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Day1
()
Today youre going to learn
First time greeting
Self introduction
Asking someones name.

First of all, youre talking to someone who is new to you.
Youll say.
Hajime-mashite.
This is the very first time greeting, and means, Nice to meet you.

Then you introduce your name.
Watashi wa (name) desu.

* For desu, this u sound is devoiced. Thus, it sounds like des. (but in Japanese
roman alphabet it is still written as desu.

In my case,
Watashi wa kazue desu.
Im Kazue.

Watashi means I
Watashi wa: wa is a particle, something like a preposition, in, at, on, into etc.
And this wa is a topic marker so its like regarding or as for
And the polite form of a noun phrase always ends in - desu.

How about Mr. Smith introducing himself?
Watashi wa Sumisu desu.
How about Ms Betty introducing herself?
Watashi wa Bettii desu.
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Good news!
Japanese omits the subject quite often.
So, actually you dont need to say watashi wa if the situation is obvious that youre
talking about yourself.

So you just need to say,
(your name) desu.
In my case,
Kazue desu.

And self introduction conclude with
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu
Or
Doozo yoroshiku onegai shimasu

The latter one is politer.

And this means, Pleased to meet you
So, Hajimemashite and Yoroshiku onegai shimasu is a set,
sandwiched with your name.

So, in my case,
Hajimemashite. Kazue desu.
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.






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In Mr. Smiths case,
Hajimemashite. Sumisu desu.
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.


In your case??
----

By the way,
For your information, Japanese call each other using their family name most of the
time.
But for foreigners, its not always the case. Japanese know that in English speaking
countries, they call each other, or introduce each other using their first name. So
Japanese might introduce themselves using their first name.
Japanese understand the concept of First name and Family name, so you can clarify if
you want to, by asking first name desu ka? -here, ka is a question marker if you
put it at the end of the sentence.
So, Faasuto neemu desu ka? (is it a first name?)
Famirii neemu desu ka? (is it a family name?)

Ok, next.
Youve just seen a beautiful lady or man at a party.
How do you ask their name?
Yes, you need to introduce yourself first.
How?
Hajimemashite, (watashi wa) name desu.
After this, I think most addressees normally introduce themselves.
But if the person is too shy to tell their name? You say,
Sumimasen, onamae wa?
Excuse me, whats your name?

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Sumimasen is to get attention, or Excuse me.
Onamae wa? : Whats your name? (With rising intonation. )

namae means name. And o is a prefix for politeness. So whenever you ask
someones name, please use onamae.

Ok, one more time.
Hajimemashite, name desu. Sumimasen, Onamae wa?
---






Vocabulary
Namae name
O-namae name (polite, to address others name)
Watashi I
wa (one of the particles, topic marker)
Hajimemashite Nice to meet you (the first time greeting)
Sumimasen Excuse me! (to get an attention)
Yoroshiku regards, thanks
Onegai shimasu please (say this phrase when you ask
someone to do a task)
(Doozo) yoroshiku
onegaishimasu
Thank you very much in advance
Please to meet you -*phrase*
*oo is a long vowel, pronounce as