How I’ve Learned Japanese Part 1: “Desu” & “Masu”
Over the next month or two, I intend to write about once a week with some of the things that have helped me as I’ve learned Japanese. I was going to call this series ‘How I Learned Japanese’, but I decided to go with ‘How I’ve Learned Japanese’, which suggests that it is not something that I did and have now finished, but rather is an ongoing process… I’m sure that I will never be able to say that ‘I now know it all’… Indeed, I’m sure there is plenty in the English language that I don’t know, and I’ve been speaking that all my life…
I began studying Japanese about 18 years ago, when I learned that I would be coming to Japan for 2 years as a missionary. I had no previous experience with the language, and would end up having just a 2 month intensive language course before arriving in Japan where I would have to learn the language quickly in order to communicate with people on an every day basis. The first several months were tough, and I studied basic grammar and vocabulary for at least 1-2 hours every day for the first 2-3 months of my stay. This gave me the basis on which I could build.
This is not intended to be an article to recommend specific courses or specific text books. I find that everyone has different styles that they enjoy. I am simply trying to set out what I did, and how I managed to reach a level where I was able to communicate. To understand and be understood. In general, when I teach my English students, I tell them that this should the first aim of learning to speak a language – to understand and be understood. Grammatical perfection is secondary… It is far better to open your mouth and use what you’ve got, than to wait until you are perfectly confident that you have prepared a perfect sentence. With the former method your conversation can move ahead, but with the latter method both you and your conversational partners will tire quickly….
Having said that, there is merit to making sure that you learn Japanese the right way, and making sure that you thoroughly understand the basic grammatical rules, including the use of desu and masu, and the various particles that can cause headaches initially. One of my first Japanese teachers gave me some advice that I have never forgotten, and which helped me to quickly gain a lot more confidence with my Japanese. He said that at least initially, I should always try to use desu or masu to finish my sentences.
Japanese is of course a language with many levels of language, from the common and simple forms of verbs like taberu or miru (eat, see), to the slightly more polite forms of tabemasu or mimasu, and the even more polite forms such as meshiagarimasu or goran ni narimasu. When starting out learning Japanese, I always recommend that you use the desu and masu form of sentences as much as possible. Certainly there will be plenty of situations where the more simple forms will be tolerated and even preferable (such as when you are with good friends), but it is a good habit to get into early on to always finish off your sentences with a desu or a masu, as this actually makes your Japanese sound more accomplished.
Many foreigners fall into the trap of learning the simplified forms of verbs and of not finishing off their sentences with the desu or masu form, and if this kind of language is used in more formal situations such as with your boss at work, or at a store, or in other situations where you are less familiar with the person that you are speaking to, it can sound a little too ‘common’, and less respectful. In a society where such things can really matter, especially if you are looking for a job or wanting some extra help for something, being in the habit of using the more polite forms of sentences can really help you. It also makes your Japanese sound so much better, even better than you may think it is…
Another additional point is the use of the words watashi or watakushi for ‘I’, and anata for ‘you’. You will commonly hear the use of the more common boku for ‘I’ (or sometimes even ore), but I always find that it is best to get into the habit of using the slightly more formal watashi or watakushi. Again, in a situation where you are dealing with people that you are less familiar with, this is a must. And I still use it even in situations with friends. The same with anata instead of kimi or other similar words for ‘you’.
I’m sure that some people may feel that I’m being slightly over the top in some of these suggestions, but the collumn is titled how I’ve learned Japanese, and this is it…. I’ve found through my time in Japan that using the more polite forms of words and sentences can earn you a lot of respect, and getting into this kind of habit early can really help you to understand things like conjugating verbs etc. There is no need however to go further, and use some of the more honorific forms of language. In fact, I would recommend against that for anyone that isn’t sure what they are doing. This is very much a ‘don’t try this at home’ kind of field…. (/sarc). Unless you are dealing with very important clients or other similar situations where extreme politeness is required, and if you are still starting out with the language, there are few situations where the desu and masu forms will be inadequate.
One final point is with reference to the learning of different dialects, such as kansai-ben or aomori-ben etc. Personally, I recommend against it for the first year or two of learning Japanese. I have met some foreigners who can speak really well in a particular dialect, but when it comes to the standard language that is spoken now across the country, they can struggle. This is another reason why it can be a good habit to use desu and masu forms of sentences, and not to focus too much effort on learning the various dialects. It can be fun and interesting as a side thing, but I find it far better to focus first on learning the standard language before putting too much effort into picking up other dialects. I speak from experience here too, because I spent my first 6 or 7 years in Japan in the ‘countryside’, in areas from Aomori to Niigata. There was certainly planty of opportunity to learn the dialects, but by focusing my attention on standard Japanese I feel that it has helped me a great deal in the long run…
Next week I’ll have part 2. As I said at the beginning, this isn’t meant to be the only way that someone can learn Japanese, but I hope that maybe some of the things that I have learned and experienced may give some encouragement to someone that is starting out with the language. I am also developing a list of resources that can be used to study Japanese online, so if you have any that you use and enjoy please post them in the comments section. I hope to get that list up in the next week or two…
Related posts:
- How I’ve Learned Japanese Part 2: Hiragana & Katakana
- Using Japanese Words to Remember Numbers
- Japanese Words #4 – Otsukaresama & Gokurosama
- Japanese Words #5 – Sumimasen
Tags: Learning Japanese
So, you can speak the simplified form too though right? Because it’s also quite rude to speak ~desu and ~masu to a friend or someone you work with as it’ll sound rather cold. In my experience, speaking normal japanese straight off the bat will get most japanese people to open up a lot faster; they wont feel confined by the traditional politeness levels.
There is no real reason for you to use desu and masu forms, and your japanese teacher simply told you there was because of the long held belief by japanese teachers that foreigners ought to use polite form all the time. I only felt like I was even getting to basic level of fluency once I discovered the basic form and all the wonderful things you could do with it!
From a language acquisition view I think it is better to learn the basic form and then move on to changing the verb endings to all the various forms than to learn one specific verb ending and have to backtrack to the simplified form.
Of course, there are situations even in a gaijin life where keigo is appropriate, but 95% of the time standard language will sound a lot more natural.
“How I’ve learned Japanese” sounds like…actually i’m not sure what it means.It makes me think of the various methods you’ve utilized to accomplish the level you are at now, which I would presume to be fluent. Which is not much different from “How I learned Japanese”. How about “How I became proficient in Japanese” or “How I learn Japanese” if you want to siggest that you are still learning it. Just a thought.
keep up the series!
Thanks for the comment James. Though I have to disagree with you here. I understand what you are saying about the basic form, but desu and masu are not as formal as you seem to make out. When you are with close friends or people that you see on a daily basis, sure, the basic form is sufficient in most cases. But I believe that it is very important to start off being polite, and then relax into the basic form, rather than the other way around.
I have been in numerous situations where the use of the slightly more polite desu and masu have earned respect, as people recognize that I have a strong command of the language. This can also be invaluable in getting barriers to break down. Especially in business or in dealings with people in banks, shops, and a variety of other places that you will need to use Japanese on a daily basis. Using the basic form in these kind of situations can be considered quite rude.
I tend to think that it’s better for learners new to the language to start with the dictionary forms of the verbs, since those are what you need to get down in order to build on them and create your した and させる and させられたくなかった forms later on—and yes, even the ます forms that are the “basic level of politeness” you (rightly) value.
When Japanese toddlers learn their native tongue, those are the forms they start with. I know my daughter uses them heavily at age two and a half. Linguistically, they’re more helpful to the learner as a foundation for future learning, in my opinion.
The rudeness of the dictionary forms isn’t something to be concerned about at the stage where the speaker can’t string together meaningful, grammatical sentences of any length anyway. Japanese listeners aren’t going to be offended by the beginner’s dictionary-form mumblings any more than they’re offended by my daughter for her ungrammatical ways.
That said, my first teachers and textbooks started me off on ですます調 because that’s the way of the world in formal JFL education. I was lucky to be in Japan, though, so I had plenty of extracurricular learning time to pick up the language in its other forms at the same time.
Certainly it is important for a new learner to learn the dictionary or basic forms of words. However, most of the people that I am talking about here are not children, and they risk sounding childish if they do not have a command of desu and masu forms. Most people that you meet will certainly be forgiving of a foreigner speaking dictionary forms, but if you can get into the habit of converting these words into the desu and masu form from an early stage of your learning this will make your Japanese level increase much faster – and be recognized as such by Japanese people that you interact with. That is my experience anyway…
I’d have to agree with Durf and James on this one. If I was learning from scratch again, I’d start with dictionary form. It makes it much easier to learn how to conjugate verbs this way, since you “lose” information when you go to masu form. Dictionary form is the basic building block you can get to all other forms with.
For me, I use dictionary form with friends and co-workers I’m closer with, and masu and desu form for those I don’t know so well. The guys in my team at work are generally pretty laid-back, and use casual form between themselves all the time. Likewise, you’ll hear guys use boku and (less frequently) ore rather than watashi.
After a few months living here and having only studied polite forms at that point, some Japanese friends of mine asked me why I was always so overly formal using desu and masu all the time. Using casual forms are in a way an expression of how you view your relationship with them, so you can seem distant if you refrain from using them.
All that said, the expectations for foreigners’ Japanese is generally not too high. As long as you can get your point across, you’re doing very well indeed.
Guyjin, I really enjoyed this article. I’m still learning the language myself, and although using desu and masu all the time in actual conversation with everyone you know would be asinine because you could start to sound way to formal, I think it’s a good starting place for anyone learning the language. Once you have a good command over using desu and masu you can easily learn different conjugations for words. I see using desu and masu all the time as a lever that always goes back to the middle. Like… desu and masu is the form okay to use with anyone, but if you want to talk less formally, you can bend the lever to one side and lower the formalness, but once you’re done, you jump right back into desu/masu to talk to those you aren’t familiar with. As for me, in my Japanese class here at college, when we started learning verbs, they’re listed in the book in dictionary form, and we had to conjugate to masu form and weren’t allowed to use short form at all. So, if anything, I think that’s a good starting place.
This comment is several years after the original post, I know, but I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading it and the comments. I have to say, I agree with Guyjin about learning ~masu forms first, and here is why.
1. Sure, you can start by learning the dictionary forms for conjugation, and the Japanese people will think you are cute for trying. But you still look like you’re stumbling around the language. Why choose that on purpose?
2. If you start with the ~masu forms, you automatically look like you’ve actually studied the language at least a bit, and even the stumbling looks more polished. Plus, as you work on learning other forms it gives you a default to fall back on. That way your default level is tuned to “polite” and sure, it’s too formal for some situations, but having been here a few months (with years to go) I’m already seeing the benefits of knowing ~masu form over the more informal ones.
3. Americans in particular are used to a much less formal and polite method of speaking. By default, our language is very wordy, very familiar, and that’s fine. But the Japanese people have a different mentality to start with. If you come at it from an American perspective then sure, starting informal and working up is fine, and it feels weird to be all polite. But from a Japanese perspective, you’re showing them respect, and they’ll respect that and show you the same in return. It establishes a good framework from the start. If you start out all “yo, dog” to a Japanese person, it looks like you haven’t bothered to care about their society and culture.
Just my two cents. Again, years late, but I hope this blog is updated again since I really enjoy reading the posts!