One thing I've noticed about my speaking lately is that I get a bit lost in long sentences when trying to tell my partner about what happened on the train this morning, or a funny story about my friend. I probably need to make better use of connectives, but I'm sure there's room for improvement all round.

I was wondering if anybody knew of a podcast or blog or something with lots of short stories, especially ones told in the first person. Otherwise, any tips or advice other than just 'practice!'?

I don't know of any; I just wanted to say that I think everyone has this problem -- I've read some linguistic articles suggesting that storytelling is one of the most difficult oral skills for a foreign language learner (no matter what the language).

I don't listen to many podcasts or web radio things, but interview-style shows might help, particularly ones that are more casual. I know anime voice actors often do such shows and tell stories during it.

Check out 松本人志のすべらない話. I know you can find some of it on d-addicts.

It's basically...comedians gather around a table and tell funny stories. The rules are that they have to be true, and they have to be funny.

I'm pretty sure it fits exactly what you're looking for, and as a bonus, it's hilarious!

Asriel Wrote:Check out 松本人志のすべらない話. I know you can find some of it on d-addicts.

It's basically...comedians gather around a table and tell funny stories. The rules are that they have to be true, and they have to be funny.

I'm pretty sure it fits exactly what you're looking for, and as a bonus, it's hilarious!

This can't be a coincidence, as I say this the 2 newest torrents at d-addicts are massive collections of 人志松本の滑らない話 /まるまるな話.
I mean, one of the torrents was posted like a minute after you posted that, that's a pretty amazing coincidence.

80gigs of 人志松本の~話, there goes my next 2 weeks

thecite Wrote:This can't be a coincidence, as I say this the 2 newest torrents at d-addicts are massive collections of 人志松本の滑らない話 /まるまるな話.
I mean, one of the torrents was posted like a minute after you posted that, that's a pretty amazing coincidence.

80gigs of 人志松本の~話, there goes my next 2 weeks

haha! TOTAL coincidence!
Buuuuuttt, now that you mention it, I might just be heading over that way to take advantage of this

you can try looking up rakugo as well.



there's a show called 人志松本の滑らない話?

AKB48's been doing a segment called 高橋みなみすべらない話。 so that's where it came from...

you can look that up on youtube if you want to find out how NOT to tell a story.

Ah yea yeah...TIGER AND DRAGON!!!

kainzero Wrote:you can try looking up rakugo as well.

Rakugo is pretty stylized and not really a good way to learn how to tell a casual story in conversation. If you tried to tell friends about something that happened to you in the manner of a rakugo performer they would likely laugh at you (not at your story).

On the whole, if your goal is to improve your ability to relate your own experiences to others in conversations, your models should *not* be people telling stories that that they have rehearsed or practiced, or stories that are being delivered to an audience. These are different skills than telling a story to a friend in a casual conversation.

Asriel Wrote:Check out 松本人志のすべらない話. I know you can find some of it on d-addicts.

It's basically...comedians gather around a table and tell funny stories. The rules are that they have to be true, and they have to be funny.

I'm pretty sure it fits exactly what you're looking for, and as a bonus, it's hilarious!

thanks... this sounds like exactly something i was hoping for too!!!!! definately gonna check it out!!!

This is something I've learned how to do from watching countless variety shows. Hosts, guests, everyone's always telling stories. Also, podcasts. Actually, I really recommend a podcast called 池袋なう, I've learned a ton about how to speak natural, native-sounding Japanese from it. It's just a guy and a girl talking with no set topic, but I find it pretty funny: http://www.voiceblog.jp/ikebukuronow/

The last episode about Facebook was pretty interesting actually.

I generally use て+さ a lot. It's a bit 関東ish, and is a result of the stuff I listen to.

俺さ、今朝目黒で電車に乗ってさ、めっちゃ臭いヲタっぽい人がいてさ・・・

And begin new sentences that follow the story on with で.

で、やっぱ何も出来なくて我慢しようと思って・・・

てさ is not kanto-ish, it's valley-girl-like youth (highschool) speech.
Unless you're in your early 20s (and a woman or at least a charachara man) at the oldest I would limit your use of it.

Same for っていうか

Thanks for the feedback. 松本人志のすべらない話 sounds like just the sort of thing I had in mind. Video will add an extra dimension of usefulness as well.

fakewookie Wrote:Actually, I really recommend a podcast called 池袋なう
...
I generally use て+さ a lot. It's a bit 関東ish, and is a result of the stuff I listen to.

I'll check out your recommendation. I find that use of さ pretty annoying, to be honest, especially なんかさぁ. My 関西 g/f says she finds it annoying how much 関東人 overuse it since she moved to Tokyo, as well. For some reason, it just reminds me of ギャル. When I said connectives, I had things like そこで、それから、そのとき etc in mind, since I have a habit of just てing like your example sentence, and it ends up sounding totally unstructured, and makes it hard to reach a good オチ.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Same for っていうか

What are you supposed to say instead when you want to "adjust" something you just said, rather than outright correct it, like 女々しいっていうか、男らしくない? I also use it when I'm uncertain about the nuance of a word I haven't used before, and sometimes なんていうんだろう when I'm struggling to remember something or hoping for some help. What sounds girly about it? And what are the alternatives?

Jarvik7 Wrote:てさ is not kanto-ish, it's valley-girl-like youth (highschool) speech.
Unless you're in your early 20s (and a woman or at least a charachara man) at the oldest I would limit your use of it.

Same for っていうか

I don't know, I think that's quite a generalisation. I hear it plenty from guys around my age (I'm 21). I mean, it's like saying that saying "like" all the time is valley girl speech. Sure, it's characteristic of that style of speaking, but that doesn't mean that plenty of normal people don't also say "like" all the time. There are no set rules here.

My favorite podcast:

四畳半スクリーマー
四畳半スクリーマー・過去の放送
Homepage

Beware: excessive amount of toilet humor (うんこ、ちんこ、オナニー等)!