Greetings.
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Recently, my biggest, most glaringly obvious gap in my level of Japanese is understanding male speech patterns, vocabulary, and accent. It’s not as though there aren’t woman who I can’t understand much of either (High school girls, for one), but I seem to have the most trouble, by and large, with Japanese men.
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I’m no longer in Japan, and while I am around Japanese people quite a bit (And get a lot of chances to speak, outside of my anime watching etc), I don’t get many opportunities to speak to men, so I don’t think I can just get around this issue by just talking to people more.
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If any of you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!
Thank you.
by defire101
4 comments
You might find this article helpful: [Maggie Sensei on Male Speech](https://maggiesensei.com/2016/11/05/male-speech/)
I would think the obvious answer would be to listen to more men speaking? Maybe try some podcasts or audiobooks?
i definitely struggle with this as well. all of my professors have been middle aged moms and most of my japanese friends are younger women, so i really struggle to understand (esp. older) male speech. but just watching movies, practicing, and actually making a male japanese friend has really helped me!
Diversify your input. Try some live action TV and movies, vloggers, NJPW etc