Spoken Japanese

Learners who study Japanese in high school and university often arrive in Japan and are confronted by a language that seems very different from what was in their textbooks. Although they have learned proper Japanese, will they be able to deduce the “correct” grammatical form of 何じゃこりゃ? (it’s これは何ですか)

In contrast to the stiff, perfectly grammatical sentences with which we are taught, real-world spoken Japanese is brilliantly colorful and fluid. Words are moved all over the place, slurred and shortened, or omitted entirely. While spoken Japanese can always call on written forms if needed, it has the added benefits of various sentence-ending particles and conversation flow devices, relaxed pronunciation and grammar rules, and even a number of grammar forms that are only permitted in spoken Japanese. Indeed, spoken Japanese is not only fun, it is unique and substantial enough of a topic that it warrants its own cheat sheet to help prepare learners.

This sheet is definitely the “funnest” in the set, but learners are advised to be solid intermediate level before they start playing with casual, spoken Japanese. (Nihonshock is not responsible if your sensei gets angry!)