Do the Japanese really omitt "Watashi"?

Kirie_Maiden · 2 Oct 2008

My Japanese pen-pal told me that the Japanese sometimes omitt "Watashi" from their speech and writing. He uses an online translator to talk to me and it is very difficult to understand him (although he is trying to learn English) and, when I told him about using "I" and not, "It" he told me the Japanese sometimes omitt "watashi." He now no longer omitts it and the translation is a lot easier to understand.

I realise I got this information from a Japanese person and should therefore consider it case closed, but I was wondering if all Japanese people do it or is it a regional dialect?

Kirakira1232 · 2 Oct 2008

No I find its quite natural to omit watashi when speaking. Of course it depends a lot on the context. Sometimes you do really need to clarify that what your talking about is about yourself so you use "watashi". But its not something i think would be dialectical. In speech sometimes you omit the subject and object all together.

For example:

Sensei: Kono uta wo kiita koto ga aru?
"Have you heard of of this song before?"
Me: iie arimasen.
"No I havent"

Friend "ima nani wo shitteru no?"
"What are you doing now?"
Me: Benkyoushiteru yo.
"I'm studying"

In Japanese its often not necessary to mention the subject or even the object and just say the verb and it may be understood what you are saying. In english the subject is always obligatory while in Japanese it can be dropped completely if its clear what you're talking about.

grapefruit · 2 Oct 2008

Many Asian languages tend to drop noun phrases when enough context allows recovery of the omitted parts. In linguistics, the languages that belong to this group is called topic(-prominent) languages. It might appear strange to native speakers of European languages, but it is not rare in world's languages.

Kirie_Maiden · 3 Oct 2008

Thank you. This is very helpful to help me learn.

Would a Japanese speaker think you strange if you did use Watashi? I have noticed, sometimes, watashi is used to introduce yourself.
"Watashi no namae wa Stacy desu."
My name is Stacy.
Although, it can be omitted.
"Stacy desu."
"I am Stacy."

Am I correct here?

grapefruit · 3 Oct 2008

You can add "watashi" to every sentence without offending the listener. Adding "anata" (you), however, is likely to be taken as offensive. So, it is better to use the person's name instead of "anata" or omit the subject.

"Are you Japanese?" can be translated as "anata wa nihonjin desuka?", "[THE PERSON's NAME]-san wa nihonjin desuka?", or "Nihonjin desuka?" The first one should be avoided.

Kirie_Maiden · 3 Oct 2008

So, if a language lesson is teaching me to say "anata", it is wrong? Is there any circumstance in which "anata" can be used?
For example. The language course I am using taught us the following.
"O genki desu ka?" (How are you?)
"Genki desu. Arigatou. Anata wa?" (I am fine. Thank you. And you?)

Is this incorrect?

Soloistic · 3 Oct 2008

Its not "incorrect" but in certain cases it will not be the word or sentence structure you will want to use. The Japanese language has many levels of respect, and referring to someone you may not know using "anata" can seem rude.

Its best to use ones title or name if your friendly with them.

Also, anata can also mean "dear" when talking to someone very close to you like a husband.

Kirakira1232 · 3 Oct 2008

Kirie_Maiden said:
So, if a language lesson is teaching me to say "anata", it is wrong? Is there any circumstance in which "anata" can be used?
For example. The language course I am using taught us the following.
"O genki desu ka?" (How are you?)
"Genki desu. Arigatou. Anata wa?" (I am fine. Thank you. And you?)
Is this incorrect?

They are perfectly fine but "anata" can sometimes be construed as being too direct if you are speaking to someone you are familiar with but not really intimate with. Like for example you would not use anata with someone like your sensei, you would say "Genki desu/okage-sama de genki desu, Sensei/person's name wa?" Avoid using anata if possible unless you dont know that person's name and you really need to use the 2nd person pronoun.

You can say "Watashi wa Stacy desu", "Watashi no namae wa stacy desu" or just "Stacy desu" all of these mean the same thing.

alantin · 3 Oct 2008

grapefruit said:
You can add "watashi" to every sentence without offending the listener.

Yeah.. But it sounds wierd (to the power of ten!) and might be taken the way that you're way too interested in yourself.. ☝

So if you want to sound like an egoistical mo-ron, then it is okay to add it to every sentence!

Charles Barkley · 3 Oct 2008

Um, you will not sound like an egotistical ***** if you use watashi all the time. Using 'watashi' does not equal arrogance in Japan. Your Japanese will sound like foreign, stiff, learner Japanese.

Kirie_Maiden · 4 Oct 2008

I would probably keep using watashi until I am more comfortable with the language and can speak it more fluently. My head would think to use watashi for I and not think to omitt it. You'd think that my tutorial would have taught me that... oh well.

Thank you for all your help. I can't wait to be able to speak Japanese better than I can now... at the moment all I can do is introduce myself, say where I am from and ask how the other person is.

Oh, and tell them I love them... possibly not appropriate if I've just met them for the first time... lol.

Do the Japanese really omitt "Watashi"?

Kirie_Maiden

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Kirakira1232

素敵な冒険始まる！

grapefruit

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grapefruit

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Soloistic

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Kirakira1232

素敵な冒険始まる！

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Kirie_Maiden

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