What is your name?
A shortened polite question; the rest is understood.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 3 · JAPANESE
Japanese: Nice to meet you
Introduce yourself and ask someone their name.
Polite · first introductions. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful Japanese phrases and their meanings
I am Yui.
Replace ゆい with your own name.
Nice to meet you.
Use at a first introduction, not every time you meet.
Pleased to meet you.
A conventional introduction phrase, not a word-for-word English translation.
How the sentence works
です is a polite ending used when identifying yourself. お名前は？ is a natural shortened question about a name. は marks the topic and is pronounced wa. はじめまして belongs to a first meeting; よろしくお願いします is a conventional friendly request for a good relationship.
A short conversation in Japanese
Nice to meet you. I am Yui.
I am Ken. Pleased to meet you.
Likewise.
Words to recognise
name
Yui
for the first time
request
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning Japanese
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.