Great Tip for Learning Japanese from George + Detective Conan Episode 1000

2021年03月07日「日」第67週

日本語の練習 第67週 Japanese Practice Week 67

Hello everyone! Kyuusei here to teach you Japanese and show what I find interesting about Japan. With that being said, let’s continue.

日本語のイベント

この動画はジョージ先生から便利なアドバイスについてです。

あのとき、「実兄」の単語の意味は知りませんでした。アドバイスをもらったから、色んな動画を見ました。ファイナルファンタジーとか、キングダムハーツとか、パルソーナ５とか。別の言語を勉強するなら、自分でしてみる。みんなは好きなゲームを見つけるかも知りません。

N4　文法

[なら]

This grammar is used to say ‘if“, “in case” or “as for”.

Casual Verb ＋なら

Noun ＋ なら 

いーAdj＋なら

なーAdj＋なら

Ex: ランボしたいなら、外に行け！

　　(If you want to rough house, go outside!)

Ex: 韓国語なら、日本語より簡単でしょう。

　　(If it’s Korean, then it is easier than Japanese.) 

Ex: リビングは広いなら、ソファに置いてできる。

　　(If the living room is spacious, then you can leave the sofa there.) 

Ex: そんなに簡単だったなら、早くするべきだった。

　　(If it was that easy, I should have done it sooner) 

[なさい]

This grammar point is used as a command. Think of a time where your parents tell their child to do something or when a teacher is telling a student to listen in class.

It can be used in a polite sense as well (such as the phrase おやすみなさい) but it is commonly used to politely order someone to do something. You may have also heard people using keigo with something similar to this grammar (such as in Nintendo Direct).

For example ご覧ください（ごらんください） could also be used to say ごらんなさい in a more commanding yet polite way。

Here’s an example for ご覧ください：

Verb (drop ます) ＋なさい

Ex: 母が話しているとき、よく聞きなさい。

　　(Listen to me (your mother), when I’m talking)

Ex: テストのそろそろの時間わよ。ちゃんと勉強しなさい。

　　(The test will be coming up soon. Make sure to study.) 

[なさる]  

This grammar point is the keigo verb to do. Warning: this can only be used when the speaker is saying someone else other than the speaker is doing the action.

Ex: 課長はこの問題のこと何をなさりますかな。

　　(I wonder what the boss will do with this problem.)

Ex: 先輩はコピー機で書類をコピーなさっています。

　　(My senior is copying the documents at the copy machine.) 

トピックスを答えましようか

1. While looking back at past club member photos in your Shogi club, you and your friends find a picture of your big sister. Tell them that your sister told you that she often spent a lot of time playing shogi with her friends when she was a college student.

姉は大学生の時友だちと将棋をたくさんしたと言っていました。

2. You spot a guy sitting on a bench that is wearing a pink suit. Ask your friend if they know who that is.

ベンチに座ってピンクスーツを着ている男のことを知ってる？

3. A couple of your classmates are going to a restaurant after the exam and they ask if you want to come. Tell them that you haven’t anything yet, so sure.

まだ何も食べていないから、いいよ。

4. The executive meeting for your club is not going well. The President has gotten sick. Since you are the Vice President, explain to the rest of the members that the President had told you that he was not feeling well yesterday, but you will start the meeting.

会長は昨日気分が悪かったと言ったんだ。私は会議を始めるから、大丈夫です。

5. Your friend Rei needs your help finding something for his girlfriend Makoto for White Day. Tell Rei that you heard that Makoto seemed to want that detective novel that will come out this weekend, but she doesn’t have money till next Thursday.

真さんは今週末に発表している探偵の小説が欲しそうだけど、木曜日までにお金がない。

N4　動詞

1.　戻る（もどる）–  To Return, To Go Back

Ex: 今戻らないと、先の道がもっと厳しいになるだ。

　　 　　(If you don’t go back now, the road ahead will be tougher.)

Ex: 過去に戻られないのに、今、君はまだ変わってできます。

　　 　　(Even though you can’t go back to the past, you can still change now. )

Ex: テストの終わるとき、頭が痛くて、携帯を忘れてしまったから、取りに戻った。

　　 　　(When I finished the test, my head hurt so much that I forgot my phone, so I came back to get it.)

2.　貰う（もらう）– To Receive

Ex: 15歳の誕生日に何ももらわなかったから、デパートで少年ジャンプを買うに行った。

　　 　　(I didn’t get anything for my 15th birthday, so I went to buy a Shonen Jump magazine at the department store.)

Ex: 彼は学園の中に一番大人気少女からラブレターをもらった。

　　 　　(He got a love letter from the most popular girl in school.)

Ex: １０歳ころに、子供たちは始めのポケモンをもらうはずだよ。

　　 　　(When you’re about 10, the kids have to get their first pokemon.)

3.　焼く（やく）– To Bake, To Cook

Ex: この肉が硬過ぎる。今度、肉をもっと焼いて方がいい。

　　 　　(This meat is too tough. It’d be better to cook it more next time.)

Ex: 三年の前に、弟はウェディングケーキの焼き方を教えてもらった。

　　 　　(Three years ago, my little brother taught me how to bake a wedding cake.)

Ex: 小さい頃に、何も焼いてできないけど、今、色んな料理をしてできる。

　　 　　(When I was little, I couldn’t cook anything but now I can cook a lot of things.)

4.　役に立つ（やくにたつ）–  To Be Helpful

Ex: 今読んでいる本は漢字を読みたい初心者には役に立つと思います。

　　 　　(I think the books I am reading right now are useful for beginners who want to read Kanji.)

Ex: 冒険者になるとき、役に立っている仲間が必要なんだ。

　　 　　(When you are an adventurer, you need useful companions.)

Ex: いつの日か役に立つような言語を勉強しなさい。

　　 　　(Study a useful language one day.)

対話

[ナノが来た！]

A: よっしゃー！

B: えー　どうしたんの。急に元気になった。

A: トラッシュ・テイストのポッドキャストを知らない？

B: うん、よく聞く。で？

A: ポッドキャストで歌手のナノが来た！

B: 。。。誰？

A: BTOOMのOPを思い出せない？

B: おー、そうか。あのナノか？久しぶりだね。彼女いい声がある。

A: そうだよね。大学生の時、毎日ユーチューブで全ての歌曲を聴いた。

B: ユーチューブで一緒に見よう。

A: うん、見よう。

[Nano is here!]

A: All right!

B: Uhh What’s gotten into you? Getting excited all of sudden.

A: Do you know about the Trash Taste Podcast?

B: Yeah, I listen to it often. What about it?

A: The singer Nano came on the podcast!

B: … Who?

A: Do you not remember BTOOM’s opening theme?

B: Oh, yeah. That Nano? It’s been a while since I heard her. She has a good voice.

A: Right. When I was a college student, I listened to all her songs on YouTube every day.

B: Let’s watch it on YouTube.

A: Yeah, let’s do that.

タイトルを見る

ピアノソナタ「月光」殺人事件

（前編）

ピアノ

Katakana is used for names and foreign words (also when they want to put emphasis on a word).

This word means simply piano.

ソナタ

As mentioned about katakana before this is the word for Sonata, a song for a piano piece.

ピアノソナタ together means piano sonata.

「月光」（「げっこう」）

The 「」usually entails a song title or in light novels quotations. 

Now the Kanji inside those brackets, 月, which means moon and the 光, which means light. Put together and you get Moonlight.

Together ピアノソナタ「月光」roughly means Piano Sonata “Moonlight”. “Moonlight” Sonata would be a better translation here.

殺人（さつじん）

More compounded Kanji. 殺（さつ）, comes from the verb 殺す（ころす）人, just means person. So if we take the verb and put it together with a person. It can mean to kill a person. Or in other words, murder.

事件（じけん）

And one more compounded Kanji. 事, means thing or matter or case, while the kanji 件 has a similar context and meaning. In this context it means an incident or for better words a case.

Together 殺人事件 can be simply translated to Murder Case.

前編（ぜんぺん）

Last compounded Kanji I promise. 前（ぜん）, can mean in front of or before. While 編（へん） is usually associated with a completed work or a part of a book. 

Notice that the second Kanji doesn’t say ぺん. This is how you would usually read one of the kanji readings for 編.

Thanks to something called Rakudan, when Kanji are compounded, the first letter of the first and/or second Kanji will change to its respective diacritical mark. Diacritical marks are categorized into two things: the dakuten are the two dashes and the circle is the handakuten.

 Here’s a chart detailing diacritical marks:

Phew. Now that that is over, 前編, means first part or in other words Part One.

Put it all together and you get:

ピアノソナタ「月光」殺人事件  “Moonlight” Sonata Murder Case

=

（前編）     (Part One)

Pretty good and (somewhat) straightforward translation. 

Since the 1000th episode of Detective Conan (my first anime that I’ve watched to get to that many) came out Saturday, I wanted to make this translation. I recall watching this back in elementary school and enjoyed many cases and mysteries. This show has impacted my interest in mysteries by a significant margin. Detective Conan is one of the few that got me into anime in the first place. 

I recall rewatching it on youtube in high school after it went off the air. They had the recent episodes and they even had them in Japanese after the last English dubbed episode. But, I only watched dubs back then. Didn’t even think, “Hey, why not learn Japanese”. All that matters is that I’m on this learning journey now and I don’t plan on stopping. Speaking of stopping, I do hope that Detective Conan will not see a 2000th episode. 

レイの日記

わー、ここはプールがある。やはり、水タイプのジムだ。ピカチュウはここに楽しみにだぜ。えーと、男はプールに入ってるから、注意して方がいい。彼を感電死させたくない。あ、アキ君はここにいたんだね。あいつは今どこにいるかなあ？アキなら、たぶん次の街にいる。

泳いている男はあんまり強くなかっただ。彼は俺をなめたんだ。勝利のせいで、ちょっととっぽくになて、別のトレーナーにポケモンバトルを挑んだ。彼女はポケモンは１匹があったけど、超強かった。あのポケモンを倒したのために、全てのポケモンをほとんど使った。バトルの後で、彼女は「参ったわ」と言った。そちら俺のセリフだね？超強かった、この少女。男と俺のレベルは同じだと思うけど、この少女は俺をしか困らなかった。１匹がいるくせに。

二人共はこんなに強いなれば、カスミはもっと強くはずだろう。トレーニングしに行くが必要かも。俺はここにチームを死なさせてできないんだ。ポケモンセンターでポケモンを回復していた時、２４番道路へ向こうだけど、アキが急に着いて、俺にポケモンバトルを挑んだ。アキ君は新しいポケモンがいて、もっと強くなれるそうだった。キバ、シッコクハ、とイッコケセイはほとんど死んでしまった。

あとで、アキ君はビルに出会いのことを話してくれた。あ、ビルはPCボックスシステムを作った。俺のイデアビルに教えてやるかも。とにかく、俺たちは強くになるが必要だ。トレーナーたちはバトルしにくいになるだ。急いで、またポケモンっを回復しに行く。アキの勝負を勝ったけど、もっと強くになるが必要の気分があるぞ。

REI’S JOURNAL

Wow, this place has a pool. As expected, it’s a water type gym. Pikachu’s gonna have some fun here. There is a man in the pool, so we gotta be careful. Don’t want to electrocute him. Oh, so Aki’s been here. I wonder where he is now? Knowing Aki, he’s probably in the next town. 

The guy that was swimming wasn’t that strong. He underestimated me. Because of that victory, I got cocky and fought another trainer. She only had one Pokemon but it was so strong. I had to use almost all my Pokemon to take it down. After the battle she said “You overwhelmed me”. That should be my line, right? This girl was so strong. The guy was on my level, but this girl was nothing but trouble. Even though she only had one Pokemon.

If they are this strong then Misty will be even stronger. Maybe I’ll go train. I can’t let my team die here. After healing my Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, I started heading for Route 24, but Akihito showed up and challenged me. Aki’s got new Pokemon, and he has gotten stronger. Kiba, Shikkokuha and Ikkokesei almost died. 

After the battle, he told me that he met Bill. Oh so he created the PC Box System. I’ll tell him about my idea for sure. We need to get stronger. These trainers are getting harder to battle. Gotta hurry and heal my Pokemon again. I won the battle with Aki, but I still feel like I gotta get stronger.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！