LESSON TRANSCRIPT
Absolute Beginner S1 #6
Catching Up With an Old Friend in
Japan
CONTENTS
2 INTRO
2 POST CONVERSATION BANTER
2 KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
3 LESSON FOCUS
5 OUTRO
# 6
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INTRO
Jessi:Jessi here! Absolute Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 6 - Catching Up With an Old
Friend in Japan
Jessi: Hi everyone! Welcome to Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 6 Catching Up
With an Old Friend in Japan. Jessiです。Jessi here.
Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです。Naomi here!
Jessi: Thanks for joining us again! Okay, we have finished the five introduction
lessons, and now we're ready to jump into the story of Taylor Allen!
Naomi: What can you tell us about the story?
Jessi: Well, Taylor is an American living in California who is married to a Japanese
woman named Chiemi. Chiemi's brother Masato, and his wife Kaori,are visiting Taylor's
house in the US for the first time. Chiemi is not around to help out, though, so Taylor
does his best to communicate with them in Japanese.
Naomi: Sounds good! Let's see how Taylor does!
Jessi: In these lessons, we'll teach you Japanese through sentence patterns and
expressions.
Naomi: We won't worry too much about grammar in this series.
Jessi: In this first part of Taylor's story, Taylor is meeting his brother-in-law Masato
and Masato's wife Kaori at the airport. They're distant family members who don't know
each other very well, so they will be using...
Naomi: Formal Japanese.
Jessi: Let's listen to the conversation!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
まさと：あ、テイラーさん？
テイラー：まさとさん！おひさしぶりです！
まさと： おひさしぶりです！
English Host: Now let's listen to it with the translation.
まさと：あ、テイラーさん？
Jessi: Oh, Taylor?
テイラー：まさとさん！おひさしぶりです！
Jessi: Masato! It's been a while!
まさと： おひさしぶりです！
Jessi: Long time no see!
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
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Jessi: So Taylor met up with his brother-in-law and his wife at the airport!
Naomi: They're visiting from Japan.
Jessi: Yup, and it's not their first time meeting, is it?
Naomi: Nope.
Jessi: We'll talk more about that later on in the lesson. Here, let's introduce an
important word we heard in the conversation. Naomi, that is...?
Naomi: さん.
Jessi: さん. They said it after each other's names.
Naomi: Right, so Taylor became テイラーさん, and Masato become まさとさん.
Jessi: It comes after names, so it's really a suffix. So why do we put this after people's
names?
Naomi: To show respect. It is essential to use さん when speaking formal Japanese.
Jessi: Yes, so that means with anyone who is older than you or has higher social
status than you or someone you don't know well, you should use さん after their name.
Naomi: It can come after their first name or last name.
Jessi: That's right! For example, Taylor Allen is the character's full name, so what are
the possible ways to use さん？
Naomi: For Taylor Allen, you could say テイラーさん or アレンさん or テイラーアレ
ンさん．They're all okay.
Jessi: In the conversation, they used it after their first names.
Naomi: Just know that it can be used with both.
LESSON FOCUS
Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to greet someone you haven't seen in a long time.
Naomi: There's one phrase you will learn for that in this lesson.
Jessi: We'll go over two variations of that phrase - the formal version, and informal
version. First, can we hear the formal version that we heard in the dialogue?
Naomi: Sure. お久しぶりです.
Jessi: お久しぶりです.
Naomi: お久しぶりです
Jessi: And one time slowly?
Naomi: (Slowly) お久しぶりです.
Jessi: And one more time regular speed.
Naomi: お久しぶりです
Jessi: And this means...
Naomi: Long time no see!
Jessi: Right! Long time no see, or, it's been awhile!
Naomi: That's how we knew Taylor and Masato had meet each other before.
Jessi: Because they used
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お久しぶりです。
Naomi: Long time no see. Listeners, now you try it!
Jessi: Repeat after Naomi
Naomi: お久しぶりです。
[Pause]
Jessi: Okay. And one more time.
Naomi: お久しぶりです！
[Pause]
Jessi: Okay! So that's the formal version. If you want to say this to a friend, what
would be a better way to say it?
Naomi: Well, did you notice how this phrase started with an お sound, and ended with
です？ Just take those sounds away.
Jessi: When you do that, you're left with...
Naomi: ひさしぶり
Jessi: ひさしぶり
Naomi: ひさしぶり
Jessi: And one time slowly?
Naomi: (Slowly) ひさしぶり
Jessi: And one more time regular speed
Naomi: ひさしぶり！
Jessi: Listeners, now you try it! Repeat after Naomi
Naomi: ひさしぶり
[Pause]
Jessi: And one more time.
Naomi: ひさしぶり！
[Pause]
Jessi: Okay. Now we know both the formal version, and informal version!
Naomi: Okay, now let's practice what we've learned.
Jessi: All right! We'll set up another situation. Let's say Naomi and I haven't seen each
other for a long time. Listen to what we say when we see each other.
Naomi: ジェシーさん、お久しぶりです！
Jessi: なおみさん、お久しぶりです！
Jessi: Okay. So now it's your turn! Pretend you're the one meeting Naomi for the first
time in a long time. Please respond to her. Don't forget to use さん - remember what
we learned about that and our main phrase from this lesson!
(Sound effect - footsteps?)
Naomi: あ、お久しぶりです！
[Pause]
Naomi: If you said...
Jessi:
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なおみさん、お久しぶりです！
Naomi: You're correct!
Jessi: Yay! And don't forget the name plus さん when speaking politely.
Naomi: Right!
OUTRO
Jessi: Okay, well that's going to wrap up this lesson!
Naomi: Thanks for listening, and don't forget to check out the Lesson Notes PDF.
Lesson Notes are an important part.
Jessi: Use them on the site or a mobile device or print them out. Go to
[Link] to download the Lesson Notes for this lesson now. In the next
lesson, you'll learn more ways to say "thanks" and "you're welcome." Hope to see you
then!
Naomi: Until next time!
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