Conversational Japanese; Wednesday, Fourth Period [01/17].

[id_kill_him]

"Konnichiwa, minasan!" Yukari greeted cheerfully. "Did you all remember to bring food for us to enjoy this week, as we discuss Japanese food etiquette and phrases? I sure hope so!"

If you didn't, you couldn't really be blamed, because she never actually said it directly to the class, unless you were Arden, in which case, if you did forget and deprived Yukari of the barbeque she'd been looking forward to all week, well, then, things might not get pretty.

She was definitely waiting to see who brought food and what was available before getting started, though, before lifting up a little bit of whatever looked the most delicious and declaring, "Itadakimasu!" and then taking a bite.

"Now," she continued, perhaps before that bite was completely finished being chewed and swallowed, "itadakimasu is a very common and traditional thing to say before eating in Japan! There is no real direct translation into English, but the closest thing would probably be 'I humbly receive.' It's generally a phrase expressing gratitude for the food you're about to eat, so, in this case, it's very accurate, because I am grateful for all this delicious food! If I were serving the food, I would offer it with a meshiagare, which is sorta like the French bon apetite! And when you finish a meal, you say gochisousama deshita, which means 'it was a feast' and shows gratitude and a compliment to the chef, as well as the person feeding you!"

There was another bite of food swiped up, and then Yukari started handing out a few more vocabulary sheets, and a few other worksheets as well.

"These are, of course, the very beginnings of the basics," she explained, "but we'll go over these words, the pronunciation, and the proper social contexts for each today, and, of course, if you have any questions or would like to elaborate on anything, well...." Here, she gave a chuckle, though there was a slightly add edge to it, "there are plenty of other experts in the class who can help you out as well!"

You wanna be in her class about basic Japanese while already knowing Japanese? Well, get ready to put that to use, then, because Yukari was very lazy and if she had an opportunity to foist her work on someone else, well...

"So, let's start at the top, and repeat after me..."

Comments

Listen to the Lecture - Conversational Japanese, 01/17.

[id_kill_him]

If you have questions, perhaps one of your fellow students could help! That's...probably called interactive learning, or something! Very helpful, very good! Utilizing resources! Although Yukari supposes she could help, too, of course!

Re: Listen to the Lecture - Conversational Japanese, 01/17.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden was a little late to class, coming in after Tanizaki-sensei had already begun the lecture (and looking suitably embarrassed about it) but hopefully the sheer amount of food she was juggling made up for her tardiness? Or at least explained it?

"Goming nasai!" she stammered, even more mortified as she realized belatedly that she'd mispronounced the words, and tried to slink into her seat.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - Conversational Japanese, 01/17.

[id_kill_him]

Any amount of food would manage to let you get away with a lot with Yukari, really. When Arden burst in like that, she did stop and look at her with an arch eyebrow and a little bit of a twitch that might have indicated a storm was coming, though it may all depend on how this next question was answered.

"Daijōbu darō, Arden-san," she said, which started out sounding quite a bit critical but shifted about halfway through when she breathed in and caught the scent of the barbeque, so by the end of it, that sharp look had turned into a wistful smile, "I see you brought the food for today! Totemo ii! Maybe if we were to crack into some of it now, then you can be forgiven for this tardiness!"

Like she was going to wait through her entire lesson to dig in?? What do you think she had, self-control??

Re: Listen to the Lecture - Conversational Japanese, 01/17.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"H-Hai, sensei. Wa-watashi wa daijōbu desu.," Arden said. "I, um, brought a lot. Maybe I could set it up first, onegai?"