Lesson 27 of 40
Vocabulary Sprint w08 — work words, ranks and three particles
about 12 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Read a job title from its suffix, and say whether a 課長 or a 部長 is senior.
- Choose と for 約束, を for 予約 and に for 連絡.
Words this lesson teaches
- 課長
- section manager — 課 is a section and 長 its head; junior to a 部長
- 部長
- department head — 部 is a department, which contains sections, so this is the senior of the two
- 公務員
- a public servant — 公 public, 務 duty, 員 member of a body
- 事務所
- an office — 事務 is clerical work and 所 a place; a firm's premises, not a room in one
- 新聞社
- a newspaper company — every character already taught; 社 makes a company of anything
- アルバイト
- casual work, typically a student's — from German Arbeit, and often shortened to バイト
- パート
- part-time employment — conventionally used of settled part-time work rather than a student's job
- 経済
- the economy; economics — not finance, which is 金融
- 技術
- technology, or skill — the syllabus glosses it "art", which today misleads
- 産業
- industry — 産 is producing and 業 the same 業 as in 卒業
- 貿易
- foreign trade specifically — trade within a country is 商業
- 規則
- rules, regulations — the written ones, posted or in a handbook
- 約束
- a promise between people — 約束する, and the other party takes と
- 予約
- a booking with a business — 予 from w07 plus the same 約; the thing booked takes を
- 連絡
- getting in touch — 連絡する, and the person you reach takes に
- 席
- a seat — a place assigned to a person, so it covers a desk as well as a chair
- 招待
- an invitation — 招待する, and the person invited takes を
What it explains
アルバイト and パート are both part-time and are not swappable
Both mean working fewer hours than a full post, and a dictionary will give you the same English for each. What separates them is who is understood to be doing it. アルバイト came from German Arbeit through student slang and still carries that: a casual job, often a young person's, often shortened to バイト. パート came from the English part-time and is conventionally used of settled part-time employment. So 「大学生の パート」 and 「母の アルバイト」 both read oddly — not wrong, but not what anybody would say. This is a case where a gloss cannot help you and a sentence can, which is why both words appear here in one.
課長 is a title, so it replaces さん
You address a section manager as 課長 or 田中課長, and not as 課長さん — the title already carries the respect, and adding さん sounds either childish or sarcastic. This is the same economy you met in the keigo sprint: Japanese does not stack politeness markers that do the same job. 先生 works identically, which is why 先生さん is wrong, and why a teacher named Tanaka is 田中先生. The safe habit in a Japanese office is to use the title alone; it is warmer than the surname and more correct than either with さん bolted on.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.