Japanese conversation lesson 1
Nihongo kaiwa renshuu ichi

audio file

Basic vocabulary:

watashi = I ( watashi no = my, watashi ni = me, to me )
anata = you ( anata no = your, anata ni = you, to you )
ohayou gozaimasu = good morning
konnichiwa = Hello, good afternoon
konbanwa = good evening
oyasumi nasai = good night, sweet dreams
sayounara = good bye
arigatou (gozaimasu) = thank you (very much)
hajime mashite = nice to meet you / how do you do
ogenki desuka? = how are you?
Hai genki desu = yes I’m fine(thank you)
sumimasen = I’m sorry


If we talk for the first time, you can say like this:

You: konnichiwa tomoka-san, hajime mashite. Watashi no namae wa ( Jane ) desu.
     Demo ( BJ ) to yonde kudasai.
<Hello tomoka, nice to meet you. My name is ( Jane ) but please call me ( BJ )>

Tomoka: hajime mashite ( BJ ). Ogenki desuka?
<Nice to meet you BJ. How are you?>

You: hai genki desu,(arigatou) anata wa(ogenki desuka)?
<Yes I’m fine thank you, and you?>

Tomoka: watashi mo genki desu.
< I’m fine too (thank you). >

You: dochira no kuni no kata desuka?
<where are you from?>

Tomoka: watashi wa nihon-jin desu, anata wa?
< I’m from Japan / I’m Japanese, and you? >

You: watashi wa doitsu-jin desu.
< I’m from Germany / I’m German >

Explanation:

When we speak to someone, we add "-san" or "-chan" after their name like
"Tomoka-san", "Mika-san" …"-san" is the polite way to speak to someone.
On the other hand,"-chan" is used for kids, younger people, or close friends.

~to yonde kudasai = please call me ~

demo = but ( you can say "shikashi" instead of "demo". "shikashi" sounds more polite
and formal than "demo" but it rather use for business.)

I’m fine,thank you… in English we say like this, but in Japanese we normally don’t say
‘arigatou(thank you)’ in this case, we just say ‘genki desu’
in Japanese.

nihon = Japan( it means country )
nihon-jin = Japanese(people)
nihon-go = Japanese (language)
so you can say … watashi wa ( your country ) jin desu.

we have a lot of way of saying like to elder people, to younger people, to friends,
on business, men or women…but I’m going to teach you polite, general, and natural Japanese here.
Since I try to talk natural Japanese, sometimes it is difficult to translate to English, so in the case,
Japanese take precedence over English.