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While comprehensively covering slang and relevant vocabulary would require a book in and of itself (a book that would soon become out of date), I'll instead cover some broad patterns and common phenomenon which will at least help you get started in understanding the most common aspects of Japanese slang. There is no particular order in the material presented here and I expect this page to grow continuously as I find different things to cover. Please note that slang is also heavily influenced by local dialects. Although all the material presented here is valid for the greater Tokyo area, your mileage may vary depending on where you are located. In the world of slang, anything goes and rules that apply to written Japanese are often broken. The most difficult part is that, of course, you can't just say whatever you want. When you break the rules, you have to break it the correct way. Taking what you learned from textbooks or Japanese classes and applying it to the real world is not so easy because it is impossible to teach all the possible ways things can get jumbled up in the spoken language. Learning how to speak naturally with all the correct idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies in a language is something that requires practice with real people in real-world situations. In this section, we'll look at some common patterns and themes that will at least help you get an idea of where the majority of slang originates from. One thing you'll soon realize when you first start talking to Japanese people in real life is that many sounds are slurred together. This is especially true for males. The fact is voices in instructional material such as language tapes often exaggerate the pronunciation of each letter in order to make aural comprehension easier. In reality, not all the sounds are pronounced as clearly as it should be and things end up sounding different from how it's written on paper. There is one major driving factor behind the majority of slang in Japanese. The primary goal of most slang is to make things easier to say. In other words, the goal is to reduce or simplify the movement of your mouth. There are two primary ways in which this is accomplished, 1) By making things shorter or, 2) By slurring the sounds together. We have already seen many examples of the first method such as shortening 「かもしれない」 to 「かも」 or preferring 「と」 to the longer conditional forms. The second method makes things easier to say usually by substituting parts of words with sounds that fit better with the sounds surrounding it or by merging two or more sounds together. For example, the same 「かもしれない」 might be pronounced 「かもしんない」 since 「しん」 requires less movement than 「しれ」. Let's see some more examples of words that get shortened or slurred. Try saying both versions to get a feel for how the slang saves space and some calories for your mouth.
（A） ここはつまらないから私の家に行こう。
（A） まったく、いつまでこんなところで、ぐずぐずするんだよ。
You'll see that a great deal of slang in Japanese stems from this single principle of making things easier to say. It's very natural because it's guided by how your mouth moves. With a fair amount of practice, you should be able to naturally pick up shorter, alternative pronunciations and incorporate them into your own speech. Conversations are sporadic and chaotic in any language and it's common for people to say the first thing that pops into their head without thinking out the whole proper sentence.
（A） それは何？
（B） 何それ？ Sometimes, the first thing that pops into your head might be main verb. But if the main verb has already slipped out of your mouth, you're now left with the rest of the sentence without a verb to complete the thought. In conversational Japanese, it's perfectly acceptable to have the verb come first using the same technique we just saw by breaking them into two sentences. The second sentence is incomplete of course, but that kind of thing is common in the speech of any language.
（１） 見た？ あの人？
（２） もう食べた？昨日買ったアイス。 「じゃん」 is an abbreviation of 「じゃない」, the negative conjugation for nouns and na-adjectives. However, this only applies to 「じゃない」 used in the following fashion.
（１） サラリーマンだから、残業はたくさんするんじゃない？
The important thing to note about the example above is that 「じゃない」 here is actually confirming the positive. In fact, a closer translation is, “Because he’s a salaryman, he probably does a lot of overtime.” But it’s still a question so there’s a slight nuance that you are seeking confirmation even though you are relatively sure. 「じゃん」 is a shorter slang for expressing the same type of thing except it doesn’t even bother to ask a question to confirm. It’s completely affirmative in tone. In fact, the closest equivalent to 「じゃん」 is 「じゃない」 used in the following fashion. （２） まあ、いいじゃない。 This type of expression is the only case where you can attach 「じゃない」 directly to i-adjectives and verbs. Once you actually hear this expression in real life, you’ll see that it has a distinct pronunciation that is different from simply using the negative. Plus, you have to realize that this type of 「じゃない」 sounds rather mature and feminine, unlike 「じゃん」, which is gender-neutral. Like the above, specialized use of 「じゃない」, you can also attach 「じゃん」 directly to verbs and i-adjectives as well as the usual nouns and na-adjectives. Because slang is usually created to make things easier, it’s not surprising that the rules for using 「じゃん」 are so lax and easy. Finally, let’s get to the examples. Hopefully, you can see that 「じゃん」 is basically saying something along the lines of, “See, I’m right, aren’t I?” （１） ほら、やっぱりレポートを書かないとだめじゃん。 （２） 誰もいないからここで着替えてもいいじゃん。
（A） たかし君は、ここにいる？ - Is Takashi here? There’s also another variation, which attaches the question marker as well. The meaning is mostly the same but it adds more to the questioning, confirming tone.
（A) 駅の近くにカラオケがあるじゃんか。- There’s a karaoke place near the station, right? This may sound hard to believe but if you really slur 「という」 together, it becomes something resembling 「つ」. Or least, that's what somebody thought when he or she began replacing 「という」 with 「つ」 or in some case 「つう」.
Now, in my opinion, 「つ」 is a lot harder to say than 「という」 so using it like a native might take a bit of practice. Rather than making things easier to say, as is usually the case, the real purpose of this substitution is to sound rougher because 「つ」 has a harder, hissing sound. This is ideal for when you're pissed or for that young and rough image you've always wanted. As you might expect, this type of speech is usually used by males or very tough females.
（１） つうか、なんでお前がここにいんのよ！
（２） 宿題で時間がないつってんのに、みきちゃんとデートしにいったらしい。
（３） 明日は試験だぞ。つっても、勉強はしてないだろうな。
（４） だから、違うんだつうの！
If you want even more emphasis, you can even add a small 「つ」. This usually means you are really at the brink of your patience.
（４） だから、違うんだっつうの！
１） もう行くってば！
２） あなたったら、いつも忘れるんだから。
（A） なにか食べる？
（B） なんか食べる？
１） 今日は、なんか忙しいみたいよ。
While 「なんか」 is a shorter version of 「なにか」, only 「なんか」 can be used in this way as a filler.
誤） 今日は、 Let's take a look at a few more examples.
１） なんかね。お風呂って超気持ちいいよね！
２） お母さんが、なんか明日まで戻らないんだってよ。
３） なんかさ。ボブは、私のことなんか本当に好きかな？
In order to use 「やがる」, you simply attach it to the stem of the verb. After that, 「やがる」 conjugated just like a regular u-verb.
１） あんなやつに負けやがって。じゃ、どうすんだよ？
２） やる気か？だったらさっさと来やがれ！
Copyright © 2003-2007 Tae Kim (taekim.japanese AT gmail.com)
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