Quote:
Originally Posted by zith85
- Gender
- Age
- Do you think that there is differences between how man and women speak?
[a]If yes, what kind of differences and can you give an example?
[b]Do you think this may cause problems when men and women interact with each other? How?
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Since you said you already read Japanese, I'll take it that you're already familiar with textbookish, neutral (unisex) speech, which is mostly based on masculine speech. So I will concentrate on the feminine speech in my explanations.
1. Male
2. Same as Madonna
3. It's not a matter of what you
think. It's a fact and an important one in Japanese culture.
[a] Sentence-enders (particles)：
Women may use わ, だわ, わよ, だわね, ですもの、のよ、かしら etc., none of which are used by heterosexual men.
Pronouns:
Women may use pronouns that aren't generally used by men, such as あたい、あたくし、うち、あたしたち、あんた, etc. Men use あんた as well, but women use it far more often.
Exclamations:
Women use many exclamations that men don't, such as あら,いやーん, やーん, うふふ, おほほ, きゃあ, etc.
Honorific お or ご:
Women generally use it more often than men do. お米、お仕事、お食事、お酢、お砂糖、お塩、お庭、お 車, etc.
There are many other differences, both subtle and not very subtle, but the ones above are the most noticeable.
[b] No, not at all. We are used to it since birth. Without this, Japanese will be a boring, colorless language.