Japanese lessons

You've arrived at Narita Airport, Tokyo. Mr. Hiroshi Matsumoto and his daughter Ayumi welcome you.

Illustration by Makushiro. Click to see his work.

romaji - kana - kanji - translation

This first text is a perfect example of how deeply the Japanese culture can be rooted in the language, and how much the language can be different from ours. The text illustrates several typical Japanese phrases used when meeting someone for the first time.

Hajimemashite - はじめまして

Every time you meet someone for the first time in Japan you can use the phrase はじめまして the same way as you say "nice to meet you". If someone says to you はじめまして, simply answer the same.

Douzo yoroshiku - どうぞよろしく

This phrase is often used after はじめまして when you're introducing yourself. Yoroshiku means "good". By using this phrase you're asking your interlocutor to be nice to you so that your relationship will get on well. This phrase could be translated as: "thank you to be nice to me". Your interlocutor should answer the same. There is no perfect equivalence in English for this phrase. It's very common to add Onegaishimasu (おねがいします) to make the phrase more polite.

Kochira koso - こちらこそ

In Japan, being humble in social relationships is much appreciated. When your interlocutor shows you respect, you can say こちらこそ, which means "It's I who should say that" to show that you respect them, too.

Personal pronouns

There are many personal pronouns in Japanese, but for the time being it's useless to know them all. Here is a list of the main ones you should know:

Notice that the Japanese language uses the suffix -TACHI (たち) to express the idea of a group in some cases (except for KARERA here).

You need to know that the Japanese language doesn't use the personal pronouns if they are not required to understand the sentence, similar to the Italian language.

Copula DESU

DESU (です) at the end of the sentence expresses politeness in Japanese. It can often be translated as the verb TO BE, but not systematically. There will be many more opportunities later to see this copula in detail. Just remember for now that it must be put at the end of the sentence.

Asking a question with KA

The particle KA (か) is used to form questions. You only need to put this particle at the end of the sentence to turn the sentence into a question. No other structural modification is needed.

Suffix SAN

SAN (さん) is a suffix to express politeness and respect, which corresponds to Mr. or Mrs. It must be added to the end of the first name or family name (in some other cases too sometimes). Only context will let you know whether SAN refers to a man or a woman.

Be careful! SAN cannot be used to talk about yourself or even someone of your family if your interlocutor is from another family. If you do that you are openly honoring yourself, and that would be quite arrogant from the Japanese point of view. But as a foreigner, you'll make the mistake for sure, and thank God, the Japanese won't mind at all.

Compare those two sentences :

General information about Japan

Without getting too deeply into details, it's useful to know some information about the country whose language you are learning:

Japan is an archipelago composed of four main islands : Hokkaidou, Honshuu, Shikoku, Kyuushuu. In addition to that, the archipelago has about 3000 other islands.

About 75% of the country is mountainous.

Bowing

Bowing is the Japanese way to say hello, goodbye, thank you, or even sorry. The Japanese bow more or less deeply, and they hold the bowed position for a shorter or longer time depending on the people they are talking to. Factors that may help you choose how to bow can be, for instance, the person's age, the person's social status, or simply how close you are to this person.

Children learn very early how to bow in different situations. Some shops even train their employees to make sure they can bow correctly in front of customers. As a foreigner, you are not expected to learn and know all the rules and subtleties of the art.