Gender Differences

[Nucks]

Alright i been getting a lot of talking about "Gender Differences" What does it mean.
Does it mean that female couldn't teach male Japanese because of their tone of voice, or is there more to it. Is it the grammar or something. And srry if this post doent make sense

i might not get a reply 4 along time cuz i only say one thread and didnt get much from it.

[lemonaid]

Well, I could make some sense out of what you wrote.

One answer to your question could perhaps be that there is a difference between male and female speech as you said. Females tend to speak softer by using different sentence ending particles and accenting different syllables. Another answer could be that Japan is not considered most advanced in terms of gender equality. Women tend to earn less than men (like in most countries) and have greater difficulties with climbing the career ladder.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Another common feature of female speech is that they use politer language than the situation requires.

[a_iwai]

From the Japanese Wikipedia "女性語(the female language)"

I picked and translated a few sentences from it.;
The female language in Japanese as modern meaning, was born in the Meiji era (1868-1912). In the origin of the female language, there is an opinion that it come from "てよだわ言葉(te-yo-da-wa words)" a girl student of the bourgeoisie of the Meiji era used. The words such as "よくってよ" and "いやだわ" had been in fashion. It had been called such as "strange words", and it had been criticized by the cultured person.

I'm interested in this opinion. When I looked at this line, I recalled "ギャル語(gyaru go; it is Japanese girl's language of nowadays)". I think about the possibility that "ギャル語" might become the female language of Japanese in the future.

[two_heads_talking]

@ a_iwai

that is certainly a distinct possibility. Although, it seems that Japanese females have always played the "role" of the polite submissive in public, however, I highly doubt that is the case all the time.

[Harisenbon]

two_heads_talking wrote:
that is certainly a distinct possibility. Although, it seems that Japanese females have always played the "role" of the polite submissive in public, however, I highly doubt that is the case all the time.

are you familiar with the phrase 猫を被る？

[two_heads_talking]

I can't say I am familiar with that one. (the cat is worn. right?)

[a_iwai]

I think it is interesting comment that is expressing a gap between an ideal and a real. So, I would picked and tried to translate a few sentences from above link again.

***************
Although recently the female language is decaying as a spoken language, even now in a novel, comics, lyrics, the drama etc, it is often used to emphasize that a speaker is a woman. Since most people of the production side of the imaging productions (such as movies) are men, it seems to be part of the reason for remaining of the female language in the movies and the other productions. In the animations written its original by female writer, from 1990's the (typical) female language is decaying as same as the facts of the situation of Japan.
***************

It suggests;
Although females have always played in front of the males the "made-up role" of the polite submissive in public, there have also been many men who have liked it. If not so, the female language have not been remaining.

現実と妄想、作品として残されるものはどちら？

[two_heads_talking]

a_iwai wrote:


It suggests;
Although females have always played in front of the males the "made-up role" of the polite submissive in public, there have also been many men who have liked it. If not so, the female language have not been remaining.

現実と妄想、作品として残されるものはどちら？

I agree. I believe now, more than ever, the female uses the roles that society dictates, to further herself and her goals. In my opinion, this happened in the past, but ithappens more often now, as more and more Japanese are shown Western and "outside of Japan" ideals..

[doinkies]

I found an interesting article about 女言葉:

http://www.cic.sfu.ca/tqj/GettingRight/womencomedown.html

I suppose I agree with what a_iwaiさん said, there aren't a lot of real-life women nowadays who use total 女言葉 like ending all their sentences with わ and whatnot, though many will still put お in front of some words. I've only really heard characters in movies/anime/manga/J-dramas, etc. use complete 女言葉 to emphasize their femininity, though even then, not all female characters do. I suppose it depends on the personality of the character.

[Harisenbon]

two_heads_talking wrote:
I can't say I am familiar with that one. (the cat is worn. right?)

To wear a cat, would be more literal I think.

It's essentially the practice of being polite and demure and "Japanesey" in public, or before marriage, but after returning to the house (or getting married) revealing one's true self.

My mother-in-law is the perfect example of this. When she used to go out in public with her husband, she was very demure, polite and played the perfect Japanese wife. As soon as she got home it was 「ああ、しんどいしんどい！あんた、スリッパを持って来い！」

[a_iwai]

To Harisenbon-san;
Ahaha! Certainly it is rarely appeared in Japanese traditional literary works. It is like a comedy! I recalled the word "かかあ天下".

To doinkies-san;
It was slightly hard to me to read it. But I think it is certainly interesting article. Especially, it was interesting to me that female's ability to talk more politely seemed to be universal thing of the world. And I realized again "language is a living thing". Thank you for your finding of the web-site.

関係ないですけれど、なぜ2階だけ"お"が付くのか考えてしまいました。