@CarolinaCG: I agree. I watched a lot of Detective Conan and I really like the way sleeping Kogoro speaks, so I started using a lot of his language in my entries on Lang8 and got corrected with comments like オヤジっぽく聞こえるんだ。 lol

I'm so jealous of guys because there seems to be a lot more creative Japanese that they can use.  For example, I would absolutely love to be able to refer to myself as 僕　because it sounds really cute, but it would be a bad idea since it would sound weird and unnatural. あたし doesn't really work since I'm not young and stylish, and うち probably would sound strange coming from a non-native Japanese.  So I'm stuck with 私. 
There are some other things like　腹減った that I've been chided for using (too boyish). 

Maybe seinen manga or manga aimed at older readers would have some good examples for you to work from.  Shonen manga would definitely be a bad idea though.
A really good textbook like Tobira would also be able to help with this.  Tobira actually has a chapter discussing speech styles, and their example conversations use fairly masculine speech.

merlin.codex wrote:

You can use 僕 when referring to your companion.

ex: 「僕はそれでいいかもしれないけど、私はいやです」

Yeah, a girl that I see off and on does this to me, and it confused me the first time she did it.  She also refers to herself by her first name which I find a bit strange (mostly because I usually associate that with girls like 10 years younger than her).

merlin.codex wrote:

You can use 僕 when referring to your companion.

ex: 「僕はそれでいいかもしれないけど、私はいやです」

You have to be careful with this. It can come off as insulting if used with the wrong tone or towards the wrong kind of person.

merlin.codex wrote:

Using the expression itself implies that you and your companion are in a close or a friendly relationship. The tone doesn't really matter.

It can also imply that the person you're talking to is boyish or childish, and should be used with caution toward more manly types (e.g. people who refer to themselves as 俺), even if you are friendly with them.

Last edited by JimmySeal (2012 April 23, 1:55 am)

quark wrote:

I'm so jealous of guys because there seems to be a lot more creative Japanese that they can use.

merlin wrote:

There are no written rules, which virtually allows anyone to use whatever he or she wants, so it's a question of experience.

Definitely this.  The way language is used is definitely a lot more flexible than one is lead to believe from text books. 

Quark, once your Japanese gets better you will be able to "feel" the difference between あたし, わたし, うち, etc (as opposed to reading a description from a text book).  When you get to that point, you will probably be using different words to refer to yourself at different times when talking to different people.  It'll just be natural at that point.  Don't worry about it too much now.

merlin.codex wrote:

I was discussing 僕, not 俺, but whatever. I made my point.

You apparently missed my point.  If a girl uses the word 僕 to refer to someone who calls himself 俺, there is a good chance that he will find it mildly insulting or condescending.

Last edited by JimmySeal (2012 April 23, 3:04 am)

I just think its wrong to advise immersion when the person lives in Canada