Japanese - Lesson 2 - Dialog for Easy Vocabulary
Dialog Using Some Easy Vocabulary Words
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This lesson introduces a simple dialog showing the use of the easy vocabulary words from the previous lesson. For now, don't worry about the non-Roman characters (for example, "こんにちは"). These are how the Japanese phrases would be written in Japanese - these will be covered separately later. To the left (for example, "kon nichi wa") is the same phrase written in Roman characters. This style of writing is referred to as Rōmaji.
Here is a suggestion on how to practice with this dialog:
- First, familiarize yourself with the vocabulary words. They are presented below, or you can go back to the Lesson 1 activities.
- Next, read through the whole dialog in French. Try to guess the meaning, but go ahead and look at the English translations if you need to.
- For further in-depth study, you can try to memorize the dialog in French. You can take small sections of the dialog and see if you can come up with the French while only looking at the English.
- You can also try the game or learning quiz to practice the dialog.
Sorry, there is no audio currently available, but we hope to add that soon!
Tim Visits Hiroshi
Tim Donald, from the U.S., is visiting an acquaintance Hiroshi Nakada who lives in Japan.
| kon nichi wa (こんにちは) | hello / good day |
| TIM: Nakada-san, kon nichi wa! (中田さん, こんにちは) | TIM: Hello, Mr. Nakada! |
| HIROSHI: Donarudo-san, kon nichi wa! (ドナルドさん, こんにちは) | HIROSHI: Hello, Mr. Donald! |
| Hiroshi holds the door for Tim... | |
| dōzo (どうぞ) | please (e.g., when offering something) |
| dōmo (どうも) | thanks |
| HIROSHI: Dōzo. (どうぞ) | HIROSHI: Please. |
| TIM: Dōmo. (どうも) | TIM: Thanks. |
| ga arimasu (があります) | there is / there are |
| neko (猫) | (a / the) cat / cats |
| no ue ni (の上に) | on |
| tēburu (テーブル) | (a / the) table / tables |
| ā (ああ) | hey, oh |
| desu (です) | (it, there) is / are |
| sō desu ne (そうですね) | indeed, yes it's true, that's right, that is so |
| TIM: Ā, tēburu no ue ni neko ga arimasu. (ああ, テーブルの上に猫があります) | TIM: Oh, there is a cat on the table. |
| HIROSHI: Sō desu ne. (そうですね) | HIROSHI: Indeed. |
| naze desu ka? (なぜですか) | why (is it)? |
| TIM: Naze desu ka? (なぜですか) | TIM: Why? |
| kara (から) | because |
| inu (犬) | (a / the) dog, dogs |
| no shita ni (の下に) | under |
| tsukue (机) | (a / the) desk / desks |
| HIROSHI: Tsukue no shita ni inu ga arimasu kara. (机の下に犬がありますから) | HIROSHI: Because there is a dog under the desk. |
| Sometime later... | |
| ima (今) | now |
| hoteru (ホテル) | hotel |
| ni (に) | to |
| ikimasu (行きます) | (I'm) going |
| TIM: Ima hoteru ni ikimasu. (今ホテルに行きます) | TIM: I'm going to the hotel now. |
| sore wa (それは) | that |
| ī (いい) | good, nice |
| to (と) | and |
| sayōnara (さようなら) | goodbye |
|
TIM: Sore wa ī neko to ī inu desu. Sayōnara! (それはいい猫といい犬です。 さようなら！) |
TIM: That's a nice cat and a nice dog. Goodbye. |
|
HIROSHI: Sayōnara. (さようなら) |
HIROSHI: Goodbye. |
Additional Notes
"Kara (から)" means "because", however notice that it is placed at the end of the sentence or phrase, unlike in English. So "A, because B" would often become "B kara, A" in Japanese.
In Japanese, the subject of the sentence is often dropped completely when it is clear from context. If there is no object previously referred to, generally the subject would be "I". So in English we might say "I go" but in Japanese it is just "ikimasu (行きます)". "He goes" would also just be "ikimasu (行きます)", and usually it would be clear from context who is going.
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