casual speech

I am half Japanese, but my mother didn't speak much Japanese around me growing up... Now, I have a child of my own and I want to raise him to be fluent in both Japanese and english.

I know motly "textbookish" Japanese, because I've been studing it on my own. But could someone share some very casual speech prases/styles or give me links to sites with good casual speech, that a mother would often use with her child? I mean little things like soud FX, petnames, cute words... just those little things that a parent uses in thepresense of her small child, like in english.

Also, how should I raise him with masculine ways of speeking, since I am female and do not use masculine terms/style?

Why not try getting some anime or manga or even movies and dramas? Subculture is always full of everyday speach. Search these keywords and you'll find recommendations. Also, there are on-line language lesson mailing lists available on the internet. Search places like yahoo and join them. Have fun!

Well, to be honest, I would have to hunt through a lot of anime and manga and compile a list of casual words and phrases. That would take a lot of time and effort, and would probably still end up being the incorrect/unnatural way to speak... since there is no way to tell if what you learn from anime or manga is what would be used in a real life situation, or in *my* situation. But thanks for answering...

i'd have to echo the suggestion. in particular there is one anime called love hina that helped my japanese out quite a bit and the subtitles were excellent. i downloaded the entire series which i can't condone ;) but it's available for purchase on the internet.

basically the series is quite long at around 20 episodes but it uses a lot of words that are a) relevant for young people and b) quite casual and normal to use in any situation.

for example i learned how to use "saaa" from watching that anime. i also learned the word "seibai" which is a great word to throw down when i went to get a few laughs from my japanese friends, especially older or more traditional people.

i should mention i basically hate all anime but that one called love hina managed to draw me in with its basic cuteness and simplistic, easy to follow plots. there's also lots of little culture snippits thrown in as well.

overall you'll learn faster from something that's entertaining you as you watch it than you will from just reading a book and trying to scan casual speech out of it.

give it a try!

Actually, I do have some Anime to practice with... but it's not quite what I am looking for to assist me in my personal studies. And truthfully, there is no way to tell if what I learn from them is correct or not, without some outside guidance. As for Love Hina, I've read/watched it, and it's fine but definitely not my cup of tea.

But that is rather irrelevant, because I think the problem is, is that my question was too vague. I'm looking for "casual speech", yes, but I realize that I should have requested “Baby talk“ in Japanese instead. Because I know how to use casual form already, but I am in lack of knowledge for babyish talk like “Good boy”, “Have to potty?”, “Where’s the froggy?” and “tickle, tickle, tickle” or “Night Night“. Those type of words/phrases that are overly simplified for a baby to understand.

Maybe that sounds strange to hear… but I want to be able to speak to my new baby in Japanese in every moment, not the same as to a friend(on that level of casual speech).

But thanks for the help guys, really :)

Good boy:
ii ko ne

Have to potty:
toire?
or
oshikko? (urinate)
unchi? (shit)

Where’s the froggy?:
kaeru-san wa doko?

tickle, tickle, tickle:
kocho kocho kocho

Night Night:
oyasumi (nasai)

Aya, it's not a weird or strange question. But being a non-native speaker of foreign language (English) myself, I thought that entertainment is the best thing and one of the most reliaby sources to learn from. On the other hand, the internet is full of false information be it intended or not.

How about the mailing lists I suggested? I thought it would be practical post phrases in one of those lists and ask for transltions, or if you happen to be curious about a line in a manga, you can post a question there and see if people can give you advise.

Surely, you can do that here on this forum too, but in a mailing list with fixed members, it will be easier to learn who is reliable on what issues.

Here's one I can recommend.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nihongo/

Meanwhile, (although you may not be interested) here are some baby-care manga I can recommend, just in case.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%82%B2%E5%85%90%E6%BC%AB%E7%...
Listed are
Mama wa Poyopoyo-zaurusu ga suki
B-kyu no mama de iko
Akachan to boku
Akachan ga kita
Baby-sitter Gin
Mama wa shogaku yonensei
Pokkapoka
Josanin e oideyo
Midwife Story
Angel Nisshi
Kodomo nanka dai-kirai!
Watashi ga mama yo
Da! Da! Da!
Onechan to issho

If you have anything else to ask, don't hesitate to do so.

well im japanese, but raised in america.

things i remember from when i was a kid that my parents would say to me mostly my dad.

"dakko dakko?". when he wanted to carry me or give me a hug

or "awww kuwaisoo" aaww poor thing

or "ohaa" kinda cute way of saying morning

or "monku monku monku". kinda like bitch bitch bitch. but i think literally it means complain.

or yakamashi!!! urusai!!! haha

and there was always the meal talk. itadakimasu and gochisama, ohashi, chawan, tabete, karai, mazui, oishii and sutpai. things like that. paku paku

hmmm also "nani shite iru no bochan". what are you doing bochan.

haha and the "bakatare" when you did something dumb and get the thump on the head haha.

those are a few things i remember from growing up. and like a said most of this was father to son. but i cant think of any of these being restricted to sex

aaaawwww memories

haha just thought of another one when i re read my post about getting thumped on the head.

itai is kinda like ow right?

i remember my dad would say tai tai kinda like a boo boo haha.

Thank you uco and yaro, so much.

I've heard most of these words/phrases before... and grew up hearing (some of them), but what you've given me has truly reinforced what is correct, and has given me confidence to use them. I guess I have a horrible fear of using incorrect Japanese with my new son, I don’t want to completely ruin his skills before they are even developed @_@

Yes, I am very interested in that baby care manga, thank you for that. I think it will be very helpful. That mailing list also looks very helpful, and I am sure to look into it!

Tips for shortening 「おはようございます」ｔｏ　「おはぁ」　never would have occurred to me.. And monku monku, I’m sure will come in handy!! lol! Thank you, everyone, really!

Ooh, Uco san, I would say unchi is a translation of poo, not shit- that's a word we try not to use around children!

i was thinking about more things to say to little ones and thought of a few more.

like "ne ne" like "ne ne time" or sleepy time, bed time type of thing

and since kids pee and poop a lot. thought i would put slighty different phrases.

like sira said unchi or unko is poop from what i know. kuso is shit "unko shitai" "i need to poop" and a short version of oshikko. a parent might say like "shi shi"
its like pee pee

haha does anyone remember those shirts from a while back. the 544 shirts? go shi shi. haha anyway.......

and a short version of konichiwa would be chiwasu or koncha, but i have only heard someone use chiwasu like once

Please excuse me *^^*