Nihongo con Teppei (Beginner) - Ep8: 音楽のジャンルについて
Episode 8 of Nihongo con Teppei is a beginner's tour through music vocabulary. Teppei opens, as always, with a weather check — it's cloudy in Tokyo, and he even manages to turn "it's cloudy" into a mini-lesson by repeating 曇っています and contrasting it with 晴れてない (not sunny). Then he gets to the real topic: 音楽のジャンル (music genres), and what that word even means.
The bulk of the episode is a rapid-fire genre roll call that doubles as a pronunciation and culture crash course. He explains that ジャンル is the Japanese loanword for the English "genre," then lists examples across the spectrum: hip-hop, pop, R&B (with Beyoncé), classical (Mozart, Beethoven, Bach), jazz (Miles Davis, John Coltrane), Western pop (Take That, Backstreet Boys, idols), and Japanese music (Hikaru Utada, Unicorn, Spitz). He closes by sharing his own taste — punk (the Ramones, the Sex Pistols) and hip-hop (Kendrick Lamar) — modeling the 〜が好きです (I like ~) pattern learners need most.
For shadowing, this is one of the most vocabulary-dense beginner episodes. You'll drill the question どんな音楽が好きですか (what kind of music do you like?), the listing particle とか (such as), and the definition frame 〜というのは (A means B). If you've ever wanted to talk about your favorite bands in Japanese but didn't know the words, this episode hands you the entire starter dictionary.
📚 Grammar Breakdown
Meaning: About... / Concerning...
In Text: 今日は音楽のジャンルについて (Today, about music genres), 音楽のジャンルについて話したい (want to talk about music genres).
Note: について attaches to a noun to mean "about X." It's N5 and pairs constantly with 話す (talk), 考える (think), 書く (write). For shadowing, lock in the rhythm: [noun] + について + verb. Teppei uses it twice in the opening to frame the whole episode — a clean model of how Japanese speakers announce a topic before diving in.
Meaning: A means B / A refers to... (definition)
In Text: 音楽のジャンルというのはどんなタイプの音楽 (A "music genre" means what type of music).
Note: 〜というのは is the spoken definition frame — you use it to explain a word, exactly like "X means Y" in English. Teppei deploys it to teach ジャンル (genre): "ジャンルというのは..." It's N4 in textbooks but Teppei uses it at beginner speed, which is the perfect level to shadow. Listen for というのは as the "now I'll explain this word" signal.
Meaning: Do you like ~? (preference question)
In Text: どんな音楽が好きですか (What kind of music do you like?), r&b が好きですか, ジャズが好きですか.
Note: The key beginner trap: liking takes the subject marker が, NOT を. It's 音楽が好き (music is likable to me), never 音楽を好き. Teppei repeats this pattern across every genre — pop, R&B, jazz, classical — so this episode is basically a が好きですか drill. Shadow each one; the intonation on ですか is your cue for a real question.
Meaning: Such as / And so on / ~and stuff
In Text: ビヨンセとか (like Beyoncé), モーツァルトとか, テイクザットとか バックストリートボーイズとか.
Note: とか is the casual listing particle — softer than と (which implies a closed, complete list) because it signals "for example, among others." Teppei stacks it: テイクザットとか バックストリートボーイズとか — the spoken equivalent of "Take That, Backstreet Boys, y'know." For beginners, とか is your safest tool for name-dropping examples without committing to a full list.
Meaning: Ended up doing... / Did (unintentionally/regrettably)...
In Text: パイクに手が当たってしまいました (I accidentally bumped the mic with my hand).
Note: 〜てしまう adds the nuance of an action completed with a slight "oops" or finality. Here Teppei knocks the mic and says 当たってしまいました — "I went and hit it (by accident)." It's N4, but it shows up naturally in his casual speech, which makes this a great listening cue: whenever you hear 〜てしまった/しまいました, something happened that the speaker didn't quite intend. A tiny grammar gem hidden in a cloudy-day ramble.