Informal Speech/Grammar

[blehxp]

Hi guys. I really want to learn informal japanese, but on the site it only gives the dialogue and transcripts of informal lessons. How could I learn grammar and perfect my informal japanese? たすけて！

また明日!
ブレーエクスピー

[josiah]

have a look here

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/casual.html

[Joey]

don't really watch it myself, but i've heard anime is full of casual talk.

[josiah]

the truth is,
as told at one point
on japanesepod101

the average persons usage of japanese is

6/4 - 7/3 casual/polite japanese

if you watch
tv
comedy
dramas
movies
anime

most of it will be casual japanese

[blehxp]

thanks guys that helped alot.

[Javizy]

Yo, I was going to start a thread to try and make a complete list of contractions, but I gave up on it You might find what I typed useful though if you don't know all of it.

Contractions

~ている > ~てる
今食べてるとこ。
I'm eating right now.

~ている > ~てん (more casual than てる)
何食べてんの?
What are you eating?
何やってんだお前? (てんだ has a coarse/threatening feel to it)
What the bejisus are you doing?

~ておく > とく
これからシャツにアイロンをかけとく。
Now I'm going to iron my shirt (for tomorrow, work, etc).
書類を会議室に置いといてくれ。
Put the documents in the meeting room for me (in preparation).

~てしまう/~でしまう > ~ちゃう/~じゃう (or coarser ちまう/じまう)
用事ができちゃって。。。
Something came up...
あいつ死じまってよかったんだぜ。
I'm glad that bar-char is dead.

という/と > って or て
早くしろって。
He said hurry it up.
先生から明日が休みて聞いたよ。
I heard from the teacher that it's a holiday tomorrow.

あ-row + ない > んない
わかんない。
I dunno.
つまんないなぁ!
How boring!

あい、あえ、おい > え/えぇ
おまえ > おめぇ
おもしろい > おもしれぇ
じゃない > じゃねぇ

Conditional れば > りゃ
安けりゃ、だめだってば。
I'm telling you, if it's cheap it's no good.
多分もっとかっこよけりゃ。。。
Maybe if you were better looking...

なければ > なきゃ
明日までにこの仕事を終えなきゃならないんだ。
I have to finish this work by tomorrow.
ふぐを食べなきゃよかった。。。
If only she hadn't eaten blowfish...

ては/では > ちゃ/じゃ
行かなちゃだめ!
You can't go! (mother to child/possessive girlfriend style)
それじゃ、何しようか。
Well then, what shall we do?

Ichidan potential form られる > れる
信じれない!
I can't believe it!
すしを10皿も食べれるよ。
I can eat as many as 10 plates of sushi.

Empathetic slangy i-adjective: ~い > っ
ながっ!
How long!
たかっ!
How expensive!

Constructions

Plain verb + んじゃない: harsh negative imperative.
ばかなこと言うんじゃねぇ!
Don't speak crap!

Individual Words/Phrases

かもしれない > かも
ところ > とこ
じゃない > じゃん
ばかり > ばっかり > ばっか
やはり > やっぱり > やっぱ
もの > もん (as a sentence-ending particle)
そうか > そっか
(こ/そ/あ)れは (こ/そ/あ)りゃ

[NickT]

Thanks Javizy, that is a really useful list. I knew most, if not all of those, but it is a useful refresher. I remember googling many of those terms in the not so distant past, and being frustrated at not being able to find anywhere that actually explained what they meant.

Can I suggest that if anyone else thinks of any more, then they add them to this thread? I would be good to have them all in one place.

I have one. I'm not sure if it fits best under "contractions" or "individual words/phrases", but here it is:

When speaking about someones house, the のうち is frequently contracted to んち. So, for example

君のうち　＞　君んち

君んちに行こう Lets go to your place.

[Psy]

Here's one I just used in one of my posts:

ということです -> んだって

This list needs to be stickied.

[Javizy]

I added some more to my other post, hopefully somebody can let me know if there are any errors

[kc8ufv]

Yo, I was going to start a thread to try and make a complete list of contractions, but I gave up on it

Is such a thing possible???

[Psy]

Is such a thing possible???

Remember kids, anything is possible, but it is not very likely

Probably not, but this isn't to say that it couldn't be made into a very good list.

[the_haunted_boy]

In general if it is not the desu-masu stuff then it is somewhat more casual.

[sodapple]

In fact I don't know if I can do this recomendation in this forum, please if I'm wrong don't get me out please

But you could take a look to Japanese in mangaland, these books take you across the informal Japanese, but if you're looking for useful expressions there Youtube is to search anime and dramas in japanese, and believeme they have a lot of informal japanese that if you only know the formal you will undertand a bit

mata ne!!

[Psy]

I think your post belongs here since it is in regard to informal Japanese. I don't know about the book you referenced, but there is one I have titled Japanese The Manga Way, and while it may appear on the surface to be an easy-going and friendly textbook, it is actually quite dense and technical. It's worthwhile in that it explains nuances often overlooked in introductory textbooks, but it is not, despite the comics, an easy read.

[sodapple]

Sumimasen I forgot to give a link to this book "Japanese in mangaland" but here is it: http://www.nipoweb.com/producte.php?id=1&idioma=3, So, there is also "Kanji in mangaland" of course this books take manga examples to teach japanese, also if you know another language, you could download some of the samples they have of the books in the section "download" that they don't have in English. The Spanish is the best because is the original Language but the english it's cool too.

Mata ne!!