Happy New Year 2017!
Yet another years has gone by. I haven’t posted anything for the last three months.
However, “Nihongo Day By Day - English” surpassed 10,000 page views last November and December!
Arigato gozaimashita!! I thank all of you — those who just had a quick look and
also those who read the entire articles. I’m very happy.
To commemorate reaching 10,000 page views, I’ll write
a follow-up to my Japanese station announcements article, which has been the
most popular article on this blog.
In the first version, I introduced “door ga
shimarimasu”, but I sometimes hear “door o shimemasu”. What is the difference
between “ga” and “o” and also between “shimarimasu” and “shimemasu”?
door
ga shimarimasu: The door will be closing on its own.
(watashi wa) door o shimemasu: I (the train crew) am closing the door.
“Shimemasu” is for someone’s action and “o” is an
object marker.
Next, you hear something like this.
“muri na go-josha wa o-yame kudasai.
muri na: impossible, unreasonable
(go-)josha: boarding (“go” is an honorific prefix)
o-yame kudasai: to stop/quit (“o” is an
honorific prefix)
What
is impossible boarding? Is that something like the trains in other countries that have people
crammed both inside and on top of trains?
No, that never happens in Japan. Rather, “muri na go-josha”
refers to dashing to get on the train right before the door closes.
As I wrote last time, Japan loves warnings. Other
people will caution you even for things you have to take care of by yourself.
“kono saki yuremasu node, go-chui kudasai.”
kono saki: from now on/from this point on
yuremasu: shake
node: because/therefore
Everyone
more or less expects that trains will shake, though...
These next announcements are rather important.
Trains stop at every station along Tokyo Metro, but JR lines and other train
lines have different types of trains, such as express or super express. They
are quite difficult to get your head around.
“kono densha wa shimbashi ni teisha itashimasen. Tsugi
no densha o go-riyou kudasai.”
kono densha: this train
shimbashi: a name of the station in Tokyo
teisha shimasu: to stop
itashimasen: the humble form of shimasen
tsugi no densha: next train
(go-)riyou
kudasai: please use
“shuten made kaku eki ni tomarimasu”
shuten: final stop/station
made: to/until
kaku eki: each station
tomarimasu:
to stop
If you miss these announcements, trains
sometimes don’t stop at your station or else they stop at every station and
take longer than expected to reach your destination.
When
you’re unsure whether or not a train stops at your destination, try to ask someone
this question:
“kono densha (pointing at the train) wa your
destination ni tomarimasu ka?”
(Is
this train going to stop at your destination?)
It’s tough to get on and off trains or buses at
unfamiliar places. Even if you carefully check your surroundings and the
destination or number of train/bus, it’s easy to make mistakes. The other day I
took the wrong bus in Kyoto - twice!
Even when I go to an unfamiliar station in Tokyo, I
have no idea which direction to go and even board trains going in the opposite
direction from time to time. This is not a language issue, but just depends whether
or not you understand the layout of the area.
Lastly, I’m going to post as many articles as I can
this year, so I hope you will keep reading. Thank you!
|
akemashite omedeto! |