Been emailing back and forth for a while with a language partner and slowly we are throwing in more plain style Japanese.

Is there a common phrase to use to switch or is it best to let it happen naturally?

Also what's the opposite of 丁寧 ? something like 普通言葉 perhaps ?

One option could be something like "砕けた言葉".

Definitions and examples for "砕ける" from Yahoo

Monolingual definition:

Quote:４ 話・文章などが、わかりやすくなる。「―・けた表現

J-E Examples:

Quote:3〔「くだけた」の形で，気取らない〕

・ くだけた態度で話す
talk in a free and easy manner

・ くだけた言い方をする
speak informally

・ これ以上くだけた説明はできない
This is as simple [plain／easy] as I can make it.

・ なかなかくだけた人だった
He was quite affable.

・ くだけた服装をしていた
He was in casual [informal] clothes.

socrat Wrote:Also what's the opposite of 丁寧 ? something like 普通言葉 perhaps ?

タメ口、タメ語

socrat Wrote:Is there a common phrase to use to switch or is it best to let it happen naturally?

「タメ口でいいよ」

iSoron Wrote:タメ口、タメ語

Yeah, I've used「タメ語でいいですか？」or something similar before.

Conversations seem to quickly head that way naturally, but you might have to be a bit more explicit with written communication. The few people I've spoken to through e-mail seem to use polite language no matter how informal our conversations have become. Literally going from forms like ねえ at a cafe to 敬語 in a text message.

Javizy Wrote:Conversations seem to quickly head that way naturally, but you might have to be a bit more explicit with written communication. The few people I've spoken to through e-mail seem to use polite language no matter how informal our conversations have become. Literally going from forms like ねえ at a cafe to 敬語 in a text message.

From my experience, my female Japanese friends do this while my male Japanese friends don't. Of course, I can't generalize all people, but that seems to be the pattern.

Javizy Wrote:Yeah, I've used「タメ語でいいですか？」or something similar before.

When I want to get even more casual, I say "テメー語でいいですか".

Ok, I just made that up.

Mushi Wrote:

Javizy Wrote:Yeah, I've used「タメ語でいいですか？」or something similar before.

When I want to get even more casual, I say "テメー語でいいですか".

Ok, I just made that up.

Isn't テメー a really impolite way of saying 'you' that is used heavily in most 少年アニメ?

I don't think you need to force it, just start using plain form and they'll probably follow suit.