The Meeting

[OBAASAN]
こんにちは！ だいじょうぶ です か？
konnichi wa! daijoubu desu ka?

[FRANK] え？
e?

[OBAASAN] だいじょうぶ？
daijoubu?

ええと・・・。はい、だいじょうぶ
[FRANK]
です。
eeto... hai, daijoubu desu.

わたしは 「おばあさん」 です。

[OBAASAN]
あなたは？
watashi wa "Obaasan" desu. Anata wa?

[FRANK] わたしは フランク です。

watashi wa furanku desu.

[OBAASAN] フランクさん、 はじめまして。

furanku san, hajimemashite.

[FRANK] はじめまして、 おばあさん。

hajimemashite , obaasan.
 <FRANK FAINTS>
だいじょうぶ です か？
[OBAASAN]
だいじょうぶ？
daijoubu desu ka? daijoubu?

translation
Obaasan - Hello! Are you alright?
Frank - Huh?
Obaasan - Are you OK?
Frank - Well... Yes, I'm OK.
Obaasan - I am "Obaasan." And you?
Frank - I am Frank.
Obaasan - Mr. Frank, It's nice to meet you.
Frank - Nice to meet you, Obaasan.

<FRANK FAINTS>

Obaasan - Are you alright? OK?

こんにちは konnichi wa - Hello, Good afternoon [Used in the afternoon until the
evening: You may have noticed the 'WA' is actually a hiragana 'HA' this is because it is used
as a particle and an ancient Japanese wise man made it that way!]

だいじょうぶ daijoubu - OK, Alright [This is a VERY useful word in real

Japanese]

です desu - to be, am, are, is [You'll see this one a lot!]

か ka - the question marker, ? [Makes a sentence a question - easy! MORE...]
え？ e - Huh? What? [Frank is a little suprised and unsure what the Obaasan said, so e
comes out]

ええと。。。 eeto - Well, Let me see... [This is a filler; filling in the space while
thinking of what to say]

はい hai - Yes [iie means 'no']

わたしは watashi wa - I [only watashi means 'I' the 'wa' (which is actually a
hiragana 'ha') is a particle that marks the main subject - we will talk on this more later :) ]
 おばあさん obaasan - Grandmother, old woman [obaasan is often used when talking
of or to old women. ojiisan is the male equalivant (NOTE: obasan (shorter without the extra
'a') means aunt (not old woman) be careful!)]

あなたは？ anata wa - You? [Again only anata means 'you' the wa is the particle
again.]

フランク furanku - Frank [Foreign names are always written in Katakana]

さん san - Mr. Mrs. Ms. [This tag is placed after names but never used when speaking
of oneself. Remember Daniel-san from karate kid.]

はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you [This is an idiom from the verb
meaning 'to start']

• こんにちは konnichi wa - (Good afternoon) Here we have our first greeting. It is used
from the afternoon until evening. It really means 'this day' but is used idiomatically as a greeting. As
mentioned above, the wa is a hiragana ha but is pronounced as wa when used as a particle (see
below for more on wa)

• です desu - (to be) This is the first verb we have encountered and the most important. When
you want to say, "A = (or relates to) B" desu is used. For example, I am Clay. watashi wa kurei
desu. That is a TV. kore wa terebi desu. More on this later!

• か ka - In most cases simply putting a ka at the end of a regular sentence turns it into a question.
Consider this example: anata wa nihonjin desu. (You are Japanese.) - add ka - anata wa nihonjin
desu ka? (Are you Japanese?) Presto! Instant questions! MORE ON THIS...

• ええと・・・ eeto - (let me see..., hmmm) eeto is used quite frequently by Japanese
speakers. It is said to buy time while thinking of just what to say. Just like "uhmmm" it can be extend
eeeeto

• は wa - Particles in Japanese are placed after the word it modifies. This one makes the word it
modifies the 'over all topic' or the 'overall subject.' I know this sounds confusing at first and it is still
confusing at second too. But don't despair there is more to confuse you later... This is pronounced as
wa even though it uses the hiragana ha

• 「WORDS」 - These are Japanese quotation marks (" ") used to mark what is said.

During the Edo Period Japanese had no punctuation. 「」,。,、,,, were not used
• あなたは？ anata wa - Literally this means, "You" and sets "you" as the main topic [see
2 above] Often in Japanese things are left out when the listener can understand what is meant. What
the Obaasan means here is, "And you, what is your name?" But simply saying , "you?" is sufficient
and more natural.

• さん san - As mentioned before this is not used when refering to oneself. Other titles for
people include kun (usually with boys) chan (usually with girls) sama (usually with customers and
kings)