Latest / Learn Japanese with Fexingo / Japanese At the Post Office Basics
Transcript
- Lucas: Hey Luna, welcome back to Learn Japanese with Fexingo. Episode 175 – can you believe it? Luna: I know, it's wild. I feel like I can actually say a few things now. Last week's grocery bag request still comes in handy. Lucas: That's the goal. Today, I thought we'd tackle something a lot of travelers need: the post office. Luna: Oh, that's good. Sending a postcard home or buying stamps. I've always messed that up. Lucas: Then this is perfect. Let's start with the word for 'post office'. Listen: 郵便局. Luna: 郵便局. That's a mouthful. Lucas: It is. Break it down: 郵便 means 'mail', 局 means 'office'. So literally 'mail office'. Try it again. Luna: 郵便局. 郵便局. Lucas: Yes! Now, if you need to find one, you can ask: 郵便局はどこですか? That means 'Where is the post office?' Luna: 郵便局はどこですか. Where is the post office. Got it. Lucas: Perfect. Now, inside, you'll want to buy a stamp. Stamp is 切手. Luna: 切手. Like for letters. Lucas: Exactly. So to ask for a stamp, you say: 切手をください. Literally 'Stamp, please give me.' Luna: 切手をください. That's super useful. Lucas: You can use that pattern for anything. If you want to send a package, you might say 'これをお願いします' – 'This, please.' Luna: これをお願いします. So 'これ' is 'this', and 'お願いします' is 'please'? Lucas: Exactly. Let's practice. Imagine you're at the counter with a postcard. What do you say? Luna: Uhh... 切手をください? Or do I need to say 'postcard'? Lucas: Just '切手をください' works. The clerk will know you want a stamp for that postcard. Let's do a little roleplay. I'm the clerk. Luna: Okay. すみません、切手をください. Lucas: はい、いくらですか? That means 'Yes, how many?' Luna: Uh... one? 一枚ください. Lucas: Nice! You remembered '一枚' from our counting episodes. So 'one sheet please.' Luna: Yeah, I remembered that. So that works for stamps too? Lucas: Absolutely. Stamps are counted with '枚' – flat things. So '一枚ください' is perfect. Luna: Great. Let me try the full sentence: 切手を一枚ください. Lucas: Excellent! That's exactly how a natural would say it. Luna: Now, if I'm sending a package, I'd say 'これをお願いします' and hand it over? Lucas: Exactly. Then they'll tell you the price. You might hear '八百円です' – that's 800 yen. Luna: 八百円. Eight hundred. Got it. Lucas: Let's wrap up the phrases we learned today. Repeat after me: 郵便局. Luna: 郵便局. Lucas: 郵便局はどこですか. Luna: 郵便局はどこですか. Lucas: 切手をください. Luna: 切手をください. Lucas: これをお願いします. Luna: これをお願いします. Lucas: You've got them. Now, a quick thought – if these tiny lessons are helping you actually use Japanese, and you'd like to support the show, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps keep Fexingo ad-free and lets us keep making these episodes. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to say thanks if the show's been useful. No pressure, but every bit helps. Lucas: Exactly. Okay, back to stamps. Imagine you're at a Japanese post office, you have a postcard, what do you say? Luna: 切手を一枚ください. Lucas: Perfect. And if you're lost and need to find one? Luna: 郵便局はどこですか. Lucas: There you go. Practice these, and you'll be ready for your next trip. Thanks for joining us on Fexingo. See you next time. Luna: See you!