Won't You Study With Us? (Masen ka, Daruma Drama & the Netflix Scandal) |EP 26

In Episode 26 of Nihongo to English, hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki are back with more bilingual chaos — and somehow, you're going to learn Japanese.

This week, they crack open Genki page 95 and dive into ませんか (masen ka) — the surprisingly polite (and surprisingly negative) way to invite someone to do something. Won't you listen? (See what we did there?) They also tackle frequency adverbs like 毎日 (mainichi), よく (yoku), 時々 (tokidoki), and the power duo 全然・あまり (zenzen/amari) — and why you cannot say 全然大丈夫 (and yet... people do). Plus, a deep dive into Japanese word order and why it's actually not as scary as it looks — hello, Yoda.

Oh, and Michael may or may not have stolen a prop from a Netflix festival and declared this podcast officially part of the Netflix is a Joke Festival. We have the cube. We have the napkins. It's canon.

Also on this episode: the Japanese word for cleavage (tanima — you're welcome), Michael's voice work for The Conscious Outlaws, morning show energy, siesta culture, and the eternal question — is it a study date or just a date?

NO homework. Just bilingual chaos — and somehow you learn.

📩 Questions? NihongotoEnglishnoshow@gmail.com 

🎵 Theme Jingle by Michelle MaliZaki

エピソード26 – 一緒に勉強しませんか？（ませんか・ダルマ騒動＆Netflixスキャンダル）

**Nihongo to English（日本語 to English）**のエピソード26へようこそ！ホストのマイケル・アレン（CPA）とみしえる・まりザきが、今週も最高にカオスなバイリンガル学習をお届けします。

今回はげんき95ページを開いて、「ませんか」を徹底解説！なぜ否定形なのに招待・誘いになるの？英語の "Won't you...?" との意外な共通点も掘り下げます。さらに、頻度を表す副詞——毎日・よく・時々・全然・あまり——の使い方と、なぜ「全然大丈夫」は文法的に間違いなのに皆が使うのか？についても話し合います。そして日本語の語順が実はヨーダの話し方に似ている理由も解説！

さらにこのエピソードでは…マイケルがNetflixはジョークフェスティバルのキューブを「お借り」して、このポッドキャストを公式フェスティバル参加作品として宣言。証拠のキューブあり。ナプキンもあり。もう公式です。

他にも：「谷間（タニマ）」という日本語、マイケルのThe Conscious Outlawsへのボーカル参加、朝のラジオのちょっぴりナイトな話、シエスタ文化、そして「スタディデートって本当に勉強するの？」問題も登場。

宿題なし。バイリンガルなカオスだけ。でも、なぜかちゃんと学べる。

📩 ご質問・コメントはこちら：NihongotoEnglishnoshow@gmail.com 

🎵 テーマジングル：みしえる・まりザき

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yeah ya. Yashai Maseb.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

No, you gotta say Lashabaz! Hey Lashai Welcome to Nongoto English no show. That's not how we start. We need more energy. Ah, uh, how do you do energy?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

How do you do energy?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Uh you do energy. Stark. Um Hey, and welcome to Nihon Goto English No Show, the greatest, latest podcast for your Japanese and English learning. I'm your host, Michael Allen, CPA, and with me is Michelle Bajakek! And now it's time to learn some language. Who's with me? Who's ready to go? Alright, is that good? Sound like a radio announcer kind of sleazy radio guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Intimacy. Well, it's a morning show, you know. Oh, mo morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Morning shows can be a bit naughty sometimes. Well, yeah, a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Uh morning sho mo.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um, well, I mean, yeah, I'm not in that way though. Um, but uh I remember learning in uh Shakai Gaku. Hi. Uh no benkyo Gakuse no Toki. Hi. Uh yeah, morning shows. I guess people are uh a little more uh shall we say uh stimulated in the morning on average.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Oh soul.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

And so they are more uh forgiving of like innuendo and like flirtatiousness and a little bit like just a touch of uh naughty naughty jokes on the morning show. So morning radio is like a little bit more uh has like naughtier jokes than like evening radio because people are people are a little uh hornier in the mornings, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

The one English word that I could think of right now, cleavage.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Oh cleavage?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, do you know how to say that in Japanese?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I have no idea how to say cleavage in Japanese.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Tanima.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Oh tanima.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, tanikon?

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, valley canyon.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Um it's like in between or space.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Oh, cool. Tanima. I think I did know that at one point. It's that's the kind of word that I would definitely want to learn. Um so okay. So yeah, you can get uh tanima on your morning show.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah, but I don't have any tanima, so hey. And it's an audio podcast, so you think exactly you don't need to tell them that.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

They can use their imagination.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Oh yeah, oh use your imagination.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

When do you listen to Ni Hongoto English Snow Show? Do you listen in the morning? Uh oh wait, we just learned this. I for morning, I guess I can use ni, but I don't have to. Oh, niga tsukuhi. So days that have two that end in two or days that have two. Uh Ni Ni Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Hi, ni kikimasu.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

So itsu konop itsu ni hongoto English no sho kikimaska, asa nikikimas, kikimaska, yoru nikikimaska, nerumae, nirumae, ne nagara Ninagara. Ne nagara kikimasuka. Yoku uh ne nagara podcasto kikimasa.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

A so disko.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

I desko.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Ikana rakunakanji des Nakuna kanji. Hi mosi uhosto no koega uhoi datara. Ikoi datara, maikiru no koe i koe deska. Go to sleep!

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Go to sleep, money Wake up! Wake up! Okira!

SPEAKER_00 4:28

So yeah, this is Nihongoto English no show. And uh we've got a new Daruma. Daruma. I still haven't uh filled in its eye yet. No, not yet. We had Netflix as a joke festival. Last year in LA, it was already very big. This year in LA was even bigger. I mean, it was literally everywhere. Yeah. I mean, it really is just a big uh branding opportunity for Netflix to put these like red cubes everywhere, and they did it rather successfully. And so I was able to get be on some Netflix as a joke shows. You know, but it was at like a local dive bar. Uh not one of them, one of them was at the comedy store. Meanwhile, though, they were also having shows like at the Greek theater and really big venues. But um so yeah, I stole one of these cubes uh from one of the shows that I was on. Uh and now, yeah, their logo, their slogan, a lineup so big, you may be on it, which is not true because I wasn't on it.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Exactly. I wasn't on it.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, that's what the issue with it is that if you're just a viewer from like Kansas or you know, or Awamodican or something, you're like, oh, lineup's big, I might even be on it, ha ha ha. But then as a comedian, you're looking at it, you're like, well, it's apparently not big enough.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Not big enough. I'm too big that I can't be on it.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

But anyway, now you're on the show. My point is because some of them, you know, were uh big Netflix is a joke shows and with all the production, but some of them were just we're gonna go into your bar that has a show every week, like at the Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, like the Ryan Townlow shows. Yeah. And good for him, nothing for sure. But it's like all they really did was just put their branding everywhere and then let you call it a Netflix is a joke show. So if that's true, then I can just take one of these cubes and I can put it on any show I'm on and just be like, hey, it's a Netflix is a joke show. So uh at least for you know, this and the previous episode, uh Nihongo To English No Show is on the Netflix as a joke festival. It's a lineup so big you may be on it. And we have this cube here. We have the napkins that say Netflix is a joke. So as far as I'm concerned, uh for the purposes of this episode, allow me to welcome you to the Netflix as a joke festival, Michelle. You're on it now. What would you do for like uh appearing on a television show?

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Tedebini de temas.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So what would you do for a stage show like Broadway?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Stage ni de temas. Okay ni de temas.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

So if you're talking about the show or a festival, what if you perform on a festival?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Festival ni de temas. Okay, so it sounds like ni.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

So uh Netflix is a joke, ni de temas. Demasta Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yay!

SPEAKER_00 7:24

And it's all thanks to branding. Uh so yeah, these Daruma, uh, they're part of the festival now. You know, if they can just put Netflix on anything, so can I. I'm on we're on Netflix now.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yay.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And uh hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Uh huntai huntai.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Oh, you think so? Oh, like yeah, bigger than them. Right, right. Excuse me. Yeah, we're uh yes. And look, Netflix, if you think we're behaving inappropriately in any way, please issue a very uh public statement saying that Nihongoto English No Show is not affiliated with Netflix in any way whatsoever. That would be uh very helpful. So please do that.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

And then Monoka Netuflick no yate ato boongufest.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Boonga fest.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

What's next for Mike Edu San?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Oh yeah, I'm gonna be on um the Conscious Outlaws. The Conscious Outlaws. They're a band here in LA. And I did some I guess you could call it poetry or some background vocals on their upcoming album.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Oh nice.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

So uh let's hear it. Let's hear it. Oh, well, you can you can that's the that's the back that's the background. Uh no, I I think I voiced a demon on one of the tracks. I was like, uh you know, vengeance will be mine, kind of stuff like that. And then he added some vocal layers to it. Yeah. And then I did some some poetry at the beginning and the end of the album. So yeah, the Conscious Outlaws have a a new song called Ain't My Type. A-I-N Apostrophe T Ain't My Type, featuring goat vs. fish. Now exclusively on Bandcamp. Wow. We will be playing this and all of our upcoming album 2, Thursday, June 4th, at the Virgil Bar. Links to Ain't My Type and Virgil Tickets in the bio. Nice. In the Instagram of the Conscious Outlaws. So you know, there you go. That's what happened.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

That's what's going on with the We are ready for Ginky.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

All right.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Page 95.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Masenka. Won't you?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

You can use masenka equals the present tense negative verb plus the question particle. To extend an invitation. It should be noted that the affirmative counterpart maska cannot be so used. That's a sentence like hirugohan o tabemaska can only be constructed as a question, not as an invitation.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah. Hirugohan no tabemaska is just Do you eat? Do you eat lunch or will you eat lunch?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Okay, so A, Hirugohan O Tabemasenka. What do you say to having lunch with me?

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Why do they do that? Why don't they just say won't you have lunch with me?

SPEAKER_01 10:27

What do you say to having lunch with me?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

But we do this in English too. Won't you have lunch with me?

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Oh yeah, but that's what it says right here.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Because won't is like a contraction for will you not? Will you not have lunch with me? Michelle. Won't you won't you have lunch with me? Won't you study? Won't you write it down, please?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

It says e des ne. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah. So if that sounds weird, why would you use a negative with a question to do an invitation? We do it in English too.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Alright. What about tenisoshimasenka?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Tennis Oshimasenka. Hi, tenisuoshimas.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

No, the answer was that's what it says right here. Tennis Oshimasenka. It does say that. So tennis.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

I guess I don't want to do tennis. No.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I thought I did, but it's slightly for me at this moment.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

But then it says parentheses.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Uh-huh. Inconvenient for me at this moment.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Yeah. So Choto is slightly or it's a little.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Oh, and then it's and then the implication is like. I mean it's basically just you're saying no. No, yeah. But uh you don't have to say it's just kind of like going, uh it's a little uh I'm a bit uh you can see Larry David being like that. Hey hey Larry, won't you play uh tennis?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

It's a bit uh it's a bit uh it's a bit Yeah Yeah you don't need to say everything Okay what about six frequency adverbs? Ah you can add frequency adverbs such as minichi every day, yoku often, and toki doki sometimes to a sentence to describe how often you do something.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Sorry, spaced out. I was thinking of more masenka examples. Oh masenka. Well only because we haven't uh I mean we read the examples in the book, but you know, shouldn't we like try and create our own examples?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

You know, Michael san o soji shimasenka.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Uh none there uh hey kitana tomoimaska. Uh Maritaki san soji shimasenka. That'sai so I I just cleaned the house. Yeah, uh so soji every time I come, it's mosoji. Yeah, I have to for you. Oh it's a Japanese podcast.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

I feel so special.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah. I mean it doesn't matter if it's filthy as long as I did the cleaning. Yeah, it's I just it's cleaner than it was.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Okay, okay, okay, okay. So uh uh Marisaki san Teburu no Kaisha ni uh Monku Shima Senka. Yeah, I'm inviting you to complain about the table cover.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

It's the sound of complaints.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Yeah, but uh so but now this is an invitation, I suppose. Yeah. But how how do you say to invite? I'm trying to remember to invite so I could say um ishoni nihoni iku no o shotai shimasenka. Well that's saying that's me inviting you to go to Japan. I'm being like, won't you invite me?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Ah, niho, nihon ni shotai, no, ni honi kuno shotai shteku masenka.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Uh yeah, that's so I need to add a kude, like kude there. So uh I already did. It's a it's just a tatoiba. So ishoni uh shotai shtekure masenka. And shimashta. Oh moshimasta. Oh shimasen. Yeah yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

That was good practice for me. Yeah, hokani masenka. Yeah. So I'm yeah, we're inviting.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

I'm taking the invitation and I'm making the you know, won't you invite me?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

No.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Oh, shotai, right, an invitation. That's right. So shotai. Shotai jo. It's because if you're uh invited to a fancy event.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yeah, shotai.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

It's like because you're gonna show your tie. Oh. You're like gonna wear your tie to the fancy event, so it's an invitation to a fancy event. Shotai. Shotai Shimasenka, won't you show your tie at the fancy event?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

But what if for women? Um shotai.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I mean, women can wear ties. Uh shol shokimono shimasai. Shokimono. Shokimono. No, but you can still show you can still shotai. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah. Uh frequency adverbs. Frequency adverbs. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Uh Watashiwa Tokidoki Toshokan ikimasu.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Tamani? Tokidoki? Tokidoki. Tokidoki. Toshokan? Ikimas? Ikimas. We sometimes go to the library. Yeah, Watashiwa. Oh, I sometimes go to the library.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yes. Yay. In this lesson, we also learn two adverbs which describe how infrequent an activity or an event is. Zenzen.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Zenzen. Well, usually Zen Zen is used with negative, right? Never. Yeah, Zenzen. Uh Marizaki san. No, that would be mean. I was gonna say I was about to say something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna be like uh Nazeka uh Rosan Zarusuno Comedian wa uh Marizaki san or Zenzen.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, Yonde Kudem Okashina Okashina Conspiracy. Conspiracy So Zenzen. Not often, not very much Amari.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yeah, Amari, that's used with negatives as well. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

These adverts anticipate the negative at the end of the sentence.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah. Ooh, they anticipate it. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Yeah. If you use Zenzen, Amari, in other words, you need to conclude the sentence with Masen.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yep. That's what I that's what I hear. You never watch TV.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I do not watch TV at all.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Right. Zenzen, Guruten O Tabe Masen. Uh so there's Zenzen and Amari, but if I said uh Guruten O Amari Tabe Masen, I'd say I usually don't.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Uh Zettai Tabe Masen.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Oh, so Zet Tai.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Oh Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

So you can use Zen Zen or Zettai? I thought you could use Zetai for positives.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Zet Tai could be both.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Zettai could be both.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, but Zettai is absolute.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Even more than Zen Tai.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, Zenzen could be like not at all, but maybe one Z.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

But Zetai, Zettai Tabanai.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, Zet Tai, okay. Zetai is just extreme in the extreme absolute sense. Um can it also be used to talk about your experiences? Like uh like uh if I want to say uh you know uh Filipini Ita kotonai itakotari masen zenzen Ita kotari masen zeta itakotari masen? Or is that just not necessary?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah I don't think zenzen could be used in that okay um like I've absolutely never been. Like ah, I don't want brush at all.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Oh please. Nande.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

I don't know, like um that that could be a sense.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

So kuchiga nioigas. Uh okay, so zenzen though, so dai jobu. I remember kind of learning the expression zenzen daijobu this, but then I was told, oh that's actually not technically proper. You want to say zettai Dai Jobu this. But a lot of people still say Zenzen Dai Jobu this, don't or do they not?

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Right. It's not right.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Right. But people but I'm saying it's a it's not just a mistake that foreigners make. Like people say it.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, yeah. People say it, but it's not right.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

There you go. Yeah, we got things like that in English too.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Where we say things that aren't right, but we say them anyway.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Oh, so this is what I found out. Take-san wa amari ben kyoshi mosan.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Takeshi san doesn't really study much.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

It's kind of uh translated.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Like uh gossipy. This is so gossipy.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yeah, rarely studies.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

So kyoto nido.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Benkyo deto. Where they it's like, oh, you show me benkyoshi ma show.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

But they don't study, study.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Yeah, well yeah. They start they're studying something else.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Oh ah, a morning show.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah, a study date.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Study date. Yeah. That's play date.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Well, you get a little older and then it's like you know, it's like a pretense. It's like, hey, why don't you come over to my place and we can we can study for the math test.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

You please.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

And then I promise I just want to help you learn math. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. One plus one is two.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah. Well, that's that's gotta be a song. And one plus one is two, and uh me plus you is us. I don't know. Something like that. So Zen Zen, Zetai can both be used for Masen, but Zetai can also be used for always. Can you use it for always?

SPEAKER_01 20:09

It's more?

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, I mean you could say it's more dinato de ice cream uh mo tabemas. Yeah. Ice cream mo ku.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

That sounds like some kind of hata ne, but kutchane.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Oh kut de tabateh ne Oh oh kutchane. Oh yeah, I do that pretty much every day. Oh you do Yeah, ku kucha hiru there.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Kutcha hir Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Uh the older I get, that you know I eat I eat a big lunch and then I just need to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Oh so that means I'm really getting old because every time I have lunch I have to take a nap.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Yeah. It's natural though. It's only our crazy American work ethic that tells us that we shouldn't take naps. Siesta. Yeah, siesta, siesta culture, bring back siesta culture. It's it's natural, it's totally normal.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Word order seven. Japanese sentences are fairly flexible in the arrangement of elements that appear in that generally sentences are made up of several non particle sequences followed by a verb or an adjective.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

A typical sentence. Therefore it looks like the following. But several other arrangements of noun particle sequences are also possible.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Uh-huh. Yeah. So this is a fun one. So yeah, you've got the nouns, like they said, you got the nouns, and the nouns can have adjectives before them, but ultimately they are going to have a particle at the end. Um and this is the building blocks you were talking about. Watashiwa. Well, we learned though that kyol does not take a part. We learned that specifically. So but it could be like Sanji Ni, but kyol doesn't need one for whatever reason. So Hotashiwa Kyol Toshukan de Nihongo Ben Kyoshimas. But indeed, as I remember talking about with my students, even if it sounds a little awkward, it would not be incorrect to say Nihongo O Toshukan de Kyo Watashiwa Ben Kyoshimas.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Yeah. So if you're like in the middle of speaking a sentence, you don't have to formulate the whole sentence all at once. You just can build the parts of it that you want. And then if at the end you're like, oh, I forgot to say what the subject was, you can just add it to the end and then say your verb. And you can do this in English too. It can sound a little awkward, but yeah, you could say, Today I study Japanese in the library, right? Or you could say, in the library, today I study Japanese. In the library, I study Japanese today. Like you you can do it in English and move it around, which you'll often find like in literature or like in poetry, and the meaning is all still there. Now in English, you can also put the the verb at the beginning. You can be like, I guess you kind of usually you put the subject at the beginning, but you don't have to. Yeah, you can say in the library today, Japanese I study, right? It sounds a little awkward, but it's not wrong. You can do it, and the meaning is all there.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

It's like yoda speaking.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yeah, yeah, it is like yoda speaking. But there's the particles again, you know, in the library. Uh English just puts it in front. Instead of Toshokande, we're saying in the library at three o'clock. Toshokande, Sanji Ni. Uh, it's not as different from English as you think. Yeah, it it seems all all different, but if you really understand what the particles are used for in English, we just put the particle at the beginning. In Japanese, they put the particle after. But once you have those like particle noun pairs, that whatever that set is, you can just start moving them around and you can make the meaning however you want.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Okay, what about the topic particles?

SPEAKER_00 24:17

The wa and the ga?

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Wa. As we saw in lesson one, the particle wa presents the topic of one's utterance.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Uh they really say the topic of one's utterance. Yeah, that's what it says. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

That's a funny way of utterance.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Yeah, I mean it's just what you're saying, but it's kind of a fancy word.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

It puts forward. I'm not blaming you. Uh-huh. It puts forward the item that you want to talk about. You may have noted that the topic phrases in sentences such as May Ali Samu said Mary is a sophomore. And what should not say my major is the Japanese language or the subject of those sentences. A topic phrase, however, need not be the subject of a sentence. We see three sentences in the dialogue of this lesson where non-subject phrases are made topic uh topics with the help of the particle wa.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Uh Mary san, Shumatsu taite nanyoshimasuka.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Shumatsua taite nan Yoshimasuka.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Alright.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

So Mary. Oh, what do you usually do on weekends?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Okay. So what are they trying to teach us with this example?

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Shumatsu wa.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Shumatsu is the subject. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

And wa use wa. But that merisan. It's like you. Yeah, in Japanese we don't use you often. Anata. Instead of anata, we use merisan or san. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

And as a comma after marisan. But if I wanted to ask you what Marisan usually does does on the weekend. Yeah. I would say merisan. But I thought we had shumatsuwa. Could I say medisan ga if I'm introducing Mary as the Merisan.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

No, Mary san wa shumatsu wa tight in on.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Oh you can double wa?

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Yeah, double wa.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Oh, I didn't know you could double wa. I thought you could only have one wa. That's cool. That makes things so much easier just to know I can use wa as many times as I can.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah, wa wa wa.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

But you could say Mary sanga, depending on how things are going, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah. But nah I think if you want to know what Mary's doing this weekend, then I think you would say wa na ga.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

But here we're just getting Mary's attention.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah. What about kyowa? Kyoto ni kimas.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Kyowa? Kyoto nikimas. Hi. What about it?

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I'm going to kyoto today.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah. I'm going to Kyoto today. Yeah. But what are they saying? Wa they're saying kyo is the what, the topic or the subject? This is this I'm never really going to get this.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

It's a topic particle, kywa.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Kyo is the topic. But are they saying that wa can be used for topic or subject? I mean, look, you know, it's in the book here. So as long as I'm sure you could write I mean, I think there's actually entire um like when you get into linguistics, right? Yeah. In Japanese, there's like entire essays div devoted to the difference in wa and ga. So, you know, you don't really uh don't feel bad if it's confusing.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

And then in the above examples, wa presents that um time expressions as the topic of each sentence. Oh, like kyo and shumatsu. Kyo wa shumatsu wa. Yeah. And its effects can be paraphrased like these. Let's talk about weekend. What do you do on the weekend? Let me say what I will do today. I will go to Kyoto.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Okay. Bangu Hanwa. How about dinner? Bangu Hanwa.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Oh yeah, yeah, you can definitely do that. Uh Kyonanio uh Tabe Shoka. Sushi wa kare wa like you're presenting options for consideration.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Oh, but the answer is Tabe Masen. I will not eat.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Oh. Tabe masen. So now we've got uh Tabe Masen, Gakoni ikimasen. Yeah, we're there's a lot we're not doing.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah. In this example, wa is used in directing the listener's attention and thereby inviting a comment on completion of the sentence. Oh, like bangu han wa.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

And then like the answer is Tabe Masen. So banguhan wa tabe masen. Bangu han wah Tabe masen.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Oh, so you're like handing off the sentence for the other person to finish?

SPEAKER_01 28:38

You may also note that the broached topic, banguhan, does not stand in subject relations to that verb, but it's rather its direct object.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

I don't know what they're trying to get at there. Except I mean, if you were making a sentence for yourself, you would be like bang hohan, oh tabemas, bangohan o tabemasen. You could say bang gohan wa tabe masen, but it's just I mean, oh makes the direct object. It's like I eat the bangohan, I eat dinner. But if you say bang hoan wa tabemasen, you're saying like, well, as for dinner, you know, I don't eat it. Yeah. So it's less about the action of eating the dinner and more about well, speaking of the subject of dim dinner, I don't eat it. Bango. Whereas you say banghuan old tabe masen, you're like, I don't, I'm not doing the the action of eating dinner like right now or in the future. Because you could be like bango an wa kare ozenzen tabemasen.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Kare no nyuga shinai.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Oh n shinai this. Hi.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

So yeba.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

So yeba. Hi. Kare no nyoi wa yapari soro kuka non nyoides. Ah, sudo. A soro kuka o soto ni okima so uhangurai asotoni dash de shinku de uh yoko arata nio. Dan dan toremashta. Yokata.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Mo wakanai bumpo owali.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Oh, wakanai.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Niho no sense.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

I don't go no sense.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Bumpo wakara night.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Bumpo wakara night.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Wakara night. Bumpo nakte mo dai jobu.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Nakte mo dai jobu. That's easy for you to say. It's e it's easy to say that uh the grammar doesn't matter so much when you're speaking a native language.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Because you just scramble the words.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

It's not Oh, we're talking about word order. Yeah, yeah. Sure. But you still need to know when to use ni and when to use de and when to use gone. Yeah. Wanga is a little bit difficult. I've just decided I'll never truly understand the difference between wanga, and I'll just do my best and hopefully I'll be right half the time.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Okay. Well, it's Friday.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Uh it is Friday. Friday's our usual recording day.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Yeah. Yeah. Friday.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Tae te kinyobini.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Kinobini.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Oh, sorry, I interrupted you. No, no, sorry. No, those are the things.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Ah, tickuta kinyobi asojino hi.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Uh studio knows o sojino he ness. Gita uh hikohito uh no ongaku wa sugoi uhare no key. Kamino keatsumo uhimas.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Ahto kadi no kari? Yeah. Is it curly? A little bit curly.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Oh, I thought you were saying something offensive there. I thought you were saying, oh, does his hell hair smell like curry? And I thought that'd be very rude to the colour. So they're cut it. A wavy. A wavy.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

A cadi jali wavy.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Curly is, you know. Ah. Curly wavy. So next week on uh Nihongoto English No Show, we'll be uh going over uh words you need to know at the nail and hair salon. I don't think so. Maybe one day.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Well well, thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah, well, thank you for listening, yes, to Nihongoto English No Show. Email us at Nihongoto English No Show at gmail.com. Uh you don't happen to be able to check that email on your phone.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

No, I haven't, but uh last time I checked it was all spam.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

But we do get uh messages on Facebook and on and post it on our social media too.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

So we have uh Nihongo To English on the on the Instagram, right? Yes, which I still call Instantgram. Yes, Nihongo To English or Nihongo to English, if you prefer. So yeah, you can just like leave a comment on any post there. You know, email can be too comp. Just leave a comment on Nihongo To English on any post and be like, hey, what about this? What about that? Michelle is doing a great job of uh uh uploading to the Nihongoto English Instagram whenever we have a new episode dropping.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

But not today. Not today. Ah, I was I I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Oh, that's okay. Hey, we've got 38 followers. Let's uh try to get to a hundred followers on the Instagram just because. So, yeah, if you're listening to this, go give us a follow at Nihongoto English on the Instagram, please.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

And see you next time. Hatsane!

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Hatsane, bye bye.