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Japanese word gender

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bali-jin

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I was surprised that japanese has different words for different gender. My japanese friend once told me that I made mistake by saying women's word. That's because I just copy-paste from somewhere and never know the real usage. For example: boku and ore usually said by man, meanwhile ara, ending of wa ne, wa yo, only used by woman.

I want to know more about it. Knowing it, foreigener can speak japanese more naturally. So, I'm asking if anybody can add the list that used by spesific gender. Thank you

Male :
- ore (me)
- boku (me)
- kuu (eat)

Female :
- ara (expression of surprised)
- atashi (me)
- wa ne (ending of expression)
- wa yo (ending of expression)
- ~kashira (similiar with ~kana)

please help me add the list ^^
 
Look... there is no point at making a list on these things...

By making a list you skew it like textbooks do. Simply get used to talking to people and you will pick up what you can use. For example, I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that some words used by females are used nowadays by males in the younger generation in an attempt to be more 'sensitive' and 'get in touch with their feminine side'. It goes against lists. No definitive list can work for this sort of subject.

So yeah, just get used to hearing people use words in different occasions.

Watashi is a very good example; guys are expected seemingly to use 'boku' or 'ore' instead of watashi - watashi is deemed a girls thing. But watashi is used by men in; formal situations, business, funerals and other places.

Don't try and make a list on this, it won't work well.

PS: I have heard MANY Japanese males use 'ara' as an expression of surprise on TV, like those gameshows where they trick people. Hahahaha, I need to watch somemore of those!

Later
Joe
 
I second that.

Boku and Ore are both manly terms but Watashi is non-gender specific. Although obviously if a woman can't use boku and ore then watashi will seem more common among women.

Correct me if I am wrong (which could be likely) but I think じゃまたね is more of a feminine way of saying じゃまた (I mean that it sounds more girly)。
 
じゃ、またね is used by both men and women and not gender specific. If anything, it just "softens" the tone that じゃ、また has.

I second what magevampjoe said. You just expose yourself to as much spoken Japanese as possible and observe how people, men and women, kids and adult, talk in many different situations. Then, you use what you think is best fit your personality. I know it takes a while before you get a good idea as to how a certain word would sound to a native Japanese ear but you will eventually.
 
magevampjoe said:
Look... there is no point at making a list on these things...
By making a list you skew it like textbooks do.
Click to expand...

Okay, I just want to know. I don't have book either. Practice speaking and listening are sure more effective. But I think list can help me a little. For example, when I had no one to speak with. In the place I live now, it is rather hard to find japanese or people who can speak japanese.

Secondly, I want to avoid the mis-usage by just hearing the conversation with similiar situation. For example, if I learn by listening to drama, and most drama has informal situation, maybe I have an idea that 'watashi' is girly thing. But, if somebody here said that watashi is neutral, then I can look for the conversation that watashi is used by both gender. Without knowing it, I'll just suppose that watashi is a girl thing. This situation has happened to me, thats why I need the list.
 
Last edited:
The quote that you posted is wrongly credited to me. It was someone else who wrote that.
 
ooops >_<
I'm really really sorry Ashikaga-san
My clipboard still hold your name when I pasted it.

Now it is fixed. Sorry.
 
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The safest bet I believe is to just use "Watashi" until you get to a stage where you can hear conversational Japanese (in Japan or otherwise) its probably your safest bet. As everyone's said before, trying to pigeonhole the usage of "boku, ore, atashi" etc. is probably not wise.
 
It's "boke/ore" that are used primarily by young men in non-formal situations (at school, with friends and family etc) that are thus considered masculine. Watashi is not "girlish." On the other hand, Japanese tends to be a feminine leaning language, so even neutral/polite is more universally heard as "female speech." There are many ways of thinking about these labels...

HTH!
 
Thanks for the explanation. I have 1 more question.
I often heard a sentence ends with 'no', like ikitai no? dou shitara ii no?
I think the ending no is the informal form of ~ndesuka?
However, according to some book I read, the ending 'no' seems to be female speech.
I still don't know the natural usage of it. Would anybody explain it to me?

Thanks
 
1) with the rising intonation; neutral
行きたいの？
ikitai no?

2) with the falling intonation; female
行きたいの。
ikitai no.

3) with the accent on "no"; basically female
行きたいの！
ikitai no!
(I really want to go!)

4) with a little bit long vowel; male(old man)
行きたいのぅ。
ikitai nou.
(Ah, I would like to go...)


As already mentioned, it depends on context...
 
Toritoribe said:
4) with a little bit long vowel; male(old man)
行きたいのぅ。
ikitai nou.
(Ah, I would like to go...)
Click to expand...
If you're not an old man, you can use:
行きたいのよ。 ikitai no yo.
or
行きたいのだ。 ikitai no da.

in declarative sentences.
 
行きたいのぅ～(as spoken by an old man, probably followed by a sigh) usually has a different overtone compared to other declarative statements.

行きたいのぅ evokes a sense of longing. I think the English translation of that would be " ::arghh:: I wish I could go...".
 
And for the not old men here, an equivalent level of yearning can be expressed as "ikitai na(a)..."! ??
 
Elizabeth said:
... yearning can be expressed as "ikitai na(a)..."! ??
Click to expand...
So that's the nuance of "naa...". I often heard it in phrase "ii naa...". It means envy about something, right? Can old man use "ii naa..." into "ii noo..." ?
 
bali-jin said:
So that's the nuance of "naa...". I often heard it in phrase "ii naa...". It means envy about something, right? Can old man use "ii naa..." into "ii noo..." ?
Click to expand...
"Ii nou/Ee nou" would be more similar to "ii nee".
In the case of "ii naa...", old men probably say "urayamashii nou".
 
bali-jin said:
So that's the nuance of "naa...". I often heard it in phrase "ii naa...". It means envy about something, right? Can old man use "ii naa..." into "ii noo..." ?
Click to expand...
Ii na(a) generally isn't used in the context of envy as much as emphasizing a hope or wish for something good to happen.


Nihon ni ikereba (iketara) ii naa !

*Ahhh...wouldn't it be nice to go to Japan !!* という感じになりますね。
 
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Actually, it is very much used in the context of envy.

エリザベスのアパートは広くていいなぁ.... 俺のは４畳半だよ。

エリザベス、また温泉旅行へ行ってきたの？ いいなぁ .....
 
Ashikaga said:
エリザベス、また温泉旅行へ行ってきたの？ いいなぁ .....
Click to expand...

you show me the example using 'no', thanks!
in this context 'no' means ~ndesuka right?
 
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