Japanese Lingo – Talking About Yourself

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

As far as I know there are about 4 different words for “I.” I’ll cover the words “you” later, but for now I’ll try to explain “I.” Since I really never knew all of these before coming here, perhaps it can give you a headstart if you’re coming to Japan soon. Each word varies in level of politeness and can change rapidly depending on who you’re talking to and the circumstances surrounding the occasion.

There are also two more ways to refer to yourself which are “Jibun no” and “Uchi no,” but they have slightly different meaning that leans more towards “my own.” Perhaps I’ll cover those later.

Watakushi:
This is by far the most polite way to refer to yourself and I’ve only heard it maybe five times at most. It’s only reserved for the most important of occasions or if you want to be extremely respectful to someone you meet for the first time.

Watashi:
This is the standard way to refer to yourself so you really can’t go wrong with it. In some situations, like if you know someone quite well, it can be too formal sounding and uncool, but no one can really get upset with you for being overly polite.

Boku:
This is one more step down the politeness ladder, but is still okay to use in most situations where you know someone well, or if you’re older than them. I’ve heard from friends that girls also think that it sounds cute for guys to use which is a plus. Unless your talking to your boss or someone much older than you, you should be just fine using this word.

Ore (pron. Ohr-ray):
Here is where we get into tricky territory. The consensus I’ve heard about this word is that it carries somewhat of a bragging and macho tone to it. I had never heard this word before coming to Japan so I used it quite frequently after learning it because it’s quick, easy to say, and also rolls right off the tongue after drinking a bit. As such, you always hear drunk salary men at bars and on the train using this word.

For the extra “tough guy” umph I’ve heard people roll the ‘r’ like you would in Spanish but I wouldn’t recommend it unless your obviously joking or you wanna get your ass kicked.

After unwittingly offending a few people, I now only use this word around guys roughly my own age that I’m on friendly terms with and it’s completely ok.

I hope that helps. I’ll try to cover the various words for “you” soon.