Lesson Dialogues
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Situation 1
Sato-san and Nakano-san are speaking while watching TV at a place they came to for lunch.
佐藤：お、この女の子たち。若者に、今人気なんでしょ？
Sato: Oh, these girls. They are popular among the youth right now, right?
- 若者 youth
- 人気 n. popularity; adj. popular
中野：そうですね。最近、めっちゃ人気ですね。
Nakano: That's right. They're super popular these days.
佐藤：全員、韓国の女の子なんだよね？
Sato: They're all Korean girls, right?
- 全員 all members; everyone
- 韓国 Korea; South Korea; Republic of Korea
中野：そうですね。よく知ってますね！
Nakano: That's right. You're very knowledgeable!
佐藤：まあ、いろんなとこで、何度も見かけるからねえ。最近、若者の間では韓国がすごいはやってるよね。
Sato: Well, I do see them often in various places. Korea is very popular among the youth these days, isn't it?
- 見かける to see
- はやる to be fashionable; to be popular; to go around
中野：うーん。若者というより、女の子の間ではやってる感じですね。男の間では、そんなにはやってる感じはしないですけど。
Nakano: Hmm. It feels as though it's popular among girls, rather than the youth. I don't feel that it is that popular among males.
佐藤：そっか、そうなんだね。そんなことより、一つ聞きたいんだけどさ。
Sato: I see. So that's how it is. More importantly, there's something I'd like to ask you.
中野：はい。
Nakano: All right.
佐藤：この女の子たちの顔。中野くんは一人一人、違いわかるの？
Sato: Nakano-kun, can you tell the difference between the faces of each of these girls?
中野：え！？もちろんわかりますよ。佐藤さんはわからないんですか？
Nakano: What!? Of course I can tell. Sato-san, can you not tell?
佐藤：うん。最近、テレビでよく見かけるじゃん？何度見ても、同じ顔に見えるんだよね。
Sato: That's right. They are on TV often these days, right? No matter how many times I see them, their faces look the same.
中野：えー！全然違うじゃないですか。
Nakano: What!? They are completely different, aren't they?
佐藤：いや、俺にはみんな同じに見えるんだよ。
Sato: No, they all look the same to me.
中野：そうなんですか。それはびっくりです。
Nakano: Is that right? That is surprising.
Situation 2
While walking two dogs, Takuya-san is spoken to by a woman he does not know.
女性：わー、かわいいですねえ。
Woman: Wow, they're cute.
タクヤ：ありがとうございます。
Takuya: Thank you.
女性：めっちゃ仲良く歩いてますね！両方とも、女の子ですか？
Woman: They're walking together in a super friendly manner! Are they both girls?
- 仲良く friendly; on good terms with
- 両方 both
タクヤ：そうなんです。きょうだいなんですよ。
Takuya: That's right. They're sisters.
- きょうだい brother; sister; sibling
女性：へー、きょうだいですか！いいなあ。家でもこんな仲良くしてるんですか？
Woman: Wow, they're sisters! That's nice. Are they this friendly at home also?
タクヤ：いえいえ。よくけんかしてますよ。餌の時とか。
Takuya: Not at all. They are always fighting. Like when I feed them.
- けんか fight, quarrel; けんかする to fight, to quarrel
- 餌 feed; pet food
女性：え！？なんでご飯の時に、けんかになるんですか？
Woman: What!? Why do they fight when you feed them?
タクヤ：お姉ちゃんの方が、いつも妹の餌を食べようとするんですよ。自分のがまだ残ってるのに。
Takuya: The older sister always tries to eat the younger sister's food. Even though she still has her own food.
- 姉、(お)姉さん、(お)姉ちゃん elder sister
- 妹 younger sister
女性：なるほど。それでけんかになるんですね。
Woman: I see. So that's how they fight.
タクヤ：そうなんですよ。だから餌の時は、両方をよく見てなきゃいけないんです。
Takuya: That's right. That's why I need to keep a close eye on both of them when I feed them.
女性：それは大変ですね。
Woman: That is tough.
タクヤ：けど、妹の方は絶対、お姉ちゃんの餌を食べようとはしないんですよねえ。なんでかは、わからないんですけど。
Takuya: But the younger sister never tries to eat the older sister's food. I don't know why, though.
女性：へー、それは不思議ですね。気を使ってるのかなあ。
Woman: I see. That is strange. I wonder if she is being considerate.
- 気を使う to be polite; to be attentive; to be considerate
Step 2 - Take the Quiz
Let's see how many words you remember.
Take the quiz here.
Step 3 - Writing Exercises (Optional)
Let's practice what you learned here.
Situation 2, I was a bit surprised when I was listening to the guy talking about his dogs, I didn’t read the title so I assumed he as walking with his daughters XD.
Instead of きょうだい , can しまい be applied here? Or is it only to be used for humans?
The woman might sound rude asking if they are both girls, then. xD
I don’t think it’s about humans or animals.
しまい sounds a bit formal. So they might use しまい for animals in the news or serious documentaries by National Geographic or something.
We tend to say きょうだい even though they are sisters in spoken language.
Ah, thanks for clearing that up.
No problem.
Situation 1, line 5, What’s the difference between 見かける and 見る?
Situation 1, line 6, what purpose does という serve in 若者わかものというより? How exactly would t effect the sentence if you removed it?
Huh.. So it’s also like this among other Asian ethnicities? In Situation 1, Satou thought all the Korean girls looked the same. That’s interesting. I thought it was only a thing that happened with more western countries. Since Asian people look a lot more different than we do, we might at first think that all Asian people look more or less the same until we learn to differentiate. Like for me, I don’t think all Asian people look the same anymore, but when I see an Asian person, I can’t tell right away whether they’re Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or any other ethnicity. I find it interesting that similar things happen among other Asian ethnicities.
Situation 1, line 9, 一人一人 was missing its definition. I don’t need the definition since I can use Jisho, but you said it’d be a good idea to show which new words aren’t defined.
Situation 2, line 3, what is とも in 両方とも、女の子こですか?
Situation 2, second to last line, お姉ちゃんの餌を食べようとはしないんですよねえ was translated as “the younger sister never tries to eat the older sister’s food.” But where is the “tries” implied? I think it’s somewhere in 食べようとはしないんです sine I don’t really understand this part of the sentence.
見かける is closer to “notice” or “happen to see”. You see someone/something when you don’t intend to see them.
見る can mean “see /look at /observe/watch” depending on the object, but you have more or less intention for this action.
It’s better to remember it as a block of words instead of breaking it down word by word.
It’s というより.
This is a grammar pattern: AというよりB, which is closer to “B rather than A”, or “more like B than A” in English.
“They are popular among young girls rather than young people.”
If they say 若者より女の子に人気がある, it’s just a comparison.
They are more popular among young girls than young people, which in this case, it doesn’t make sense because young girls are obviously included in young people.
Thank you for reporting about missing definitions. I’ll inform my team about it. If you could report separately from questions next time, the people in charge of making lessons would respond to them.
I think the difference between 両方 and 両方とも is similar to “both” and “both of”.
食べようとはしない means “won’t eat”
The younger dog won’t eat the older one’s feed.
So, I’d say XXXようとはしない here means “won’t XXX” or “make no attempt to XXX”.
I’m sorry, I still don’t understand the last two things.
I don’t understand the difference between 若者というより女の子に人気がある and 若者より女の子に人気がある.
As for that last thing, maybe I can understand if I’m down the difference between 食べようとはしない and 食べない.
It’s probably because I didn’t write them correctly in English.
Do you understand the part: AというよりB (B rather than A / more like B than A)?
It means A might be not wrong, but B is more accurate/exact/suitable/appropriate/correct.
So the speaker is saying “Yes, you could say they are popular among young people, but it’s more accurate to say they are popular among young girls.”
XXXようとはしない implies the speaker senses the other’s intention by their attitude, whereas しない simply describe the other’s action.
The dog won’t eat. (the speaker thinks the dog shows no interest in eating.)
The dong doesn’t eat. (the speaker simply describes the dog’s behavior.)
So というより expresses the idea that both A and B are right? but B is more right?
I think I understand the other thing as well. Thank you very much!
Yes, like the sentence in this lesson.
But it depends.
Sometimes it means A is not quite right, but B is spot-on.
You have to judge which it is by the things they compare. (If they are similar, maybe they are both okay, but B is more right.)
But either way, in the speaker’s opinion, B is more right.