My Nihongo is getting rusty. The kids are using less and less of it at home and I've already watched all the native samurai movies I can bear. I'll put the translation so people don't feel left out...or maybe to learn some phrases.

Watakushi no namae wa 'Edo' desu. Hajimemashite.
[My name is 'Ed', nice to meet you.]

Cool!

Knowing nothing about the language, can you please tell me: is your phrase non-formal and non-gender specific?

What is the appropriate reply?

it's 'standard' form...it's what they teach foreigners.

Watakushi is gender specific.
most guys say 'Boku' instead of Watakushi. 'Boku' is a bit less formal.

A woman would use 'Watashi' or 'Atashi'.

'hajimemashite' is semi-formal. 'pleasure to meet you' It's a good one to learn how to pronounce correctly.

reply is usually an abbreviated:

"hajimemashite. 'harlan' desu.

Hajimemashite, Maeda Taison desu. Dozo yorishiku.
[Nice to meet you. My name is Taison Maeda[translated from my original name], please favor me].

Ore wa Thai desu ga, ore no chi chi wa "Espaniol"-jin.
[I'm Thai but my dad is Spanish]

Wait! I used "Ore"? whoops, that's kinda rude. . oh well,

Anata no nihongo wa totemo ii desu. Anata no sensei wa donata desu ka?
[Your japanese is good, who's your teacher?]

Ore no nihongo wa totemo ii ja neh [whoops, rude form again. . .] [My japanese isn't so good]

Arigato gozaimasu [Thank you very much]

Osu,
-Taison out

chau, nihongo jouzu ja nai.

[very informal:
chau=chigaimasu with Osakaben dialect. means 'no it isn't']
nihongo = japanese language
jouzu = good or skilled.
ja nai = not]

so it's: [No it isn't, (my) japanese isn't very good.]

Osakaben (kansai dialect) is cool sounding...it's like the 'New York City' version of Japanese. alot of things are abbreviated, structure and grammer rules are broken and much slang is added. Japanese of other regions regard it as rough sounding and too direct. Most of Japan's best comedians have an Osakaben accent. This is the area I lived and studied most of my limited Japanese. also had a couple semesters before that at Berlitz in Boston.
A Tokyo dialect is pretty much considered standard...although people in Osaka think Tokyo dialect sounds too feminine for men. A telling sign of a Tokyo accent is at the end of a sentence, many times they add 'yo'. 'yo' meaning 'you know.'

so take my sentence and lets make it with a Tokyo accent:
"chigaimasu yo, nihongo jouzu ja arimasen yo."

sounds softer with less abrupt endings in pauses. Thats the main difference between Osaka-Tokyo accents. hard vs soft. like NYC vs LA accents.

Hajimemashite, Rasutoguru desu, douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu

Quote:

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it's 'standard' form...it's what they teach foreigners.

Watakushi is gender specific.
most guys say 'Boku' instead of Watakushi. 'Boku' is a bit less formal.

A woman would use 'Watashi' or 'Atashi'.

'hajimemashite' is semi-formal. 'pleasure to meet you' It's a good one to learn how to pronounce correctly.

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eehh... all these "standard" sentences they teach foreigners scream "baka gaijin" sorry, no offence, but this is only used in official occasions... in other words, not in the forum. Here we can use boku, many of forum members may even use ore.

As for Watakushi... it is not gender-specific, quite opposite, and also this is the most polite of the 1st person pronouns now in use. and where dit you hear Watakushi in real life?

sorry, your right. I meant Boku is gender specific. Watakushi you only see in a text book...you are correct on that too.

yoku dekimashita! kashikoi ne!
[very good! you are smart aren't you!]
lol. depending on the intonation, this is kind of condecending and something an adult would say to a child when they did well.

Well, that's was all the Japanese I snapped up from my girlfriend[japanese ] which is like 3 months of practice. I wish sometimes it wasn't so damn hard, but hell, it's worth a try.

So far so good. Most japanese say my Japanese is very rude but I find the rude parts easier to remember. LoL, anyway, I'm practicing.

-Taison out

Ps.. As for your children, you could always let them watch japanese anime in japanese. Helped me, maybe it'll help them?

They only watch it in Japanese on DVD...the stuff on US TV isn't translated well and sounds plastic.