6.3 Worked Transcript Practice

How to Use These Transcripts

Because this guide has no audio, the best substitute is to read each transcript aloud at natural speed, then shadow it (speak along a beat behind). Cover the answer, decide, then check which spoken cue settled it. The goal is not to translate — it is to train the reflex of hearing a reversal word or a keigo shift and knowing instantly what it means for the answer. When you finish, run live clips at /practice/jlpt-n2.

Transcript 1 — 課題理解 (What will she do next?)

Setup (narrator): 会社で女の人と男の人が話しています。女の人はこのあとまず何をしますか。

男：田中さん、明日の会議の準備、進んでる？ 女：はい、資料はもう印刷しました。あとは会議室の予約と、部長にメールで確認するだけです。 男：あ、会議室はさっき僕が予約しといたよ。 女：そうなんですね、ありがとうございます。じゃあ部長に確認のメールを送ります。 男：うん、それ先にお願い。印刷した資料は僕が配っとくから。

English gloss: M: Tanaka, how's the prep for tomorrow's meeting? / F: The handouts are already printed. All that's left is booking the room and confirming with the manager by email. / M: Oh, I already booked the room a while ago. / F: Oh, thank you. Then I'll send the confirmation email to the manager. / M: Yes, do that first. I'll hand out the printed materials.

Question: 女の人はこのあとまず何をしますか。(What will the woman do first after this?)

1. 資料を印刷する (print the handouts) 2. 会議室を予約する (book the room) 3. 部長にメールを送る (email the manager) 4. 資料を配る (hand out the materials)

Walk-through — the cues: Start by mapping the printed options while the setup plays. The woman lists three remaining tasks, but the audio then removes them one by one. 資料 (handouts) are 「もう印刷しました」 = already done, so option 1 is out. The room is cancelled by the man: 「会議室はさっき僕が予約しといたよ」 (予約しといた = 予約しておいた, already booked) — option 2 out. Handing out materials is the man's job: 「僕が配っとくから」 — option 4 out. That leaves the email, and the decisive cue is 「それ先にお願い」 — 先に (first) explicitly orders the email before anything else. Answer: 3 (email the manager). Note how three of four printed choices were things mentioned but reassigned or completed — the 課題理解 signature trap.

Transcript 2 — ポイント理解 (Why was he late?)

Setup (narrator): 男の人と女の人が話しています。男の人はどうして遅刻しましたか。

女：今日、遅かったね。また電車が遅れたの？ 男：いや、電車はいつも通りだったんだ。実は、目覚まし時計はちゃんと鳴ったんだけど、二度寝しちゃって…。 女：ああ、それで。天気も悪かったし、大変だったね。 男：うん、でも遅れた理由はそれじゃなくて、単純に寝坊だよ。

English gloss: F: You were late today. Did the train get delayed again? / M: No, the train was as usual. Actually, my alarm did go off, but I fell back asleep… / F: Ah, that's why. And the weather was bad too, so it was rough. / M: Yeah, but that's not the reason I was late — I simply overslept.

Question: 男の人はどうして遅刻しましたか。(Why was the man late?)

1. 電車が遅れたから (the train was delayed) 2. 目覚まし時計が鳴らなかったから (the alarm didn't ring) 3. 天気が悪かったから (the weather was bad) 4. 二度寝して寝坊したから (he fell back asleep and overslept)

Walk-through — the cues: Because 問題2 states the question first, you listen only for the reason. Each distractor is planted then knocked down. The train is denied: 「電車はいつも通り」. The alarm is a trap using 〜んだけど (=but): 「目覚まし時計はちゃんと鳴ったんだけど」 — it did ring, so option 2 is false. Weather is raised by the woman but the man rejects it: 「でも…それじゃなくて」 (でも + それじゃなくて = 'but, not that'). The confession uses 実は ('actually') and 二度寝しちゃって (=二度寝してしまって), then he states 「単純に寝坊だよ」 outright. Answer: 4 (fell back asleep and overslept). Cue lesson: 〜けど, でも, and 実は are red flags that a mentioned item is being either denied or corrected.

Transcript 3 — 即時応答 (Quick response)

Remember: in the real exam nothing is printed and there are only three spoken choices. You hear one line, then pick the best reply.

Prompt (heard): すみません、ちょっと道を教えていただきたいんですが…。 (Excuse me, I'd like you to tell me the way, if I may…)

Choices (heard):

1. はい、どちらまでいらっしゃいますか。 (Yes, where are you headed?)
2. いいえ、道は教えませんでした。 (No, I didn't teach the road.)
3. ええ、道が混んでいましたね。 (Yes, the road was congested.)

Walk-through — the cues: The opening is a polite request built on 〜ていただきたいんですが — the 〜んですが trailing off signals the speaker wants help and is waiting for you to offer it. The natural response accepts and asks for the destination, which is exactly reply 1 with the honorific いらっしゃいますか (raising the asker). Reply 2 mis-hears 教える as past-tense refusal — wrong tense and function. Reply 3 latches onto the sound 道 but answers about traffic, not directions — a classic soundalike distractor. Answer: 1. In 即時応答, always ask: what does this line WANT? A request wants agreement/help; an apology wants 「いえいえ、気にしないでください」; an offer (〜ましょうか) wants thanks or a polite 「大丈夫です」. Decide by function, not by matching a repeated word.

The Common Thread

All three items were decided by a single cue — 先に, でも…それじゃなくて, and the request-frame 〜ていただきたいんですが. Build the habit of naming that cue the instant you hear it, keep only the LAST decision after any reversal, and never let a soundalike word drag you to a wrong choice.

A Note-Taking Template You Can Reuse

Every transcript above could be captured in fewer than ten scribbled symbols. For Transcript 1 a competent test-taker might write: 資料 ○ / 会議室 M / メール← 先 / 配 M. Read back, that shorthand says the handouts are done, the room is the man's, the email comes first, and handing out is the man's job — the answer falls out mechanically. The lesson is that you do not transcribe; you record only decisions and assignments. Overwriting full sentences guarantees you fall behind the audio, because writing is slower than natural speech and the clip will not wait.

From Reading to Hearing

A transcript flatters you: your eyes can linger, re-scan, and resolve a contraction at leisure. Real audio grants none of that, so the danger is finishing this chapter feeling confident and then stalling on the first fast clip. Close the gap deliberately. First, read each transcript aloud until the contracted forms (やっとく, 〜ちゃって, 〜んだけど) roll off naturally — production speeds recognition. Second, shadow recordings a beat behind the speaker to sync your ear to native rhythm. Third, take timed full listening mocks so you rehearse the exact pressure of one-time playback across all five problem types in a 50-minute block. Do these in order and the framework you built here becomes an automatic reflex on test day. Start now at /practice/jlpt-n2 and with the official practice workbook audio.