Learn Japanese with Greg!

Ok, firstly. Sorry about the almost week delay. As you may know I fell ill, and was barely able to move let alone type. As the week progressed I got a little better but was still pretty bad. Thank you to everyone who sent me nice messages. Second post in and I get ill causing a delay. Tsk. Therefore I decided to do lessons once a week, so that if you guys expect a lesson every two days, and something happens to me and it’s not out, you would be wondering why is there no lesson. So, I want to avoid that, with a once a week thing.

Alright, so let’s talk about introducing yourself. I learned this section a little weird when I learned Introductions, so I apologise if this messes up.

First of all when we talk about introductions we need to talk about subjects. The subjects of “I” and “you”, that is, if you want to talk about yourself or about the person you’re talking to.

Talking about yourself: In Japanese there is more than one way to say “I”. Which really depends on the situation you’re in.

Watashi: This is the most common without a doubt. It is the most neutral way to say “I”. (ie, you can use it in formal situations and in informal situations.)

Boku: This is casual. Mainly used by boys. Although girls can say this if they’re tomboy-ish. Also, men can say this to people they are not close to (strangers). Because in Japanese, people are always meant to be humble, so you always put yourself in the lower position so to speak.

Ore: Again casual. Mainly used by Men, really only use this with your close friends. If you say this to strangers, you’ll come across as very arrogant. However if you say “boku” to your close friends, you come across a spoilt/arrogant (maybe the word I’m looking for is snobby?) type person.

Atashi: Casual, just a thing high-school girls say. You usually only hear this in anime I reckon. I don’t recommend at all.

Talking about the person you’re talking to: Again, “you” has more than one way it can be said.

Anata: Again, most neutral, can be formal and informal. Both genders.

Kimi: Only ever used between partners in a relationship. Would be a really bad idea to use this with your boss. Really bad idea.

Omae: Casually used by both genders.

I would like to point out, this is how far I got when I intially started to write it, then I fell asleep ay my pc because I couldn’t handle being ill. Haha.

The initial meet:

I suppose I should first explain the ways to say “Hello”, because just like any language usually the first thing you ever say to someone is “Hello”. However, really in Japanese there is no-one way to say Hello unlike English. It all really comes down to the time of day. Therefore they would literally translate to, Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening.

Good Morning: “おはよう　ございます” (Ohayou Gozaimasu), is what can be said from the point you wake up and any time until 12pm (midday).  Although, おはよう　ございます is actually the polite form to use it. This is the form you would use with people who are not friends, your boss or your teacher. However, if it is just a casual situation, you can shorten that down to. おはよう (Ohayou).

Good afternoon: こんにちは (Konnichiwa – notice the last character is the character for “ha”. Just like when you use ha for particles, the ha is pronounced wa.) This is usually what is translated as “Hello”, and it does have the same effect. However, really it means more “good afternoon”. This is usually said between 12pm-5pm.

Good Evening: こんばんは　(Konbanwa – notice again the ha is pronounced wa) this is said after 5pm all evening.

Ok, now that we’ve established how to say “Hello”. Before saying who you are, there are two very important phrases that the Japanese use when introducing themselves to someone for the first time.

Hajimemashite: はじめまして – This literally means “Pleased to meet you”. This is very useful, if you ever meet a Japanese person for the first time where you are. Say this, it always gets a smile.

Douzoyoroshikuonegaishimasu: どうぞ　よろしく　おねがいします. This looks harder to say than it actually is, take it one step at a time. Note: the last o in “dozo” is silent, usually but sometimes Japanese people say the o too. The i in the character “shi” from “yoroshiku” is silent. However, the i from the “shi” in “Onegaishimasu” is not silent. (I think it would be helpful if I opened a youtube channel using videos to help people with pronunciation – what do you think?) Anyway, this has no literal translation. I’ve been told it could sound something like “Please treat me with care” or something to that effect. What I do know for sure is that “おねがいします” translates to please. Also, one last thing with this, the form I gave it in is the most polite. You can cut bits off the ends for example, you can say either. “どうぞ　よろしく” or よろしく　おねがいします” as long as よろしく is in there you’re fine, and yes, you can just say よろしく too.

Now to say who you are.

When you are introducing yourself. If you are introducing yourself first, it’s polite to be the first one to say your name. Using the subject for “I” and the particle ha, this is very simple.

In my case I would say:  わたし　は　グレッグ　です. (Watashi wa Greg desu.)

At the start, you can see the subject I used for “I”, watashi. I used the particle ha. Why? Well, particles don’t really translate to anything they are used for grammar purposes. So in the case the ha puts the stress after the particle itself, meaning the purpose of the sentence is to highlight my name “Greg”. (if you do not understand, do not worry, particles are confusing. I will dedicate a post to beginner particles very soon).  Then you see my name in Katakana, and finally I top the sentence off with our friend, です。 As mentioned before, desu does not always translate to “it is”. Like here for example, desu just signifies its a sentence, a polite one at that. You could actually leave out desu if you wanted, but that isn’t common.

However, in casual japanese we don’t really use subjects. Subjects are only used for people you don’t know, bosses, teacher or generally anyone in a higher position than you. If you’re in a group of people you don’t know except a few, and someone asks you your name. You can just say “___ desu”. For example, グレッグです.

The rules that apply to your name can be applied to a diverse range of things.

Take the template. わたし　は　＿＿＿＿　です。This literally translates to “I am ___”. You could put in any adjective that describes you in there. However for the sake of introductions, let’s keep it simple.

Age: We haven’t done numbers yet, and we will. However, in that little ___ part. You can put in any number you want and add the “sai” to the age. For example, わたし　は　１８さい　です。When the sai is attached to a number, it signifies the age of the subject it comes after.

Nationality: The rules are exactly the same as age, except you just put in your country name and add “jin” to it. For example. わたし　は　スコットランドじん　です。(I am Scottish). When Jin is attached to the country name, it signifies the nationality of the subject it comes after.

Now ask the person who they are.

Ok, if you want to know something about a person and you have a general idea that their name might be something, or they might be from a certain country or they might be so old. Basically all you have to do is change the subject to “you” and add the particle ka at the end. Example.

あなた　は　グレッグ　ですか？ (Are you Greg?)

あなた　は　１８さい　ですか？ (are you 18 years old?)

あなた　は　アメリカじん　ですか？　(Are you American?)

However. If you want to ask a specific question, it can be a little more complicated. Take the question, “What is your name?”.

In Japanese that would be. あなた　の　なまえ　は　なん　ですか？ (anata no namae wa nan desu ka?). Of course I don’t expect you to understand this until I review particles. However, the particle “no” signifies possession of the subject is comes after. Therefore Anata no = “your”.

If you changed the subject to I and dropped ka, you could actually say your name this way. Example. わたし　の　なまえ　は　グレッグ　です。　(My name is Greg).

To asks someone’s age, you would ask. なんさい　ですか？ (nansai desuka? – “nan” is a shortened form of Nani, which means “what”. )  So this question would be asking “what age are you?.

To ask someone’s nationality, you would ask. なにじん　ですか？(what nationality are you?) Nani here being what and Jin being the nationality.

As you can see the specific questions don’t really follow a pattern, so you’ll have to memorise them yourself. However, do take note of some of the words. For example, namae = name, nani = what. Or anything else you pick up on. However, I shall do a vocab list as time goes on.

So now you know how to introduce yourself. Here’s an example introduction for me, you can change your details in there. (Email me and ask if you don’t know the name of your country or how to spell your name in katakana).

こんにちは！

はじめまして！　ゆろしく　おねがいします。

わたし　の　なまえ　は　グレッグ　です。　スコットランドじん　です。　じゅうはっち（１８）さい　です。

あなた　の　なまえ　は　ですか？

I hope you got something out of this lesson, and I really hope I didn’t miss anything out or get something wrong. I will publish it and re-read it again, I will update if I see anything.

Remember, please don’t hesitate to email me any questions or add me on skype/facebook.

Take care.