Living in Japan, I’ve always faced the uncertainty of whether to use keigo or “casual” Japanese (tameguchi). Beyond social hierarchy (as in who’s higher than you), the degree of intimacy and relationship plays a big role in how you should communicate. It’s not just the literal word that conveys the meaning, but the delivery and tone of speech that reveal your intentions. 

Unlike English (or your native tongue), Japanese has a very clear and rigid distinction between formal and casual language. You can think of Japanese as having 2 main categories: 敬語 (keigo), which is formal Japanese, and 普通話 (futsutsutai), which is casual language. 

This won’t be a full breakdown of keigo, as we have a very thorough section dedicated to helping you understand the formal Japanese language (like knowing Japanese honorifics). This won’t be a list of Japanese slang or swear words. Instead, this will be a more general guide to the differences between using keigo and tameguchi. 

If you’ve studied Japanese, you might be thinking that you have to learn a whole new way of speaking, but worry not! You probably already got a taste of keigo since most teachers will have you learn more polite speech to begin with. But let’s break down what formal and casual Japanese are, their differences, and how they compare with English!

English vs Japanese Formal & Casual Language

Before we discuss formal and casual language in Japanese, let’s break the ice with how and why it’s so different from English. 

When you think of formal language in English, you might think of expressions that sound more “polite,” such as saying “would you like…?” rather than the more casual “do you want…?” So, using language to show respect is more about word choice, where “would” sounds softer, almost passive.

This is the right idea in Japanese, but it takes it a step further; formal language is about conjugation, in addition to word choice.   

Japanese keigo actually has many levels of conjugation that express greater formality, or rather humility. In Japan, social hierarchy is a core part of its cultural fabric, so showing humility to those considered to have a higher social status than you is built into the language. Throughout Japanese history, showing humility and respect to those who are older, to your teacher, or to your lord was seen as essential for maintaining mutual coordination and harmony. 

Keigo operates as a rather implicit way of communicating respect for someone. Without directly addressing that someone may be older or generally deserving of greater respect, using keigo shows your understanding of their social position relative to yours. The Japanese language is designed for this type of social structure, which in English might not be as strictly defined. 

Keigo (敬語) vs Tameguchi (タメ口)

Going back to the first sentence, I’ve had a bunch of awkward conversations at the konbini where I would bounce between keigo and tameguchi with the employee. Here’s an example:

袋がいらないだけど。レシートをいただけますか？
Fukuro ga iranai da. Reshiito o itadakemasuka?
I don’t need a plastic bag, but can I get the receipt?

In the first sentence, I’m (involuntarily) using tameguchi: using da instead of desu. This makes my statement feel blunter. The second sentence uses the basic keigo rule: replacing morau (to receive) with its most humble form, itadaku. 

Meaning-wise, you can bet that you get the message across, but imagine you’re talking with a mix of old, Victorian-era English with Gen-Z lingo. Yikes. 

Generally, keigo Japanese shows respect and politeness to strangers, but when you’re using it in every conversation with store staff and employees, you can sound as if you’re trying too hard — which, frankly, you are. At the same time, using a too-casual form can easily make someone frown. The easiest way is to stick with formal Japanese. 

However, as you get more comfortable with speaking Japanese, you may want to ‘upgrade’ said skill. After all, how can you prove you’re advanced in speaking the language when you don’t speak like a native?

What is Casual Japanese or 普通対 (Futsuutai)?

Casual Japanese, known as タメ口 (tameguchi) or 普通体 (futsuutai), is the informal speech style used in relaxed, everyday situations among people who are close to each other. It uses the plain verb form, also called the dictionary form, rather than the polite ます/です (masu/desu) endings found in formal speech.

Casual speech feels natural and warm between friends or family, but using it with the wrong person can come across as rude or presumptuous. It is the most common language used in casual conversation, and it forms the grammatical base upon which all other speech levels are built.

Example 1:

ご飯食べた？
Gohan tabeta?

Did you eat?

Example 2:

これ、すごくない？

Kore, sugoku nai?

Isn’t this amazing?

Who Should You Use Casual Japanese With?

As in English, you can generally be more relaxed and use more casual language with people you know, and be more formal with people you are less familiar with. In Japanese, they have specific words for this concept: 内 (uchi) meaning “in-group” and 外 (soto) meaning “out-group”. Of course, you use casual speech within your close inner circle or 内.

This could include friends, family members, close classmates, or younger children. However, you should avoid casual Japanese with strangers, teachers, coworkers you are not close to, customers, anyone older or senior, and anyone you have just met (as a general rule). When in doubt, it is always best to default to formal speech. 

What is Formal Japanese or 敬語 (Keigo)?

敬語 (keigo) is defined largely by verb form conjugations that express greater respect to the listener. Formal Japanese is an essential part of Japanese business etiquette and is the go-to language in meetings and especially job interviews. That may sound complex, but you probably were already exposed to keigo. The most basic formal language consists of simply adding です (desu) or using a verb in ます (masu) form at the end of a sentence: 

Example 1:

チョコレートは美味しいです。

Chokoreeto wa oishiidesu. 

The chocolate is delicious.

Example 2:

This is called 丁寧語 (teineigo), which is considered the standard polite form, but there are more levels to Japanese keigo. You can think of keigo as expressing respect to someone both by using the language that elevates the listener, called 尊敬語 (sonkeigo) or honorific form, and language that shows humility 謙譲語 (Kenjougo), called humble form.

ケーキを食べます。

Keeki o tabemasu. 

I eat cake.

1. 尊敬語 (Sonkeigo) or Honorifics

尊敬語 (sonkeigo), or honorifics in English, is a form of language that “honors” or elevates the person you are speaking to or speaking about. When using sonkeigo, you are linguistically placing the other person or listener above yourself. For example, when you’re at a restaurant, you probably hear staff say:

店内で召し上がりますか？
Tennai de meshi agari masuka?

Will you be eating at the restaurant?

This question is in honorific form, since you are the customer, they will use language that elevates your status relative to them. The expression 召し上がります (meshi agarimasu) is the honorific conjugation of 食べる・飲む (taberu/nomu) meaning “to eat or drink.” Since they are describing an action that you will be doing, they use the honorific form to express deep respect for what you are doing and who you are. 

However, keep in mind, you do not use the honorific form when describing your own actions, which would be grammatically incorrect and socially inappropriate, plus would just sound very unnatural to native speakers.

When Do You Use Honorific Form?

When should you use the honorific form? Generally, you should always use it when speaking to or about your client, boss, teacher, and in certain cases, senpais  (note that often honorifics are dropped with senpais you are close to). This is because each of these people is considered to be of a higher social status relative to you; therefore, you should respect their status and actions by using the honorific form. 

Also, when you are speaking to or about your customers, you should use honorifics no matter their age or other relative status. Even the word for customer in Japanese, お客様 (okyakusama), is an honorific term that consists of the suffix 〜様 (~sama), which highly elevates the listener.

2. 謙譲語 (Kenjougo) or Humble Forms

On the other side of formal Japanese language, you have 謙譲語 (kenjougo) or humble form. This type of language is used to place yourself below the listener when describing yourself and your actions. You probably heard the humble form when interacting with service staff who are basically saying they “humbly” do something in your favor. For example:

席にお持ち致します。

Seki ni omochi itashimasu.

I will (humbly) take to your seat.

You probably heard an expression like this when eating at a restaurant. お持ちいたします (omochi itashimasu) is the humble form of 持つ (motsu) meaning “to take/bring.” By using this expression, they are essentially saying they will “humbly” bring your items to your seat. This works to lower their social status relative to you. 

Another 謙譲語 form you probably used plenty of times before is よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu), which is often used in self-introductions. But it’s also common at the end of emails or when asking a colleague for a favor. The phrase よろしい (yoroshii) is actually the kengougo version of いい (ii), meaning good. So, the whole expression literally translates to “please be good to me.” Take a look at our list of common kenjougo conjugations and how they compare to casual and teinego language:

When Do You Use 謙譲語 (Kenjougo) or Humble Form?

Kenjougo or humble form is commonly used when speaking about yourself to people who are of a higher social status, like your boss, senpai, or teacher, as well as with people you do not know very well. It’s also common to use humble form when speaking about yourself or your company to customers and clients, since you want to lower your status to express that you are below them as a way of showing respect and even gratitude.  

The humble form is very common in formal situations, especially involving business partners, clients, or people you don’t know very well, even if they are a similar age or share a similar job title. To be on the safe side, humble form is often preferred in order to show respect and appreciation.

Note, kenjougo is commonly used in conjunction with sonkeigo (honorific form) to simultaneously elevate the listener and lower the status of the speaker. In a formal situation or whenever you would like to show respect to someone, you would never just use one or the other. 

For more details on how to use keigo in Japanese conversation, check out our blog: Introduction to Japanese Keigo: Honorific & Humble Form

When You Shouldn’t Use Keigo

While it is okay to use keigo to strangers who might be younger than you, if you are an adult talking to an obvious kid in keigo, you’ll get a few raised eyebrows. They’ll probably understand (although some younger Japanese children may not know keigo yet), but they will feel strange. 

The most important thing is not to use exaggerated keigo speech that you hear and read in Japanese pop culture: anime, manga, or historical movies. Remember that the Japanese used in these media are totally different than the ones in real life. You don’t want to sound like a low-caste farmer talking to a feudal lord during the samurai era. 

What’s Tameguchi? Casual Japanese Form

Tameguchi is a form of Japanese used to address someone as an equal, without using humble, honorific, or formal language. Tameguchi” means a way of talking that doesn’t contain polite expressions in Japanese conversation. 

The ため in this word was originally a gambling term, referring to when a pair of dice landed on the same number. The word “guchi” comes from the kanji kuchi (口), which means mouth or way of talking. The other name for Tameguchi is Tamego (タメ語) — 語 meaning “language”. 

Tameguchi is casual and, if used in the wrong scenario, impolite. One of the easiest ways to spot the difference between polite, formal and casual Japanese is the length. 

やっば〜！宿題忘れちゃった！
Yabbaa! Shukudai wasurechatta!
Oh no! I forgot my homework! 

Tameguchi, or casual Japanese, tends to be shorter compared to keigo. Let’s take a look at a scenario where you are asking someone to pass you the salt.

お塩を回していただけますでしょうか。(Keigo)
Oshio o mawashite itadakemashouka?

塩ちょうだい。(Tameguchi)
Shio choudai.

Notice the first sentence is way longer than the second? This is because it incorporates all the basic rules of keigo: adding the honorific prefixes of o (お) or go (ご) and いただく.

Another example is written below. 

大阪へはどうやっていけますか？(Teineigo)
Oosaka e wa dou yatte ikemasuka?
How do you get to Osaka?

大阪へはどうやって行くの? (Tameguchi)
Oosaka e wa dou yatte iku no?

When Can You Use Tameguchi?

When you’re talking to someone younger, it’s usually okay to use casual Japanese — even if you are meeting them for the first time. Remember that seniority plays a big part in Japanese society. Elders will use it when they’re talking to kids. It is, however, a big red flag when you reverse the situation. You should never use tameguchi to someone you’re trying to show respect to.  

Japanese people adopt a high-context culture, which means there are many factors taken into consideration in communication: status, social relationships, social environment, formality, non-verbal gestures, and even silence. Because of this, you might come across a few trials and errors before you can discern the appropriate time to use tameguchi and keigo.

When you are not sure, formal Japanese is probably the best form of the Japanese language. 

When Should You Not Use Tameguchi?

If you have just met a person and they talk to you as if they’ve known you all their life, you might feel a bit uncomfortable. 

In Western culture, ‘casual’ language is a great way to break the ice and help relax the mood. However, you don’t want to present yourself as ‘too friendly’ in front of a stranger. There’s not really an exact point when you can use tameguchi, but generally, you both need to establish a good, intimate relationship. 

Where to Learn — and Not to Learn — Tameguchi

The same thing goes for tameguchi. You wouldn’t want to imitate the slang and way of talking from anime or manga, particularly if it’s the shounen (young boy’s) genre.

Think of anime dialogue as the sort of dialogue you’d hear among 12-year-olds at recess, where they’re just shouting “Baka!” While some shows do take place in business seating and incorporate more polite, realistic characters, most of them tilt towards one extreme: super polite or super rude.

In most cases, dialogue in anime is very direct. Used outside the context of anime, it comes off as coarse, insulting, and even derogatory. The easiest way to look at it is this: even anime voice actors don’t speak like that. Instead, they often overexaggerate the words and manipulate the tone of their voice depending on the character’s personality. 

Learning Japanese from anime might make you more comfortable with the language and its structure, but taken by itself, it can really throw off your progress. The last thing you want to do is default your Japanese speaking skills to super-casual. 

Learning Japanese casual forms is a bit trickier than learning keigo, as there are seldom formal lessons about it. JLPT N2 and N1 examine your ability to use Japanese in the business setting, so keigo is usually part of the curriculum of many JLPT prep courses and advanced-level classes. 

However, tameguchi is not often taught in classroom lessons as often as in formal forms. Your best bet is to learn from comics, social media, and Japanese people. Try listening to your Japanese friends when they’re talking to one another. Slowly, you’ll start to adopt a few informal Japanese phrases and obtain enough fluency to interact with them on a more personal, casual level. This is what’s known as immersion-based learning, where you learn a new language in the most natural way by interacting directly in the environment.  

Conclusion

Japanese is very clearly organized between casual and differing levels of formal language, and there are specific situations when you should use each. Casual language is great for expressing warmth and comfort to those you are closer to, while formal language is ideal for business/office settings, when speaking to your boss, or when you’re in meetings or interviews. Just remember to use sonkeigo (honorific form) when speaking to or about others and kenjougo (humble form) when speaking about yourself! 

To really learn Japanese and how to use casual or formal Japanese properly, we highly recommend taking our conversation or business Japanese courses at Coto Academy. These courses will have you practice speaking Japanese to build confidence and language fluency. Our business course focuses on preparing foreigners to work and do interviews in Japanese! If this sounds right for you, sign up below!

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