Informal Japanese

[SHAD0W]

Originally Posted by AnneH

I'll have a go at dropping the ます form and see what happens Thanks again
Anne

So.. you're telling us that you've had penpals for a while now and from the looks of it you're becoming confident in the Japanese language.. but you never thought to look at the difference between your 食べました　and their 食べた?

To me, one of the main points of having a penpal is to learn Japanese, not through informal lessons, but through following a native speaker's fine example.

Also, be sure to pay attention to the differences in the way that you're male friends speak and you're female friends speak - very important.

[chryuop]

You start realizing what you learn and what is used when you read Japanese books. I am in that stage now. It is terrible when you see the "grammar" you learn has several changes and "words" assume a different look. You will start getting no longer confident in what you know and what you have to use.
I write to my penpal and wonder if they find me too "formal" and they reply as formal coz I write that way. But on the other hand you get afraid of offending if you get too "informal".

I think there is not a safe recipe and talking to native speakers and reading will slowly get us used in recognizing the proper forms to use.
Anyway, if I had a foreign friend who tries to talk to me in my language (Italian), I wouldn't worry if he makes mistakes, sounds like a grammar book or speaks too formal. With time I would help him to learn.
So I wouldn't worry too much in the beginning about the way you sound (at least, unless you are offensive lol). Getting your concept through to the listener and understanding what they want to communicate to you is the primary target now.