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First thing first. Bow when saying hello and introducing yourself. The severity of the bow depends on the other person's age, position in society, among other things. Another tip is do not interrupt the other person while they are talking. It's very rude.

Okay. Here is the romanji of hello, what is your name.

Konnichiwa. *bow* Watashi no namae wa "your name" desu. Hajimemashite. *bow* Onamae wa nandesu ka?

That translates into this: Good afternoon. My name is "your name". It's a pleasure to meet you. What is your name?

"onamae wa nan desu ka"

name what is ? <-- what it reads in english directly.

but in japanese is 'what is your name?'

or less polite:

namae wa nan desu ka

if you want someone elses name like their brother's or friend's you could say:

brother == onisan no onamae wa nan desu ka.

friend: tomodachi no onamae wa nan desu ka.

no= shows posession -in this case-

wa= marks the topic

ka= question mark -- makes it a question.

Answer

Well, I'd be careful in that it may be a bit rude to say "onamae wa nan desu ka?" Especially after introducing yourself, it's more natural to simply say "onamae wa" (with a rising tone, for both guy and girl speakers) and the rest of the sentence is assumed.

Answer

Pronunciation hasn't really been addressed here which I think is important. People won't understand you if you just say it like it's written in English.

"Konnichiwa."- Pronounced 'Kon-nichi-wa' (Not kon-nichi-ha, even though it is written with the hiragana "ha." This "ha" is the topic marker post-position "ha" and is pronounced as it is in its particle form - wa.)

"Watashi no namae wa 'your name' desu." - Pronounced 'Wa-ta-shi no na-ma-eh wa 'your name' dess.' (Please don't say 'Dehsoo' on westerners it's just wrong even though some Japanese people do pronounce the 'u'.)

"Hajimemashite."- Pronounced 'Ha-ji-meh-mahsh-teh'

"Onamae wa nan desu ka?"- Pronounced 'Oh-na-mah-eh wa nan desska.'

Aside from pronunciation I would also answer that this is in the wrong order. It's more Japanese to say 'Hajimemashite' first and it's quite western to say it last. I would personally suggest this as an introduction:

"Hajimemashite, watashi no namae wa 'your name' desu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Onamae wa?"

Pronunciation- "Ha-ji-meh-mahsh-teh, wa-ta-shi no nah-mah-eh wa 'your name' dess. Doh-zo yo-ro-shi-ku o-neh-gai-shi-mass. O-nah-mah-eh wa?"

If you could pull that off most Japanese people would be seriously impressed. Basically it means, "Nice to meet you, my name is 'whatever'. I hope that we'll get on. What's your name?" It sounds odd in English but Japanese manners and sentence structures are very different to in English.

If you're being really polite rather than saying "Watashi no namae wa 'your name' desu." you could say "''Your name' to moushimasu." ("'your name' toh moh-shi-mass."- I'm called 'your name'.) but this is a higher level of Japanese.

Answer

If you're doing a formal introduction, specifically asking for someone to give you their name is redundant - If you're introducing yourself, it is assumed they will be introducing themselves, thus there is no need to ask directly. "Onamae wa nan desu ka" should not be used in those situations unless someone has neglected to introduce themselves.

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10y ago

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