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October 29, 2005

Tips for your language exchange

Over at Japanese! Japanese! Mike posted some useful phrases to know when speaking with your Japanese conversation partner. Rather than repeat his work, let me add a few I've found very useful:

すみません: Sorry
わかりません: I don't understand
もういちど: Once more

It's helpful to know a few phrases when listening too.  I frequently hear Japanese say something which sounds like なんだろ when they're trying to say something in English. I'm not sure exactly how it translates, but it's something like "What (なん)is(だ) it".

You'll also hear your Japanese partner frequently speaking or making noises while you're speaking. According to Nihongo Notes this is called aizuchi and is an accepted and expected part of Japanese conversation. The purpose of aizuchi is to let you know that the listener is still listening and to encourage you to continue. According to Nihongo Notes you should frequently hear "そうですか", "はい" or "ええ". However, I frequently hear my Japanese partners, whether we are speaking Japanese or English, saying what I thought was "Mmm" or "Hmmm". Wrong: they are saying "うん", a less formal form of "はい" or "ええ". You'll probably hear it too.

I will admit that even though I'm used to the English form of aizuchi, the Japanese make these sounds even more frequently than I'm used to. It can be a little disturbing at first, and can be a little difficult to keep right on rolling even when it sounds like I'm being interrupted. It's all part of learning to converse in a new language.

Permalink | Posted by Joe at October 29, 2005 08:58 PM

Comments

I didn't even think to mention aizuchi. It's great to use it in any Japanese conversation, especially when you don't really know what the other person is talking about :)

Posted by: Mike Smeen at October 31, 2005 09:21 AM

After a while, you start to recognize when your partner's aizuchi indicates that he no longer has a clue what you're saying. At that point I try to stop and determine what he gets and what he needs help with.

The end of daylight savings time now means that Japan is 14 hours ahead rather than 13. That'll certainly affect Skype schedules.

Posted by: Joe at October 31, 2005 09:39 AM

何ですか, or informally hearing 何だ, would be like "What is it/What's this/that?"

何だろう is more like saying "I wonder what it/this/that is.." だろう or でしょう (formal) usually indicates the speaker's conjecture. Spoken with rising intonation, it can also be used to ask for the hearer's agreement.

Posted by: raize at November 3, 2005 10:21 AM

Thanks raize, that's exactly what I was looking for. I asked Yasuo about it on Monday but he couldn't really explain the difference between 何だ and 何だろう. Now my curiosity is satisfied.

Posted by: Joe at November 3, 2005 01:01 PM

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