Learn how to introduce yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Hi everyone! Welcome to Lower Beginner Season 1, Lesson 1, A Formal Japanese Introduction! ジェシー です。Jessi here! |
| Natsuko: こんにちは！なつこ です！Hi everyone, Natsuko here! |
| Jessi: Welcome to the first lesson in our brand new Lower Beginner series! This series is designed for those of you who may have some experience with basic Japanese, but who are still at the beginner level. |
| Natsuko: You'll learn natural Japanese in a fun and interesting way! |
| Jessi: We'll be following the story of two Australians who have just moved to Japan - a woman named Emily Martin and her boyfriend Ken. So let's get started! |
| Natsuko: So what are we going to learn in this first lesson? |
| Jessi: In this lesson we're going to learn the first and most important thing - how to introduce ourselves in Japanese! |
| Natsuko: That's really important, especially in Japanese culture. |
| Jessi: That's right, introductions are really important for making a good impression. So we'll look at how to tell someone your name, where you're from, and how old you are, as well as to say "Nice to meet you". |
| Natsuko: So what's going on in the dialogue? |
| Jessi: Emily Martin is introducing herself in Japanese. Let's take a listen. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessi: When Emily introduced herself, she said her name in the Western order - エミリー・マーティン. But Japanese name order is opposite to this, right? |
| Natsuko: そうです, that's right. Japanese people give the family name first, then the first name. For example with my name, 山森 奈津子. My family name is 山森, and my first name is 奈津子. |
| Jessi: I see. But for non-Japanese people, can we also use the Japanese name order? |
| Natsuko: Of course! You can use whichever order you like. |
| Jessi: So Emily could have introduced herself as マーティン・エミリー. Also, in Japan it's considered quite forward to call someone by their first name. But on the other hand, non-Japanese people are often called by their first name because this is considered the "Western" way. |
| Natsuko: Yes, so don't be surprised if some people call you by your first name, and others by your last name. |
| Jessi: Now let's look at the vocab for this lesson! |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Jessi: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jessi: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Natsuko: 来月. |
| Jessi: This word is made up of らい, meaning "next", and げつ, meaning "month". So らいげつ means "next month". You can add different prefixes to this word "げつ” to make different time expressions using "month". For example... |
| Natsuko: 今月 |
| Jessi: こん, "this", plus げつ (month), gives us "this month". And... |
| Natsuko: 先月 |
| Jessi: "last month", made up from せん, meaning "last", and げつ. Okay, what’s next? |
| Natsuko: In the dialogue, Emily said that she was going to Japan with her 彼氏, or "boyfriend". |
| Jessi: In casual conversation,彼氏 is often shortened to just 彼↓. |
| Now what about for our listeners with girlfriends out there? How do you say "girlfriend" in Japanese? |
| Natsuko: It's 彼女. This isn't usually shortened even in casual conversation. It's always just 彼女. |
| Jessi: What's the next word we have? |
| Natsuko: It's number+歳, which means "[that number of] years old". |
| Jessi: In the dialogue, Emily said... |
| Natsuko: 25歳です。 |
| Jessi: "I'm 25 years old." |
| Jessi: Just as in English, you attach ～歳 to the number of your age. So I would say 私は, your age using 歳, plus です。 How about you, Natsuko, how old are you? |
| Natsuko: ひみつです （笑） It's a secret! |
| Jessi: Be careful though with this ～歳 suffix, because some of the number words you've learned already change their pronunciation when paired with it. |
| Natsuko: そうです, that's right. Numbers that end in 1 (いち）, 8 (はち）, multiples of ten, and the number "twenty". |
| Jessi: So for example "eleven years old" would be? |
| Natsuko: Not じゅういちさい、but じゅういっさい. |
| Jessi: What about "eighteen years old"? |
| Natsuko: Not じゅうはちさい, but じゅうはっさい. |
| Jessi: "Thirty years old" would be...? |
| Natsuko: Not さんじゅうさい, but さんじゅっさい. |
| Jessi: And finally, there's a special word for "twenty years old". You might think it would be "にじゅっさい", but actually, it's... |
| Natsuko: はたち! |
| Jessi: Did you follow all that? (笑） Now it's time for the focus of this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to introduce yourself in Japanese. It's really simple! This is basically all review if you've listened to the Absolute Beginner series. So なつこ, what's the first thing we need to know? |
| Natsuko: First we say a greeting. I know you have all heard this word already... こんにちは, which means "Hello". |
| Jessi: Listeners, listen and repeat after Natsuko. "Hello". |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 |
| Jessi: (wait for 3 sec) Great. And then you'll want to give your name. How do you say "My name is ~"? |
| Natsuko: It's 私は, plus your name, です. So altogether, for me it would be こんにちは。私はなつこです。 |
| Jessi: To break this down, 私は literally means "As for me", and です is the same as "I am". So you're saying, "As for me, I am [name]". Listeners, listen and repeat after [Natsuko], replacing Natsuko’s name with your own. |
| Natsuko: 私はなつこです。 |
| Jessi: (wait for 5 sec) OK, Listeners, now try putting it all together and saying "Hello, my name is, plus your name". |
| Natsuko: (wait for 5 sec) こんにちは。私はなつこです。 |
| Jessi: Did you get it? Great! Also, note that 私は is optional here. It’s not necessary information. Even if we just say, [name] plus です, it is understood we are talking about ourself. |
| Natsuko: Good point! |
| Jessi: So now Natsuko, say you want to say where you're from. How would we do this? |
| Natsuko: The word for "place you're from" in Japanese is 出身. |
| Jessi: We're going to use the same A は B です structure we just used for "My name is~". So if you were from the US, you would say... |
| Natsuko: 出身はアメリカです。 |
| Jessi: What about some other country names? "The UK" is... |
| Natsuko: イギリス |
| Jessi: "Canada" is? |
| Natsuko: カナダ |
| Jessi: How about "Australia"? |
| Natsuko: オーストラリア |
| Jessi: Those are just a few quick examples. Now, repeat after Natsuko, replacing the name of your country with アメリカ if you can. If we didn't have time to mention your country here, then please feel free to ask us for the Japanese in the lesson comments. Okay, here we go. "I am from the US". |
| Natsuko: 出身はアメリカです。 |
| Jessi: (wait 5 secs) Now say, "I am from the US" in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: (wait 5 secs) 出身はアメリカです。 |
| Jessi: Great! But you know, Natsuko, the US is a big place! (笑） So sometimes you might want to be more specific and give the name of the city or town you're from. To do this we use the の particle, which means "of". So if you were from Chicago, for example, you would say... |
| Natsuko: 出身はアメリカのシカゴです。 |
| Jessi: So let's look at this second part - アメリカのシカゴ, literally, America's Chicago, or Chicago of America. This sounds strange in English, but this is the order used in Japanese. Country name, then the particle の, and then a more specific city or place name. Let's hear that all together again. Listeners, listen and repeat. "I'm from Chicago, in the US." |
| Natsuko: 出身はアメリカのシカゴです。 (wait for 5 secs) |
| Jessi: If you would like to know the Japanese name for your town or city, again, please ask us in the lesson comments! For now, though, try saying "I'm from Chicago, in the US" in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: (wait for 5 secs) 出身はアメリカのシカゴです。 |
| Natsuko: I think there's one more phrase we need to add to complete the self-introduction. |
| Jessi: Oh, that's right! A very important one - "pleased to meet you"! How would we say this in Japanese? |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Jessi: This is a very Japanese phrase that literally means "Please be good to me," and which is actually used in a lot of different situations, but which has the same function as "Very nice to meet you" or "Pleased to make your acquaintance". Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Natsuko: よろしくお願いします。 |
| Jessi: (wait 5 secs) Now say "Very nice to meet you" in Japanese. |
| Natsuko: (wait 5 secs) よろしくお願いします。 |
| Jessi: So now let's try putting it all together. Are you ready, Listeners? First, Natsuko and I will both introduce ourselves. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。私はなつこです。出身は日本の富山です。よろしくお願いします。 |
| Jessi: こんにちは。私はジェシーです。出身はアメリカのカリフォルニア州です。よろしくお願いします。Great, now it's your turn! Say "Hello. My name is [your name]. I'm from [your country], [your town]. It's very nice to meet you." |
| Jessi: [pause for 5 secs] How did you do? Did you manage to introduce yourself in Japanese? That's about all the time we have for today, though. |
Outro |
| Natsuko: それではまた！ |
| Jessi: See you all next time! |
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