I am just barely learning Japanese, which I am pretty bad at. I was talking with a waitress at a restaurant, and I went through the very little Japanese I knew. When we got to the introductions, I said “(their name) san, dozo yorushiku”. Thinking that meant nice to meet you.
The conversation went a little cold after, and I’m guessing I either pronounced it wrong and it meant something way different, or that is not the right time to say it.
Does anyone know what I did wrong there? I’m completely lost.
Edit:
Clarification (also left the comment in the body of the comments for transparency)
“I don’t want to come across as rude, but it seems like I’m getting a bunch of assumptions that everything I did was a weird thing. So I’ll give some context.
The waitress initiated the whole conversation, it was a slow night, and it seemed like she wanted to possibly practice her English. Most of the conversation went well, she said she’ll teach me Japanese, so I was practicing the little bit I knew. So she finally said her name, I introduced myself, and said dozo yorushiku.
I wasn’t being a weirdo trying to initiate conversations with people who couldn’t/didn’t want to talk.
Maybe I should have included everything that went down since it is a very nuanced culture.”
I didn’t realize so many people had something to say about this. I can’t lock posts to the top, but I’ll put the info in the edit shout out to u/TheSkala, and u/Vit4vye, and everyone for the helpful posts, I honestly don’t know why these weren’t at the top. hopefully this helps other people.
u/TheSkala -from different posts
“The best way is using hajimemashite, that one is always introductory”
“Just for clarification dozo yoroshiku onegaitashimasu is normally used when you are concluding an introduction remarks speech or you are meeting a person that deserves special respect.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu can be used in normal and business conversations
Yoroshiku to close people to your social group or age that you expect a friendship or acquaintance from.
Pd. When you are at a restaurant or you are not the one cooking the food saying itadakimasu as you start eating and gochisosamadeshita when you are leaving/done are always free 「日本語上手ですね」points.”
u/Vit4vye “General rule of thumb for learning any language and culture:
Take a lot of small risks.
Fail often and fast.
Don’t dwell or overanalyze on any one point of data.
Try to decipher trends.
If a fail feels very dramatic and you don’t understand, investigate.
Forgive yourself for all your mistakes. Even, cherish them because they’re the pebbles your path is made of.
That can apply to most skills.”
by jobot1000