PART 2 · LESSON 15 OF 30 · 32 MINUTES

Snow on the Line

Thursday the fourteenth of December, twenty twenty-eight, seven in the morning, Kyoto station, the day the tour was to go north to Kanazawa. One word on every line of the board to the north, no trains before noon, the expressway closed, two hours in a coach that doesn't move, and a driver who will go back to Osaka in five minutes. Mister Okada on the phone, it's the leader who decides; Mister Sakai's we'll consider it, answered with now; a formal cancellation to the inn in Kanazawa, and a fee asked about and waived; a third night at the Tsukiya; and Miss Nishimura's verdict. Five o'clock, the golden temple under snow, and a report to the president. Learn to hear that there are no trains (hiru made, densha wa arimasen), say politely that you were kept waiting (nijikan, matasaremashita), hear whose decision it is and take the responsibility (kimeru no wa, riidaa desu; watashi ga, sekinin o torimasu), press for an answer now (ima, ohenji o itadakemasu deshou ka), and cancel formally and ask about the fee (tenkou no tame, kyanseru sasete itadakitai no desu ga; kyanseru ryou wa, kakarimasu deshou ka). The fifteenth lesson of Advanced Level 1.

Audio instruction: English