Self Introduction

Self introduction (じこしょうかい) in nihon is very important. じこしょうかい(jikoshoukai) creates first impression about you that is why doing it right is important. There are important things to remember, like the right vow, the use of right words (politeness) and the proper expressions. Knowing these things will get you a long way! Now lets get started!

To start off, always greet people the first time your meeting them when you start your introduction with "はじめまして" (pronounced as hajimemashte*). It literally means "to start off", "to begin" or most of the time "first time". It should be followed by a normal vow ( will teach you later the different types of vowing for different circumstances). Remember, when you are greeted always response nicely. If you are greeted "はじめまして", respond immediately with the same greeting. 

After greeting "はじめまして", you may follow it up with daily あいさつ like お早う御座います (ohayou gozaimas*)、今日は (konnichiwa*) or even 今晩は (konbanwa*). Of course you need to consider the time. After that you can then start telling about yourself. It usually starts by telling your name, age for boys ( not necessary, specially for girls. They don't like telling their age nor being asked about it), and place where you come from. In formal meetings like business or employment, they usually mention hobbies, special skills, studies and other important details that will empress the listeners.  

There are many ways to say your name in greetings. For beginners (elementary or informal introduction), you can say "わたしのなまえ　は　John です" (pronounced as watashinonamay wa John des*) or just simply "John です" (John des*). For advanced or formal introduction, it is appropriate to say "Doe, John と　もうします” (Doe, John to moushimas*). It literally means " I am called John Doe". In Japanese context, when you mention your last name, It always comes first before your given name and in formal settings, mentioning your last name is important as people will call you with your last name as sign of respect not unless you tell them its okay or you preferred to be called on your first name.

To tell about your age, you should find out the numerical translation of your age and then just simply add ~sai (counter for age). For instance, if you are 23 y.o. you can say "にじょうさんさい　です" (nijusansai des*). にじょう(niju*) is 20, さん(san*) is 3 and さい(sai) is the age counter (if you want to know what is the translation of your age in nihongo just comment below and I will respond).

People from far places usually mentions the place where they come from. You can say it through "place に　から　きました" (place ni kara kimashta*) for informal or normal setting and "place　と　いう　ところ　から きました" for formal settings. に is a particle for place, から(kara*) literally means "from", and きました(kimashta*) literally means "came". the alter part "place　と　いう　ところ　から きました" literally means " I came from a place called  place".

To end your introduction, it is important to say "どうぞ　ゆろしく　おねがいします"( dozo yuroshku onegaishimas*) for formal or simply  "ゆろしく" in informal setting followed by a normal vow. Most people would translate it as  "nice meeting you" but it literally means "Please treat me favorably" or "please take care of me".

These are the basics of self introduction in Japanese. Practice will always make it perfect. Gambatte ne! 

Konnichiwa :)

We often hear the expression konnichiwa and other greetings in Nihongo (Japanese). They are called Aisatsu (あいさつ) which means greetings. Konnichiwa (今日は) literally means "this day" (konnichi) and は (wa) is a particle for subject or subject marker. The same property goes to 今晩は (konbanwa). 今晩 which literally means " this night". These are expressions in Japan and eventually became greetings. On the other hand, good morning has a different story. Although I am not sure as of the origin of the term "おはよう　ございます" but I guess that is just how they greet good morning (ohayou gozaimasu) ; the ~masu is pronounced as ~mas with silent "u". The word "Gozaimasu" is an expression of great respect in Japan. It is pretty useful back then but lately the use of such term has diminished in day to day conversation with friends (although useful in formal conversations like meeting new people or higher positions). These are very useful expressions to start a good conversation with the Nihonjins (Japanese) as right greetings are very important for them ( or in any culture for that matter). Always remember to pay respect to people you just met or to those who are higher than you that you wont have to embarrass yourself or give bad impressions. 

The Basics

Foreign language learning is not as easy as anyone thinks. Why? Simply because our 1st language ( the language you grew up with) complicates learning with the other languages. It interferes with logical association of how we see or call things in the language we got used to our entire life to the new language we ought to learn, Japanese for instance. But don't get me wrong, it maybe the reason why we have difficulty learning new languages but it is also the reason that we are able to do it as well. It just need a little tweak so your language learning goes smoothly.



That's the first thing you need to know so you will not get confused why its hard for you to learn a new language such as Nihongo. Remember, its never your fault why other languages are difficult for you as there are factors affecting language learning, such as; multiple intelligence, the gap between your language and the language you are trying to learn, the environment, interest, and other cognitive and emotional barriers. So don't get too frustrated when you don't get it the first time :)



As for the basics, all language learning starts with ME-MO-RI-ZA-TION. Yup, thats right! don't worry I feel the same. I have problems with memorization too but we all have to go through it. We can always take it slow but if memorization is your edge then GOOD FOR YOU!



I would love to start blabbering about memorizing words by now in Nihongo but since they have different writing system than of English, we have to go through them as well. Many would say, " I just want to learn how to speak and don't give a damn about writing". Well, in Japanese it doesn't work that way. You see, in order for one to learn how o speak the language, one must learn the building blocks of all languages and those are the phonemes ( the sound system) and the morphemes (word formations). It is a lot easier actually in Nihongo as their basic sound system is all in their basic writing system (hiragana/katakana).



Basically, there are three writing system in Japanese, the Hiragana, Katakana and the Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are the writing systems of the Japanese made themselves. They consist of the same phonemes only that Katakana is used for foreign words and origins while Hiragana is for general use in Nihongo. Kanji however, is the most difficult writing system (I think). Its origin is of China and shares the same characters with them. However, china uses more old and complex Kanji characters than of Japanese. Both people can understand a little when writing the characters but both can never read the words a loud as both have different language sound system.



Below, is the chart for the Hiragana characters with their corresponding sounds. Please try to memorize them as they will come handy in our further lessons in Japanese.

The roman characters in Japanese are called "Romaji". Under each characters are their respective romaji which represents how they are pronounced. Once you memorized them or at least familiarized yourselvess with these characters, you may be able to proceed to memorizing new Japanese words :)