Nuance between 僕 and 俺?


I'm aware that this is a common question and one that can be quite
situational, but I have a few specific questions regarding nuance between
these two pronouns for "I".

jisho.org describes 俺 as "Male term or language, sounds rough or arrogant".
However, based on my knowledge, I'd say that this is the most common pronoun
among college and older males (please correct me if I'm wrong, I may just
watch too much anime where the characters are over-confident). While I
understand that it may sound too colloquial in a formal situation, is 俺 really
as arrogant as a dictionary definition makes it out to be?

In a similar vein, would 僕 sound overly submissive or weak for an adult male
(I'm personally a 20 year old college student), or would it just sound more
humble and polite (still colloquial, though)?

Last, do people change their pronoun based on the situation? For example,
would an adult use 僕 typically around friends/coworkers, but if it's necessary
to take a leadership position briefly or make a strong point, switch to 俺 to
be more assertive, then back to 僕 when the situation gets more relaxed again?




> I'd say that this is the most common pronoun among college and older males

I wouldn't say it's the most common one, but in a manly/friendly/aggressive
environment you might encounter it. In real life speech it's not as common as
僕 and 私 since there are a lot less situations where you can use 俺 safely. It
is used _a lot_ on the internet, though. It's the most common pronoun I
encounter in BBS boards.

> While I understand that it may sound too colloquial in a formal situation,
> is 俺 really as arrogant as a dictionary definition makes it out to be?

In Japanese, the nuance some words carry often changes as your environment
changes. It depends on a lot of things; context, the people around you, level
of politeness, and so on. If you are at work, you're at a polite setting, so
using 俺 would come off as overconfident and arrogant. If you're with your
manly mates, it comes off as normal. So it really depends on the context in
which you're using it. What's for sure is that it's _definitely not_ as common
as animes make it out to be and most times it _will_ sound
rude/inappropriate/arrogant.

> In a similar vein, would 僕 sound overly submissive or weak for an adult male
> (I'm personally a 20 year old college student), or would it just sound more
> humble and polite (still colloquial, though)?

Again, it depends on the context. Some use it almost all the time, some don't.
The nuance it carries is that you're just a normal dude, not much more than
that. If you're in a formal setting, it could sound a bit inappropriate in the
sense that it might sound weak or rude, but generally you should be able to
get away with 僕 in almost every situation. How a speaker perceives someone
using 僕 is up to them, but I would advise to avoid it in serious
settings(work, business, etc).

> Last, do people change their pronoun based on the situation?

I don't think people change their pronoun if they're trying to make some sort
of point, it sounds kind of anime-ish and weird. Japanese people don't use
personal pronouns that much anyway. In fact, when you can avoid it, you
generally should.

Tip: don't learn Japanese from anime. It's highly unrealistic.




> I'd say that this is the most common pronoun among college and older males

I wouldn't say it's the most common one, but in a manly/friendly/aggressive
environment you might encounter it. In real life speech it's not as common as
僕 and 私 since there are a lot less situations where you can use 俺 safely. It
is used _a lot_ on the internet, though. It's the most common pronoun I
encounter in BBS boards.

> While I understand that it may sound too colloquial in a formal situation,
> is 俺 really as arrogant as a dictionary definition makes it out to be?

In Japanese, the nuance some words carry often changes as your environment
changes. It depends on a lot of things; context, the people around you, level
of politeness, and so on. If you are at work, you're at a polite setting, so
using 俺 would come off as overconfident and arrogant. If you're with your
manly mates, it comes off as normal. So it really depends on the context in
which you're using it. What's for sure is that it's _definitely not_ as common
as animes make it out to be and most times it _will_ sound
rude/inappropriate/arrogant.

> In a similar vein, would 僕 sound overly submissive or weak for an adult male
> (I'm personally a 20 year old college student), or would it just sound more
> humble and polite (still colloquial, though)?

Again, it depends on the context. Some use it almost all the time, some don't.
The nuance it carries is that you're just a normal dude, not much more than
that. If you're in a formal setting, it could sound a bit inappropriate in the
sense that it might sound weak or rude, but generally you should be able to
get away with 僕 in almost every situation. How a speaker perceives someone
using 僕 is up to them, but I would advise to avoid it in serious
settings(work, business, etc).

> Last, do people change their pronoun based on the situation?

I don't think people change their pronoun if they're trying to make some sort
of point, it sounds kind of anime-ish and weird. Japanese people don't use
personal pronouns that much anyway. In fact, when you can avoid it, you
generally should.

Tip: don't learn Japanese from anime. It's highly unrealistic.

