俺

Basically, that. Using 俺 is bad seen / unpolite / rude, or just informal? I don't know but it's easier for me to say 俺 than 私 or 僕. The kanji looks cooler too. :lol:

 

In terms of politness it goes: 私（watakushi）>　私（watashi）>　僕（boku）>　俺（ore）

It all depends on the situation / who you are speaking to. Among friends it's no problem to use 俺. On the other hand if e.g. you are uni professor and give a presentation somewhere, even 僕 is perfectly accepted in terms of politeness.

I find it hard to use anything less formal than watashi but at least with that I'm always on the safe side.

 

Thanks a lot! I use to use watashi or boku but I ore simply sounds more natural to me.

 

i use watashi to people i don't know, if we have customers inhouse or to my high hips.

i use boku or ore within my friendships and family.

never used watakushi though, since i almost never heard other people in my position using it.

 

I'm another that's never used watakushi. It just sounds so much like something a woman should say. Watashi or Boku for me. I once did use ore but it didn't go down too well. Ah, the early days of fucking up in public :lol:

Yakumo

 

I made the plunge into "ore" once....with a close female friend of mine. She started laughing and said that her 8 year old son uses that word.

Never again...heh.

 

you sure you didn't use "ora" or maybe she did understand "ora" when you used "ore"?^^

lot of my colleagues at work using "ore". from 20 to 60 years old.

 

Generally until you have a WELL above average grasp of the language, you shouldn't bother with Ore too much... you will most likely sound like an idiot.

 

Yeah, do not get carried away till you know the language well enough.

You will find what fits just by being in tune with the environment.

I use Ore 90 percent of the time. But you can say ore softly, or really hit the "Re" hard. So dependent on your pronunciation you can make your speech to rough.

Most guys at university use Ore all the time, even to teachers in Seminar.

For a funny variant - I met a young Japanese guy who went for the manga-esque "Kono Ore". I have never met anyone who went for "Kono Ore-Sama" like in Hokuto No Ken!

Anyway, don't stress. I hate using Boku - it just makes me sound like a child. So a hard WA on Watashi or a soft ore will get me through most days.

Watakushi was only used when I met my girlfriends father and the head of my department in an interview at university. I hate all that keigo shit, makes an already awkward situation even more unbearable.

 

Welcome to the club mate. I wonder if there are any non-Japanese that actually like keigo?

Yakumo

 

Another dilema:

I've heard that 貴方 is used only with people with you have some kind of relation (friends, classmates, family, jobmates (lol spangrish) etc), but what about キミ? Is way too stupid? Or what?

 

I did meet a gaijin who loved keigo. He was a total boffin french arsehole doing classes at a private school in Tokyo.

He had study dates with his Fugly girlfriend, talked about grammer all the time with me and used to read a kanji book on trains. He was just an academic who loved showing off things other people did not know.

Half my year at Oxford uni were exactly the same...

All these types tend to have a shit time in Japan and never go back as they realise that they cannot have a normal conversation with a non-academic.

Rant over....

@andoba - it sounds weird to most English speakers, but try to avoid using the words meaning "you" Japanese people do not rely on them as much. Kimi is good for sounding soft and gentlemanly to a girl, but is not terribly common. Again read the situation. Anata is your safest bet if you cannot read the intimacy of the relationship. Or go for the name. (unless you keep forgetting people's names - like your truly)

 

Thank you!

 

:lol: I know the type mate. I tend to keep well clear of them otherwise I may end up saying something pretty rude to get them to shut up.

 

I quite like keigo lol

I was in this bar in Ebisu and forgot a girls name so used the old watakushi and to moshimasu and she was well impressed!

 

you can say the lowest form of Japanese and impress someone here. They think that none of us can speak Japanese.

Today the family went to the Bakan Festival. basically it's the city's yearly festival　to remember the old name before in became Shimonoseki. Pretty much half the population of the city attend this festival. Anyway, to get back on topic, I went to a store to buy some fried chicken. Instantly I got the "dumb foreigner treatment" with "This is Japanese KFC" from the store seller in bad English. This sort of thing pisses me off after having to listen to it for 11 years. Anyway, I said in Japanese, "Yes I know". The store seller was like, WOW!!! YOU SPEAK GREAT JAPANESE. Yeah yeah, just give me my karaakge and sod off was what I was thinking. Then I got the "You American?" God, you can't believe how annoying that is. Ever white guy is American and every black guy is from New York a black friend of mine was saying.

rant over! Yeah, I'm in a foul mood tonight.

Yakumo

 

lol..teh everydays procedure:lol:

 

I see why you're pissed off, but on the other hand it's still pretty friendly ^_^

 

Yeah, I know but after a few years it does become very tedious.

Yakumo

 

Don't take my minor victory away from me, I was happy with that! </joke>

I can see how annoying it can get just from 8 days there though, I was ordering some food in a cafe and some Japanese woman said "wow, very good!" in a semi-sarcastic tone (in English) and in another club a guy asked why I was speaking Japanese, well excuse me for trying, I know my Japanese is shit, but it's better than going around asking everyone if they speak English.