Introduction pt. 2

Japanese Culture: Meeshi
Meeshi are Japanese name cards. If you are planning to go to Japan on business it's probibly a good idea to get a box of meeshi, as you will be expected to present one to all your associates.
Meeshi should include:

  • Company or School 
  • Rank in company or school 
  • Chinese characters (kanji) used to write your name (if you know them)
  • Address and numbers for telephone, fax, pager, etc. 
  • E-mail address 

    • most meeshi are double sided, with one side written in Japanese and the other in English. Though most Japanese businessmen can read English, it would be considerate to have double sided meeshi also.
    Dialouge: Meeshi
    Usagi-Chan and Zoisite exchange meeshi 
    Tsukino: Konnichiwa, watashi wa Tskino Usagi desu. Kore, watashi no meeshi desu.
    Zoisite: Doomo arigato, watashi wa Zoisite desu. Kore, watshi no meeshi desu.
    Tsukino: Arigato!

    Translation: 
    Tsukino: Good afternoon, I am Usagi Tsukino, here is my meeshi.
    Zoisite: Thank you. I am Zoisite, here is my meeshi.
    Tsukino: Thanks!
    Whoah.. that guy works for the Dark Kingdom... Usagi-chan had better watch her back!

    Quick Lesson On: Personal Pronouns 
    Throughout this class we will be using three main personal pronouns, watashi, atashi, and boku. There are several other ways to say "I" in Japanese, but these 3 are most commonly used and will suffice for now.
    watashi wa-ta-shee This is most polite and and its unisex, when in doubt, use watashi, it will never fail you.
    atashi a-ta-shee Casual young female personal pronoun.
    boku bo-ku Casual young male personal pronoun. (ever notice how Haruka uses boku, even though shes a chick? niya, niya ^_~)

    Japanese Culture:Extra-polite introductions
     

    Next: Lesson3: Numbers!