Learn how to greet someone for the first time and say your name
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| Introduction |
| Jessi: Hi everyone! Jessi here. |
| Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです。(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu.) Naomi here. |
| Jessi: Introducing Yourself in Japanese. Naomi, can you tell us what you just said again? |
| Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです。(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: こんにちは (Kon'nichi wa) - we learned this in Lesson 1. なおみです (Naomi desu.) - this is new! |
| Naomi: Yes. I just introduced myself! |
| Jessi: By the end of the lesson, the listeners will be able to introduce themselves too, right? |
| Naomi: Exactly! In this lesson, you'll learn what to say to someone you meet for the first time. |
| Jessi: As in, "Nice to meet you, I'm Jessi~" like that? |
| Naomi: Yes! We will learn three introduction phrases. |
| Jessi: You'll hear a very short conversation between two people. They're going to use these three phrases, so please listen carefully to what they say. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Taylor: はじめまして。テイラーです。(Hajimemashite. Teirā desu.) |
| Kaori: はじめまして。かおりです。(Hajimemashite. Kaori desu.) |
| Taylor: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Kaori: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| English Host: Now let’s listen to it with the English translation. |
| Taylor: はじめまして。テイラーです。(Hajimemashite. Teirā desu.) |
| Jessi: Nice to meet you! I'm Taylor. |
| Kaori: はじめまして。かおりです。(Hajimemashite. Kaori desu.) |
| Jessi: Nice to meet you. I'm Kaori. |
| Taylor: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: It's a pleasure to meet you. (Literally, Please look favorably upon me.) |
| Kaori: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: It's a pleasure to meet you too. (Literally, Please look favorably upon me too.) |
Lesson focus |
| Jessi: It sounded like they basically said the same things to each other! |
| Naomi: That's right. Only their names were different. |
| Jessi: So there were three different phrases here, right? |
| Naomi: Yes. Let's take a look at them one by one. |
| Jessi: First up is... |
| Naomi: はじめまして (Hajimemashite) |
| Jessi: はじめまして (Hajimemashite). Can we hear it a little bit slower? |
| Naomi: は.じ.め.ま.し.て。 (Ha-ji-me-ma-shi-te) はじめまして。 (Hajimemashite) |
| Jessi: Great. And one more time at natural speed. |
| Naomi: は.じ.め.ま.し.て。 (Ha-ji-me-ma-shi-te) はじめまして。 (Hajimemashite) |
| Jessi: And this means, "Nice to meet you." |
| Naomi: Right! はじめまして (Hajimemashite) |
| Jessi: はじめまして (Hajimemashite). Listeners, repeat after Naomi. |
| Naomi: はじめまして。 (Hajimemashite.) |
| [Pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. Let's try it one more time. |
| Naomi: はじめまして。 (Hajimemashite.) |
| [Pause] |
| Naomi: You can use this with anyone you meet for the first time. |
| Jessi: Right. And that would be the first thing you say. After that, you'll want to give your name. |
| Naomi: We'll teach you the shortest, easiest way to do so. |
| Jessi: Simply say your name, and follow it with です (desu). |
| Naomi: Your name plus です (desu) |
| Jessi: That's right. です (desu) is like "to be" in English… You can think of it as meaning "am" in this context, as in "I am." So it's basically just like saying I'm so-and-so.. |
| Naomi: But, note that the order is different from English. It's not です なおみ。 (desu Naomi) |
| Jessi: Good point. In English, I'd say "I'm Jessi", my name comes last, but in Japanese, it comes first. For example, ジェシーです。(Jeshii desu.) "I'm Jessi." |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) I'm Naomi! |
| Jessi: Okay. So Naomi, if your name were Ken, you'd say? |
| Naomi: ケンです。(Ken desu.) |
| Jessi: How about another example? What if your name were Lisa? |
| Naomi: リサです。(Risa desu.) |
| Jessi: Right. You'll just have to remember the です (desu). Okay. Now let's try combining the two phrases we've looked at so far together. |
| Naomi: I'll go first. はじめまして、なおみです。(Hajimemashite, Naomi desu.) "Nice to meet you, I'm Naomi!" |
| Jessi: はじめまして、ジェシーです。(Hajimemashite. Jeshii desu.) "Nice to meet you, I'm Jessi!" |
| Naomi: Now, it's the listener's turn. The pattern is はじめまして (Hajimemashite)、 Your name plus です (desu). |
| Jessi: Okay. So listeners, let's try it out! |
| [Pause] |
| Naomi: Great job! |
| Jessi: So now we know how to say "Nice to meet you. I'm [name]." That's a good start! But in the conversation, they both said something at the end, didn't they? |
| Naomi: Yes. They said よろしく お願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: Mmm... that's a mouthful! Can we hear it again? |
| Naomi: Sure. よろしく お願いします。 (Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: Okay. So now let's talk about what it means. |
| Naomi: Well, the truth is, we can't really translate this phrase into English. |
| Jessi: True. That's because there is no real equivalent. If you literally translate it, it comes out to "Please look favorably upon me" or "I ask for your good favour." Basically, by using it with someone you have just met, it means that you are looking forward to a good relationship with them. |
| Naomi: Right, it's a standard phrase used when meeting someone. |
| Jessi: If you use it when meeting someone, you will really leave a good impression. |
| Naomi: I agree. |
| Jessi: Let's break it down into two parts. |
| Naomi: よろしく (Yoroshiku) |
| Jessi: よろしく (Yoroshiku) |
| Naomi: お願いします (onegai shimasu) |
| Jessi: お願いします (onegai shimasu) Okay. So now let's put them together again. |
| Naomi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) Okay. Listeners, your turn! Please repeat after Naomi. |
| Naomi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| [Pause] |
| Naomi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: Okay. Let's try it one more time. |
| Naomi: よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| [Pause] |
| Jessi: Great. So just keep practicing it like that, and soon it will be rolling off your tongue. |
| Naomi: Now, with these three phrases together.. |
| Jessi: You have the perfect introduction. |
| Naomi: Let's say all three of them together! |
| Jessi: Sounds good! |
| Naomi: Here I go. はじめまして、なおみです。よろしくお願いします。(Hajimemashite, Naomi desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: はじめまして、ジェシーです。よろしくお願いします。(Hajimemashite, Jeshii desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: And, listeners...? |
| [Pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. Excellent work guys! |
| Naomi: You're all ready to introduce yourself. |
| Jessi: If you say these three phrases together, you'll really impress whoever you are meeting for the first time. |
| Naomi: See you then! |
| Jessi: Until next time. |
Lesson conversation |
| Taylor: はじめまして。テイラーです。(Hajimemashite. Teirā desu.) |
| Kaori: はじめまして。かおりです。(Hajimemashite. Kaori desu.) |
| Taylor: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
| Kaori: よろしくおねがいします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.) |
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