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- "はじめまして。"
"はじめまして。"
Translation:Nice to meet you.
103 Comments
And they said watching anime would never get me anywhere, WELL LOOK AT ME NOW!
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I wish spelling things like this was available in the hints for all the exercises. Sometimes it isn't clear what is being said, but seeing it like this makes it make sense.
It's called romaji.. Some learning programs use romaji, but it's better not to use it so you don't rely on roman alphabet to pronounce japanese
I guess you are supposed to add all your knowledge gained by the exercises (so far) and kind of combine it on your own. Which can be hard if you do not know all symbold by heart, of course.
I had to go through all the hirigana lessons over again and again about four times and then all these intro lessons twice over before I started being able to read and understand the lessons. Just keep reviewing, and eventually your brain will start to pick up on it.
i find it helpful to combine duolingo with other programs to fill in the missing gaps. personally, i'm really slow at learning the hiragana, since i hate using methods that involve comparing the character to an object that represents a sound. so, to help me remember, i have an app that i use to practice writing the scripts. it seems simple, but it really does help.
Yeah, after I finnished rhe hiragana a few times I wrote all of them down next to their romanji on paper. It helped out a lot.
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Thank you. I don't have a working mic to practice, but have new neighbors who are Japanese (started learning before they moved here). I want to pronounce it correctly.
Handakuten always occupy the same space as the kana they alter and they are always in the top right-hand corner ;)
Japanese fullstops, on the other hand, always occupy as much space as a single kana and are always lying on the bottom of the line in normal horizontal Japanese writing.
Duo has this translating to "hello" as well but to my understanding, based on previous lessons on other platforms as well as Japanese media, thatbis wrong. This is said when you meet someone for the first time.
It's okay to translate it to 'hello' since in English when we meet someone/introduce ourselves we say, 'Hello/Hi,'
A: Hello, I'm John. B: Hi, I'm Maria. Nice to meet you.
I would translate this to:
A: Hajimemashite. John desu. B: Hajimemashite. Maria desu.(Yoroshiku onegaishimasu).
You are right though in that "Hajimemashite" is only if it's your first meeting, so like "Hello (for the first time)."
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu
wait what's this blurb? u cant just drop then without an explanation smh
You would say はじめましてわたしわJohnです (nice to meet you, I'm John.) Either way is fine.
I was told that you would use Yoroshiku when you meet someone the first time. Hajimemashita is used when you've already met but never really introduced yourself, if that makes sense.
Like if i said, "nice to meet you" after speaking with you for the entire day. Iunnohow true that is though.
You would use both はじめまして (hajimemashite) and よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) when you meet someone for the first time, but at different points of the conversation. はじめまして is only ever used as a greeting or opening to the conversation, usually before giving your name. よろしくお願いします translates to "I wish you will treat me well" (but is nowhere near that stiff in Japanese), and can be inserted anywhere after introductions are over and usually (also) used as a closing greeting.
The other word you used, はじめました (hajimemashita), is actually completely different, and means "It has begun" f(^_^; (始める-hajimeru = to begin, 始めます-hajimemasu =to begin (polite), 始めました-hajimemashita = began (polite))
Thank you for clarifying this! Knowing that はじめる is 'to begin,' I figured it was connected to はじめまして, but I wasn't sure.
I keep laughing thinking about how intense of a greeting "it has begun" would be. Like, that's how you'd greet someone immediately before fighting them to the death.
Doesnt this simply mean "for the first time" . My understanding is that its typically used to mean "nice to meet you (for the first time). But i believe it can be used to describe new experiences as well?
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The full sentense is 初めまして（お目にかかります）、よろしくお願いします。 which literally means "It is the first time (that we meet), please treat me well. Japanese is famous for not saying things in full so this sentense becomes 初めまして.
it does literally translate to "the first time meeting" its a colloquialism in japanese meaning nice to meet you (for the first time) but はじめ is used to describe the first time for other things as well
初めて (はじめて) is used when describing the first time doing things, and can be used as a noun or an adverb. For example, 「初めてです」= "It's my first time", and 「それ、初めて見た」= "I've never seen that before" (lit. This is my first time seeing that.)
Note that it differs from はじめまして, which linguistically can probably be traced back as the polite form of 初めて, but culturally, it's now treated as more of a set phrase/greeting since it is seldom written in kanji.
Jin - 人 - じん (Man/Person)
Haji memashite - は じめまして (Hello/Nice to Meet You)
Hon – 本 - ほん (book)
Amerika shusshin des - アメリカしゅっしんです (I am American)
Amerikajin des - アメリカ人です(I am American)
Amerika shusshin des - アメリカ出身です (I am from America)
Chūgoku - 中国 - ちゅうごく (China)
Nihon - 日本 - にほん (Japan)
Nihonjin des - 日本人です (I am Japanese)
Chūgokujin des - 中国人です (I am Chinese)
Chūgokujin - 中国人 (I am Chinese)
Chūgoku shusshin des - 中国しゅっしんです (I am from China)
Naka - 中 - ちゅう?
Nihon shusshin des - 日本しゅっしんです (I’m from Japan)
Tanaka - 田中 - たなか (Tanaka)
Maria to īmas - マリアといいます (I am Maria)
Tanaka-san wa nihonjin des - 田中さんは日本人です (Mr. Tanaka is Japanese)
Hajimemashite, Tanaka des - はじめまして、田中です (Nice to meet you, I’m Tanaka)
Hajimemashite, Jon to īmasu - はじめまして、ジョンといいます (Nice to meet you, I’m John)
Jon-san wa amerikajin des - ジョンさんはアメリカ人です (John is an American)
des = desu = です
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Hello there! Excellent! I'm sure that this would be a helpful reference, to make it look better, you should give 2 new lines (press enter two times) to create a new paragraph. I'm sure it would look better that way. You can edit it if you are using the web UI. :)
P.S: technically "des" is "desu", although it is pronounced that way in natural speech! :P
(Edit: Good job! Thanks for the indentation on request)
I can't understand how Naka - 中 - ちゅう? sounds like that when Chūgoku - 中国 - ちゅうごく sounds so different. When I look at ちゅう I think Chyuuu , like the first part of Chugoko. Why does it change phonetically to Naka?
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中 can be ちゅう chuu or なか naka depending on the word combination.
Just like in English - hour and house, why "hou" in hour has different sound from house.
That's a great analogy. It reminds me of the quote: "English is weird. It can be understood through tough, thorough thought, though" :)
Yes, it is.
You can also think of it as はじめ being the "verb stem" and まして as a polite て-form conjugation.
- 656
In stricter terms, it is actually a clause divided by 3 words:
- The Renyou-kei of はじめる (to begin for the first time)
- The Renyou-kei of ます (the politeness modifier for verb)
- て (conjunction connecting two clauses)
What does "hajime" mean exactly? It's used as an instruction in karate meaning something like "begin". I can kinda see the link between "start" and meeting someone for the first time, but I'd be interested to find out the origin/meaning/etymology.
I'm not an expert, but I think I can help shed some light on this.
To properly discuss these two, you have to be aware of two kanji, 初 and 始. Both of them can be used in hajime, as 初め and 始め, but as far as I know, they carry subtly different meanings. (I think these are both "verb stems" which behave like nouns).
The one your karate instructor would have used is 始め while はじめまして is generally considered to be derived from 初め.
初 means "start, beginning, first" but with an emphasis on "new beginnings". I'm cherry-picking a bit here, but it is used in words like 初雪 (hatsu yuki = "the first snow of a season"), 初心者 (sho shin sha = "a beginner"), and 初対面 (sho tai men = "first interview", or colloquially "first time meeting the in-laws").
On the other hand, 始 doesn't really have that nuance; it simply means "commence, begin". Cherry-picking again, but it appears in words like 開始 (kai shi = "commencement, start"), 年始 (nen shi = "the start of the year"), and 始業 (shi gyou = "start of work").
In large part, it comes down to recognizing particles, such as は, を, に, etc., which indicate the subject, object, time, and so on. These are exclusively written in hiragana. Recognizing verbs and their various conjugated forms becomes important too as you get more advanced.
Unfortunately, most of this course continues to use hiragana to spell difficult kanji, making it harder to pick out the particles. Kanji, once you get used to them, are actually very useful for identifying the "words" in a sentence. For example (a deliberately extreme), correctly using all the relevant kanji: 「この物は野田君の果物だ」(meaning "This thing is Noda's fruit", where Noda is a relatively common Japanese surname). The units of この物 (this thing), 野田君 (a young boy named Noda), and 果物 (fruit) are all easily identifiable. The は indicates the subject, の the ownership of 果物, and だ is the plain copula/version of です. If this was all written in hiragana...「このものはのだくんのくだものだ」
はじめまして。 (Just when you meet someone for the first time)
There're at least 4 ways to say your name: --> "Your name"と申します。 ( Rafaeru tomōshimasu ) --> "Your name" です。( Rafaeru desu ) --> 私は "Your name" といいます。(watashi wa Rafaeru to iimasu) --> 私の名前は "Your name"です。(watashi no namae wa Rafaeru desu)
Obs1: Is more common and better for you to say the first or seccond sentence.
Obs2: When you say "です/desu" in the end of sentence, that becomes formal. On the other hand, if you don't say that it will sounds informal)
Moreover, before end up your greeting it's very important that you say: "よろしくおねがいします" (yoroshiku onegaishimasu)。And basically it means “Please take care of me”, “Please help me”, Be Kind to me"..
For example, I'm going to introduce myself below: (はじめまして。Rafaeru と申します。よろしくおねがいします)。
No, unfortunately there's a lot more to choosing the correct kanji than simply have the same pronunciation (and indeed, the pronunciation of a specific kanji can, and often does, change depending on what other kanji you put it together with).
Using the wrong kanji can be at best: a clever play on words, at worst: an insulting misunderstanding, or most commonly: a nonsensical phrase which doesn't mean anything.
Right, Japanese has no spaces between words. You tell the different words from the different writing styles and particles that help separate them.
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There are several ways:
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こんにちは ("konnichiwa", casual hello)
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はじめまして ("hajimemashite", meeting for the first time, formal)
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よろしく("yoroshiku", formal)
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おっす ("ossu", very informal)
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おはよう ("ohayou", good morning)
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こんばんは ("konnbanwa", good evening)
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モシモシ ("moshi-moshi", hello on the phone)
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オイ ("Oi", extremely informal, to catch attention)
Good list! Just a couple of corrections, and I have some to add too:
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こんにちは is not exactly "casual". It's a fairly polite phrase.
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よろしく is not formal; it's the casual version of よろしくおねがいします. But neither of them really translate to "hello" (at least, I can't think of any situations where they could be).
More ways to say hello:
- ハロー ("harou", casual hello) English is considered "cool"/popular, so this greeting is becoming more prevalent among younger generations.
- ヤッホー・ヒャッホー ("yahhou"/"hyahho", very casual/bubbly?)
- どうも ("doumo", casual, somewhat distant)
- ざす・あざす ("zasu"/"azasu", very informal/crude) This is an approximation of how Japanese people (usually men) sometimes "mis"-pronounce おはようご
ざいますorありがとうございます
- 656
Some more from me
ご機嫌（きげん）よう/ご機嫌いかが - polite female way
お疲(つか）れ様（さま）です - formal way (おつ/おす/おっす - informal abbreviation of saying this)
いつもお世話（せわ）になります - usually at the beginning of emails/letters between business partners
やあ/よう - informal
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Thanks! Wuuuut, the "zasu"/"azasu" is really fascinating! Never ever heard of it! Awesome stuff, Joshua (like always) :P
I thought of the "onegaishimasu" part too, but left it out since it can be used even with "ohayou". I just wanted a quick listing of types of "hello" instead of going into the different respectful suffixes! :P
- Hajimemashite, typically written as はじめまして, is a greeting you give to someone when you meet them for the first time. It's generally thought to be derived from the very formal sentence: 初めましてお目にかかります, which literally means "for the first time, I meet you., though it is only used as a platitude nowadays.
- Hajimemashita, typically written as 始めました, is a polite past tense verb meaning "started, began". Generally you would know from context what started, or you would preface the verb with that information. It's derived from the root verb 始める"to start, to begin".
Can also be understood as "Let us begin." You only use this when you meet someone for the first time.
- 656
Copying from my post in another thread...
(Reference: https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/research/report/2014_09/20140905.pdf page 86)
The vowel of き、く、し、す、しゅ、ち、つ、ひ、ふ、ぴ、ぷ are not pronounced if it is followed by k/s/t/p sound. e.g.
- きく（菊） -> k ku
- たしかめる（確かめる） -> tash kameru
- がくしゃ（学者） -> gak sha
However, The vowel of し、す、しゅ are still pronounced if it is followed by s sound. e.g.
- しそん（子孫） -> shison
- すさる（退る） -> susaru
- すし（鮨） -> sushi
- しゅしょく（主食） -> shushoku
- ししゅう（詩集） -> shishuu
- ししん（私信） -> shishin
- すすき（薄） -> sus ki
- しさい（司祭） -> shisai
Autocorrection: error or needs an update. Input of "hajimemashite" autocorrects to "初めまして". Is the autocorrection defective and in what manner? Or am I simply miss-using my Japanese keyboard or is my spelling it wrong?
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If you are using Windows IME like me, 初めまして is the default form for はじめまして. You can press F6 to force the input to be all hiragana. If you press F7 it will become katakana - ハジメマシテ.
I'm learning and someone could explain why this ball at the end of the word. It confused me, I was looking for a symbol with that little ball in the end.
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I think they use the small circle as a period instead of just a dot like in english.
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ぢ is only used in a limited places like
- ちぢむ shrink
- はなぢ nasal bleeding
- そこぢから latent power
For most other cases you will see じ
は is "ha" when it is part of a word and "wa" when it is being used as a topic marker.
When the language went under reform many of the kana's pronunciations changed. The kana は, へ and を (Wa, E, and O) became Ha, He and Wo; but they were already in common usage as particles.
Most words are written with kanji so simply changing the spelling for how a kanji was pronounced wasn't a huge deal; but changing the particles and re-teaching an entire population and changing all of the written texts to completely new particles would have been a massive amount of work. So they simply kept the original readings and added their new readings onto them to make it easier for the general public to adapt.
According to the Genki 1 book, it has Hajimemashite as "How do you do?" and Yoroshiku onegaishimasu as "Nice to meet you."
Can any one clarify?
Neither phrase has a direct english equivalent so different sources will translate them a bit differently. Though Genki's choice certainly is a bit confusing.
Hajimemashite roughly translates to " We are meeting for the first time" from the verb hajimeru - to begin. You would only use it when introducing yourself to someone new.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu is roughly "please treat me favorably" from the adverb form of Yoroshii - fine/well and onegaishimasu - verb to humbly request. This is usually used at the end of your introduction to someone, as a sort of way of requesting your relationship from then on be well, but can also be used with people you already know when asking for favors.
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Yes, often when there are only a few kanji in the sentence. Similar to Korean. But spaces are optional.
*(douzo) yoroshiku (onegaishimasu)
a form of yoroshiku would be at the end of your introduction, while hajimemashite would be at the beginning. They have different usages but since English doesn't really have a proper equivalent they both just get translated to "nice to meet you" by Duo
Yep, it's the Japanese fullstop equivalent. They're on the bottom like this: and not °(which is on the top right). :)
Please check the comments before posting, this is one of the more frequently answered questions on this discussion
From myself
Hajimemashite roughly translates to " We are meeting for the first time" from the verb hajimeru - to begin. You would only use it when introducing yourself to someone new.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu is roughly "please treat me favorably" from the adverb form of Yoroshii - fine/well and onegaishimasu - verb to humbly request. This is usually used at the end of your introduction to someone, as a sort of way of requesting your relationship from then on be well, but can also be used with people you already know when asking for favors.
From Joshualore
Yes. You would use both はじめまして (hajimemashite) and よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) when you meet someone for the first time, but at different points of the conversation.
はじめまして is only ever used as a greeting or opening to the conversation, usually before giving your name. よろしくお願いします (or more informally, just よろしく) translates to "I wish you will treat me well" (but is nowhere near that stiff in Japanese), and can be inserted anywhere after introductions are over and usually (also) used as a closing greeting.
よろしく also has other uses outside of self-introductions, since it is literally just the adverb "well, kindly".
For helping y’all, I made this for introducing yourself to people in Japanese: Hajime mashite, (name) desu. Replace (name) with your name.
I'm just not able to understand that why did the just highlighted the letter は in the word はじめまして in yellow colour
I believe you've mixed up はじめまして with よろしく (おねがいします）
はじめまして - from verb 始める - to start, begin - "meeting for the first time"
よろしく - adverb form of adjective 宜しい - 'well, good, fine'
おねがいします - noun お願い "request/wish" + verb する "to do" - lit. "to do request" or "please do for me"
よろしくおねがいします - "please treat me good/well"
Hajimemashite means (literally) Please favour me. It is used only for the first time meeting someone. The way Duolingo is beating us over the head with it, you would think it was the main way to say "nice to meet you" but it is really mostly used in formal settings. Duolingo you are so arrogantly american, from your sexism of the use of the honorific san and not accepting Ms. as an interpretation as much as they accept Mr., to teaching people improper usage of Hajimemashite. Duo, you really need to do better. I will not be renewing my plus status due to these issues!
I think you may be mixing Hajimemashite up with Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, adverb form of 宜しい "good, well" + お願いします "please". Though this phrase can be used in many situations such as when asking for a favor, not just when meeting someone. A more casual version is simply "yoroshiku".
Hajimemashite is a form of 初め- "beginning, start" / 初めて "for the first time". It's a common expression most closely translated to "nice to meet you" as both phrases roughly have the same meaning and are only used for the first time you meet someone.
The acceptable answers for questions are always evolving and accept far more variety now than they used to. Rather than fill the sentence discussions with complaints the contributors are unlikely to see, if you think your translation should be considered correct you can simply hit the "My answer should be accepted" on the question for the contributors to review and add to the course.
I wrote "初めまして” instead of "はじめまして”, and my answer was wrong. I'm pretty sure it's correct, since i wrote it several times with the IME and the first suggestion was always "初めまして”. And duolingo marked my answer as fine in the translation exercise, but not at the "write what you hear"
Due to Duo's programming the listening questions are only able to accept one very specific 'best answer'. They are auto-generated based on the lesson sentences and contributors are unable to add other answers to them. This is fine for most languages, but Japanese is tricky in that it has multiple different correct ways of writing the same phrase.
はじめまして is most commonly written in kana alone, so that is the version being taught and the version the listening sentences require.
Yes. You would use both はじめまして (hajimemashite) and よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) when you meet someone for the first time, but at different points of the conversation.
はじめまして is only ever used as a greeting or opening to the conversation, usually before giving your name. よろしくお願いします (or more informally, just よろしく) translates to "I wish you will treat me well" (but is nowhere near that stiff in Japanese), and can be inserted anywhere after introductions are over and usually (also) used as a closing greeting.
よろしく also has other uses outside of self-introductions, since it is literally just the adverb "well, kindly".
Hajimemashte is more like "hello/let me introduce myself" not "nice to meet you".
- 656
The closest meaning is "It is the first time that I meet you" so "nice to meet you" is more appropriate than "hello" or "let me introduce myself."
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Shouldn't this mean "First time to meet you"? You can't say it twice to a same person. But you can say "Nice to meet you again" in English.
When translating between English and Japanese, it's very difficult to maintain the literal meaning of the original sentence and not sound awkward or incorrect.
Literally, you can see that はじめまして carries the meaning of "first time to meet you", but you would never say that as a greeting in English. Both はじめまして and "Nice to meet you" are greetings you use when you meet someone for the first time, so they are appropriate translations.
