In the previous lessons two lessons,
I explained some basic grammar and gave you a bunch of words to learn. In this
lesson we're just going to do some reading/ conversation practice. I'll be
giving you a few short conversations using the grammar you learned in the
previous lessons. If I use any phrases, words or kanji you haven't learned yet,
they'll be explained after the conversation.
It's not necessary, but try and read
the conversations out loud, to practice your talking skills.
Meeting someone for the first time
マリア： こんにちは。 Good
afternoon.
田中： こんにちは。 Good
afternoon.
しつれいですが、誰ですか？ Excuse
me, but who are you?
マリア： 初めまして、マリアです。 How
do you do? I'm Maria.
オランダから来ました。 I
came from the Netherlands.
どうぞよろしくお願いします。 Pleased
to meet you.
田中： 私は田中です。 I'm
Tanaka.
どうぞよろしく。 Please
to meet you too.
Explanation of sentences:
「こんにちは」 means " Good afternoon".「おはよう(ございます )」is " Good morning" and 「こんばんは」 is
"good evening". Not much to explain about this. (All of them could be
translated as "hello" or "hi" as well, but you still need
to pay attention to the time of the day to decide which one you use.)
「しつれいですが 」is one of
the many ways to say "Excuse me, but...". Other ways to say this will
be introduced later. It's not needed to remember them all at once.
There's not really one set
translation for「初めまして」 （はじめまして). Literally it means: "I'm meeting you for the first
time", but could be regarded as a combination of "How do you
do?", "It's nice to meet you." and "Hello". Usually
used as the opening phrase of an introduction.
「～から来ました」 means
"I came from～". It's used to tell people
from what country or place you came.
「どうぞよろしく(お願いします) （おねがいします）」is usually used at the end of a
self-introduction. Literally it means "please be nice to me", but usually
translates to something along the lines of "Pleased to meet you".
Telling more about yourself (and other people)
田中： マリアさん、何歳ですか？ Ms.
Maria, how old are you?
マリア： 私は２２歳です。 I'm
22 years old.
田中： 学生ですか？ Are
you a student?
マリア： はい、私は 学生です。 Yes,
I'm a student?
田中： どちらの学校の 学生ですか。 What
school are you a student of?
マリア： ライデン大学の 学生です。 I'm
a student of Leiden University.
田中： 先生は誰 ですか？ Who's
your teacher.
マリア： ロビンさんは 私の先生です。 Mr.
Robin is my teacher.
田中： ロビンさんも オランダ人ですか。 Is
Mr. Robin also Dutch?
マリア： いいえ、ロビン先生は アメリカ人です。 No,
Prof. Robin is American.
Explanation of sentences:
「どちら」This will be explained in the next lesson.
「学校 （がっこう）」 translated to "school",
"college", "university" or any other kind of teaching institution.
「ライデン大学 （だいがく）」or Leiden University, it's an actual
university in the Netherlands. I graduated from Leiden University in September
2012.
「 大学 （だいがく）」translates
to "university" or "college".
「～先生」can be used as an suffix after the
name of someone who teaches you. (Not just school teachers, but also sports
teacher, etc.) This suffix is also use for medical doctors. For example:「中村先生 （なかむらせんせい）」would
be "Dr. Nakamura".
Going to meet your neighbors for the first time
*Maria rings bell of neighbors. Neighbor Yamada opens the door.*
マリア： こんにちは。 Good
afternoon.
山田： はい。どなたですか。 Yes.
Who are you?
マリア： 409のマリアです。 I'm
Maria from apartment no. 409.
これからお世話になります。 How
do you do?
どうぞよろしくお願いします。 It's
nice to meet you.
山田： こちらこそよろしく。 The
pleasure's mine.
マリア： あのう、これ、ほんの気持ちです。 Er,
this is a little something.
山田： どうも。何ですか。 Thanks.
What is it?
マリア： チョコレートです。どうぞ。 It's
chocolate. Please.
山田： どうもありがとうございます。 Thank
you very much.
Explanation of sentences:
「これからお世話になります（これからおせわになります）」 literally translates to "I'll be
taken care of by you from now on", but should be interpreted as "I
hope for you kind assistance hereafter." As this is quite long, actual
translation may resort to other things. You use it for example when you start a
job, a class or some other social kind of activity and anticipate that the
other person will be taking care of you. It's actually quite hard to explain
this sentence at this point, but I'm sure you'll come to understand it better
as we continue grammar lessons.
「こちらこそよろしく」also means "please to meet
you", but is use as a response to （どうぞ） よろしく.
「あのう」 is used to
show hesitation.
「ほんの気持ちです （ほんのきもちです）」translated to "It's
nothing" or "It's a token of my gratitude". It's used when you
give someone a little present.
「（どうも）ありがとう（ございます）」means "thank you". It can
be shortened to either 「どうも」、「どうもありがとう」 、「 ありがとう」 or 「ありがとうございます」. 「どうもございます」 doesn't exist.
「どうぞ。」means "please" or
"here you are", it's used when you offer something to someone.
Just some useless talk
ロビン： それは何ですか。 What
is this?
マリア： これは冊子です。 It's
a magazine
ロビン： その冊子は何の冊子ですか。 What
is this magazine about?
マリア： 猫の冊子です。 It's
a magazine about cats.
ロビン： 誰の冊子ですか。 Who's
magazine is it?
マリア： 私のです。 It's
mine.
美加： いいえ、違います。 No,
it's not.
（みか） これは私の冊子です。 This
is my magazine.
あの冊子はマリアのです。 That
magazine over there is yours.
マリア： そうですか、すみません。 I
see, I'm sorry.
ロビン： 猫の冊子は人気ですね。 Magazines
about cats are popular it seems.
Explanation of sentences:
「猫 （ねこ）」means "cat".
「違います （ちがいます）」means "It's not." or " you are wrong".
「そうですか」is used when the speaker receives
new information and shows that her or she understands it. Possible translations
are "I see" or "Is that so?".
「すみません」is one of the many way to apologize.
It translates to "excuse me", "I'm sorry" or anything alike.
「人気 （にんき）」means " popular".
Some other sentences I couldn't fit in the conversations, but are important enough to mention.
「お元気ですか？」literally means "are you
healthy?", but can be interpreted as "How are you doing?".
「お名前は（なんですか）？」, 「名前」 translates to " name". Thus this
sentences translated to " what is your name" the "what is" part 「なんですか」 can be omitted.
Homework
We didn't study any new grammar, but
there's a whole lot of new standard phrases explained in this lessons. Also,
there are a few new words. By sure to learn those!
Next time we'll start with some new
grammar!
