Chatting in Japanese

[Jembru]

Hmm, I still don't think I could personally feel comfortable, but I can see how, so long as your Japanese is decent, it wouldn't be a problem. I think the problem with mixi was that over zealous noobs were sending friend requests and messaging total strangers in nonsense Japanese and it was frustrating or intimidating for some (the Japanese are a bit shy of foreigners if they don't know English, even if the foreigner is speaking in Japanese).

Maybe when my conversation skills are better, I'll give it a go, even if just for one conversation. I don't know though, I'd feel uncomfortable using something like that for English speakers, never mind Japanese.

[Jade]

I get random friend adds from people in Japan who don't even read my profile on mixi... and then they ask 'Japanese OK?'. プロフィールは日本語ばっかだけど... I like the messages/add requests from people who don't even ask if Japanese okay, but they're usually: とてもキュートだね。好きになりそう？ or crap like that (that one is word for word a message I got actually). I did meet a couple of nice people on mixi though♥ Ameba, on the other hand, is 'hope they're not a troll, hope they're not a troll' and usually get troll messages (and the odd nice person, and the even weirder love confession).

As for chat roulette stuff, I don't mind them. I still haven't used chatpad - a mix of my own nervousness and my not wanting to do anything because sick - but I'm planning on giving it a go eventually. Knowing my luck I'll get someone like the trolls on Ameba, but meh. Also, don't think of it as Japanese practice and it might feel a bit less weird, maybe?

[Bokusenou]

Jembru If you would rather try something specifically for language exchanges, sharedtalk.com may be more up your alley. I like them both, but sharedtalk is more of a language exchange site, while chatpad is like a text only, non-pervy chatroulette clone, so they serve different purposes.

For what it's worth, all the people on chatpad who found out I wasn't Japanese thought it was pretty cool, and asked me questions about America^^;
Also, mixi always allowed people who signed up with a .edu college email (I assume it would also work with the equivalents from other countries) to skip the cell phone requirement. I signed up when it was invite only, but I showed a lot of my college friends how to sign up with their college email, and all of them got in just fine.

[Jembru]

I've never wanted to join mixi, especially since all the fuss over foreigners taking over, but I'm really curious to see if it would let me join using my Japanese mobile number. Of course, my contract ended years ago, but it's still, I guess, a valid number. I'm assuming that mixi texts you a password or something though, so I doubt it would work. Still, I'm curious somehow. ^^

[Jade]

Oct 30, 2013 1:16:18 GMT Jembru said:

I've never wanted to join mixi, especially since all the fuss over foreigners taking over, but I'm really curious to see if it would let me join using my Japanese mobile number. Of course, my contract ended years ago, but it's still, I guess, a valid number. I'm assuming that mixi texts you a password or something though, so I doubt it would work. Still, I'm curious somehow. ^^

It uses the email addresses the phones have instead of the numbers. Off memory it sent you a link to go to to using the phone to activate your account.

[Bokusenou]

I think mixi has largely been overshadowed by other social networks, and is a lot less active than it used to be. I haven't used it seriously in years though...It's mostly like lang-8 without the language learning aspect, mainly revolving around journal entries. I'm not sure if an old cell phone email would work, since I got in when it was invite only. Has anyone signed up for it and used a Japanese cellphone email?

[Jade]

I signed up for it while I was in Japan with the cellphone email, it's been complaining at me lately that the email's no longer active, but meh. It's kinda died, everyone's using Facebook lol

[魔]

I've had a couple of intelligent conversations on chatpad

link

二番

三番


Reminds me of when I was a child going into random chatrooms.

[Bokusenou]

魔 LOL, those are great. Some chatpad conversations can be really amusing.

[Jembru]

Is that all the same person Demonhead? I'm sure this was a one off, but it's basically exactly how I expect people to behave on that site, especially once they realise you're a) not Japanese and b) not an available female.

Also, there's something I've been meaning to ask but I always forget and you've reminded me. I see you wrote 'こんにちわ'. Recently, when I have been skyping with friends from gaiwa, they too have sometimes started the conversation with こんにちわ. Is this an alternative way of writing it? Is it more normal when chatting online? Or was it just a typo? I'd ask my Japanese friends, but I've tried internet slang on them before and they just reply all '??'. I think Intenet slang is a younger generation thing. ^^

[魔]

I wouldn't say it's a one off. Maybe 1/10(being generous). I've had a couple asking if I'm a man. If I say yes they'll usually leave.

They also use things like おはよー、こん.
I think it's a Japanese online/text speak kind of thing. Probably similar to the English version of chatting online/texting. 


I don't think their first thought will be "oh it's a foreigner".

Maybe if you use things from a text book like "あなたはおげんきですか？" . Otherwise they'll probably just think you're young. In my case they either think I'm messing around or I'm just very strange.

ギャルソン is apparently a common word in Japanese, but all the times I've used it on there. They haven't known what it means.

You'll sometimes run into other foreigners on there.
Here's a chat I had with one.
link

[Jembru]

I haven't come across gyaruson yet. I'll look out for it. It's weird isn't it, that there can be such a variation in vocabulary between Japnese speakers. I remember someone (wasn't it Midori??) saying they had a Japanese friend who had no idea what 'w' meant. They were young too. I thought everyone would know that. It's funny you mentioned コン, because this is what I had attempted on my friend on FB. Rin had told me about this a while ago, and I just decided to give it a go when my friend came online. She was like 'コン'? but I know this definitely IS a valid and commonly used greeting. I've seen it with my own eyes!

I had a similar experience using 'KY' once, although because I'd used it in the past and been understood, I was more confident that it wasn't me at fault, but rather that I just happened to be speaking to someone who was living under a rock when that buzzword was circulating.

Mind you, I shouldn't be so shocked. For about 3 years, I had no idea what 'ftw' stood for in English web-speak. I was even using it, because I'd at least worked out it meant that something was cool, but didn't really know what it meant. ^^

[Bokusenou]

I think a lot of it has to do with what kind of media a person surrounds themselves with, and what kind of people they hang out with. E.g a lot of people I know who watch a lot of tv use slang I've never even heard of before. I'm OK with some net slang and anime fandom slang, but a lot of gamer slang leaves me scratching my head, and so on...That's why we have sites like urbandictionary.com and zokugo-dict.com I guess.

Also, I've only ever seen kon in hiragana, so seeing it in katakana might confuse some people, maybe.

[Jembru]

I don't remember how I wrote kon. It just came up as katakana when I typed it with google (like 'what the fox say' lol), but I explained it was short for konnichiwa and she still didn't know it.

By the way Demonhead, are you sure that wasn't just a Japanese person trolling you? I think they're pretty bad for trolling, or at least no better than English speakers are, and I don't see how someone who doesn't know Japanese could recognise that you're not a native speaker.

If you're enjoying using that site, then by all means continue, but if you're looking for language exchange with people who actually want to help you with your Japanese, you might be better off trying to befriend people through lang-8. I've already met a Minecraft partner on there, and you get loads of offers of friendship, too many to realistically build relationships with them all. You can get as much writing practice by PMing friends as you do by writing blogs, if that's what you want. I so far haven't run into any trolls. The worst I see is people correcting just one single sentence of a newbie's first post, just to get the 10x experience.

[魔]

The green chat is mine. When the chat started it said "りゅうがくせい" in his profile box. He could have gave me a lesson though instead of leaving, but most likely thought I was a native Japanese taking the piss.

I use Lang-8 for corrections. Maybe a year or so ago I tried a site called "interpals". That was like a send messages and chat kind of thing.

I like chatpad because I can say whatever random thing I want and still learn something from it. I've learned lots of greetings from there. "おっす、やあ、こんちゃ、どうも、つらい". Not many goodbyes, since most of them leave abruptly. Although I did get an "お元気で" which means good luck to you.