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- "Nice to meet you, I am Maria…
"Nice to meet you, I am Maria."
Translation:はじめまして、マリアです。
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はじめまして（hajimemashite）（nice to meet you）、マリア（まりあ）（maria）（person's name)です（desu）（when you politely say word）
Another common way to introduce yourself would be "マリアと申します" but it would be used in more formal situations :)
For anyone wondering, 申します is the kanji form of もうします, a more formal/humble form of the verb 言います（いいます）.
Why use kanji? In 言います you put less efforts to remember and write い instead of 言. Compare: 言います and いいます. Please, explain. Thank you
Kanji helps with reading. In Japanese, there are no spaces between words. Kanji helps with breaking down large blocks of text into chunks of words, and makes reading faster. It's easier to see and recognize a single character than reading individual syllables (with kana) or letters (Roman alphabet). "わたしはたなかといいます" is longer and harder to read and break down than "私は田中と言います" because the individual kanji helps you recognize the different words and the hiragana particles act as "spaces" that show where one part of the sentence ends and the other begins (while also pulling double duty and showing how the parts of the sentence relate to each other). It also helps with homophones. That way you can easily differentiate 神 (god), 髪 (hair), 紙 (paper), and 加味 (seasoning), which are all pronouncing かみ (kami). Sure, there's also context, but it still helps with making reading faster (like the different there, their, they're) and it stops you from adding hair to your food.
1219
言います, 申します are the same meaning but they have different levels of politeness.
AFAIK there is no rule that says you can't use all Kanas BUT there are common habits where most people use Kanji.
Yes, it is, with a slighly different meaning. Something like "call me Maria" (いいます means to call and と indicates how you wanna be called). Like the way I would say "call me Deb" when my name is Deborah.
I'm entirely new to Japanese grammar, and can't seem to find any tips in the program. Does the "I am" part always come after the name or introduction?
The "Watashi wa"(I am) comes before the name and after "hajimashite"(the introduction). Though, in this case, there is no "I am" because the speaker is assuming the listener understands they are talking about themself.
I believe it would actually be "Hajimemashite, Watashi wa Maria desu." You add the Watashi and the Wa to designate that our talking about yourself. You could very well be misinterpreted as thinking the person you are talking to is Maria.
- 1219
Your case does not exist as it is not reasonable that you would need to tell the person you are talking to what his/her name is. You can make a question like this by ending with Desu Ka, but it would still be very very rude to mention a person you meet for the first time by first name and without San or Sama.
- 1219
Not really. In this context omission of subject is far more usual than not.
If I am to pick faults it is about using first name and Desu, which makes the sentence only useful in certain scenario, e.g. between young people in a relatively casual situation. This somehow fits the level of this course.
Yes, you can, but it's more common to have the "私は" omitted because usually the listener will be able to figure out you are talking about yourself.
Why does it tell us that it is pronounced as "kito but then tells us that it is written like" じん ?
- 1219
The same Kanji may be pronounced in a few different ways in different words, even for the same radical meaning.
I used the keyboard function, just to try it out. I was prompted to use "始めますて", 始 I guess meaning "はじ"。I guess this is wrong, someone please help
It is much more common to see "hajimashite" written in hiragana(はじまして), but it isn't entirely wrong to write it with the kanji.
Does anyone know what the little circle at the end of the sentences is?
The issue with よろしく is that there is no set meaning. It is used in various circumstances with various English translations. It is basically said to foster goodwill going forward and/or to entreat someone to treat you favorably. It can be 'I look forward to working with you', or 'I hope that we get on well', or many other paraphrased translations, but nothing too specific. (copied from another thread)
stop, so it will be right はじめまして、私はマリアです , because the sentence contains "I"
