Would ya'?

Stansfield123 wrote:

Would ya'?

Haha! Should've expected that.

Thanks, JapaneseRule. Is it used effectively the same way? Or should I expect some interesting nuances as I progress with the language?

There's plenty of sarcasm in Japanese  literature, but you can't really directly apply the English formula of "Oh hey, I'll say the opposite of what I mean while rolling my eyes, that's funny right?" Doesn't work at all and just gets you confused looks.

Animosophy wrote:

Stansfield123 wrote:

Would ya'?

Haha! Should've expected that.

Thanks, JapaneseRule. Is it used effectively the same way? Or should I expect some interesting nuances as I progress with the language?

Well, to be honest, just about every aspect of Japanese has interesting nuances that differ from English.  So, in a word, yes.

But to give you an example, I often joke around with new people (okay, girls) I meet using positive sarcasm.  I don't know if this is a verbatim example, but this seems like the sort of thing I would say:

"So what kinds of food do you like?" This is an easy, safe question for someone you've just met.

"Oh, I like everything," is her reply.

"So beef, chicken, monkeys, delicious puppies . . ."

"No, no!  Not like that!"

"No, that's okay," I continue, "I mean, we all enjoy monkey burgers, and hot 'dogs' made from real dogs . . ."

"Oh my god, no, that's not what I meant!"  She says, hopefully laughing at this point.

"Well, I knew you were an 'animal lover,' but I had no idea . . ."

...... So that kind of thing.  As for negative sarcasm, I guess I've used it in fights with girlfriends, and had it used on me, usually in a passive-aggressive way. 

"So, you couldn't call me last night?" she says.

"Sorry, I was a little busy."

"Oh, 'busy.'  But not so busy that you couldn't stop by the bar and see your friends, right?"

"Sorry, I had a hard week."

"No, that's okay.  I understand you're too 'busy' and 'work so hard' that you can't see me.  That's fine.  Don't worry about me."

.....See, just like in English!

Animosophy wrote:

Or should I expect some interesting nuances as I progress with the language?

In general you should expect failures to come in two forms.  First, the idea that you are being sarcastic could be due to a language issue.  Maybe you didn't express it in the Japanese-way so you sound too much like google-translate or perhaps they don't consider your Japanese to be at a high enough level to express such creativity.

Second, there might be a lack of a social context for the sarcasm.  If your audience is more familiar with western movies and dramas or if you express something that is a popular meme in Japanese then it will be more easily understood.

Your best bet for sarcasm humor is manzai and variety shows.  If you want the more aggressive kind of sarcasm you can find it in high school dramas.  (The bad guys and girls tend to make very direct but sarcastic comments.)

It's never too early to start so try some 当たり前体操.  (Not strictly sarcasm but it's trivial to understand, subtitled and will start to give you an idea of how Japanese structure humor.)