon ga arun desu ga.
Excuse me, teacher—I have a question.
Hai, nan desu ka?
