Learn about introducing yourself
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Ohayō Tokyo! We are back again bringing you basic and practical Japanese. My name is Peter Galante and I am here with... |
| Natsuko: Natsuko Kawamoto. |
| Peter: Okay. We have a great lesson for you today. Our lesson is going to be... |
| Natsuko: Introducing ourselves. |
| Peter: Yes; a very important part of Japanese society. Wouldn't you agree? |
| Natsuko: Ah, yes. |
| Peter: Okay, so without further ado, we're gonna jump right in; listen to the dialogue. We’re gonna go through it twice. I apologize in advance; I’ll be using my Japanese as, yes, uh...our alpha male is not here again today so... Hang on; he's coming this week. We got him booked. He's just, you know, he’s very busy with his modeling career. So….he'll be here along. In the meantime, apologies, I'll be doing it. So, we're gonna go through the dialogue twice. Do your best to listen and try and pick up anything you can. Okay, so, we're gonna start out. Remember; introduce yourselves. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。わたしは なつこ です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Natsuko desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: はじめまして。わたしは ピーター です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pītā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Natsuko: That’s good. |
| Peter: Stop flattering me. We're going to try it one more time for you guys out there. Please listen. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。わたしは なつこ です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Natsuko desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: はじめまして。わたしは ピーター です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pītā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] Okay; very nice. |
| Natsuko: Very nice. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, so, now we're gonna get a quick explanation from Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして [hajimemashite] means...uh, kind of ‘nice to meet you’. |
| Peter: Yeah. roughly translates as ‘the first time’. |
| Natsuko: Yes |
| Peter: So, it's the first time we’re meeting. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: How about, can you break it down for us into syllables, please? |
| Natsuko: は じ め ま し て [ha ji me ma shi te] |
| Peter: Good; one more time, please. |
| Natsuko: は じ め ま し て [ha ji me ma shi te] |
| Peter: Very good, and give it to us once quick. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして [hajimemashite] |
| Peter: Okay, yes; you find out the speed in Japan is very fast. Okay; next we're gonna move onto... |
| Natsuko: わたしは [watashi wa] |
| Peter: Yes. Okay; now this is ‘I am’. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, and... |
| Natsuko: Roughly |
| Peter: Yeah, roughly. Roughly tran...thank you very much; roughly translates into ‘I am’. After the は [wa], you would insert... |
| Natsuko: Your name. |
| Peter: Yeah. For this particular structure? |
| Natsuko: Uh-hm. |
| Peter: So, and then finally when you put in your name it's followed by... |
| Natsuko: です [desu] |
| Peter: Yes, which roughly translates into the verb ‘to be’. The whole expression? Can you give it to us one more time? |
| Natsuko: わたしは なつこ です。[Watashi wa Natsuko desu.] |
| Peter: Yeah. ‘I am Natsuko’. And, one more time; nice and slow. |
| Natsuko: わたしは なつこ です。[Watashi wa Natsuko desu.] |
| Peter: Yes. Okay? And for example in my case, the only thing I will change is the name. わたしは ピーター です。 [Watashi wa Pītā desu.] And one more time: わたしは ピーター です。 [Watashi wa Pītā desu.] So, just the name and you'll find that the structure is going to be your best friend, for the first year here. |
| Natsuko: Uh-huh, yes. |
| Peter: Your very best friend. Okay? And now, let's move on to the second part. |
| Natsuko: よろしくおねがいします。[yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: Okay; now, do you guys remember our last lesson? Which phrase did we have in there? |
| Natsuko: おねがいします。[onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: Yes. Okay; so we have this phrase that we have from yesterday. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So, now, uh, what about the first part? The...can you give us the first part; nice and slow? |
| Natsuko: よろしく [yoroshiku] |
| Peter: Okay; one more time, please. |
| Natsuko: よろしく [yoroshiku] |
| Peter: Very nice. What does this mean? |
| Natsuko: It's very difficult to translate into English. It’s like... |
| Peter: ‘Nice’? |
| Natsuko: ‘Nice’, yeah; asking courtesy of someone. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Mmm. |
| Peter: So, the whole expression, one more time, please? |
| Natsuko: よろしくおねがいします。[yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: How would you... sum up this expression? How would you explain よろしくおねがいします。[yoroshiku onegai shimasu.]? |
| Natsuko: It sounds funny, but it's like ‘I wanna be kind to you, so please kind...be kind to me’. |
| Peter: Perfect; yeah, I think that’s it! Wow, that is an amazing way of explaining it. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. Okay; so, this is the expression that you use multiple times when you meet somebody. Sight? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So, can you give it one more time, please? |
| Natsuko: よろしくおねがいします。[yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: Okay; so now, next is what I would like to do is, I would like to work with this: ‘I am’. So, for example in my case, right, I said ‘I am Peter’. |
| Natsuko: Uh-hmm. |
| Peter: And, but you know, I'm from the US. So, I would like to say ‘I am American’. |
| Natsuko: Oh, so in that case, you say, わたしは アメリカじん です。[Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Okay; one more time, please? |
| Natsuko: わたしは アメリカじん です。[Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.] |
| Peter: You know, I noticed about that sentence that again the first two parts わたしは [watashi wa] and the last part です [desu] doesn't change. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Right? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Just... the... What was the word you said for ‘American’? |
| Natsuko: Oh, アメリカじん [Amerika-jin] |
| Peter: Ah. Okay, can you break that down for us? |
| Natsuko: アメリカ じん [Amerika jin] |
| Peter: Okay, and how about the meaning for that? |
| Natsuko: Uh...アメリカ [Amerika], as you notice, means ‘America’. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: And, じん [jin] is…. ‘people’. |
| Peter: Yeah. Yeah; ‘person’. So, アメリカじん [Amerika-jin] |
| Natsuko: Mmm. |
| Peter: Okay; and, yes, itself it's very funny pronunciation for us; the way that Japanese changed ‘America’. |
| Natsuko: Yes; yes. アメリカ じん [Amerika jin] |
| Peter: Instead of ‘America’. |
| Nasuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: Did the... in Japan... In Japanese, they use various...many many words taken from the English and other different languages, but they have their own pronunciation. You can master this; you can do very well in Japan. Conversations about computers use all kinds of these words. And the レコーダー [rekōdā], the Katakana words. Is that correct? |
| Natsuko: Yes. They use the special letters for, you know, imported words. |
| Peter: Okay; so we're gonna give you a few more of these, and what we're gonna do is we’re gonna add it to other nationalities. So, we're gonna give you some nationalities. Try and listen, and see if you can get them. Okay? And Natsuko’s gonna read them. You at home try and listen; okay? |
| Natsuko: カナダ [Kanada] わたしは カナダじん です。 [Watashi wa Kanada-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Very nice. One more time? |
| Natsuko: わたしは カナダじん です。 [Watashi wa Kanada-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Okay; can you just give the country? One more time? |
| Natsuko: カナダ [Kanada] |
| Peter: Anybody out there get that? Answer? |
| Natsuko: ‘Canada’. Well done. |
| Peter: Well done. Yes. Okay; and let’s try another one? |
| Natsuko: イギリス [Igirisu] |
| Peter: Very nice. One more time? |
| Natsuko: イギリス [Igirisu] |
| Peter: Okay. How about the sentence? |
| Natsuko: わたしは イギリスじん です。 [Watashi wa Igirisu-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Very nice. One more time? |
| Natsuko: わたしは イギリスじん です。 [Watashi wa Igirisu-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Anybody out there get that one? How about the answer? |
| Natsuko: That’s... that says England; well, usually for the UK. |
| Peter: Yes, very very nice. Okay? Next one. |
| Natsuko: オーストラリア [Ōsutoraria] |
| Peter: Okay; one more time? |
| Natsuko: オーストラリア [Ōsutoraria] |
| Peter: Okay. And, how about... |
| Natsuko: わたしは オーストラリアじん です。 [Watashi wa Ōsutoraria-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Very nice; again? |
| Natsuko: わたしは オーストラリアじん です。 [Watashi wa Ōsutoraria-jin desu.] |
| Peter: So, what do you think? Are these starting...are you starting to get the hang of it? |
| Natsuko: That sounds...pretty similar to ‘Australia’. |
| Peter: So, we’re gonna give you another one; try and get this one. |
| Natsuko: インド [Indo] インド [Indo] |
| Peter: Yes; very nice. And, how about the sentence? |
| Natsuko: わたしは インドじん です。 [Watashi wa Indo-jin desu.] |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Natsuko: わたしは インドじん です。 [Watashi wa Indo-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Anybody get that? |
| Natsuko: That means ‘India’. |
| Peter: Yes; very very nice. Okay; so I think that's gonna be it for today. What do you say? That's enough for them |
| Natsuko: Yes; you got enough information to introduce yourself. |
| Peter: OK, so we're gonna run through it one more time, and…. you know what? We didn't give them the one for Japanese! |
| Natsuko: Oh, yeah, right. |
| Peter: Okay so, why don’t you... take care of this one, too? |
| Natsuko: Okay; わたしは にほんじん です。 [Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu.] |
| Peter: Very nice; one more time? |
| Natsuko: わたしは にほんじん です。 [Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu.] |
| Peter: How about the word for ‘Japan’? |
| Natsuko: にほん [Nihon] |
| Peter: Yes; one more time? |
| Natsuko: にほん [Nihon] |
| Peter: And break it down to syllables. |
| Natsuko: に ほ ん [Ni ho n] |
| Peter: Very nice. So, you just add the じん [jin] which means person and you have the nationality. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, so we're gonna try the conversation one more time. |
| Natsuko: はじめまして。わたしは なつこ です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Natsuko desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Peter: はじめまして。わたしは ピーター です。 よろしくおねがいします。[Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pītā desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.] |
| Natsuko: わたしは にほんじん です。 [Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu.] |
| Peter: わたしは アメリカじん です。[Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.] Okay; that's going to be it for today! So, we’d like to say goodbye today with a new way to say goodbye. Now, there are many ways and Natsuko’s going to give us one. |
| Natsuko: One is さよなら [Sayonara]. |
| Peter: Yeah, but let's go for something a little lighter. |
| Natsuko: Okay; またね [matane] |
| Peter: Oh, there; that sounds very very nice. Okay; one more time, please? |
| Natsuko: またね [matane] |
| Peter: Okay; what does this mean? |
| Natsuko: ‘See you again’. |
| Peter: Okay; so, I would like to say that too, but I’m... I'll give you a little something different for the guys out there. It’s... |
| Natsuko: じゃあね [Jāne] |
| Peter: Oh, that sounds very nice; じゃあね [Jāne] |
| Natsuko: じゃあね [Jāne] |
| Peter: Is that it? One more time? じゃあね [Jāne] So, and that also means? |
| Natsuko: ‘See you again’. |
| Peter: Uh, kind of, but why would...more... |
| Natsuko: Casual...mmm. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Well ‘see you’, like that. |
| Peter: Okay; so, one more time? |
| Natsuko: じゃあね [Jāne] |
| Peter: And, じゃあね [Jāne]; ‘see you tomorrow’. |
| Natsuko: See you tomorrow. |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide