Learning Japanese from a female can create bad habits on my form of speak as a male?


I'm learning Japanese mainly with books and other "neutral" sources, but I
have a female friend who is helping me with that too.

My main concern is if the fact that she being a women can makes me sound weird
or funny to native Japanese people.




Similar to you, I've studied Japanese with various resources, but the majority
of the people I've learned conversation from have been women.

On occasion I've been told by someone close to me that I have said things that
sound feminine, either in word usage or intonation. I've tried to be careful
about that and lately I haven't heard too many complaints in that area. But I
may still have a bit of a 'feminine' sound to some of my speech.

From a linguistic point of view, make sure you know what constructions can
sound feminine (〜のよ、そうよ、そうだわ, etc.). Just be aware that it is not black or
white, some expressions like そうね I think can sound a bit feminine (or not
exactly manly), but I've heard normal men say them.

Intonation is more difficult, and watching/listening to a variety of resources
(Dramas, movies, podcasts) with male speakers will help. You can try to help
your intonation out by practicing speaking lines from various male character,
just beware that much of the speech in fictional media (anime, etc.) is
exaggerated and doesn't necessarily express the tonality of people in the real
world.

I've noticed I tend to pick up the most language from people that I speak with
conversationally on a daily basis, so I think it's really good you make
friends with one or more Japanese guys. If you can't meet in person, Skype
should be fine.

Overall, as long as you have a good balance of male/female speakers in those
you speak with the most, I think you will be fine.

Also, if you want to record yourself saying a basic 自己紹介 and upload the MP3
here, maybe some of the native speakers on here can provide feedback about
your intonation.




Similar to you, I've studied Japanese with various resources, but the majority
of the people I've learned conversation from have been women.

On occasion I've been told by someone close to me that I have said things that
sound feminine, either in word usage or intonation. I've tried to be careful
about that and lately I haven't heard too many complaints in that area. But I
may still have a bit of a 'feminine' sound to some of my speech.

From a linguistic point of view, make sure you know what constructions can
sound feminine (〜のよ、そうよ、そうだわ, etc.). Just be aware that it is not black or
white, some expressions like そうね I think can sound a bit feminine (or not
exactly manly), but I've heard normal men say them.

Intonation is more difficult, and watching/listening to a variety of resources
(Dramas, movies, podcasts) with male speakers will help. You can try to help
your intonation out by practicing speaking lines from various male character,
just beware that much of the speech in fictional media (anime, etc.) is
exaggerated and doesn't necessarily express the tonality of people in the real
world.

I've noticed I tend to pick up the most language from people that I speak with
conversationally on a daily basis, so I think it's really good you make
friends with one or more Japanese guys. If you can't meet in person, Skype
should be fine.

Overall, as long as you have a good balance of male/female speakers in those
you speak with the most, I think you will be fine.

Also, if you want to record yourself saying a basic 自己紹介 and upload the MP3
here, maybe some of the native speakers on here can provide feedback about
your intonation.

