BEGINNER Japanese INFORMAL (colloquial) speech

This is the beginner-level "informal speech" course. I put "romaji" to all the Japanese kana (letters), so if you are not 100% sure about your hiragana reading skills, do not worry. There are lectures of a basic informal speech guidance, and a lot of practice sessions of verb and adjective conjugation, and the lectures of useful chunks and fillers, some of them might not be taught in traditional language classes.

*Why informal speech?

There are basically two different modes of speaking in Japanese language. “Informal” = “colloquial”or "casual" , Japanese and “formal” = “polite” Japanese. English also has them, right? Imagine when you talk to your boss, your mode of speech is not the same as when you talk to your close friends, is it? There is a multiple layers of "politeness" in Japanese.

If you are a native Japanese and do not know how to speak both of them, you will be in trouble because people might judge you as “rude” or “uneducated”, however, most of the time, non-native learners are supposed to learn the “formal” form of speaking Japanese, in other words, “polite” Japanese.

But, let’s say when you are walking around Tokyo and hear what people are saying, or when you watch anime, you realize that few of them speak “formal” and “polite” Japanese with their friends and family. The conversation between native speakers is hard to pick up because the speaking mode is quite different. Native Japanese can switch the mode immediately and unconsciously by reading the room, however, it is difficult for non-Japanese.

The only way to acquire them is to learn and practice! In this course, you will learn how to speak Japanese casually. What you are actually going to do is, to learn the conjugation of verbs and adjectives, and practice them a lot.  Some people do not like to study grammar, but it is very important to understand the grammar to learn a new language because you can't construct any sentences without any knowledge of grammar.

You might be overwhelmed by the differences between "informal" and "formal" modes of speech, but gradually you will see "patterns".  If you can understand "informal" Japanese speech, it could allow you to expand the horizon and have more access to the world of "authentic" Japanese language.  Why not learn them?