Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Konnichiwa/Formal salutations

Meeting at the airport
Mr. Tanaka is making a trip to Okinawa and has arranged to meet with Ms. Hayasaka at the airport. Neither party has met the other before. She is waiting for him with a sign that has his name on it.

Elevator chat
Mr. Tanaka sees Ms. Hayasaka on the way into their meeting the next day, and she holds the elevator open for him as he steps on.

{{Japanese conversation|break|She holds the elevator door open and Mr. Tanaka steps on. {{Japanese conversation {{Japanese conversation {{Japanese conversation|end}}
 * ja=田中 | japanese=ありがとうございます.
 * en=Tanaka | english=Thank you.}}
 * ja=早坂 | japanese=どういたしまして.
 * en=Hayasaka | english=Don't mention it.}}

Campus greetings
Terumi and Kouichi are friends from school. Terumi sees Kouichi walking across campus one morning and calls out to him.

Personal introduction
Please note the lack of the "さん" honorific, as Yamada is talking about himself.)

Inquiring for names
The word "私"(わたし) is one of the many ways in which you can express the first person singular (i.e. "I") in Japanese. It can be used in polite and plain language. The formal version is read わたくし.

Inquiring for nationality
In Japanese, nationalities are formed by adding adding the word for person,, to the name of a country.

Greeting and introduction
Mr Yamada and his friend Mr Tanaka meet Ms Suzuki.

Vocabulary and phrases

 * こちらこそ
 * This expression can be used to return a polite expression such as ありがとうございます or よろしくおします


 * Formality
 * Some of the phrases above use polite forms, used when speaking to a superior or an equal with whom one has only loose ties.


 * Time of day
 * おはようございます is used in the morning (till about 10:30am) or when first meet in a day.
 * こんにちは is used during the day.
 * こんばんは is used during the evening and at night.
 * These phrases are only used in greeting, never in parting.


 * Literal Meaning
 * おはようございます It is early.
 * こんにちは Today...
 * こんばんは This evening...
 * はじめまして For the first time...
 * よろしくおします I humbly ask for your favor.
 * こちらこそ This side for sure (It is I who should be the one to say)...
 * ありがとうございます I am grateful.


 * 1) さん: Mr.; Mrs.; Miss; Ms.
 * 2) *さん is an appellation added to the end of a name to indicate respect. It is roughly equivalent to Mr., Ms., etc. in English, but can be used on either the family name or the given name. It can also be used on a vocation (e.g. さん "barber", おさん "police officer"), or even an animal (e.g. さん "rabbit"). The latter usage is considered childish.
 * 3) *さん is never used on oneself or those in one's in-group, only on others toward whom one should show respect.
 * 4) *see also, ちゃん, ,


 * 1) (na-adj): healthy; cheerful; energetic
 * 2) *元 means foundation and 気 refers to chi, the Chinese metaphysical concept of energy. Thus, saying one's chi is stable means that the individual is healthy, happy, and energetic.
 * 3) はい (interj): yes
 * 4) ええ (interj): yes
 * 5) *polite and somewhat feminine
 * 6) うん (interj): yeah
 * 7) まぁまぁ (na-adj): okay, fair, not bad, so so


 * &sup1; Sounds more masculine.
 * &sup2; Relatively gender-neutral.


 * おですか.
 * This is used between people who are acquainted with each other and is roughly equivalent to English "How are you?" or "How have you been?"
 * When responding, the お at the beginning and the か at the end are dropped, leaving です


 * This is the informal way to ask "How are you?"
 * The question is asked with a rising intonation.
 * The affirmative response can be だ, which sounds somewhat masculine, or, which is more gender-neutral.
 * The affirmative response can be だ, which sounds somewhat masculine, or, which is more gender-neutral.


 * まぁまぁです., まぁまぁ.
 * These are acceptable responses if you are not feeling particularly healthy or cheerful at the moment.


 * Grammatical construction
 * お元気ですか. = お (polite prefix) +  "healthy; happy" + です (noun predicate ending) + か (question marker)
 * 元気です. =  "healthy; happy" + です (noun predicate ending)


 * Clarifications
 * Why is the question お but the answer just -- what happened to the お o?
 * The お is an exalted prefix, meaning that the health ( genki) you are referring to is the health of someone you wish to exalt. Japanese honorifics do not allow you to exalt yourself, so you can never use お o-genki to talk about your own health.
 * Well, can't I just ask ですか without the exalted お?
 * Yes, you may. The お just makes it more polite.
 * Can I ask お informally?
 * It sounds strange because normally if you are exalting someone, you would also use the polite ですか ending.

Supplementary vocabulary

 * 田中 (たなか) - Japanese family name.
 * 鈴木 (すずき) - Japanese family name.
 * 山田 (やまだ) - Japanese family name.
 * こんにちは - "Good day, good afternoon"
 * か - question particle. This is added at the end of a sentence to change it into a question. It should be noted that using the actual question mark (?) is not necessary, but it is not considered incorrect to have it either.

Usage Notes

 * おはようございます is used in the morning (until about 10am) or when waking up.
 * こんにちは is used during the day.
 * こんばんは is used during the evening and at night.
 * はじめまして should be used if one has not already met the other person.
 * These phrases are only used in greeting, never in parting.


 * おやすみなさい is only used before going to sleep


 * １　Japanese regularly omit the subject from sentences when they are obvious from context. Hence, pronouns are hardly used. Whenever forced to use a pronoun, it is better to refer to someone by their proper name or title. あなた, may give the impression of a news anchor speaking at them or some unfamiliar person.

NOTE: Most countries are written in katakana as they are foreign words. "Nihon"　日本, for example, is not and neither is "Chuugoku" 中国(China).
 * １日に本ほん・にほん・Nihon
 * 2韓かん国こく・かんこく・Kankoku
 * 3中ちゅう国ごく・ちゅうごく・Chuugoku

Culture
"How are you?" and "Genki?" may translate the same, but the phrases are culturally incompatible. In general, Japanese do not ask each other how the other is every day. "Genki?" is used only when people meet after a long while. For example, when one calls their mother in Japan, the first thing one might ask is "Genki?", however, one would not ask friends whom the see every day, "Genki?"

"Genki" is, culturally, much closer to "How have you been?". Although "How are you?" is common greeting in Western countries, it is culturally more accepted to simply say "Kon-nichi-wa."

Also in English countries, the expected answer to the English "How are you?" is "Fine, thanks." Japanese, however, tend to respond quite literally to the question おですか. It is not considered rude in Japan to go into detail about your medical situation. In fact, when a Japanese has a cold or other disease that can be transmitted aerially, it is considered good manners to wear a mask resembling a surgical mask over the mouth and nose to avoid infecting others with whom you come in contact.

So if you're sick and a Japanese friend asks you, おですか, feel free to tell them all about your ailment (within reason). The following words might help:


 * cold
 * 咳: cough
 * インフルエンザ: flu
 * sickness

Grammar

 * こんにちは
 * This phrase is equivalent to saying "Good day" in english, and is only said once a day to each person. It is used from 10-11 A.M. to around sunset.


 * お元気　ですか
 * Translated as "Are you well?", it is commonly used after a greeting to politely start a conversation.


 * はじめまして
 * Meaning "Nice to meet you", it's used mostly as a precursor to an introduction.


 * ～は　& ～です
 * は is a particle; it looks like ha but is pronounced wa.
 * The particle is used to express one thing's relation or status, much like English speakers say "My name is Clem" or "He is burning!". It states the topic of the sentence (some more uses and contexts will be studied further on).
 * です is used to affirm a statement.
 * For example, わたしのなまえはメアリーです means 'my name is Mary'.


 * か
 * This is a particle added to the end of the sentence to make it a question. For example:
 * あなたは　山田さんです. (You are Mr. Yamada.)
 * ⇒ あなたは　山田さんですか. (Are you Mr. Yamada?)


 * ~さん
 * This is a honorific. An honorific is a particle added to the end of a name to show respect. Honorifics are never used when talking about yourself or anything related to yourself (like your siblings, for instance), but when you are talking about someone else. So it's wrong to say:
 * 私は山田さんです. (I am Mr. Yamada, This sounds very strange to japanese ears.)
 * or
 * あなたは山田ですか. (Are you Yamada? This is incorrect because you don't know Yamada.)
 * When talking to friends or colleagues you can drop さん or replace it with くん and ちゃん.e.g. Hiroko and Matsumoto, 2 high school friends arrive at school.
 * hiroko: まつもとくん、げんき？
 * matsumoto: ええ、げんき. ひろこちゃんは？

Introducing yourself
When you meet someone for the first time, you first say,
 * はじめまして
 * "Nice to meet you" (more literally, "This is the first time...")

You should not use はじめまして if you have already met the person.

Next, you introduce yourself by saying,
 * 私は＿＿です (わたし　は ＿＿です).
 * I am ＿＿.

Your family name should be used in place of the blank. If you know how, pronounce your name in Japanese.


 * 私 (わたし) means "I, me, myself".
 * は is the topic-marker particle in this sentence, so it is pronounced "wa".
 * です is a polite ending. Here it means "to be" (the copula), but we will see later that it has other uses.

Finally, you say どうぞ　よろしく おねがいします, which means something like "Please favor me with your friendship".

Let's put it all together. If your name were 田中（たなか), you would say.

Note: You can omit 私は and just say "〜です" when it is clear that the topic being talked about is yourself.

Introducing others
When you want to introduce someone to another person, you gesture to the person and say,
 * こちら　は　＿＿さん　です.
 * This is Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms ＿＿.


 * こちら is a polite way of saying "this (person)"
 * 〜さん is an honorific suffix denoting Mr., Miss, Mrs., or Ms.
 * すずき さん
 * Mr/Ms Suzuki.

Note: When you are addressing or talking about someone, you should add the honorific suffix 〜さん to their name. Never use 〜さん after your own name, since this is inappropriate.

Practice
Duration: 5-10 minutes


 * 1) Drill: What is the proper phrase for each situation?
 * 2) *Greeting someone for the first time.
 * 3) *Greeting an acquaintance in the daytime.
 * 4) *Greeting an acquaintance at night.
 * 5) *Greeting an acquaintance in the morning.
 * 6) *Expressing gratitude.
 * 7) *Expressing best wishes to someone you've just met.
 * 8) *Responding to an expression of gratitude.
 * 9) *Welcoming a guest into your home.
 * 10) Drill: What is an appropriate response to each phrase?
 * 11) *おはようございます
 * 12) *はじめまして
 * 13) *ありがとうございます
 * 14) *ようこそ
 * 15) *よろしくおします
 * 16) Converse: Have the following conversations with another student. If self-studying, converse with yourself.
 * 17) * Introduce yourself and tell each other your names.
 * 18) * Meet each other for the second time.
 * 19) * One student should do something kind for another, who should respond gratefully.

Click here to see answers.


 * 1) Ask your neighbor how they are doing in informal Japanese. When asked how you are doing, give an appropriate response.
 * 2) Repeat the same exercise for your teacher using formal Japanese.


 * 1) When should はじめまして be used?
 * 2) What is the meaning of どうぞ　よろしく おねがいします?
 * 3) Is "私は田中さんです" a correct sentence? If not, why?
 * 4) How would you introduce yourself to someone you are meeting for the first time?
 * 5) How would you introduce someone to another person?
 * Answers to Lesson 1


 * Practice by copying kanji into a notebook, preferably a kanji notebook with small boxes in which to draw them. When using these note books, draw the kanji so that they are contained in the center of the box. Avoid crossing the outside lines and try to preserve uniformity as much as possible. Try to write each kanji correctly at least 10-20 times a day.

Imagine you are in these situations. Write the applicable phrase to each situation.


 * 1) You accidentally bump into a man on the street?
 * 2) Your friend introduces you to someone new?
 * 3) You see a friend when you're out at night?
 * 4) You greet your co-workers in the morning?
 * 5) You are about to go to bed?
 * 6) Someone hands you something you need?
 * 7) Someone thanks you?

Links
[http://home.att.net/~keiichiro/gokai/eng/howru.html Misunderstanding about "How are you?" by Keiichiro]