I can mostly understand what she says, But it’s very different from what I’ve been exposed to in my Japanese studies (Textbooks and stuff)
I’m not too advanced yet, I don’t want to sound so formal while she speaks casually. I need tips like, is it okay to omit です, or how do I ask questions without using ですか、or ますか？I’m not very familiar how Japanese highschoolers talk. I’m also learning from how she speaks.
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I haven’t a clue in the context of high school conversations, but generally in casual conversations you can drop the question particle か in favor of using rising intonation. So, I would listen for rising intonation as your cue that a question is being asked (given the context of whatever was said).
Maybe these youtube channels help a bit. Two are students and one providing study & stationary tips.
They are not exactly on point but get you started. Maybe you find some youtuber specialising in your hobbies (e.g. sports, cooking, fashion, manga, etc.)
Also, youtube now has decent (but not great) subtitles in Japanese. Do NOT look at the subtitles in English. On a laptop, you can change the fontsize and move the subtitles too.
“10ten reader” plug in allows one to hover over youtube subtitles for instant “translation”. That is a super feature. Over time you should avoid English translations but this is a good crutch for now.
ひまひまチャンネル
ももかチャンネル
みおりんカフェ
Verbs and adjectives have casual and polite form.
For example, aru and arimasu. Or nai desu and nai. Or suki desu and suki da.
Casual Japanese also tend to drop particles if it’s obvious such as asking a question. If it’s a rising tone you can obviously tell it’s a question like in English. Anyways, she’s your language exchange partner so she would understand more casual speech and you can ask her directly for tips?
I think it’s best to listen to her speech, as casual language will depend heavily on the age and time period. Ask questions and mimic her speech patterns – that’s the great part of language exchange.
Only caution is if you are not the same gender, then you will have to be careful not to integrate patterns that won’t fit you. She may be able to point that out sometimes, but in my experience that’s rather difficult even for teachers.
My wife is Japanese, and I have a hard time understanding what she says. It’s actually easier for me to understand foreigners speaking Japanese with different accents. Lol! I believe this is not only limited to high schoolers but rather a common experience. Similarly, my wife struggles to comprehend her grandma’s speech due to the local dialect. A very easy and simple example is です, everywhere in Japan, they say “des” However, there are still places where it is pronounced as “desu” and des is wrong. In other words, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. Your Japanese will adapt depending on where you live there. If you want to speak more casually, forget about not commiting mistakes. Just try to understand what they are saying and go with the flow. Save these concerns for a job interview or for her parents.
TO ask questions without ですか or ますか？e.g in plain form, you can just use an upwards inflection at the end of the sentence. It’s great you are doing this by the way, you will learn how Japanese people actually talk to their peers, not just textbook language. Just be careful that you don’t adopt all the speech patterns of a teenage girl haha
From a Japanese point of view, I would say that it is better to be
honest and tell her about your situation. From her perspective, it might
be surprising if you suddenly become casual. I think it would be better
for both of you if you explain your situation and then ask her to teach
you how to speak casually.
I assume your textbooks start with formal Japanese, right? I recommend checking out the basic grammar section in Tae Kim’s Guide to learning Japanese. They actually start with informal(/casual) Japanese first.
I also found a language exchange partner last month and the type of speech described there also goes in the direction that we use (students). There is more to casual speech but if your problem is that you only know how to speak with です and – ます, then that should already help a lot.
Just drop the honorifics and call it a day. If she doesn’t use them, you don’t need to either.
Let’s say you want to make this question sound casual.
今週末は何をしますか？
こんしゅうまつ は なに を しますか？
What are you going to do this weekend?
I would say:
今週末、何するの？
こんしゅうまつ なに するの？
What are you gonna do this weekend?
Tip#1: When speaking casually, you often remove some particles. In this case, I removed は and を.
Tip #2: します →する When speaking casually, you don’t use です/ます because they sound polite.
Tip #3: 〜の？ When you ask someone about something, you use の/なの？ as the ending word instead of か？.
Before a verb or I-adjective, you put の.
いつも何時に寝るの？
いつもなんじ に ねる の？
What time do you usually go to bed?
お母さんは優しいの？
おかあさん は やさしい の？
Is your mom sweet?
Before a noun, you need to put なの.
明日から中間テストなの？
あした から ちゅうかん てすと なの？
Is the mid exam starting tomorrow?
As for a na-adjective, it already has な because it’s a na- adjective, like 好きな(すきな), or 元気な(げんきな), so the sentence would be like this :
へぇ〜、イチゴが好きなの？
へぇ〜、いちご が すき なの？
Ohhhh, you like strawberries?
How it helps ☺️
As someone who was an exchange student, try to learn slang. Also don’t worry about formality, since you’re a foreigner for the most parts people around your age (from my experience) won’t be very formal with you.
My Japanese teacher once told me at the beginning of my studies, that in a casual conversation, if you are older than the person you are talking to you can usually just drop into casual form. If you have talked a few times already, then it should be fine. Plus, Japanese people can be extremely forgiving when it comes to foreigners speaking Japanese. They just appreciate us speaking their language. But if you are that worried about it, just ask them.
Don’t fuck with me, I’ve got the power of god and anime on my side! HYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
If you are the same age and she speaks casually, you can also switch to casual style. However, it is dangerous and can lead to bad habits later as your Japanese can develop to become too casual by default.
It’s a language exchange program, she’s aware you might have questions (I assume).
Just ask her?
Look into casual tense. If you’re the same gender then you can probably get away with mimicking her, but if not then look for specifics between male and female speech.
Whats your lang exchange site ur using? Assuming it’s not live of course.