Having the right things in your back pocket during conversations

Japanese
#1

For me conversations in Japanese have never been easy. Hell, they’re not always easy for me in English. Sometimes I just run out of things to say. Sometimes I can’t find the right vocabulary or even summon the right grammar to express what I need to express.

I’ve been having more and more conversations with Japanese people, in all age ranges and from all types of backgrounds and regions of Japan. I ask the typical things, they ask the typical things. How long have you been here, where are you from, what hobbies, how do you like the local weather. Sometimes I’ll even throw in a cringe Oyaji gyagu. But sometimes I get thrown a curveball. Recently I got into a somewhat heated argument about traditional art vs modern commercial art. Didn’t have everything I needed for such a conversation, but I tried my best.

For those who speak Japanese regularly, what are one or two phrases that you feel have helped you flow better in conversations?

Could be anything, even grammar or vocab that you maybe didn’t think was helpful but ended up being a life saver.

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#2

「貴様は無知だ。この俺の言うこと分かる由もないだろ。」

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#3

I talk with all sorts of people, but I unfortunately don’t talk to shounen anime characters, so don’t think I’ll be able to use this, lol.

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#4

Well, if you want, you can change 貴様 to 君 and この俺 to the pronoun you use!

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#5

別の話ですが has been my go-to lately when I think of something kinda related or unrelated that I want to mention

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#6

Ah also a bit basic but throwing the topic back to the other person like, どう思いますか or ○○知っていますか or 興味がありますか

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#7

I’m a big fan of 私にとって and ○○として for giving personal opinions/thoughts.
And I tend to get asked “what’s ○○ like in America” a lot, so によって違います is a lifesaver.

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#8

so real bc whenever I say something about back home, people are like “so everyone there does that??” and I’m like uhhhhhhhhhhh 人によって、、、かもしれない。

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#9

天気は-
場所によって違います
宗教は-
人によって違います
食べ物-
場所や人によって違います

Like of course I always try to then explain or give examples, but yeah that particular phrase gets a lot of use, lol.

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#10

For ease of use you can also usually just omit the 違います!

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#11

Yeah I think I do half the time, this was just for the humor XD

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#12

I also use 「何々」によって（違う）a ton. My other current go-to’s are そういうわけではない and かもしれません. In a proper conversation, I swear I use those like every other sentence.

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#13

Natural use of filler words (including knowing when to use which intuitively) is quite important and something I think would instantly boost the perceived fluency of a lot of learners (I am talking your えっとs、あのs、なんかs、というかs、なんていうかs、まあs、and so on). They also buy you thinking time if you need it.

I’d also suggest knowing a phrase or two like “正しい言い方・呼び方がわかんないけど” to preface when you’re about to describe or talk about something you don’t quite have the vocabulary for.

Correct use of んだけど to introduce a topic in a softer way is probably quite a useful way to up the feeling of naturalness. E.g., when you want to start telling an anecdote but are not sure how to launch into it.

Now that I am thinking there are so many elements to a good, free-flowing conversation that I will stop there before I write an essay（笑）

The phrase 人それぞれ may come in handy for this sort of situation.

10 Likes
#14

Please write an essay! I love reading Bunpro staff deep dives lol.

On my end, I agree with what others have said above. I also am a shameless over-user of the phrase 「しらんけど」(once a Kansai girl, always a Kansai girl) which my Kanto friends always get a kick out of.

At work, させてもらう (JLPT N3) | Bunpro gets used by myself and coworkers a lot, and is a good one to know if you’re wanting to take the initiative on something.

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#15

I use this too and I have nooo idea where I picked it up LMAO but Tokyo people laugh at me too

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#16

It feels so natural to say! Or in Canadian English, it’s so common to say “I’m not sure though” to soften things a bit, so しらんけど kind of feels like an extension of that?

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#17

Clearly this just shows the impeccable taste of everyone here :triumph:

Extremely little addition, but even just stuff like your マジで or 本当か kind of reactions and あいづち to show you’re listening - that one’s less language specific and more of a cultural thing, but it does help from a conversational standpoint, so /shrug

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#18

Wow, a ton of useful expressions! Thanks everyone!

(meanwhile me, そうですね-ing my way through every conversation…)

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#19

なんかよくわかんないけどさー・ーそういうことなんじゃないかな？ Gentle 相槌 if someone has a completely different opinion and read the room.
言い切らないようにavoid conflictってfeel

I do this all the time in my native language and I do think this goes beyond the language and just being an open minded person and making people comfortable talking to you despite differences though, 異文化交流 and not 言い張る.

As for useful vocab I built up a varied amount of vocabulary outside of my main interests so I can vaguely follow any topic that I am usually not that interested in by grabbing a wide variety of tv shows, manga and novels to study from and grab anything that seems like it will come up in conversation. Picking anything that seems useful from a medical show and a police/lawyer show and you’ll find yourself able to follow recent events or having a decent grasp of what to say to a police officer or health worker if something bad happens. Can learn a lot about everyday things from a Camping show, a DIY show or music terms by grabbing words from a band/orchestra show. I have leisure media and study media where I know there will be words I should learn to grow my portfolio of words in that topic. If I only stuck to my main interests I don’t think I’d progress much.

You’ll never know what kind of odd word you may end up needing one day. I did in fact hear 梅毒 in a face-to-face conversation not long after learning it. Knowing medical terms are great for empathizing with people, basically everyone you meet will have a kind of medical problem at some point, and you will too.

1 Like
#20

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. A lot of interesting stuff. A little surprised that I use a lot of this stuff myself. Particularly, 人によって、として、の立場から。A lot of filler words, あの、なんか。

I also tend to use そんな感じ, after explaining something.