Lesson 4 - Fluency Drills:
Shopping and repairs
(photo
by Blondinrikard Fröberg used
under terms of Creative Commons license.)
To get
a clerk's attention
in a store, say
"excuse me," sumimasen. Listen
and repeat:
Sumimasen
The
usual greeting given
a customer is
"nice to have you,"
irasshaimase.
Listen:
Irasshaimase.
Fluency Drill 3:
You may
want to ask
if the store
carries a certain item,
for example, radios.
To ask if
the store has
radios, you say rajio
arimasu ka?
Listen and repeat:
Rajio arimasu ka?
You may want to ask about film, fuirumu. Listen and repeat:
fuirumu
To
ask if
the store carries
film, you say
fuirumu arimasu
ka? Listen
and repeat:
Fuirumu
arimasu ka?
Or
you may want
to know about
cassette recorders, kasetto rekōdā.
Listen and repeat:
kasetto rekōdā.
Now ask if the store has cassette recorders.
The word for "chinaware" is setomono. Listen and repeat:
setomono
Now ask if the store has chinaware.
The word for "scroll" is kakemono. Listen and repeat:
kakemono
Ask if the store has scrolls.
The
word for
"stereo" is sutereo.
Listen and repeat:
sutereo
Ask if the store has stereos.
And the word for "camera" is kamera. Listen and repeat:
kamera
Now ask if the store has cameras.
If
you have
brought a picture
of the item,
you can show
it to the clerk
and say "do
you have this?"
kore arimasu ka? Listen and
repeat:
Kore
arimasu ka?
Fluency Drill 4:
Now you will hear some English words. After hearing each cue, ask in Japanese if the store has the item.
If
the answer
to your question
rajio arimasu ka? is yes,
the clerk will say
hai,
"yes," or arimasu, "we
do," or
hai, arimasu,
"yes, we do."
Listen to these
three answers:
Hai. |
Arimas |
Hai, arimas |
Fluency Drill 6:
If
the
answer to your
question is no,
the clerk will say
īe, "no,"
or arimasen, "we
don't," or īe, arimasen,
or īya, arimasen,
both meaning "no,
we don't."
Now Iisten to the different answers:
Īe. |
Arimasen. |
Īe, arimasen.
|
Īya, arimasen. |
Fluency Drill 7:
If
the item
you want to
buy is not
in stock, the
clerk will say" I'm sorry; we're
out of stock
now," sumimasen; ima kirashite
imasu. Listen:
Sumimasen.
Ima kirashite
imasu.
Fluency Drill 8:
Now you
will
hear several possible
answers to your question
"do you have
radios?". After
you hear
each Japanese
answer, give
the English translation.
Fluency Drill 9:
When you
ask kasetto
rekōdā arimasu
ka? the clerck
may simply tell
you the floor
on which cassette
recorders are
sold. If
they are on
the first floor,
the clerk says ik-kai desu. Listen:
Ik-kai desu.
The clerk
could also have
said ik-kai ni
arimasu.
There is
no
difference in meaning
between desu and
ni arimasu when used
with floor numbers.
Listen:
Ik-kai ni
arimasu.
"The second
floor" is ni-kai. And
"they're on the
second floor" is either
ni-kai desu
or ni-kai ni
arimasu.
Listen:
Ni-kai
des |
Ni-kai
ni arimas |
"The third
floor" is san-gai. To
tell you that
something is
on the
third floor, the
clerk says san-gai
desu
or san-gai
ni arimasu.
Listen:
San-gai des |
San-gai ni
arimas |
"The fourth
floor" is yon-kai. If
something is on
the fourth
floor, the
clerk says yon-kai
ni arimasu
or yon-kai desu.
Listen:
Yon-kai
ni arimas |
Yon-kai
des |
Go-kai
is
"the fifth floor."
If something is
on the fifth floor,
the clerk says
go-kai ni
arimasu
or go-kai
desu.
Listen:
Go-kai
ni arimas |
Go-kai
des |
And "the
sixth floor" is
rok-kai.
"They're
on the sixth floor" is
either rok-kai desu or
rok-kai ni
arimasu.
Listen:
Rok-kai des |
Rok-kai ni
arimas |
Fluency Drill 10:
Listen to
six answers telling
you on what
floor an
item can
be found. After
each answer, give
the floor number in
English.
You have
just been shown
an item in a
store. You
want to
know if the
store has a
different kind or
a different
color or
a larger size
or a better
quality. You ask
your question using arimasu ka?
after the appropriate
words for
"different kind"
or "different color"
or "larger size"
or "better quality."
hoka no
To ask
if the store
has a different
kind, you say hoka
no arimasu ka?
Listen and repeat:
Hoka no
arimasu
ka?
"A different
color" is hoka
no iro. Listen
and repeat:
hoka no
iro
To ask
if the store
carries a different
color, you say
hoka
no iro
arimasu
ka? Listen
and repeat:
Hoka no
iro arimasu ka?
"A big
one" is ōkī no.
Listen
and repeat:
ōkī no
To
say
"a bigger one,"
you add the
word motto to
ōkī no.
Listen and
repeat:
motto ōkī no
And to
ask if the
store carries a
bigger one, you
say motto
ōkī no
arimasu
ka? Listen
an d
repeat:
Motto ōkī no
arimasu
ka?
"A small one"
is chīsai
no.
Listen
and repeat:
chīsai no
"A smaller
one" is motto
chīsai
no.
Listen and
repeat:
motto chīsai no
And to
ask if the
store has a
smaller one,
you say motto chīsai
no arimasu ka?
Listen and
repeat:
Motto chīsai no
arimasu
ka?
"A cheap
one" is yasui
no. Listen and
repeat:
yasui no
To say
"a cheaper one,"
add motto to
yasui no : motto
yasui no.
Listen and
repeat:
motto yasui
no
To ask
if the store
has a cheaper
one, you say
motto yasui
no arimasu ka?
Listen and repeat:
Motto yasui
no arimasu ka?
"A good
one" is ī
no.
Listen
and repeat:
ī
no
To say
"a better one,"
add motto to
ī
no. Listen
and repeat:
motto
ī
no
To ask
if the store
has a better
one, you say
motto ī
no arimasu
ka? Listen
and
repeat:
Motto ī no
arimasu
ka?
You will hear
six English phrases
describing items.
Ask the
clerk in Japanese
if she has
these items.
Fluency Drill 13:
If the
clerk needs time
to think about
the answer
or to get an item or to wrap a purchase, he/she will
say "just a minute,
please," shōshō o-machi
kudasai. Listen:
Shōshō o-machi
kudasai.
Fluency Drill 14:
If you
have decided to
buy an item,
you say
"I'll take this
one, please," kore
kudasai. Listen and
repeat:
Kore kudasai.
The word
for "one" is
hitotsu. Listen
and repeat:
hitotsu
For "one
of these," you
say kore hitotsu. Listen
and repeat:
kore hitotsu
For "I’ll take
one
of these, please,"
you say kore
hitotsu kudasai.
Listen and repeat:
Kore hitotsu kudasai.
The word
for "two" is
futatsu. Listen
and repeat:
futatsu
For "two
of these," you
say kore futatsu. Listen
and repeat:
kore futatsu
And for
"I’ll take two of
these, please," you
say kore
futatsu
kudasai.
Listen and repeat:
Kore futatsu kudasai.
The word
for "three" is
mittsu. Listen
and repeat:
mittsu
For "three
of these," you
say kore mittsu. Listen
and repeat:
kore mittsu
And for
"I’ll take three of
these, please," you
say kore
mittsu kudasai.
Listen and repeat:
Kore mittsu
kudasai.
Fluency Drill 16:
Give the
English equivalents of
four recorded
Japanese sentences.
Fluency Drill 17:
After you
have made your
purchase, the clerk
will say "thank
you," domō arigatō
gozaimashita.
Listen:
Domō arigatō
gozaimashita.
And she
may add "please
come again" mata
dozō. Listen:
Mata dozō.
After the
clerk has thanked
you and handed
you the package, you
say "thank you,"
domō.
Listen and
repeat:
Domō.
Fluency Drill 18:
Let's suppose
that you need
a camera
repaired or
a spot
removed from a
pair of pants
or some film
developed. You take your
camera, pants, or
film to
a shop and
ask "can you do
this?" kore
dekimasu
ka ? Listen
and repeat:
Kore dekimasu ka?
Fluency Drill 19:
If the
shop can do
the work, the
answer will be
"yes," hai,
or "we can,"
dekimasu or
"yes,
we can," hai,
dekimasu. Listen:
Hai.
|
Dekimas |
Hai,
dekimas |
If
the
shop cannot do
the work, the
answer will be
"no," īe, or "we
can't," dekimasen or
"no, we can't,"
which can be
either īe,
dekimasen or iya,
dekimasen.
Listen:
Īe. |
Dekimasen. |
Īe, dekimasen.
|
Iya, dekimasen. |
Fluency Drill 20:
To ask
"can you do it today?"
you say kyō
dekimasu
ka? Listen
and
repeat:
Kyō dekimasu ka?
The answer
may be one
of those heard
in Drill 19:
"yes, we
can" or
"no, we can't."
Another answer might
be "we can't
do it today," kyō
dekimasen.
Listen:
Kyō dekimasen.
Or the
word īe
or iya
might be used
with kyō dekimasen: īe,
kyō dekimasen,
"no, we can't
do it today."
Listen:
Īe,
kyō dekimasen.
The word
for "tomorrow" is
ashita. Listen
and repeat:
ashita
To ask
"can you do
it by tomorrow?"
you
say ashita dekimasu
ka? Listen
and repeat:
Ashita dekimasu ka?
The answers
will be the
same as those
heard in Drill
19.
If you
ask "can you
do it today?"
kyō dekimasu ka?
you may
get the
answer "we can't
do it today;
we can do
it by tomorrow,"
kyō dekimasen.
ashita
dekimasu.
Listen:
Kyō dekimasen.
Ashita
dekimasu.
Fluency Drill 21:
If you
decide to leave
the item at
the shop, you
say "okay, fine then,"
jā, o-negai shimasu. Listen
and repeat:
Jā, o-negai
shimasu.
If you
decide not to
leave the item,
you just say "see
you later," jā
mata.
Jā mata.
When you
pick up the
item you left
at the shop, you
show your ticket
and ask "is
this ready?" kore
dekimashita
ka? Listen
and repeat:
Kore dekimashita ka?
The clerk
will take your ticket
and say "yes,
sir; just a minute,
please," hai, shōshō
o-machi kudasai. Listen:
Hai, shōshō
o-machi kudasai.
The hai
in the clerk's
answer does not
mean that the
work is
finished. The
clerk is simply
acknowledging your question. If
the item is
ready, the clerk
will give it to
you. If the work
is not finished,
the clerk may
say something like "I'm
sorry;
we can do
it by
tomorrow," sumimasen; ashita
dekimasu.
Listen:
Sumimasen. Ashita
dekimasu.
Fluency Drill 24:
When you
have paid, the
clerk will
say "thank
you ," dōmo
arigatō gozaimashita. Listen:
Dōmo arigatō
gozaimashita.
The clerk
may add "please
come again," mata
dōzo. Listen:
Mata dōzo.
As you
leave, you say
"thank you," dōmo.