Japanese Greetings & Self-Introduction PDF

JIKOSHOUKAI (SELF-INTRODUCTION) Ojigi (bowing) in Japan can be coarsely divided into two categories: zarei (座礼),...

JIKOSHOUKAI (SELF-INTRODUCTION) Ojigi (bowing) in Japan can be coarsely divided into two categories: zarei (座礼), bowing while kneeling, and ritsurei (立礼), bowing while standing. Jikoshoukai (じこしょうかい ）is the Japanese word for "self-introduction." In theory, this is like how you would introduce yourself in your own culture. It is therefore the Japanese version of introducing In either case, it is considered essential to bend one's body only at the waist and keep one's back your name, saying hello, or telling a little about yourself. completely straight during the bowing gesture How to Introduce Yourself in Japanese (Jikoshoukai) The Art of the Japanese Bow 1. Ohayou gozaimasu / Konnichiwa / Konbanwa - The correct way to bow in Japan is to bend at Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening the waist, keep your back and neck straight, if possible, feet together, eyes downward, 2. Hajimemashite! and have your arms straight at your sides. How do you do? / Pleased to see you. (This is used when you meet someone for the first time) Women often bow with their fingertips together or hands clasped in front at thigh 3. Watashi wa (Last, First Name) desu. level. I am (Last, First Name). Watashi no namae wa (Last, First Name) desu. My name is (Last, First Name). AISATSU GREETINGS Watashi wa (Last, First Name) to moushimasu. AISATSU “挨拶” means greetings in Japanese. I am (Last, First Name). (More polite) 1. Ohayou Gozaimasu. おはようございます 4. (Age) sai de, dokushin (single) desu./ Kekkonshite imasu (married). - “Ohayou Gozaimasu'' and "Ohayou'' are the I am (Age) years old. I am single/married. Japanese ways to say, "Good Morning." 5. Gakusei desu. 2. Konnichiwa. (こんにちは or in kanji 今日は) I am a student. - Konnichiwa is a Japanese greeting, typically used as a mid-day to early evening greeting (10:00 AM to 6:00 PM). It is also used as an informal greeting as "hello". 6. (Address) ni sunde imasu. I live at (Address). 3. Sayounara. さようなら - The word sayounara means "goodbye" or "farewell". 7. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. I’m pleased to meet you. 4. Ja mata/mata ne/dewa mata. - You can use じゃあね (ja ne) when you're saying goodbye to a friend (informally) who you'll Ojigi (お辞儀) see again in the immediate future. Ja means "then/well" and mata means "again", so the - It is the act of lowering one’s head or the upper part of the torso, commonly used as a sign literal translation is "well again" which you can roughly translate to see you later. of salutation, reverence, apology or gratitude in social or religious situations. 5. Mata ashita. またあした Zarei (座礼) - This is a Japanese term or phrase for “see you tomorrow”. - This refers to bowing while kneeling. 6. Oyasuminasai. おやすみなさい Ritsurei (立礼) - The Japanese version of English expression “good night”. - This is another type of Ojigi which means bowing while standing. 7. Arigatou gozaimashita. Bowing is a gesture of respect. Different bows are used for apologies and gratitude. Basic bows - The term is a past tense of (あ りがとうございます ) arigatou gozaimasu which is used to originate at the waist and are performed with the back straight and the hands at the sides (for men) express your gratitude for something that has been done to you. or clasped in front (for women), and with the eyes down. 8. Douitashimashite. どういたしまして Common Japanese Classroom Expressions - The standard phrase meaning "You are welcome" Eigo (English) Nihongo (Japanese) 9. Gomennasai. ごめんなさい - is Romanized as Gomen nasai which means “I’m sorry” in English. 1. Excuse me/I’m sorry Sumimasen 10. Sumimasen. すみません - This term could imply a lot of meanings. This could mean “I’m sorry”, “thank you” or 2. I have a question Shitsumon ga arimasu “excuse me” or get someone’s attention. 11. Iie. いいえ 3. How do you say “book” in Japanese? “Book” wa nihongo de nan desu ka? - is a polite way of saying "no" and can be used whenever a clear-cut "no" is needed. 12. Hai. はい 4. May I borrow __________? _________ o kashite kudasai - Another super convenient polite Japanese word everyone should know is “hai.” Most people know that it means yes, but can also mean much more than yes. Sometimes, for example it is also used as a polite term of acknowledgement. 5. My I have _________? _________ o kudasai 13. Itadakimasu - いただきます - literally translates to “I will humbly accept it,” but the translation does not reveal the 6. I forgot. Wasuremashita deeper meaning. This phrase is meant to honor those involved with making the meal happen: the farmers and fishermen, in addition to your mum or dad (or whoever prepared 7. May I go to the bathroom? Toire ni itte mo ii desu ka? your meal). It also gives thanks the animals and plants which sacrificed themselves to become the meal itself. It’s similar to saying grace, except with the Japanese phrase you thank not only God, but those who helped prepare the content of the meal and the food 8. May go to the locker? Rokka ni itte mo ii desu ka? itself. 14. Gochisousamadeshita – ごちそうさまでした 9. May I drink water? Mizu o nonde mo ii desu ka? - “Gochisousama deshita“ or the more casual “Gochisousama“ is a Japanese phrase used after finishing your meal, literally translated as “It was a great deal of work (preparing the meal).” Thus, it can be interpreted in Japanese as “Thank you for the meal; it was a feast.” 10. May I sharpen my pencil? Enpitsu o kezutte mo ii desu ka? 15. Hajimemashite. はじめまして - is an expression which roughly translates to, “It is the first time (meeting you)”. However, 11. May I speak in English Eigo de hanashite mo ii desu ka? to make it closer to the equivalent English expression, it is more often translated as “Nice to meet you”. It came from the verb Hajimeru はじめるwhich means "to begin. "Hajimemashite therefore is usually the first step to introducing yourself in Japanese. 12. Please say it again Mou ichido itte kudasai 16. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu. よろしくおねがいします - It is used when you introduce yourself, and other times when you are asking a favor of 13. Please speak slowly Yukkuri hanashite kudasai someone. 14. Yes, I understand Hai, wakarimashita 15. No, I do not understand Iie, wakarimasen 16. I cannot see Miemasen JAPANESE WRITING SYSTEM The Japanese writing system is a mixture of innovation and tradition, a combination of Chinese 17. I cannot hear Kikoemasen Characters and Japanese alphabet. 18. I am sorry I am late Osokunatte sumimasen 1. Kanji. かんじ are adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese writing system. This means that each kanji character has its own meaning and corresponds to a word. By combining characters, more words can be created. Sensei’s Expressions: You will hear these phrases a lot! 2. Hiragana. 䜂䜙が䛺 which literally means “ordinary” or “simple” kana, is used primarily for native Japanese words and grammatical elements. There are 46 basic characters which symbolize syllabaries, or 71 including diacritics. 1. Let’s begin! Hajimemashou - Each sound in the Japanese language corresponds to one character in the syllabary. Hiragana is the first writing system learned by Japanese children, and thus is often the recommended system for non-Japanese to learn first, as well. 2. Let’s finish! Owarimashou 3. Furigana/Yomigana. 䜅䜚が䛺 / 読䜏仮名is a hiragana used as a reading aid for kanji you will find either next to or above kanji. It will help you read kanji you may not know yet, so 3. Do you understand? Wakarimashita ka? make sure you master kana! 4. Okurigana. 送䜚仮名 or suffixes following kanji roots, which may inflect verb sand 4. Do you have questions? Shitsumon ga arimasu ka? adjectives, grammatical and function words such as particles, and other Japanese native words without kanji forms too formal or complicated. 5. Yes, that’s right! Hai, soudesu 5. Katakana. カタカナ meaning “fragmentary kana” are used primarily for gairaigo (がい䜙い ご) foreign words and names, loanwords and onomatopoeia. Like the hiragana, there are 5 singular vowels, 40 consonant-vowels and 1 singular consonant. 6. No, that’s not right. Iie, chigaimasu 6. Romaji. In addition to the three Japanese character systems (kanji, hiragana, katakana), in Japan you will see the Roman alphabet used to spell out sounds. These Romanized letters 7. That’s good! Ii desu ne! may be used where Japanese text is targeted at non-Japanese speakers, such as street signs, dictionaries, textbooks and passports. 9. Well done! Yoku dekimashita! 1. Hiragana - is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. There are 46 basic characters which symbolize syllabaries. Each sound in the Japanese language corresponds to one character in 10. Awesome!/Excellent!/Great Sugoi! the syllabary. - There are 5 vowels in Japanese a i u e o 11. Be quiet! Shizukani/urusai! CHART 1 CHART 3 Dakuten and Handakuten Hiragana Characters Dakuten ( ゛) and Handakuten ( ゜) can be added to the basic Hiragana set to change the pronunciation and extend the alphabet used to create native Japanese words. CHART 2 20 Basic Dakuten Hiragana characters When dakuten markers are added, k sounds become g sounds. ka か が ga ki き ぎ gi ku く ぐ gu ke け げ ge ki こ ご go When dakuten markers are added, h sounds become b sounds. ha は ば Ba hi ひ び Bi fu ふ ぶ Bu he へ べ Be ho ほ ぼ Bo  Chart 1 ア イ ウ エ オ a i u e o When dakuten markers are added, s sounds become z カ キ ク ケ コ sounds (except for shi which becomes ji). ka ki ku ke ko サ シ ス セ ソ sa さ ざ za sa shi su se so shi し じ ji タ チ ツ テ ト su す ず zu ta chi tsu te to se せ ぜ ze ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ so そ ぞ zo na ni nu ne no ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ ha hi fu he ho When dakuten markers are added, t sounds become d sounds. マ ミ ム メ モ ma mi mu me mo ta た だ da ヤ ユ ヨ ー ー chi ち ぢ ji* ya yu yo tsu つ づ zu* ラ リ ル レ ロ te て で de ra ri ru re ro to と ど do ワ ヲ NOTE: ぢ and 䛵 are almost never used for ji and zu, so use じ and ず instead. wa (w)o ン 5 Basic Handakuten Hiragana Characters n When handakuten markers are added, h sounds become p sounds. Chart 2 ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ ha は ぱ pa ga gi gu ge go hi ひ ぴ pi ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ fu ふ ぷ pu za ji zu ze zo he へ ぺ pe ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド ho ほ ぽ po da ji zu de do 2. Katakana カタカナ バ ビ ブ ベ ボ - Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign ba bi bu be bo names and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as コン ピューター パ ピ プ ぺ ポ (kompyu-ta- = computer). - Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese pa pi pu pe po language does not have as many sounds as the English language so, when creating a name in Katakana, for instance, the name must be sound out to the closest Japanese equivalent. CHART 3 3. Romaji - Romaji are roman letters, normally used to help foreign Japanese learners with キャ キュ キョ pronunciation. However, you should stop using them when you get familiarized with the kya kyu kyo hiragana. - Most of the time Japanese articles are written in a combination of hiragana, katakana and シャ シュ ショ kanji, it would seem like it is useless to learn romaji. However, for foreigners who don't know Japanese, romaji can help to give correct pronunciation. sha shu sho 4. Kanji (漢字, pronounced [kaɲdʑi] チャ チュ チョ - are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese writing cha chu cho system. They are used alongside the Japanese syllabic script hiragana and katakana. - The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means "Han characters". It is ニャ ニュ ニョ written with the same characters as in Traditional Chinese to refer to the character writing system, hanzi (漢字). nya nyu nyo - Some of the kanji characters have been modified to fit the Japanese language, while some of them are totally new characters created by the Japanese. ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ hya hyu hyo There are around 2500 Japanese kanji that are used in daily life, and high school students in Japan are required to master 1945 kanji, known as the jouyou kanji (常用漢字), which means commonly ミャ ミュ ミョ used kanji. mya my myo It normally takes around 3 years to learn kanji of such big numbers, but if you are diligent, you can possibly do it within 1 or 2 years. Kanji have basically two types of reading, onyomi (音読䜏) and リャ リュ リョ kunyomi (訓読䜏). rya ryu ryo Onyomi is the Chinese reading of kanji, while kunyomi is the Japanese reading of kanji.Some kanji have both onyomi and kunyomi. For example, in the word 山 which means mountain, the onyomi is san and the kunyomi is yama. ギャ ギュ ギョ kya gyu gyo ジャ ジュ ジョ ja ju jo ビャ ビュ ビョ bya byu byo ピャ ピュ ピョ pya pyu pyo Additional Katakana Characters ヴァー Va ヴィー Vi ヴェー Ve ヴォー Vo ウィー Wi ウェー We ファー Fa フィー Fi フェー Fe フォー Fo ディー Di チェー Che ティー Ti ジェー Je ラ ー La レ ー Le リ ー Li シェー She