I’m almost done with MNN2 and there’s so much I can say now and can even say it in multiple ways. I’m just curious as to where I can learn the nuance of things and how certain things sound over another way of saying them. For example 今何時ですか was what I first learned, but now I can say 今何時か教えていただけませんか。I was told that a soft rule is like the longer a sentence is made, the more polite it sounds, But idk.
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That’s the problem I faced when self-studying with textbooks, I can’t find ones that explains nuance clearly. You gotta actively ask experts (In my case, I now study with Japanese teachers so I can ask them for explanations directly)
When would you say “What time is it?” Vs “Could you tell me what time it is?”
It’s going to be very similar. The soft rule that you mentioned applies here, mostly because the more [hedging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_(linguistics)) you do when asking for something, the more polite it is to people in your out group.
“what time is it” vs “pardon me wouldn’t you please enlighten me as to the time”
length corresponds to formality in english, too
It comes with exposure. You just get used to how people talk.