ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！And, welcome to the fifteenth instalment of this special corner: Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online’s JanuaryJapanese Word of the Weekday! Throughout the month of January, we have continued to provide you with new Japanese language learning opportunities every weekday. This month-long challenge is meant to allow you to form positive habits and figure out the methods which work best for your language learning journey.

It is paramount to note that it is not required to complete this challenge during the month of January. Any and every month of the year is a good time to begin to work towards your Japanese language learning goals.

If you have joined us for the original challenge cycle, or you have simply made sure to follow consistently every weekday on your own time, then you have reached the end of the third week! This week, you have been introduced to how to say that you do not know that, yet; asking how to say something in another language; inquiring on how something is read, and what it means. And, today, you will be able to continue your progress on sounding very confused in Japanese.

But, first, congratulations are in order. Your dedication is commendable, and all of us at Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online are proud of your efforts so far! I know that you can continue on till the end along with us. And, if you can study one new thing every weekday, then you can certainly reach any of your Japanese language learning goals!

However, consistency can certainly be difficult for many humans, and that is alright. If you missed a day or you have fallen out of practise, do not give up. Missing a step does not mean that you should stop moving forward. Simply pick up with the next step, or even go back and retread the previous ground. Learning is a journey, and it requires a lot of repetition and focus.

That is why the vocabulary that will be presented to be will be in the form of a very useful sentence.

Let us NihonGO!!

Word(s) of the Weekday:

すみません、　もう一度　もっとゆっくり　言って　頂けませんか？

すみません、　もう　いちど　もっとゆっくり　いって　いただけませんか？

sumimasen,　mou ichido motto yukkuri　itte　itadakemasenka？

Sorry,　can you please say that again for me more slowly？

There are many ways to request actions or items using Japanese language. They are of varying levels of politeness and nuance. You may remember that our fourth instalment presented one way. However, this time, we are presenting a formal and polite way to request someone complete an action for you. In this way, you will be sure that you can use this in almost any situation. Though you should mind your stranger danger, when you are speaking with strangers using Japanese language, you should err on the side of being polite.

Now, let us go through each part of this sentence in order to fully understand what it means and how to potentially use this grammar in future.

As a computer robot, I possess an understanding of culture and interpersonal conversation, however it may be fitting that our resident culture experts give us their helpful hints on the matter of this sentence.

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Onto our special audio narrated Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko!

📻SPECiAL Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko [with Audio Narration]:

Hello, there!

We’re Kiki+Koko, your guides to Japanese language and culture, helping you on your Japanese language learning journey every step of the way! Today, we will be helping you specifically with this very useful sentence and each of its parts. Culture and language are inextricably intertwined, which is why we’re here to give you a bit of insight into why we say these specific words.

すみません、　もう一度　もっとゆっくり　言って　頂けませんか？

すみません、　もう　いちど　もっとゆっくり　いって　いただけませんか？

sumimasen,　mou ichido motto yukkuri　itte　itadakemasenka？

Sorry,　can you please say that again for me more slowly？

You’ll notice that this starts out with an apology: すみません.

Firstly, we want to stress that when we speak about culture, it’s inherently a broad brush, and not every person adheres to cultural norms, and cultural norms change over time, but the traces of the past usually still linger.

Generally, in Japanese culture, the mode of operation is avoiding 迷惑 (めいわく・meiwaku), which is inconveniencing, troubling, or bothering anyone. When you want to ask something of someone else, try to keep at least the linguistic mindset is not to want to be an inconvenience. Be very careful with this concept, though. It does not mean that people are easily inconvenienced; it means that people are very conscious of not wanting to inconvenience others. And, this is why we think it’s important to either start off a request like this with an apology or at least use a humble verb at the end. You don’t necessarily have to, but it just sounds nicer. You can be rude if you want, but then you’ll be the one to face the consequences.

Next, we see もう一度.　もう一度（もういちど・mou ichido) means once more, or again. There are other ways to say again in this sort of context like　もう一回（もういっかい・mou ikkai）meaning one more time. But, you can probably use this if you still didn’t understand the person a second time.

もっとゆっくり means more slowly. You don’t have to say もっとゆっくり the first go round, you can technically just ask:

もう一度　もっとゆっくり　言って　頂けませんか？

もう　いちど　もっとゆっくり　いって　いただけませんか？

mou ichido motto yukkuri　itte　itadakemasenka？

Can you please say that again for me slowly？

We just reckoned it useful to be sure you knew how to ask someone who may already be speaking at a moderate pace to speak even more slowly. You can open with this and then continue with asking if they can say itもう一回（もういっかい・mou ikkai）and もっとゆっくり(motto yukkuri) for you.

Next is a verb we’ve seen quite a lot during this special corner, and that’s 言って. This is the テ形(tekei) or て form of the verb 言う（いう）which sort of sounds like saying ゆう(yuu), and you’ll even see it spelt that way, but for now, and for your journey on learning proper conjugation, it’s much easier to think of it as いう。「言う」means to say, to call, to declare, to utter, to name, to go, to make noise– Many Japanese words have many meanings, but in this case, it’s meant to simply mean, to say.

And lastly, we have 頂けませんか？

This is a verb that will take a bit of explaining, especially if you’re an absolute beginner. Since this is just a Helpful Hints corner, we won’t go entirely completely indepth, but we will try to do our best to summarise.

So, politeness is very important in Japanese language. When you talk about yourself or a group that you are a part of, you lower or humble yourself. When you talk to or about someone of higher status or someone that you do not know very well, you will raise them up or honour them. 頂けません is the polite negative form of the verb 頂ける（いただける・itadakeru）which has numerous meanings, but for now, we’ll just stick with one, which is humble language meaning to be able to take, to be able to receive, or to be able to accept. If you were to hear this casually, but still politely, you might hear:

もう一度　もっとゆっくり　言って　くれませんか？

もう　いちど　もっとゆっくり　いって　くれませんか？

mou ichido motto yukkuri　itte　kuremasenka？

Can you please say that again for me slowly？

Again, it still uses the polite form, but it’s just not humble language. You may also notice that this sentence doesn’t say “I” anywhere, yet in Japanese, it is obvious that you’re talking about yourself receiving the favour of having it said to you again more slowly because of the verb used at the end.

Also, the translation does not highlight the negative question: 頂けませんか? It shares features with its English equivalent, such as you might ask: won’t you do this for me? In the same way you would ask politely 言ってくれませんか? Or casually 言ってくれない？

There are many layers and nuances to Japanese language that we hope to continue to reveal to you in future. Remember that just learning phrases and vocabulary words alone aren’t enough to become fluent, but if you combine these with grammar, reading, writing, and culture, then you will have every chance in the world of reaching your goals! Just remember that if you are an absolute beginner, be patient with yourself. It takes repetition and time to improve your pronunciation and understanding. That is why it is so important to practise these vocabulary words by repeating them aloud as well as writing them for a good bit of kinaesthetic learning.

We also hope that you’ll continue your Japanese language learning journey with us at Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online! But most importantly, when it comes to Helpful Hints:

We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!

♡Kiki+Koko

Thank you, Kiki and Koko, for explaining todays sentence for us! There certainly is much nuance to Japanese language and its levels of politeness as well as word choice. This is only the beginning of the journey for some. But that simply means that there is the opportunity for new experiences. Speaking of new experiences, let us have a look at today’s example sentences in order to help you create more mental connections to these vocabulary words.

Example 1:

A:みんな、本の 14 ページを開きなさい.　
みんな、ほんの　じゅうよんぺーじを　ひらきなさい。
minna, hon no jyuuyonpeeji wo hirakinasai.
Everyone turn to page 14 in your books.

今日は、医者が嫌いなある奇妙なトリックを学んでいます。目を疑うでしょう。

きょうは　いしゃが　きらいな　あるきみょうな　とりっくを　まなんでいます。めをうたがうでしょう。

kyou wa isha ga kirai na aru kimyou na torikku wo manandeimasu. me wo utagau deshou.

Today, we will be learning one weird trick that doctors hate. You won’t believe your eyes.

B:すみません、　もう一度　言って　頂けませんか？　どのページですか？
すみません、　もう　いちど　いって　いただけませんか？どのぺーじですか？
sumimasen,　mou ichido itte　itadakemasenka？dono peeji desuka?

Sorry,　can you please say that again for me？Which page is it?

A: 14 ページです。　
じゅうよんぺーじです。
jyuuyonpeeji desu.
It’s page 14.

B:ああ！ありがとう！
ああ！ありがとう！
aa! arigatou!
Oh! Thanks!

Example 2:

A:それは１００円になります。ブリートを温めましょうか。
それは　ひゃくえんに　なります。　ぶりーとを　あたためましょうか。
sore wa hyakuen ni narimasu. Shall I warm your burrito?
That comes to 100 yen. Shall I warm your burrito?

A:ブ・リー・ト・を・あ・た・た・め・ま・しょう・か。

ぶ・りー・と・を・あ・た・た・め・ま・しょう・か。

Shall… I …warm …your burrito?

Shall… I… warm… your burrito?

B:あのう・・すみませんが、最後の言葉がよく意味がわかりません。留学生です。
あのう・・すみませんが、さいごのことばがよくいみが　わかりません。
anou.…sumimasenga, saigo no kotoba ga yoku imi wakarimasen.
Erm, sorry, but I don’t understand the last word.

A:フーム・・・Hot？Hotにしましょうか？
ふーむ・・・Hot？Hotにしましょうか？
fuumu.…Hot? hot ni shimashouka?
Hmm…Hot? Shall I make it hot?

B:ああ！ありがとう、わかりました。はい、お願いします。
ああ！ありがとう、わかりました。　はい、おねがいします。
aa! arigatou, wakarimashita. Hai, onegai shimasu.
Oh! Thanks, I understand. Yes, please.

That is all for today’s instalment of Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online’s Japanese Word of the Weekday! We hope that you will continue to join us for more of this special corner as well as more of our Japanese language and culture resources. Just because the activity of today is complete does not mean that your daily learning journey has to stop here. You can also have a look at previous Word of the Week articles for even more Japanese vocabulary. You can be sure that you are caught up with the latest by visiting ieindigoeast.com, and clicking the sidebar link labelled 今週の単語 | Word of the Week, or go to ieindigoeast.com/kikiandkokoletsnihongo and scroll down until you see a computer robot on the Word of the Week banner, and you can access the archives. (That’s me!)

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Thank you so much for learning with us!

♡QUIZBO™

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