Keigo: Pitch accent in polite language (Group Lesson with Natsumi Sensei: Saturday, May 31, 2025)
Added 2025-05-27 09:00:08 +0000 UTCHello Patrons!
Our next monthly one-hour mini-lesson with Natsumi Sensei will be held Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 9:30 AM Japan time. You can find your local time using the link below:
Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 9:30 AM Japan time
These group lessons are a special free offering for our patrons in the "Japanese Phonetics" tier. We will post the Zoom link about 24 hours in advance of the lesson. Please remember to confirm the lesson time for your local time zone so you don’t miss the start of the lesson!
This month's lesson will cover 尊敬語 (そんけいご, “respectful language”). Natsumi Sensei has the following notes for those interested in the upcoming lesson:
This theme, 尊敬語 (そんけいご, “respectful language”), will be the first in the 敬語 (けいご, “honorific language”) series. I plan on covering 謙譲語 (けんじょうご, “humble language”) next month, and 美化語 (びかご, “polite prefix language”) the month after that.
We encourage you to submit questions for this lesson in the comments section below. These questions will be prioritized during the lesson. If time permits, she will take additional questions from participants during the lesson. If you have any questions, please include some information in your comment, such as:
- What you want to practice (for example: specific words, sentences, grammar items, etc.)
- Questions about pronunciation and accent
If you would like to work with Natsumi Sensei one-on-one, she is still available for private lessons. You can learn more about private lessons in this post. You can schedule a single 30- or 60-minute lesson if you just have a few questions or areas you want to practice, or you can sign up for a set of four 30- or 60-minute for a discounted price.
All the best from Beppu,
Dōgen
A quick note on recording: The lessons will be conducted on Zoom and will be recorded. Participants may be asked to share their video during the lesson to allow Natsumi Sensei to better assess and assist individuals. After the lesson, we intend to post a recording of the lesson on Patreon for patrons in the "Japanese Phonetics" tier. While we will edit the video to focus on Natsumi Sensei, there is a possibility participants may appear in the posted recording. By participating in the lesson, you consent to appearing in the video. If you have any questions about this, please contact us by DM.
Comments
Hi. When it comes to written 敬語, we can generally say that it's not heavily influenced by 方言. For example, dialectal sentence endings like "〜じゃけえ", "〜やねん", or "〜とーと" disappear in polite or formal speech. However, pitch accent is different. Speakers with strong 方言 will often carry those accents over into their 敬語 as well. It’s a bit difficult to explain clearly in writing, but if there’s time during a lesson, I’d be happy to talk about it more. That said, many people who speak with a dialectal pitch accent in casual speech will actually switch to standard pitch accent when speaking in 敬語. "〜はる" is a dialect spoken in Shiga and Kyoto. To people from outside these areas, it can sound like a polite expression, but locals typically don’t use it as keigo. In nuance, it’s closer to something like “〜ている.” For example, when an elderly person sees a baby walking, they might say: 「よく歩いてはるな〜」, which simply means “They’re walking well” 「よく歩いてるね〜」 So in the sentence you heard, 「バレー部呼んではるね」, the nuance is simply “バレー部を呼んでいるね” without any particular layer of politeness.
Natsumi Masuno
2025-05-28 13:01:44 +0000 UTCHi, Christian. JP here, Dōgen’s business partner. I’m helping manage the messages here on Patreon. Thank you for your question and your support! It looks like you are part of the “Total Consciousness” tier, which unfortunately does not have access to Natsumi Sensei’s group lessons. If you decide to upgrade for the group lessons, Natsumi Sensei varies the start times based on her availability. While this month’s lesson might not work out for you, future lessons might be at a time that works better for you. We do upload a video of the lesson afterwards, so even if you can’t participate you can still benefit from the content and drills in the lesson. It’s good to remember that the group lessons are intended as a supplement to the Patreon course, and to get the most out of the lessons you would want to be sure you have gone through a good portion of the Patreon course. We have a few lessons publicly available that you can try first to see if you are at a point in your studies where you can fully utilize the information in the lessons. I hope this helps! — JP
Dogen
2025-05-28 03:18:22 +0000 UTCThank you for the chance to ask questions directly! I heard that keigo generally is consistent across dialects throughout Japan. Does that mean the pitch accent is also consistent when speaking Keigo throughout Japan? I live in rural Shiga prefecture, and I often hear upper ranked people in the office speaking in Kansai-ben, though I can't tell if that's also applying to their keigo. Additionally, I was wondering if you had any information on はる. This is only adjacent to the pitch accents, but I wanted to ask since we were on the topic of keigo. I informed a teacher that the volleyball students were calling, and he responded バレー部呼んではるね. Is this using keigo for students? Or something less formal? I also overheard someone say 行かはる to mean "he will go" but I think I was too confused by the grammar to catch onto the pitch accents. Bit of a jumbled mess of questions but the first half is more important. Thanks!
Rene Vazquez
2025-05-27 10:13:50 +0000 UTCHello, how can I benefit from your lessons on Pitch accent? (I'm a Patreon subscriber and live in Paris, so I can't take a class at 9:30 Japan time and I don’t now if I’m in "Japanese Phonetics" tier). Christian. N5-N4 level.
Christian Tortel
2025-05-27 09:47:52 +0000 UTC
