Native Advice from StreetEnglishTV's Chris Gen! (J4M62)

[indigopocky]

thank you! I am almost done with my Jpn language B.A. and yet I've never heard this specific phrase :) super helpful

[Iceberqe]

why does this have so many votes down?

[Gimmeaflakeman]

@Iceberqe

I have one very persistent hater.

[ollinayato]

I know that people in Japan drive on the opposite side of the road as we americans do, but did you notice they drive backwards too? check out 1:22 of the video!

[Fredo5227]

That's a long excuse me god damn!

[tokyofreakz]

"Sumimasen! Chotto ukagaitaikoto blah blah blah". hahah! chotto muzakashii da yo. XD "did that made sense? LOL!

[sebias2]

would this sound weird?

ちょっと質問があるんですけど

[jassir1316]

@sebias2 なし

of course not! your way of speaking!

[marcoupha]

2:11 looks like some guy chasing him lol

[clackmannan]

I didn't know they drove backwards around roundabouts (at 1.23) :-)

[loki2504]

君のアクセントは凄いだね　十分ビクリしました

[kmah88]

too hard! haha

for now, i'll stick with chotto sumimasen ga... until i get my braces off and can speak that quickly

[RelVleDy]

That sounds like an awful lot of Japanese to say just for permission to ask a question, lol. I only know basic Japanese, but what's wrong with simply saying, "ano... sumimasen." ?

Just curious, thanks.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

That's actually fine.

[JoudanJanaiHa]

@RelVleDy nothing at all! But, also nothing wrong with upgrading eh? it's like english learner knowing the difference between "um, excuse but..." to "hey, i have a question for you!"

[Gimmeaflakeman]

"hey, i have a question for you!"

??]

Not exactly. It's more like

Excuse me but there is something I'd like to ask you.

It's much more polite than:

"hey, i have a question for you!"

[JoudanJanaiHa]

lol yea believe me i know the difference...(the japanese are very polite)..

just thought i'd casually speak like a true northern american :p

So are you the guy in the video?

[GameShowGuy]

I started practicing "chotto ukagaitaikoto" slowly and then added the rest. In about five minutes I made good progress. I'll practice it a few minutes a day.

[Madulamblongata]

yea what a mouthfull but thanks for the advice!

[novanine]

Great, high-energy vid and very usefull phrase but what a mouthful just to say 'excuse me'!! I shall start practising it.

[wehrmanj]

Great info, and cool video, looks like biking around in Japan, or at least the area you're in, is pretty easy and friendly towards it.

[ArgentoDude24]

I thought you just used "sumimasen" to say excuse me

[smaviii]

this is what i thought...

[chimera15]

See his next video, it's an extremely polite way to say it.

[shalashaskalives]

Gen Sensei, cool vid. quite informative. lectures for morons, on the move. can we get him on a horse for the next one?? maybe he could ride a pot belly pig. lets see him say excuse me then!!

[Gimmeaflakeman]

LOL!

[1matth3w1]

hey i said that word over 1000x and i woke up and all i thought was that word! lol i said it to my parents and they looked at me like wtf? lol

[StreetEnglishTV]

LOL!!  you're funny!

[1matth3w1]

so basically youre saying excuse me excuse me. right? but that word has to have more than 1 meaning. i mean u have to say all of that?.... woah lol

[jessicaisgod]

yea i dont get it either haha!!

[chimera15]

PuhiPuhi!

[Kenshinhina]

that was kind of weird that last he talked to was jogging and the behind her was jogging too. maybe she was running from him O.o

[TheDutchGaijin]

Nice! I didn't know this one. Sounds pretty hard when you first try to say it but it flows out rather easy now. Good stuff!

[flowergirl1313]

i suck, i can't say the 2nd word.

[draggt03]

Just do what i do sit in your bed before you lay down to sleep and say it over and over about 100-200 times it may be tedious but it will stick eventually.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

True.

[BusanKevin]

cool stuff man! Useful phrase! nice guest appearance :)

[finapon]

cool guest sensei (＾∇＾)

[Ido013]

that was sweet~ What did he ask when he talked to the guys with the dreads and cool bike?

[1matth3w1]

this is great but which one is most used? all of them or just 1? any ways great vid and good work!

[Gimmeaflakeman]

I'll do a follow up on this soon.

But ALL those expressions are rather formal YET useful.

[TkyoSam]

NICE! I WANTZ TO DO ONE :D

[Gimmeaflakeman]

You are super welcome to do one, man!!!!

[TkyoSam]

how do i get the vid to ya?

[JessicaHalo]

Ah. I love StreetEnglishTV. Glad to see you had Chris do a video for J4M!

[StreetEnglishTV]

Thank you!

[Brokenslipper]

Cool video by the way, love seeing people ask questions to strangers. Haven't seen Vic do this since his old videos

[Gimmeaflakeman]

OH! You will see it on gimmeabreakman within the hour!

BOOYA!

[Brokenslipper]

What did they say? Wish you added a sub as to what they were saying

[StreetEnglishTV]

will do next time.  My bad!

[Pheenixz]

ちょっと伺いたいことがあるんですけど。Did you say がんばってください to that woman? I thought that means "do well". Does it have a sort of "Do well in the rest of your day/ have a good one" connotation???

[ILuvEire]

It means "keep at it."

[Benozzle]

It can be used a lot in the sense of "Good luck!" as well. Like when my roomate has a lot of homework or is running late for work or something I say, "Ganbattene!" meaning more of, "good luck!"

[brokenchopstickz]

this also helps too with victors vids! arigato gozaimas!

[draggt03]

umm from 1:20-1:24 were those cars going backwards O.o

[draggt03]

holy crap i need to practice that one lol never used that in japan but will next time i go!

[teamtippmann]

cool!

[GreenEggsBacon]

Nice lesson. I was wondering if 「すみません。しつもんがある」 would also work? What's the difference between うかがいたい and しつもん?

[StreetEnglishTV]

Big diffrence, speaking from my own experience. When you ask, うかがいたい(Ukagaitai), it is considered Keigo/敬語, which is the polite language. Its how you would address your superiors like Lords and important people. Because you are opening a "set" or a conversation with this introduction you should be able to get way more helpful response as well as respect. しつもん／shitumon has a much harsher sense.

[StreetEnglishTV]

しつもん/Shitumon is typically used by teachers or someone with higher authority than you. A teacher in a class room might ask students, しつもんをこたえなさい/Answer the following questions. He will never ask the students, うかがいたいことがあるんですけど, which sort of sounds like, "I am so sorry to bother you, your highness, but if you don't mind for just a brief second I would like to ask your highness a question, oh great lord."

[StreetEnglishTV]

Obviously that's not the direct translation but it has similar attitude/manner and politeness tone about it. It is different tone from just, "Hey, sorry, I need to ask a question."(すみません、しつもんがあるんですけど"

Use this phrase ! Remember it!

This is one of the most important Japanese phrase you will ever need to know!

[AlmightyAtheismo]

"すみません。しつもんがある"

I'm with you.

This is much simpler, easier to remember, and easier to pronounce.

Japanese people are not only very patient, but often flattered that a gaijin is struggling to speak their language.

The only change I would make is to say ありますinstead of ある.

[xuzumakixrasenganx]

伺う is a humble verb that can mean to visit, to ask, to enquire, to hear, or to be told. Changing 伺う to 伺いたい is basically saying "want to enquire (ask)". So ちょっと伺いたいことがあるんですけど is politely saying "I have a something I'd like to enquire" kind of and 質問（しつもん）がある is just "I have a question." The second way is just a lot more direct.

I'm pretty sure this is correct but if not I apologise, I'm not fluent in Japanese.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Sounds right to me.

[kurai6]

could someone tell me what they said at the bit with man and the green bike? couldnt quite catch it

[StreetEnglishTV]

Hey~

I asked him how long he has been riding "Pisuto"/ピスト,

which is a fixed gear bike, and he said 半年ぐらい、about half a year.

I hope that helped!

Thank Kurai6!

[playgrrrr]

its kind of scary how fast they are in pronouncing such complicated syllable chains. i cant even read them like that, let alone ever talk like that... :(

[klynik]

good lesson. Thanks man. But that weirded me out when the video was reversed at 1:23 b/c the cars look like they're driving backwards. lol.

[StreetEnglishTV]

oh! you noticed it!! I was wondering if anyone would notice.. he he.. sorry! and thanks for your comment!

[IndigoLynx]

Twas good shizzle

[adakkochan]

His Japanese is great!

[Gimmeabreakman]

Yes, it is.

[sach3]

cool

[dudejaca]

very nice, thanks

[Hikosaemon]

Good job on this - good lesson.

Peace

[WildRebecca]

Loved this!