Questions

[kvcnext]

Since I'll be leaving for japan soon, instead of asking loads of questions apart, I'll mask them in one post. If I think of any more I'll also post them here.

1: is it okay for a woman to use more direct speech and Gobi? For example 大丈夫だ and 行くぞ as apposed to 大丈夫です and 行くよ?

2: How well do you need to know someone before switching from ますform to polite?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by kvcnext

Since I'll be leaving for japan soon, instead of asking loads of questions apart, I'll mask them in one post. If I think of any more I'll also post them here.

1: is it okay for a woman to use more direct speech and Gobi? For example 大丈夫だ and 行くぞ as apposed to 大丈夫です and 行くよ?

2: How well do you need to know someone before switching from ますform to polite?

1. A lot of young women say 大丈夫だ in informal convos but you need to know they say it more to themselves than to others.

行くぞ is all together a different issue. Unless you are young and are talking to a very close friend, you wouldn't say it. Even when someone says it, it's more for a dramatic effect than conveying information. In other words, don't say it unless you are fluent and you know what you are saying.

2. You mean "ます to more informal"? Young men and women don't take more than a few minutes to switch these days.
__________

When asking these questions, it always helps if you tell us how old you are.

[RealJames]

I agree with that answer

I'd like to add the social position thing too, some people will never switch out of polite mode depending on who they are talking to, even if asked to stop ><

For example, one of my friend's younger sister is forever polite with me.

[kvcnext]

Thankyou for the info guys. Now, on the next question, I wrote this up. Does it make sense? And if not, why not and how do I correct it?

私は本当に神経質で日本語を話します。日本語の勉強が 趣味です、でも毎日はたらいています。　毎日勉強する のは大変そして私のアクセントがへたです…

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by kvcnext

Thankyou for the info guys. Now, on the next question, I wrote this up. Does it make sense? And if not, why not and how do I correct it?

私は本当に神経質で日本語を話します。日本語の勉強が 趣味です、でも毎日はたらいています。　毎日勉強する のは大変そして私のアクセントがへたです…

Any Japanese would understand everything that you said. It makes perfect sense.

If I had to make changes to make it sound more natural, I would change the following parts:

神経質で　＞　神経質に or better yet 神経質な感じで

If you say 「私は本当に神経質で日本語を話します」 it will look like you are stating the two following facts:
1. You are a really nervous person.
2. You speak Japanese.

This clearly isn't what you would want to say; therefore. I made the change.
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「日本語の勉強が趣味です、でも毎日はたらいています 。」 may be intelligible enough but I don't see how well the でも is connecting the two phrases. You are saying "Studying Japanese is my hobby but I work every day." Do you see the problem?

A more logical sentence would be 「毎日仕事をしているので、日本語の勉強は趣味です。 」.　Notice we use 仕事をする rather than はたらく in these phrases.　
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「毎日勉強するのは大変そして私のアクセントがへたで す」

You cannot say 「大変そして」　unless it's followed immediately by another na-adjective. Either use two sentences or connect them with the continuative form 大変で.　I hate to sound technical but we don't use そして nearly as often as English-speakers use "and".　

「毎日勉強するのは大変です。また、私のアクセントはへたです。」
or
「毎日勉強するのは大変で、私のアクセントはへたです。」

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

2. You mean "ます to more informal"? Young men and women don't take more than a few minutes to switch these days.

That's good to read. It's always been a sticking point for me when to switch. I tend to switch within a few minutes of meeting someone around my age outside of work, but I never knew if it was normal or not.

I also tend to take my cues from everyone else. If my friend introduced me to someone, and then my friend and that person used だ form, I would switch to it as well.

I hope that's normal.