Japanese Reading Practice N4: Catching a Cold and Visiting a Clinic

The story: 風邪をひいた日

The narrator lives alone in Japan and works at a company. Read the whole text once before checking anything.

The story covers one day in detail and then jumps three days ahead. Look for the time words 朝, 夜 and 三日後 to follow it. Health texts are full of compound kanji words; if one stops you, read the kana in the romaji once, say it aloud and move on, then check the vocabulary notes after you finish.

Vocabulary notes

Health words you will meet at every clinic and pharmacy in Japan.

Japanese says 風邪をひく, literally to pull a cold, not to get one. Doctors are called 先生, the same word as teacher, which is why the story says 先生は〜と言いました. Temperatures are in Celsius: 三十八度 is about 100 °F. Note also 三日, read mikka when it means three days, and 一人暮らし, living alone, a very common word for students and young workers.

Grammar notes: decisions, advice and instructions

The story is full of things people decide, advise and tell each other to do. Each pair shows the line from the text and a new example.

〜ことにする is a decision you make yourself; compare 〜ことになる from other stories, where the decision comes from outside. 〜ほうがいい usually takes the past た form for advice to do something (休んだほうがいい) and the plain negative for advice not to (無理しないほうがいい). 〜ように言われる reports an instruction without quoting it word for word. And 〜たら with a past main clause often means when I did this, I found that, a discovery.

Phrases for the clinic reception

At a small clinic, the conversation at reception is short. Staff ask for your insurance card, whether it is your first visit and what is wrong, then hand you the questionnaire. Speak slowly and give the main symptom first, then when it started. Clinics vary, and some ask you to book online or by phone first, so check the website if you can.

This post teaches language only. If symptoms are severe or someone cannot breathe or wake, call 119 for an ambulance; the operator will ask whether it is a fire or a medical emergency, and the answer is 救急です.

Reading traps in this text

• 休ませてください is the causative て form plus ください: please let me rest. It does not mean please make me rest; asking for permission this way is very common at work.
• 三十八度ありました uses ある for a measured amount: my temperature was as high as 38. You will also hear 熱が三十八度ある.
• 病院に行ったことがなかったので puts the experience pattern in the past negative: I had never been, up to that day.
• 一人暮らしなので needs な between a noun and ので. Forgetting it, 一人暮らしので, is one of the most common N4 writing mistakes.
• 持ってきてくれました joins three verbs: brought (持ってくる) for me (くれる). Read the chain from left to right.

Check your understanding

Three questions about the story. The answers follow.

• Why was the narrator a little worried about going to the clinic?
• How long did the doctor say the narrator should rest?
• What did the friend bring in the evening?

Answers

The answer to question 1 is not about the illness at all. Reading questions often ask about feelings, and the reason is usually just before a feeling word such as 不安, うれしい or 大変.

A read-aloud routine

• Read sentences 1 to 4 slowly in a tired voice; it helps the meaning stick.
• Practise the long vowels: jōshi, hokenshō, monshinhyō, byōin. Each long vowel takes two beats.
• Read the doctor's line with a calm, kind tone and a soft ending on yo.
• Read the whole story once at a natural pace.
• Then say the clinic reception lines from memory, changing the symptom each time.

Prepare before you need it

Health Japanese is easiest to learn while you are well. Tell Mocchi on Unihongo which symptoms you want to be able to explain, for example: /vocab words for a cold, a stomach ache and a headache at N4. Mocchi gives you the words with example sentences and remembers them for your later reviews, so the list does not disappear after one session.

Then rehearse the visit itself with the Describe Symptoms at a Clinic mission in AI Sensei. The Sensei plays the receptionist and the doctor, asks follow-up questions and gives you a session report afterwards with the corrections and the words you used.