So! You're brand new to the language and therefore, you are brand new to the people who speak it. You need to introduce yourself! But what should you say?
The first word you will want to use is "hajimemashite" - HA GEE MAY MA SHE TAY. It means "pleased to meet you". Keep in mind that you only say this the FIRST time you meet a person, otherwise they will think that you have some serious memory loss issues.
To state your name, you have two options. If you are among people of your own rank, you can keep it simple - "watashi wa ____ desu.", which litereally means "I am ____.". You can use this if you are meeting people around your own age or younger, such as introducing yourself to a new class, or meeting friends of a friend or sibling. Any informal situation.
If, however, you are introducing yourself to someone of a higher ranking, say an elder, you will want to be a littler fancier.
watashi no namae wa ____ desu.
watashi - WA TA SHE - means I or My
no - NO - this is a sentence particle. It indicates possession.
namae - NA MY - means name.
wa - topic marker. Get used to this particle.
Put together it all means "My name is _____.". It's just a little more formal. If you were to meet a friend's family or a new teacher, for instance, you might want to use this.
Douzo yoroshiku - DOUGH-ZO YO RO SHE COO - this expression doesn't really translate into English all that well. It basically means that you hope your future relations with the person you have just met will be mutually positive. In fewer words than that, of course. You will usually see it translated into English as "Nice to meet you." Just keep in mind that hajimemashite and douzo yoroshiku are NOT the same expression.
Put together, your introduction looks like this:
Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Starry Starry Fright desu. Douzo yorishiku.
Which translates to:
Nice to meet you! I'm Starry Starry Fright. I hope we get along.
... or something like that.
You just finished your first lesson! Make sure that you understand this lesson before moving on to the next. In the next few lessons, I will teach you how to add your name, grade, family and hobbies to that skimpy introduction.
Questions or concerns? Post them in this thread and we can discuss this lesson. If you read it and understood, please post something like "I understand!" so I can see how many people have actually learned from this lesson!
Click here to go on to lesson two.
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