Here you are: you have been studying the Japanese language for some time and are ready to have conversations with Japanese people. However, the Japanese language learned from a textbook or in the classroom can be quite different from the Japanese language people actually speak!
Here are some tips to make your Japanese sound more natural, especially in casual conversations.
This is the most surprising fact for Japanese language learners, but also the biggest clue that will immediately tell your Japanese counterparts that you are still a beginner in the language. As you may have heard before, the Japanese language is highly contextual, which means that any element that can be implied by the context will be erased from the conversation.
Japanese people will not say “watashi wa” (私は) unless the context is unclear enough to wonder who you are talking about.
Let’s say you would like to say, “I am from the USA,” you have probably learned to say:
私はアメリカ人です。
Watashi wa Amerikajin desu.
Instead, just say:
アメリカ人です。
Amerikajin desu.
If you would like to say you like apples, don’t say:
私はりんごが好きです。
Watashi wa ringo ga suki desu.
Just say:
りんごが好きです。
Ringo ga suki desu.
By the way, if you are a man, you will also probably want to change the pronoun “watashi” (私) for one of the two most commonly used by men: “boku” (僕) or “ore” (俺). “Watashi” is fine in a situation when you need to be polite, like in business, but in a casual conversation, it will sound too polite or even feminine.
To sum up roughly, “boku” is a pronoun used by males, but is still a bit polite and more on the soft side, while “ore” is a more relaxed, manly kind of pronoun (never use this one in business situations).
Choose according to your character or where you live in Japan. Usage of one or the other may vary depending on the location, and local pronouns may also appear. When I lived in…
