I tried looking for examples online on how they would sound different, but i only see keywords and how to use them. I hope someone can show me how they would sound/look like? sort of like a comparison of a sentence but said to two different people e.g. a teacher and a friend
or is there no such thing as casual speech
2 comments
Like <<学校に行く>> and <<学校に行きます>>？
Your question is unclear. It’s just like the meaning says it is: honorific language.
Keigo should be used in formal situations and with people higher up in the hierarchy. This happens in a lot of languages and not just Japanese, though you may be unfamiliar with them. An example of this in English would be using first person plural to refer to oneself. So “I” becomes “we” :edit: even though it would be considered prideful if the person using such language owing to how English is used.
Basically we replace words in a sentence with their keigo equivalent and maybe change the structure just a bit when we need to use keigo. It pretty much boils down to what you found online.
Eat/drink > taberu/nomu == meshiagaru
To be (present) > iru == irassharu
To say > iu == ossharu
A lot of the time you conjugate the verbs and use them in a sentence as usual.
Bear in mind that keigo has its own set of rules for verb conjugation in specific situations. There are set patterns, standard phrases, etc. It takes time to both learn and memorize. Judging from your question it seems you’re just starting out with Japanese; in which case, you shouldn’t worry too much about keigo.