Quote:
Originally Posted by StonerPenguin
Thanks a ton masaegu. I'm still a little confused regarding sounding cold using dictionary forms... (I already sent the revised version but I haven't got response yet) What should I do to avoid sounding cold? End every sentence with ね?  But seriously, now I'm paranoid. I had no idea using dictionary forms and だ/だった sounded robotic. I don't really know how to put this in question form but, can you give me some tips? I'm so inexperienced in Japanese conversation. >< Maybe I should go back and look at manga and drama dialogues... |
I was kinda surprised to see you end sentences with the forms that you did because I always knew you translated manga and did it quite well. Even though manga characters often don't speak like any existing persons, it
can be a good source of information regarding how we don't end sentences like one might be required to in a Japanese class.
What you should do to avoid sounding cold, impersonal or robotic is to end almost no sentences with the dictionary forms of verbs, auxiliary verbs and adjectives. This is particularly important in exchanging informal messages among friends. However, this does not mean that using the same particle like ね at the end of every sentence will solve the problem. In fact, using the same sentence-ender over and over will make you sound just as cold and boring, etc. as when you end every sentence with a dictionary form.
Selecting the right endings in casual speech is difficult mostly because it's a personal choice. It should reflect your personal character (and sometimes even your social status) and how you want to associate with the other person. In other words, I am not you; therefore, I cannot choose the endings for you. To decide at this point on how you should end your sentenecs is impossible because we are, in essence, asking this ultimate question: "How would StonerPenguin speak if she were a Japanese-speaker?" In every language, everyone speaks differently.
You will need to read and write a whole lot to gradually formulate your speech patterns in Japanese. This cannot and shoud not be done overnight. Frankly, it might take a few years judging from your writing this time. As of now, you have no patterns, habits or preferences. You are busy enough writing grammatical Japanese without thinking about giving character or personality to your sentences.
That you are paranoid is good because many learners won't ever even notice this issue or be informed of it. You probably have a head start compared to others. I've met North Americans who had majored in Japanese in college that never knew until they came to Japan that we seldom used pronouns.
Read what you receive from those girls carefully from now on.
I would even suggest that you specifically request that they write to you the same way they write their Japanese friends. The reason I say this is that Japanese-speakers often change their writing according to the "level" of the other person's writing when h/she is not a Japanese-speaker.