Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
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.
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Thank you so much for this. I was expecting there would be so much more to the informality as I have seen a few books on colloquial Japanese but was unsure if these were really for me. I'll have a go at dropping the ます form and see what happens
Thanks again
Anne