- 1-1 Meeting someone for the first time
When people meet for the first time they greet each other, give their names, and bow. This is a situation you will often encounter and the following is the easiest way to manage it.
たなか:はじめまして、たなかです。 どうそよろしく。
すずき:はじあまして、すずきです。 どうそよろしく。
たなか:はじめまして、たなかです。 どうそよろしく。
すずき:はじあまして、すずきです。 どうそよろしく。
The bow おじぎ お辞儀
Japanese people bow (do ojigi) rather a lot and it takes a while to get used to. In general people do ojigi (おじぎ) when they meet, part, say thank you, or say sorry. In the first conversation you will do ojigi on the "Doozo yoroshiku” part. When doing ojigi, you bend at the waist with your back straight looking at the ground. Don't look up at the other person. Ojigi (おじぎ) is a little different for men and women.
Women place their hands on the front of their legs and men keep their arms straight at their sides (see picture above).
Japanese people bow (do ojigi) rather a lot and it takes a while to get used to. In general people do ojigi (おじぎ) when they meet, part, say thank you, or say sorry. In the first conversation you will do ojigi on the "Doozo yoroshiku” part. When doing ojigi, you bend at the waist with your back straight looking at the ground. Don't look up at the other person. Ojigi (おじぎ) is a little different for men and women.
Women place their hands on the front of their legs and men keep their arms straight at their sides (see picture above).
Notes : We can break this short conversation up into three parts :
1、はじめまして
Ha ji me ma shi te
This is the greeting you use when you first meet someone. It means something like
"Hello. (its the) first time" and is used like the English "How do you do?"
2、たなかです
Ta na ka de su
"Tanaka" is the man's family name and desu (です) is a word which can mean "am," 'is," or "are" depending on circumstance. This part is like "(I) am Tanaka" but notice that there is no word for "I" in this sentence. This is because the "I" is understood from the context, that is, it is obvious that Tanaka is referring to himself. You will find that unnecessary words are usually left out in Japanese. Also, the desu (です) comes at the end of the sentence so, in English this would be "Tanaka am,"
The word desu (です) can be pronounced just as it is written i. e. de su or with the U of su silent so that it becomes des. We will use the second shortened version as it is the most common but the silent u is still always written.
3、どうぞよろしく
Doo zo yo ro shi ku
It is very difficult to give an English equivalent for this part. It means something like :
"please (regard me and our future relations) favorably."
Note the way the "o" sound in doozo (どうぞ) is lengthened without its pronunciation
changing. When saying these expressions try to pronounce each syllable with equal stress and time. All new expressions in the notes for this lesson are broken up into syllables to help you do this.
As you can see it is not possible to translate Japanese into English word for word. Instead you learn phrases and sentences which are appropriate in various situations. Trying to make up sentences by matching an English word for each Japanese word just won't work. For one thing as we saw with desu, word order is different in Japanese sentences. Also, words that are necessary in English are often left out in Japanese. Once you get the hang of learning groups of words and learn to resist the urge to find out what each bit means in English, Iearning Japanese will seem much easier, In fact this goes for any foreign language.
1、はじめまして
Ha ji me ma shi te
This is the greeting you use when you first meet someone. It means something like
"Hello. (its the) first time" and is used like the English "How do you do?"
2、たなかです
Ta na ka de su
"Tanaka" is the man's family name and desu (です) is a word which can mean "am," 'is," or "are" depending on circumstance. This part is like "(I) am Tanaka" but notice that there is no word for "I" in this sentence. This is because the "I" is understood from the context, that is, it is obvious that Tanaka is referring to himself. You will find that unnecessary words are usually left out in Japanese. Also, the desu (です) comes at the end of the sentence so, in English this would be "Tanaka am,"
The word desu (です) can be pronounced just as it is written i. e. de su or with the U of su silent so that it becomes des. We will use the second shortened version as it is the most common but the silent u is still always written.
3、どうぞよろしく
Doo zo yo ro shi ku
It is very difficult to give an English equivalent for this part. It means something like :
"please (regard me and our future relations) favorably."
Note the way the "o" sound in doozo (どうぞ) is lengthened without its pronunciation
changing. When saying these expressions try to pronounce each syllable with equal stress and time. All new expressions in the notes for this lesson are broken up into syllables to help you do this.
As you can see it is not possible to translate Japanese into English word for word. Instead you learn phrases and sentences which are appropriate in various situations. Trying to make up sentences by matching an English word for each Japanese word just won't work. For one thing as we saw with desu, word order is different in Japanese sentences. Also, words that are necessary in English are often left out in Japanese. Once you get the hang of learning groups of words and learn to resist the urge to find out what each bit means in English, Iearning Japanese will seem much easier, In fact this goes for any foreign language.