Self introduction: Basics (name, age, birthplace, home)

🇯🇵 [はじめまして。] is the set phrase you say the first time you meet someone. By itself it sounds natural; after that, people often add [よろしくお願いします。] in introductions.

💬 In [よろしくお願いします。], [よろしく] doesn't mean "well" in the usual way. It works as part of a fixed social phrase, and you'll also hear it in [よろしく] by itself in casual situations.

💬 [お願いします] is a polite request form, so you can attach it to many nouns to mean "please": [お水お願いします] or [これでお願いします]. In introductions, it becomes part of the set phrase [よろしくお願いします。]

🇯🇵 [よろしくお願いします。] has no neat one-line English equivalent; in self-introductions it means something like "I hope we get along" or "please be kind to me." It's extremely common and more natural in Japan than saying something very direct about yourself.

💬 [です] is polite and often comes after a noun to make a simple statement: [学生です。] or [アメリカしゅっしんです。] In everyday speech, the [u] sound is often very light, so it can sound close to (des).

💬 [は] here is the topic marker and is said (wa), not (ha). This pattern sets up "as for ...": [おなまえは] or [おくには].

💬 [なんですか] is a very common polite question ending meaning "what is it?" or "what is ...?" You can reuse it after many topics: [おしごとは、なんですか。]