Tips that my friend gave to me A friend here sent me a message that was very helpful. I'm gonna post it here so that I don't lost it. ”のかた is like "a person of". So by asking 日本のかた, you're asking "are you a person of Japan" or "are you originally from Japan", instead of using 日本人, which groups the person as a japanese immediately. Some people might think being called 日本人　immediately as being rude especially if they're not japanese so using のかた is a more polite way of asking. Where are you from would be "どこからきましたか" in Japanese:) どこ means where; から means from; きます is come, and changing す to した makes it past tense -> きました which means came the dictionary form of はなしますis はなす which means speak changing the U at the end to an E sound -> はなせ means CAN speak (this can apply with many verbs too like みる (see) to みえる which means CAN see) Do you speak Chinese -> 中国語（chuugokugo） おはなせますか? ”