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INTRODUCING YOURSELF IN JAPANESE

 

When first meeting someone, the first step is to usually say: 

 

はじめまして

(ha●gi●me●ma●shi●te).

 

Hajimemashite is the equivalence to the English expression “Nice to meet you”.  

 

 

 

 

The next step in introducing yourself is telling them your name. 

 

わたしのなまえはNAMEです 

(wa●ta●shi no na●ma●e wa NAME de●su)

 

which translates to “My name is NAME.”

Another way to introduce your name:

 

わたしはNAMEです

(wa●ta●shi wa NAME de●su)

 

which translates to “I am NAME.” or 

 

NAMEです (NAME de●su)

 

which is a less formal way of saying the same sentence.

 

 

 

 

In some cases, someone may ask you your nationality. To make this easy, it is better to already know the Japanese name for your country. You can find them here. Once you know the name of your country the next step is simple; just add 人 (ji●n). 人 is the kanji for the word for person, so adding 人 at the end of the country (ex. カナダ/ Kanada) turns to カナダ人 which  is basically saying Canada person or Canadian.

So, to tell someone your nationality you would say 

 

わたしはCOUNTRY人です 

(wa●ta●shi wa COUNTRY ji●n de●su) "I am NATIONALITY". 

 

 

 

 

Telling someone your age is simple since it is a number (if you don't know japanese numbers you can go here). You could simply say わたしはNUMBERです(wa●ta●shi wa NUMBER de●su.)

"I am NUMBER.", but adding 才 (sai), which means years of age, will change your sentence to 

わたしはNUMBER才です

(wa●ta●shi wa NUMBER sa●i de●su.) "I am NUMBER years old."

 

 

 

 

Finally, at the end of your introduction it is very well known to say:

 

どうぞよろしくお願いします。

(Do●u●zo yo●ro●shi●ku o●ne●ga●i●shi●ma●su.). 

 

yoroshiku onegaishimasu literally means “please be good to me”, but in this context, it is just put at the end of the introduction and has the same meaning as “it is a pleasure to meet you”. どうぞよろしくお願いします is a very formal experssion. In informal/ casual conversations you would simply say よろしく。(yo●ro●shi●ku).