IceCream
Closed Account
Registered: 2009-05-08
Posts: 3124
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Last edited by IceCream (2011 February 05, 8:05 am)
Asriel
Member
From: 東京
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 1343
I hear わ a lot more often than I hear かしら in my daily life. The girl one, not the 松本人志 one. Although, it has been used mainly with girls who I would consider "valley girls," in a sense -- not the "I'm a cute and gentle girl, using わ to show how feminine I am," but more along the lines of the "So, like, I'm totally like, a girl わ. I just got my nails and hair did. Look at me, わ!" type
I agree with かしら though, i've mainly heard women over 30 say it...but I don't hang out with women over 30 very often 
Javizy
Member
From: England
Registered: 2007-02-16
Posts: 770
IceCream wrote:
For だろう、it's just でしょう、でしょう。。。
How about the ditzy sounding「っしょ？」?
I think working in lots of の sounds very girly. Recently, I spoke to someone named のり, which I assumed was a guy's name, on Skype. One of the first things "he" said was 「そうなの？」and I immediately became suspicious. It turns out のり is short for のりこ and she is most definitely a girl.
I don't think it's so easy to draw lines though. My girlfriend doesn't really use anything in terms of language that would give away her sex. Generally using ～ないで and choosing ね over な are subtle hints, but still acceptable for guys. She, and a number of other girls I've spoken to (including のり), seem to use だろう more than でしょう too.
Most of the explanations you'll read are nothing but a very general guide. I think you should try making friends with some girls your age and developing your own sense of what is natural. In addition to age and personality, region is a big factor, although I guess you'll be focusing on 標準語.
Of course there's the gender-neutral わ with falling intonation, which has some association with Kansai-ben but is used a lot even by Tokyo-ites (men and women). 寒いわ。 is something that I say (with falling intonation).
As people are indicating, there's a lot of difference in region and individual speaker as far as what type of language they would use. I think for a foreigner you should just try to follow some of the basic guidelines.
Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 May 12, 7:39 pm)
Nukemarine wrote:
IceCream wrote:
thanks 油断大敵！！！ ：Ｄ
Oh! Yuudandaiteki. Yeah, that doesn't make sense right off the bat. Are those the right characters for his Romaji name?
Yeah, that's it. I forget when I started using this name, but I needed something that wasn't my real name (for some reason) and I picked this out of thin air. I guess it's applicable to Japanese learning but the choice was pretty much totally random. (I suppose it really should be yuudantaiteki but oh well...)
Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 May 15, 9:29 am)
thermal
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2007-11-30
Posts: 399
Roughly I think it's like this
かしら - 50+
noun よ・ね - 40+ However this is used by younger women when addressing kids as well.
わ - 25+ - This is quite womanly. So you will get young mature girls who will use it, but on the whole 30+ women use it. Of course, if they aren't very womanly they probably won't.
Also, note that in different dialects around Japan men use this with a different nuance. This usage is spreading I believe.
の statement - 5+ ? This is what young girls will use. It sounds girly and cute. Pretty much all girls use this. But it seems as you age it is used less.
の question - Men and women use this. It is soft, but it isn't girly.
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So basically, I would use の often and わ sometimes depending on how womanly you are..
Last edited by thermal (2010 May 16, 7:51 am)
