Male speech

I'm sure this isn't going to be the last time this happens to me.

I started chatting with a Japanese woman online (she was 21), and after talking for a little while, she asked if I was female! I thought that my name alone would tell her that (James/Jeemusu). However, it seems that I had led her to a different conclusion. I obviously said that it wasn't true and that I was a male. This was a little bit embarrassing. She specifically cited that my use of 「よ」was one thing that led her to that thinking. However, I have to believe that there were other reasons as well.

I have heard numerous times that if you only learn Japanese from females, you will talk like one. My tutor is a elderly man, but the material is all from a textbook, so it's more focused on formal language. So unfortunately, I might have fallen into this trap.

I watch Japanese dramas all the time and sometimes try to mimic the male characters way of talking. However, most of my interactive practice is with girls (I have noticed that there is a huge gap in the male/female ratio in terms of wanting to talk to foreigners). So naturally, the more convenient ways to practice is solely with one gender.

So, I wanted to ask for some language usages that would allow me to sound a little more masculine when I am talking to girls around my age (I'm 18). I know that male talk is ruder than any other level of speech, but I feel it's the one area I am seriously lacking in. And of course, who wants to be mistaken for a girl? Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You're studying with males, you're enjoying dialogs in dramas, you know formal speech...I can't think of anything else you can do to make you sound more mannish.

In what way did you use "yo", I wonder. For example, if you used "-wayo" that's definately feminine, but then most modern girls don't even use "-wayo" any more. In fact, most young girls sound like guys unless they say "watashi".

If you used "-noyo" that's language that a lot of tough young males do use. In fact they use them to _make_ them sound rough and tough. What dramas are you enjoying? Maybe you should focus on other characters.

Give us some examples of what you have been writing. Or you can just start asking all your questions at a language learning forum such as mailing lists.

Btw, male talk itself is not at all "ruder" as long as it is used by a male.

I'm confused at the the whole incident myself. I'm definitely not a clueless individual when it comes to these sort of things. I just thought it was very strange that this happened. I mean, I write to numerous penpals in Japanese and none of them ever said anything about the way I was sounding in Japanese. Maybe it was just a odd case.

Regardless, in terms of ending particles, I usually use na, naa, yo, or a combination of the two. I know that ''na'' is not feminine by any means, so that's why I was thinking it had to be ''yo''. If that's not the case, then I'm not completely sure.

Well, I've seen a lot of dramas haha. I usually like to watch ones that deal more with everyday stuff(relationships, workplace, family, etc...) because the language is a lot more effective to learn and to listen to.

I can't tell if your usage was inappropriate or not, unless you tell us WHAT you write before the na, yo and what not. You have to give us the whole sentence. For example,
メールが届いたよ - boyish
メールが届いたのよ - no problem with males depending on the tone of the whole text
メールが届いたわよ - feminine

That's all I have to say.

It may depend on the Japanese woman's birthplace. For example, "...desho(u)?" (..., isn't it?) is commonly used by young men in Kanto region, but it may sound rather feminine in western Japan.

Yo.
I live in Tottori province, like a 5 or six hour drive from Tokyo and I've noticed several things regarding male and female speech.
First of all, I believe that the regional dialects or Hogen play a huge role in gendered speech. Where I live men usually end their sentences with words like daze or dana and women end their sentances with yo more frequently. My friends are almost exclusively women and I've found I had the same problem in that I would say something like "soudayo." and get laughed at. In that case, in this area, only a women says soudayo. A man would say simply souda or soudanaa. I didn't know that because I have, like, one male Japanese friend.
Other ways you can sound more manly is by speaking in a lower tone of voice, and using more exclusive male pronouns like "boku" "ore" and "omae". But be careful with pronouns. If you say omae to your girlfriend it means "dear" if you say omae to your boss it means "you bastard". And my girlfriend still yells at me when I say "ore" instead of "boku". She thinks I'm too polite to say ore.
Probably because I talk like a woman.