"New Service Makes It Easy for International Residents to Open Bank Accounts on Smartphone"

"New Service Makes It Easy for International Residents to Open Bank Accounts on Smartphone"

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Welcome to "Learn Japanese from the News."

Join us as we learn Japanese and about the country through Japanese news stories.
Today's headline is…

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外国人（がいこくじん）がスマートフォンで簡単（かんたん）に銀行（ぎんこう）の口座（こうざ）を作（つく）れるサービス

"New Service Makes It Easy for International Residents to Open Bank Accounts on Smartphone"
This news story was published on NEWS WEB EASY's website on March 2nd.

Now let's go over some vocab words that will help us understand what's going on.

口座（こうざ）
account, as in bank account.

作（つく）りやすくなる
become easier to make

複雑（ふくざつ）
complicated

Let's keep these words in mind as we listen.

「外国人（がいこくじん）がスマートフォンで銀行（ぎんこう）の口座（こうざ）が作（つく）りやすくなるサービスができました。
スマートフォンのアプリを使（つか）って、短（みじか）い時間（じかん）で口座（こうざ）を作（つく）ることができます。お金（かね）を送（おく）ることもできて、料金（りょうきん）は1か月（げつ）1100円（えん）と決（き）まっています。英語（えいご）とベトナム語（ご）で利用（りよう）できます。
外国人（がいこくじん）が日本（にっぽん）の銀行（ぎんこう）などに口座（こうざ）を作（つく）るのは、複雑（ふくざつ）で言葉（ことば）が違（ちが）うため簡単（かんたん）ではありません。外国（がいこく）にお金（かね）を送（おく）るときの料金（りょうきん）も安（やす）くなくて大変（たいへん）です。サービスを作（つく）った会社（かいしゃ）の人（ひと）は「スマートフォンで簡単（かんたん）にできるので、日本（にっぽん）で働（はたら）く外国人（がいこくじん）がたくさん利用（りよう）すると思（おも）います」と言（い）っています。」

This story is about a new service that allows international residents in Japan to easily open a bank account through a smartphone app.

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Now we'll break down a few sentences from the story that contain helpful expressions and keywords.
Let's start with the following sentence:
外国人（がいこくじん）がスマートフォンで銀行（ぎんこう）の口座（こうざ）が作（つく）りやすくなるサービスができました。

"A new service makes it easier for international residents to open bank accounts on their smartphone."

The key phrase in this sentence is 作（つく）りやすくなる, which means "become easier to make."
It's made up of three components:
- the verb 作（つく）る,
- the adjective やすい, and
- the verb なる.

Here, やすい means "easy."
It's a word we can use when something doesn't require a lot of effort. So for instance, 分（わ）かりやすい refers to something being "easy to understand."

なる means "to become." It indicates a change in state. So for example, 便利（べんり）になる refers to something becoming more convenient.

When なる is preceded by an adjective that ends in い like やすい, we change the い to く. So it's やすくなる. Likewise, あたたかい, or "warm," becomes あたたかくなる. 大（おお）きい, or "big," becomes 大（おお）きくなる.

Right. So as an exercise, try taking an adjective ending in い and using it with なる.
OK, let's move on to our next sentence.

外国人（がいこくじん）が日本（にっぽん）の銀行（ぎんこう）などに口座（こうざ）を作（つく）るのは、複雑（ふくざつ）で言葉（ことば）が違（ちが）うため簡単（かんたん）ではありません。

"It's not easy for international residents to open an account at a Japanese bank due to the complicated process and language barrier."

複雑（ふくざつ）means "complicated." It describes a situation that is not easily understood or explained. It's the opposite of 単純（たんじゅん）, that is, "simple."

In today's story, 複雑（ふくざつ）refers to the fact that there are many steps and procedures needed to open a bank account.

OK, that's about all for today. This new bank service makes it easier to open a bank account by allowing users to take photos of the necessary documents and submit them on their smartphone.

Also, the story mentions the service allows you to transfer money for a flat monthly rate, but as of right now that's limited to transfers within Japan.

Whatever the case, financial services are increasingly becoming digitized to provide a better, more convenient user experience. I think this is just the beginning.

Be sure to tune in next time for more!

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