の方も

Hello,

I started to read my first Japanese book. With that the first 'problem' started.
In the beginning the speaker says following :

はじめまして! の方も

Does の方も refers to reader ? As in Nice to meet you reader ?

「はじめまして!」 の方も could refer to people (方 here is かた) who the writer/speaker is "meeting" for the first time (i.e. first time readers).

It might be part of a greeting like:
はじめましての方もそうでない方もこんにちは！
(New readers and old - hello!)

I thought it might be のほうも and be talking about different greetings, but what nekojita said certainly makes sense (probably more sense).

Well, more context would help confirm one way or another.

@Mattheeuwsk - often with Japanese the surrounding text or other information is important to clarify the meaning. Personal pronouns (I, you) and other parts of speech are often dropped and many statements are ambiguous when they stand alone (famous example: こんにゃくは太らない). You will often see people asking for the "context" of a phrase for this reason - this can mean just additional text (full sentence, sentences before or after it) but also other information about what you are reading/listening to can help.

For example, in your case, I assume you're reading some sort of preface to a non-fiction book. I got the impression this was the opening line and the author was addressing the reader, or you had reason to think that, so I answered assuming that particular context. Glenn's suggestion would be the correct one if you're reading a discussion of set phrases in Japanese or something else along those lines.

Hi,

Thanks for the great explanation @nekojita !
It is indeed the opening line from the author.
So it makes perfect sense.

And I just started reading FairyTail.
I watched the show so I hope it will be easier to understand it and pushes my japan skills.

And both thanks for the time and quick responses !

thanks for the great replies !

I just started the first volume of FairyTail, as I have seen the show I hope this will give me a better start with my japanese reading.

Usually if I don't know a word ( all the time ) i'll be looking on Denshi Jisho - Online Japanese dictionary for translation.