でもさぁ、さぁ、さぁ、さぁ、

[laggedreaction]

Does anyone else find it annoying when Japanese women or girls say さぁぁぁ, for every other word? Honestly, it just drives me nuts.

I told one girl that it sounded retarded and compared it to people who say "like" all the time in English. People who do that come off as stupid and unable to form complete sentences.

The reaction I got was basically that it's different and there's nothing wrong with people who speak that way in Japanese...

[Vihis]

edit:

a bad reply. I'll see if I can think of something a bit more constructive.

In my own experience saa is much different from like.

[ミュー]

It's a lower-class way of speaking Japanese. Of course that girl is going to excuse herself, because she is the one doing it!

Put in other words: I've never met a highly-educated person who talks in such a manner.

[japanat]

さぁぁ also means 'no comment' or a descending 'Hmmm!'


But it is really irritating when it's every third word. でもさぁ、あの子さぁ昨日さぁ会った時にさぁいつも「さぁ！」いうっとったの。

[koku]

I personally think it's funny. Maybe if I master Japawappa and hear it a bajillion more times but right now it's kind of funny.

[TommyA]

My girlfriend says Saa a lot like mentioned, and I am from California, so I say like a lot like mentioned.

Guess as far as this thread's respondents are concerned, we are low class and come off as stupid!

Score one for this morning! I will inform the girl of our new status!

[koku]

Muhah, low class dumb person!


By the way, with the shitload of formal Japanese I/you hear/get fed, it's nice to here some casual I'm-going-to-stick-Sa-everywhere-up-to-grammar-ruining-amounts-Japanese.

[akitaka]

.....arienaiiiiii~

[japanat]

Guess as far as this thread's respondents are concerned, we are low class and come off as stupid!Using the word is not the problem. Hell, my father-in-law the doctor, a seriously classy guy, uses the word in its alternative meaning when he doesn't want to answer a question, or when the answer is one you don't want to hear.

The problem is in the frequency of use. I hate waiting 2 minutes for a girl (including my 2nd daughter) to get to the point of the sentence! `「デァディー、あのさぁ...　昨日さぁ...　マリちゃんと遊んだときさぁ...　公園でさぁ...　 悪い子がさぁ...」 By now, I'm pulling my hair out in impatient frenzy. Ya' know, it kinda, ya' know, makes me, ya' know, a little bit, ya' know, crazy? Ya' know?

[mikem]

It's a lower-class way of speaking Japanese. Of course that girl is going to excuse herself, because she is the one doing it!

Put in other words: I've never met a highly-educated person who talks in such a manner.

I hear it a lot at school especially from guys.

[gentlemanandscholar]

I fucking can't stand まじ！？　まじっすか！？
Drives me up the wall.

今日母さんが死んだ。
まじ！？

朝ごはんはコヒとパン。
まじ！？

[RoxFontaine]

I'm trying my damnedest to break my son of this horrible fucking habit EARLY. I've enlisted the help of his grandfather (Japanese) and all of the great speeches I can find video of on YouTube. It's just pathetic. Especially for males. My wife does not speak that way. I don't even know how I would respond to her if she did. (Likely the way I do every other adult that speaks that way: Condescending and curt.)

When I first noticed that my son was picking that behavior up from friends, I made him stand on a stool everyday after school as he did his reading homework.

[koku]

Do you really want your son to speak differently from everyone else? You may hate it, but then maybe it's best he fits in - or something.

[Swede]

Do you really want your son to speak differently from everyone else? You may hate it, but then maybe it's best he fits in - or something.

Or maybe he can raise his son so that he doesn't speak like a Japanese valley girl. You're right though, you probably know how to raise Rox's son better than him.

[koku]

Just a different opinion/idea on the topic. I'm not saying he is wrong or I am right. People need to stop wanting a reason to bitch @ ppl about stuff.

[TommyA]

Damn if I ever recorded my Japanese conversations, the purist here would have a field day. Everything people say is annoying, stupid, or drives them crazy, I have picked up the habits since living here...

AWESOME!:clap: :dj: :karate:

[koku]

I think that's a good thing. It means you're learnin' via your environment. Textbook Japanese is only so much fun/impressive.

[SlickWilly440]

さあ。。。。

I think I start using this when I speak; it's so much better than saying ええと。。

saa..Thanks a　lot!

[koku]

different Sa being attacked @ the moment.

I use it when I'm mocking friends or when I'm purposely trying to sound super casual/free willy-nilly (yes I said that word).

god I'm bored.

[japanat]

Koku,

The problem with "learning to speak like everyone else does" is context. Most people don't know when or where such phrases can be used. I could go Deliverance and teach my kids how to say "ain't" and "Fuckin' A, Bubba!". And they'd sound just like me and the kids I grew up with... and not be able to speak properly when it counts.

Or, as is often the case when people learn just by repeating what they hear - not even know what is improper, or when. Or like the 'foreign talent' from Congo who was on many of the wide shows when I first came to Japan, Sankon (sp?): he spoke Japanese very, very well, and was well educated and well-informed - and talked like a woman, using all feminine forms, which he had learned by studying with ladies.

Sometimes I come out with deep Banshuu-dialect phrases I've learned from my kids and my students, and receive totally flabbergasted/shocked/amused looks at the incongruity.

[koku]

japanat!

If it's in regard to us furriners picking up some slang, then yeah, I agree you should get to learn the context and when to use it (and I've met bad examples of Japanese people who just use random colloquial phrases) but 1, I think that takes all kinds of dumb to pull off and not be aware and 2, I still personally have a stronger liking to learning slang/casual speak of a foreign language over textbook. I just find it more fun/a cool thing to know, if you do. They're both important. I don't need to say textbook is important, 'cuz that's a duh factor, but if someone call "shoot the shit" and sound like a native, I think that's kinda impressive.

If it was in regard to Roxie's son,

If his son was raised in Japan, I'm sure he has a pretty solid grasp on Japanese and knows (or will learn) he has to turn off the Sa Sa Sa business in a formal setting.

[Ceirnian]

Sit back and assume it will turn out all right instead of trying to teach your son how to speak properly. Sounds like a good idea to me!

[koku]

hah? have you guys ever been kids? if you really think it's a big deal at his age he speaks slang with his friends and he's never going to learn how to speak properly then christ, shut up.

[akitaka]

Sit back and assume it will turn out all right instead of trying to teach your son how to speak properly. Sounds like a good idea to me!
It worked fine with myself and several other friends as far as English is concerned. I used to have much less restraint as far as colorful language went, but after middle school stuff like that became less and less tolerated, even socially. Unless the kid's a broken record (to where a parent's nagging really wouldn't matter either way), he or she will adjust indefinitely, especially if they want to hold down some form of work (servers of any kind in Japan generally need to be careful).

[Riinuka]

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I feel proud of myself for being able to come back to this forum and read/understand everything that's posted in Japanese so far.

On topic - I think it's better to try to fit in to the environment, if you're on the outside looking in, and only if you learn correctly what can be used when. As far as a child's mannerisms, in many languages, parents try to curb bad speaking habits. I don't see the point in letting the kid continue on with it - I clearly remember being told not to say "yummy" by itself, and also recall my sister being continually instructed on how to correctly conjugate verbs, which at that age level was a bit difficult.

[Swede]

hah? have you guys ever been kids? if you really think it's a big deal at his age he speaks slang with his friends and he's never going to learn how to speak properly then christ, shut up.


This is why people get mad at you.

[koku]

sorry I think his kid who's being born and raised in Japan is smart and capable enough of learning the language the way every other kid does. poor me. he should stand on a chair and rehearse proper Japanese 'cuz that's normal. :liar:

[Urameshi YuSooKey]

sorry I think his kid who's being born and raised in Japan is smart and capable enough of learning the language the way every other kid does. poor me. he should stand on a chair and rehearse proper Japanese 'cuz that's normal. :liar:
Obviously you know how to raise someone else's child. :liar:
And you are obviously the expert when it comes to language both written and spoken. :liar: :liar:

Just STFU. Get up from the computer. Take a good, long look in the mirror, call your parents and apologize profusely. Nothing in particular as they will understand completely.

[japanat]

sorry I think his kid who's being born and raised in Japan is smart and capable enough of learning the language the way every other kid does. poor me. he should stand on a chair and rehearse proper Japanese 'cuz that's normal. :liar:
My children can, and I'm sure will, speak as they like with their friends: オマエ、ボケ！、だまれ、ドアを閉めろ！、ad nauseum. They will also eat food with their flappers wide open, make disgusting noises as a matter of course, and spew little half-chewed flecks of food when talking with their mouths full. Not to mention the perfectly acceptable (and completely disgusting in the States) habit of slurping up anything that didn't nicely fit in their mouths on the first try, like noodles.

But as a parent, it is my job to teach them not to use these phrases when speaking to adults or people in superior positions, like friends' parents, teachers, random strangers. To teach them that they can't slurp their noodles and coffee when they leave Japan (and that slurping their coffee or tea is considered low class within Japan). To teach them that "Sea Food" doesn't mean visual chewing.

You see, I have been a kid, and in many ways never have grown up. You, sir, however, have very obviously never been a parent. So think before you tell me that I'm doing it wrong....

[silentplummet]

Does anyone else find it annoying when Japanese women or girls say さぁぁぁ, for every other word?

Yes