Hi guys, i want to use this sentance as a self introduction in a japanese interview. I was wondering which of these two would be better to use?
1.
私は……と申します。私の名前は漢字で書くと「火」という文字が使われています。この漢字が持つイメージの通り、私は明るくて、暗い雰囲気も光で照らせるような存在になりたいと努力しています。
2.
私は……と申します。私の名前は漢字で書くと火の漢字で書くことができます。この漢字のように、私はどしょくして、らっかんしゅぎで、もっとも暗い場所にさえ光をもたらすことをねがっています。
Any advice would be really helpful!
4 comments
I’ve done many job interviews and been an interviewer a good number of times but what job are you interviewing for exactly? Because to me it sounds very corny.
I mean you are demonstrating good knowledge of the language but both of those sentences look like they were torn from a shounen anime script. Which may give the wrong impression to a potential employer.
However I’ve never interviewed for job in Japan so maybe this kind of thing is the norm? Which if that’s the case I’d go with number 2.
This sounds like an anime character monologuing to themselves more than an introduction. I really like the poetic imagery you try to use here, but it is a bit much for an introduction, even moreso a formal one.
Be cautious about using 「私」so many times, when it can be omitted, it should, and I personally would have omitted in all of these sentences. It sounds stiff and can send the wrong message.
Don’t overthink it, less is more. 「ｘ」と申します。貴重なお時間をいただき、ありがとうございます。(I’m x, thank you very much for letting have some of your precious time.) Or some variation thanking the interviewer for interviewing you is a good opener. You can briefly go into your present occupation and/or past experience, then wrap it up with よろしくお願いいたします。(Please treat me well.)
Is this for the 長所短所 portion or you’d just start talking? 😯
Because if it’s for 長所 you should just state it as actually 1 of your traits instead of saying you’re trying to get there. A liiitle bit of a lie is fine, is what teachers taught us. So if rewritten, it would sound much cleaner:
〇〇と申します。漢字で書くと、「火」という字が使われています。この漢字が持つイメージの通り、私は明るい性格で、どんなに暗い現場でも光を照らすように明るく盛り上げられます。
(Replace 現場 with 場 if you’re not interviewing for work, or if you want to cover more in general)
Or if you really want to use your first idea:
私は明るい性格で、どんなに暗い現場でも光を照らせるような存在になれるよう日々努力しています。
If it’s 場の暗い雰囲気を吹き飛ばす then using 雰囲気 would be fine, but in it’s current state, it’s not how we word it therefore a confusing perspective.
And also the 楽観主義 in your 2nd idea falls under the “negative” traits for interviews so teachers taught us not to use that and word it to something more positive. 明るい性格 is just fine.
Avoid using 楽観主義 at Japanese work environment. The word sounds like an irresponsible person.