Mina-san,

Today’s location is キャンベラ・Kyanbera - hello to all of our listeners in Canberra, Australia

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

# 2

Hmm…will Peterちゃん keep his word.

Michaelさん、

Don’t you know? Our Vickyちゃん of the Hat of Ultimate Cuteness™ (more recently known as Cookie Monster™) doesn’t sleep.

@Daniel Beck-san,
I think the word ‘genki’ was specially included in japanese to apply to Vicky-san. I keep thinking of Azumanga’s tomo-chan (in a nice way, all that energy). Hope I’m not in trouble

今日のレッソンはすばらしいだよね。 でも、「りょうりをてずくりんだ」はロマジばんの男性系で「りょうりをてずくりの」と言う。僕はくさいな日本語と話す。

Question tagだったら男性は「ね」と言えるね？

Really fun lesson, I liked the mixture of food knowledge (always useful) as well as those great insights in the cultural idiosyncricies of the language. Men’s/women’s speech, whew, quite a mindfield there.

W/o getting into politically correct stuff, and I don’t want to inadvertently offend anyone, I have to ask a small question (would appreciate a native speaker responding to this).

I understand that ‘no’ as a sentence-final tag has a decidedly feminine touch in the Kansai area, Shikoku, Kyuushu, etc. It seems neutral in Tokyo, but not elsewhere. It should be remembered that, if one is a man, using feminine tags has a particular nuance about the possibility of one’s, uh, sexual orientation. (No offence meant — just an observation I have made . . . for example, listen to some of the famous male enka singers, or an informal conversation amongst certain subctultures . . .)

What’s the verdict on ‘no’? Could you poll the Nagasaki connection? I have always avoided it because in the parts of Japan I’ve been in it had too many associations.

Small question, big reprecussions.

omg my ears! the phone rings. (i usually turn up the volume because most episodes are purely voice, so the rings are loud) x.x Owe…

at least i’m awake now. xD

John-さん is right. Also, the ローマ字says “ryori o kai ni iku” … so yet another meaning

About ぼくvs. おれ… is it as simple as semi-formal vs. informal? Both my mom and my wife scold me for using おれ, and I think it’s because they don’t want me to misuse it in other situations. But it seems like there is something almost cocky or jocular about おれ. Or am I just reading too much into it?

thanks-
Matt

Another translation for 手作り, and a better one in most cases methinks, is homemade.

Alanさん、

I would say that it’s more すげっ than すげ。 When I was teaching at a high school, the guys would turn every い ending into え。

痛い became いってっ。Or even おまえ, which is rough enough as it is, becomes おめっ。Even the girls talked that way sometimes.

Some of you may know the “Gaijin” manga. One memorable one is where Gaijinさん finally feels comfortable using ぼく。It really is a rite of passage for a foreign guy.

I guess we’ll be going on to the informal ways of using the second person next. I wonder if the Nagasaki Connection have some fun Kyushu expressions for us.

Are? only jyu nana replies ga arimasu?

slow day.

@Paul-san,
There’s ore, boku & watashi in increasing formality for men.
There’s atashi and watashi for women.
It wasn’t mentioned but there is also watakushi which is even more formal than watashi. I vaguely remember that washi also exists, but I think was only used by middle aged men. Probably best to forget that last as it’s relying on my dodgy memory.

@Matt-san & Daniel Beck-san
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll have to practice speaking more manfully.

As far as I know the small tsu at the end of a phrase means a sudden stop or cut off of sound. I see it a lot in manga with sound effects. It’s the non-sound of small tsu the same as in words like yokatta.

I always thought Ore was a boastful, macho, self centred I

There’s a listing ? article about the many “i”s and “you” s here
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/readarticle.php?article_id=126

the small tsu is a glottal stop.

as for ending in “no” or using phrases like “kashira” men will sound homosexual.

In a land where harmony is very important being different from the norm is very difficult.

Nice to get some Chinese in this podcast! If you come to China i’m sure you’ll have no problems Peter-san!

tintinさん、

I don’t think ending with “no” sounds homosexual in and of itself. It would depend on how you say it and how often. Now, if a guy says “atashi”…

I don’t want to get too off topic here, but Japanese are generally more tolerant of a variety of sexual expressions than in the West.

bakanekoさん、

tintinさん’s explanation of the small tsu is correct. To put it another way, when it comes at the end of a word, you shorten the vowel sound that proceeds it. This is not usually used in written Japanese except to approximate spoken sounds.

Beltonさん、

おれ can sound boastful or macho, but it is not necessarily so. Really, as with so much of this, it comes down to context.

皆さん、
「すげえ／すげっ」や「おめ」を教えたから有難うございました。分かりました。
(Thanks for teaching (me) sugee & ome)
アラン

I have seen the small tsu at the end of words in manga, but that’s about it.

I would like to know whether メルボルン has been greeted. I live there so… obviously I’d like to know.

Carrieさん, it is good to know that there are other オーストラリア人 here on the comments section.

Thank you for the informal man/woman lesson. Good job!

Yoshi!!!!!
Use your own name and mail address!!!!!!
Peter

aaaah, that should have been “strikes”, not “stikes”.

Oh, and btw, Peterちゃん, we add さん and ちゃん around here.

Is it natural to mix formal and informal like that?

I imagine it’s more of a young people thing. It’s not really appropriate to do this. Of course there could be exceptions. Since the formality with which people talk to each other is based on their relationship and there are all sorts of relationships.

Re: anone (feminine) and anosa- (masculine), isn’t it also true that young boys will also say “anone”? I seem to recall little boys saying “anone . . .anone . . .anone. . . .” as they try to formulate a sentence or question. So in other words, using “anone” also comes across as childish/childlike as well as feminine. Is that correct?

If this is true, this is an interesting observation about gender–i.e., that what’s feminine can also be considered childish.

But I’m wondering–is this a result of little boys being mostly raised by their mothers until they become socialized in primary school, when they learn to pick up the masculine forms?

really interesting comments and insights Thanks sooo much! I can understand how understanding and using the fem’/masc way of speaking can be difficult. I am finding it such. But, i am really excited about delving into this.

thanks to Peter and the gang! thank you all! this is great stuff!