Quote:
Originally Posted by AnneH
 I was wondering if anyone could recommend a book that would help in learning informal Japanese. I hope to visit Japan this year but a few of my Japanese friends, who I write to, mention that my Japanese is very formal. They say I write to them as if they are my boss! I understand why this is - I'm learning the language largely on my own with a few internet lessons here and there. I'm using the みんなの日本語 textbook and there only seems to be one chapter in there about the plain style and informality - I'm only up to ch.32 in Book 2. I really want to soften my language for when I meet my friends in person. Has anyone any ideas? |
1. use plain style—avoid 敬語 in all its forms
2. don't use 漢語 too much (you're probably not, already, since kango is not something you probably learn much of in みんなの日本語) (think the difference between 使う and 使用する (the latter is 漢語 and sounds much more formal))
/discussion
It is highly likely your friends say it's too formal because the whole time you're using ます form. Just stop using ます form and you'll be fine.