Nihongo con Teppei (Beginner) - Ep17: 家族ボキャブラリーについて
Episode 17 of Nihongo con Teppei is a clean, beginner-friendly lesson on 家族 (kazoku) — family — and the words that hang off it. Teppei opens with his usual morning ritual, sipping coffee 皆さんの前で / マイクの前で (in front of you all, in front of the mic) at 9 a.m., then walks through his own family tree: his grandpa, who has passed away (亡くなっています), his grandma, his parents, and his older sister. From there he builds out the vocabulary every learner needs but few textbooks make memorable — starting with 甥っ子 (oikko, nephew) and 姪っ子 (meikko, niece), and pointing out that your sister's child is 甥っ子 if it's a boy and 姪っ子 if it's a girl.
The middle of the episode is a tour of the wider family. Teppei defines 親戚 (shinseki) as your larger family — what English calls your relatives — and then breaks it into its parts: おじさん (ojisan, uncle), his father's brother; おばさん (obasan, aunt), his father's and mother's younger sisters; and いとこ (itoko, cousins). He even flags a classic beginner trap: do not confuse おじいさん / おばあさん (grandfather / grandmother) with the very similar おじさん / おばさん (uncle / aunt). He notes that because his father has so many siblings, he has around eight cousins (いとこが8人ぐらい), whom he now mostly sees only at New Year's (お正月) — a warm, honest detail about how family relationships fade over time.
To close, the topic shifts to 義理の家族 (giri no kazoku) — your in-law family — covering 義理のお父さん (father-in-law), 義理のお母さん, and 義理の弟・妹 (brother- and sister-in-law), noting that English simply calls all of these "in-law." For shadowing practice you'll drill the topic marker 〜について, the definition frame 〜というのは, the naming pattern 〜って言う／〜と言います, the reason connector 〜ので, and the simultaneous-action form 〜ながら. By the end you can introduce your entire family — and your spouse's family — in natural beginner Japanese.
📚 Grammar Breakdown
Meaning: X means ~ / as for X, it is ~ / what X refers to
In Text: 親戚というのは、まあ大きい家族、まあというか、relatives のことですね (shinseki means your larger family — in other words, your relatives).
Note: 〜というのは introduces a term you are about to explain, roughly "when we say X, it means...". It pairs beautifully with 〜のこと (the thing called ~) and 〜という意味 (meaning ~). Teppei uses it to define 親戚 for listeners, and it is the single most useful pattern for monolingual learning — explain any word without switching to English.
Meaning: We call it ~ / it is called ~ / they say ~
In Text: お姉さんの子供を甥っ子って言いますね (we call your sister's child "oikko"), 姪っ子と言いますね (we say "meikko").
Note: 〜と言います is the polite form and 〜って言う the casual, spoken form — both mean "we call it X." Attach the name to と (or って) + 言う. This is the core pattern for asking and giving names of things: これは日本語で何と言いますか (what do you call this in Japanese?). Essential vocabulary-building grammar.
Meaning: Because ~ / since ~ / so ~
In Text: お父さんの兄弟が多いので、いとこが多い (because my father has lots of siblings, I have lots of cousins).
Note: 〜ので gives a reason with a softer, more explanatory tone than 〜から. Attach it to the plain form of verbs and adjectives (nouns take なので). Teppei uses it to explain the size of his extended family — a tidy model for justifying anything about yourself: 仕事が忙しいので、あまり会えません (since work is busy, I can't meet much).
Meaning: While doing ~ / at the same time as ~
In Text: コーヒーを飲みながら皆さんの前で話しています (I'm talking in front of you all while drinking coffee).
Note: 〜ながら attaches to the ます-stem of a verb and expresses two actions happening at once — the second clause is the main action. 飲みながら = while drinking. It is one of the first "advanced-feeling" patterns beginners can actually use every day: 音楽を聴きながら勉強します (I study while listening to music). Natural and instantly useful for describing multitasking.