🇯🇵 Japanese for beginners (N5) · Chapter 4

Greetings and introducing yourself

Every Japanese interview, first day and video call opens with the same 20-second self-introduction — learn its five lines once and you will use them for the rest of your career.

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The basics

Greetings (あいさつ, aisatsu) are fixed phrases Japanese people say at specific moments — arriving, leaving, eating, thanking — and the self-introduction (じこしょうかい, jikoshōkai) is a short, almost scripted speech you give when you meet someone new.

The problem it solves: in Japan, saying the right phrase at the right moment signals respect more than grammar does. A learner who can only say three greetings but uses them correctly sounds polite; one with perfect grammar who forgets おつかれさまです at work sounds cold.

The mental model: a moment → phrase map. Morning → おはようございます. Daytime → こんにちは. Meeting someone → はじめまして … よろしく おねがいします. Most phrases have a long polite form (with ございます / ます) and a short casual one; with teachers, interviewers and new colleagues, always use the long one.

Explained

Campus drives for Japanese companies in India — and every interview in Japan — start the same way: 'Please introduce yourself in Japanese.'

はじめまして。ラジ です。インド の ハイデラバード から きました。エンジニア です。どうぞ よろしく おねがいします。

Five lines. Every word in them is hiragana or katakana you can already read.

Namaste, but with timing

In India you say namaste to an elder, bye to a friend, and you touch your elders' feet at a wedding but not at a bus stop. The phrase depends on who and when.

Japan is the same, but stricter about when. There is a phrase for leaving home (いってきます), for coming back (ただいま), before eating (いただきます), after eating (ごちそうさまでした), and for leaving the office before your boss (おさきに しつれいします).

None of them translate neatly — itadakimasu is not really 'let's eat'. Learn them as you learned namaste: as the right sound for the moment, not as a translation.

The core phrases

おはようございます   ohayō gozaimasu   good morning
こんにちは           konnichiwa        hello (daytime)
こんばんは           konbanwa          good evening
おやすみなさい       oyasuminasai      good night
さようなら           sayōnara          goodbye (for a while)
ありがとうございます arigatō gozaimasu thank you
すみません           sumimasen         excuse me / sorry
ごめんなさい         gomen nasai       I'm sorry (personal)
おつかれさまです     otsukaresama desu (work) hello, thanks for your effort
いただきます         itadakimasu       (before eating)
ごちそうさまでした   gochisōsama deshita (after eating)

ございます / です / ます make a phrase polite. Drop them with friends: おはよう, ありがとう.

The five-line self-introduction

Optional extra lines: しゅみ は ～ です (my hobby is ~), ～ねんせい です (I'm a ~th-year student). Keep it under 30 seconds.

Day one at a Japanese firm in Gurugram

Priya joins a team led by Yamada-san, who has flown in from Nagoya.

Yamada: おはようございます。

Priya: おはようございます。はじめまして。プリヤ です。

Yamada: はじめまして、やまだ です。プリヤさん は どこ から？ (Where are you from?)

Priya: ジャイプール から きました。どうぞ よろしく おねがいします。

Yamada: こちらこそ、よろしく おねがいします。 (Likewise.)

…at 6:30 pm, Priya leaves before Yamada:

Priya: おさきに しつれいします。 (Excuse me for leaving first.)

Yamada: おつかれさまでした。

Hooks for the phrases

• おはよう — 'Ohio!' — the morning state is waking up
• こんにちは — ends in は = wa, like a topic: 'as for today…'
• すみません — 'it doesn't end': you owe them, so you say it for sorry and thanks
• よろしく — 'yo-ro-shi-ku', the full stop of every introduction; bow on it
• おつかれさま — tsukare = tiredness: 'you must be tired' = 'thanks for your hard work'
• -san = -ji: Sharma-ji, Tanaka-san — and you would never call yourself Raj-ji

One line to remember: hajimemashite … desu … yoroshiku onegaishimasu — open, name, close.

Mistakes Indian learners make

• Raj-san desu. Never put さん on your own name.
• 'Konnichiha'. The final は is the particle, read wa.
• Saying every u. ございます and です end in a near-silent u: gozaimas, des.
• Sayōnara to colleagues. It sounds like 'farewell'. Leave work with osaki ni shitsurei shimasu; friends say じゃあ、また (jā, mata — see you).
• Hajimemashite twice. Only for the very first meeting.
• Over-using わたしは. Japanese drops 'I' when it's obvious; ラジ です is enough.
• Head-nod shaking. The Indian sideways head-tilt can read as 'no'. A small bow from the waist is safe.

The campus-drive self-introduction

Japanese firms recruiting in India (and Japan-bound IT roles) often ask for a short jikoshōkai to check two things: can you pronounce clearly, and do you know the politeness rules.

A safe 25-second version:

はじめまして。アナンヤ です。チェンナイ の だいがく の よねんせい です。コンピューター サイエンス を べんきょうして います。どうぞ よろしく おねがいします。

(I'm Ananya, a fourth-year student at a university in Chennai. I'm studying computer science.)

Bow slightly on はじめまして and deeper on よろしく おねがいします. Speak slowly — clarity beats speed.

Words to know

In two minutes

• Greet by time of day: おはようございます (morning), こんにちは (daytime), こんばんは (evening).
• こんにちは and こんばんは end in the particle は, so they are said konnichiwa and konbanwa.
• Thank with ありがとうございます; apologise or get attention with すみません.
• The self-introduction has five lines: はじめまして · name です · から きました · job/study です · よろしく おねがいします.
• ～さん goes on other people's names, never on your own — exactly like 'ji' in Hindi.
• At work, おつかれさまです is the all-purpose greeting, and you leave with おさきに しつれいします.
• Use the long polite forms with anyone senior or new; casual forms are for friends.
• いただきます before eating, ごちそうさまでした after — said even when you paid.

Test yourself

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 5 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.