japanese language polite or rude???

[nixsham]

Here i wanna hear dear friends opinion about japanese language....

1st when i hear about japanese people erm...firstly i think about language isn't rude or not...
when i heard about 1st word "baka" is stupid and their tone about that word for me at that time is so rude...
but when i watch japanese documentary and drama ...i'm wrong about it...

japanese word is so soft when i heard about it...
for example like kawai, yoroshiku onegaishimas and all that kind of word it touch my heart because of it show how polite they are...


how about dear friends opinion can share with your guys

[Yochoko]

Ah... in any languages, telling someone "Baka" (stupid) is rude. And if they truly thought you are stupid, then, well, it's not about rudeness or politeness. And other expressions, too. ALL the languages have their polite ways and rude ways to say things. Excuse me to tell you this, but your question sounds really weird and dumb.

There's no language which is polite or rude by default. It's not the language, but the people who use it. Please understand that.

[vagabond888]

Yes...I totally agreed with yochoko. It really depends the person who use it. A person's culture, education, and background are the elements that affecting the way they speak and conduct.

[LONEWOLF231]

As Yochoko explained it too you, no matter what language you speak you have both Polite and Rude words BUT even Polite words in Japanese have a proper and Improper way of saying them.

[chase]

context matters,
calling your brother stupid and smiling is different from calling a stranger stupid and scowling.

[blackrabbit2999]

hmm but i find it hard to find vulgarities in the japanese language, perhaps it's just not that well documented lol.

ops but then again, it's also hard to find vulgarities in mandarin.
in english and mandarin dialects however, vulgarities are just rampant.

[gloomybear]

japanese, like other asian languages (mandarin and korean) has polite forms, honorific forms, etc.
the language doesn't offer cuss words, like what we have in english, but by speaking rudely to someone is as bad as cussing someone out.

of course with any other language, there are words to describe certain types of people. =]

and p.s. there is the f-word equivalent in mandarin ^_~

[Ignis]

Well of course there are ways of polite saying and ways in Japanese... such as various forms of "I" ranging from ore, washi, boku, atashi, watashi, ware, watakushi, etc and of course it depends on the person who uses it. Such as formal sentences like using "desu ka" or just "ka" when asking something. No language is specially designed for rudeness or politeness.

[Yochoko]

Vulgarity (vulgar words) isn't rude at the base. The words exist, that's it. The context matters more than the words. We can use the absolute polite forms of any languages and still can insult the people being extremely rude. Japanese language isn't rich in insulting or vulgar words, but like I said, the language itself never can be rude or polite. Japanese people know how to be rude and polite. It's just that rudeness is a lot more subjective. People can feel "rude" for something which others don't feel at all "rude" sometimes. So, although politeness and rudeness are up to the people who use the language, the feeling comes from the person who hears it. AND, especially typed words (over the net) can confuse people so easily -_- Anyway, the most important thing is the intention of people who are talking to you. Words are nothing if they don't have the thoughts and ideas of the speaker behind them.

[Ignis]

Yeah, that's as yochoko said. In fact, Japanese teens speak with different choices of words when speaking to their friends or their teachers. They use more formal form of sentences and they won't say anything in a rude manner. For words that can be considered 'rude', I think all languages have them... explicit insults like f*** and such.

[blackrabbit2999]

and p.s. there is the f-word equivalent in mandarin ^_~

hey what's the f-word equivalent?!?
i have a burning desire to know, i am a native speaker of mandarin and i don't think i've heard such a thing being said before!

[Paladinoras]

hey what's the f-word equivalent?!?
i have a burning desire to know, i am a native speaker of mandarin and i don't think i've heard such a thing being said before!

Lolz, better if you don't know.

And I also agree with what Yochoko had said.

There is no language that is polite by default or rude by default, it is impossible for it to exist, as no one would use it anyway.

Language is used to communicate. Who would use a rude language to communicate with each other??

[Shurakai]

I could quench that burning desire...but its better not to know. =]
and yes i agree with those here that there is no language that is entirely polite or rude. It's just the structure of how one speaks the language. Thats not to say there aren't any rude words. And in Japan you would not speak to your boss in the way you would speak to your close friends or peers, as your boss is of higher standing than you, and speaking casually or informally towards a such a person may be considered rude.

[blackrabbit2999]

wow you guys are good at holding back information!
don't you know that's the exact thing that makes the flame of desire even stronger?

come on send me a PM or something lol!
vulgarities are an integral part of language

[umeko]

I guess it's really depending on how you look at it. There's no language that can really be polite or impolite. Baka may also mean something like kawaii. Probably as a person close to the 'baka', he or she may be shy about calling him or her kawaii, so call him or her baka to avoid the awkwardness. I don't really know how to explain, but that's something i got from uta no oniisan episode 5. :\