How to introduce yourself in the Japanese language

[Dmitry]

Hi folks. Today I want to discuss such imporant topic as Introducion. There is a whole bunch of rules in Japanese language to introduce yourself to other people. Espeсially it concerns business Japanese. If you were reallocated from your country to Japan, this topic, I think, would be extremely usuful for you.

So, how to introduce yourself? First of all you have to remember to use verbs in a form of ます [masu]. You also have to remember to use special words:

自己紹介する - 自己紹介 [ziko shookai]  - introducing yourself

よろしくおねがいします [yorosikuonegaisimasu] - 'nice to meet you'

申します - もうします [moosimasu] '...is speaking'

参ります - まいります [mairimasu] - to come

こちらこそ - [kochirakoso] '...the same to you'

Example:

A: 本社から参りました加藤と申します。よろしくお願いします。

B: チャンと申します。こちらこそ、よろしくお願いします。

A: [honsha kara mairimasita katoo to moosimasu. yorosikuonegaisimasu.]

B: [chan to moosimasu. kochirakoso, yorosikuonegaisimasu.]

A: My name is Kato and I have been transfered here from the head office. I`m very pleased to meet you.

B: My name is Chan. It`s a pleasure for me to meet you as well.

Note, that the translation I gave above is not literal just because there is no anything like that in English. I mean it`s hard to put translation in English, which would be very close to the original text.

So, now I want to put here literal translation, so that you could understand the meaning of the example:

A: Kato is speaking, who`s come here from the head office. I`m very pleased to meet you

B: Chan is speaking. I`m very pleased to meet you too.

Ok, once again, you can use only those phrases from the example just replacing the names. Therefore it would be very easy for you to make good first impression in Japanese company.

If you need to introduce somebody else you can use next phrases:

はじめまして [hazimemasite] - 'I`m glad to meet you'

本店 (ほんてん) [honten] - head office

うちの部 (うちのぶ) [uchinobu] - our department

Example:

A: (C に)　うちの部の山本さんです。

　 (B に) こちらは本店の高橋さんです。

B: 山本です。はじめまして。

C: 高橋です。はじめまして。

A: (C ni) [uchi no bu yamamoto san desu]

    (B ni) [kochira wa honten no takahashi san desu]

B: Yamamoto desu. hazimemasite.

C: Takahasi desu. hazimemasite

A: (to C) This is a member of our department Mr. Yamamoto.

    (to Here is Mr. Takahashi from the head office.

B: I am Yamamoto and glad to meet you.

C: I am Tkahashi and it`s a pleasure for me to meet you as well.

Note, you need to understand that if someone introduces you to the rest of a company you should say はじめまして [hazimemasite] after saying your name instead of よろしくお願いします [yorosikuonegaisimasu].

If you have additional information concerning this topic, please share. Good luck!

[mccanono]

Hi there! Thank you for posting this. I used to learn Japanese but for some reason (i.e. my job) made me lose time in learning Japanese.

However, upon reading your post, it got me thinking, "why not go back to basics?", and here I am, going back to the basics; learning different ways on how to introduce one's self.

Arigatou gozaimasu. Yorosiku ne?

[Dmitry]

You`re so welcome I started realizing that it`s really important to post some information about basic Japanese, here in this forum... Good luck with the study! And never give up! 頑張れ！

[ang.diwata]

Hey, thanks for these! I only know one way of introducing myself in Japanese, so these are really helpful.

[AExAVF]

I'm familiar with the phrases yoroshiku onegaishimasu, hajime mashite, and kochirakoso, but I have just begun to scratch the surface.  There are a lot more ways by which to introduce yourself in Japanese.  Many thanks for this post! 

[RAHSTYLES]

Konbanwa,

Watashi no namae wa Rahstyles desu.  Watashi wa hobbi wa forum to rap desu.

Yoroshiku

Little rusty but thats my intro.