Watashi wa etc

[Darren]

Can anyone clarify the different uses of the various words for I. I have read a number of times that watashi sounds feminine, that Boku sounds rough or is used by young men and that other forms are very polite?

What is standard for a male to use in most situations and would he use different words when speaking to female/ male friends? Wikipedia lists 13 different words for I and I get the feeling that that is proberly not the lot!

I have heard female singers use atashi which is not used by men but wait also boku!

Confusion, confusion

[untmdsprt]

Can you give the Wikipedia link?

Bascially わたし「私」watashi is used by both men and women. Men use it when wanting to sound more polite, standard use for women.

あたし, atashi is used by women to close friends. Sounds more feminine I guess.

ぼく、「僕」boku and おれ、「俺」ore is used by men with other men that are close friends. My male friends have used boku when speaking to me. I knew that they considered me more of a friend when they switched over from watashi.

Then the last one is うち uchi which means house or home, but is also used as "I" in some cases.

These are the main ones I've heard since studying Japanese. I've never heard anyone use watakushi though. I don't know if anyone actually uses this. Of course when you are still talking about yourself, you can drop the pronoun of "I".

[Darren]

The Wikipedia link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_dif ... n_Japanese
Though I have seen a number of books that recommend against using watashi for men or over using it.

[Airth]

It all depends on the situation, but there is no problem for a man to use 私.

Basically, you have four choices - わたくし - わたし - ぼく - おれ.

My boss used わたくし today when he was making a presentation in front of staff from another company.

Technically, you should never go below わたし when speaking to anyone who is in a higher position or older than you. In reality, a lot of men use ぼく for pretty much all situations.

おれ is fine between friends. You can stretch it further than that, but you run the risk of being disrespectful as there are plenty of people who find it offensive.

Apart from わたくし, the lines are pretty fuzzy between these and it is something that you see debated from time to time on TV or in the newspaper. At the end of the day, you don't want to be going around using わたし when everyone else is using おれ, but you also have to remember that the choice of word is not just a way of projecting who you are but it can also say something about the level of respect you have for the people around you.

[Jason]

I have heard female singers use atashi which is not used by men but wait also boku!

One thing that you should keep in mind with language in music is that correct word usage often takes a back seat to how a particular word sounds in the context of the music.

[seanolan]

Imagine, for a moment, that you know the chairman of a huge Fortune 500 company. And for argument's sake, his name is John Smith. Now, imagine how he is addressed by people.

1 A media interviewer, being polite: Chairman of XXXX Company, Mr. John Smith
2 A low-level member of the company: Chairman Smith
3 A high-level member of the company: Mr. Smith
4 Members of the Board of Directors in a meeting: Mr. Chairman
5 A friend at the club: John
6 A close friend at the club: Johnny
7 A frat buddy from college: Stinky Jack
8 A woman colleague: Mr. Smith
9 A female secretary or receptionist being flirty: Pudding
10 A wife or girlfriend: Darling

Now, let's put this into "perspective" of the forms of personal pronouns:

In all likelihood, "わたくし" would only be used in the first or POSSIBLY in the first four situations. But "わたし" would be much more likely in 2, 3 and 4, and same with 8. "ぼく" would be quite common in 5 and 6. "おれ" in 6 and 7. And "あたし" in 9 and 10. BUT...let's say the wife was angry at him. She would not be as likely to use "あたし" but more likely "わたし" or possibly "ぼく"...the first if she was trying to use formality to imply distance and the second if she was trying to be more assertive. A man might use "あたし" to appear feminine (just as in the west, we might stand with a knee bent and a hand on a hip to appear more feminine, as a joke or whatever) but it almost always is to make a joke or a sarcastic point. A woman might use "ぼく" or even "おれ" for the same reason, and some women use "ぼく" regularly, not to appear masculine but to be firmer or stronger in their speech, especially with men.

Just think this way in your own use:

watakushi: very stiff and formal situations
watashi: common polite situations
boku: in casual situations with equals or sometimes in polite situations with subordinates and youths (especially when your status is much higher than the subordinate's)
ore: in very casual situations, with friends of equal status or lower, and around men or to appear masculine (for instance, a boy trying to impress a girl with how easy a feat of strength was might use "ore")
atashi: casual situations, to appear very feminine and/or subordinate

Hope this helped.

Sean