LESSON NOTES · レッスンノート

N3How you sound · Sep 21, 2026

書き言葉かきことば and 話し言葉はなしことば: the Japanese you speak is not the Japanese you write

Japanese separates writing and speech far more sharply than English does, and the gap is not about politeness — a です/ます essay can still be full of spoken Japanese.

This catches learners late. You spend two years getting comfortable in conversation, then write your first essay or a real email, and a Japanese reader says it sounds childish or chatty without being able to say exactly why. The reason is almost never grammar mistakes. It is that a set of words you use fifty times a day belongs to 話し言葉はなしことば (spoken language) and has a written twin you have never been taught.

The basics

What actually separates 書き言葉かきことば from 話し言葉はなしことば?

Not formality. Politeness is the です/だ axis, described in です and だ — that is about who you are talking to. 書き言葉かきことば vs 話し言葉はなしことば is about which channel the sentence travels down, and the two axes are independent.

That means all four combinations exist:

明日あした行いきますね。 — I'll go tomorrow, okay? (polite, but pure spoken Japanese — ね does not survive into writing) 明日あした伺うかがう予定よていである。 — I am scheduled to visit tomorrow. (plain form, but unmistakably written)

A polite spoken sentence is not automatically a good written one. That is the whole problem in one line.

The four habits that give a learner away

Almost every "this reads as spoken" correction comes from one of these four:

  1. Contractions. 〜てる for 〜ている, 〜ちゃう for 〜てしまう, 〜なきゃ for 〜なければ.
  2. Conversational connectives. でも, だから, じゃあ, それで.
  3. Sentence-final particles. ね, よ, かな, さ.
  4. Casual intensifiers. すごく, ちょっと, いっぱい, めっちゃ.

すごく面白おもしろいと思おもうけど、でも高たかいんですよね。 — It's really interesting, but it's expensive though. (spoken, and fine in speech) 非常ひじょうに興味深きょうみぶかいが、価格かかくが高たかい。 — It is highly interesting, but the price is high. (written)

Same sentence, same meaning, same opinion. Nothing became more polite. It became written.

The conversion list you actually need

Spoken 話し言葉はなしことば Written 書き言葉かきことば English
でも しかし/だが but
だから したがって/そのため therefore
じゃあ/じゃ では well then
けど/けれど が although
〜から(reason) 〜ため because
すごく/とても 非常ひじょうに very
ちょっと 少すこし a little
いっぱい/たくさん 多おおく many
だんだん 次第しだいに gradually
もっと さらに more
いろんな さまざまな various
みたいな のような like, such as
〜てる 〜ている -ing
〜ちゃう 〜てしまう end up -ing
〜なきゃ 〜なければ must
やっぱり やはり as expected
どっち どちら which

Most of these are one-for-one swaps you can do at the end, like a spell check. The 〜から to 〜ため swap is the one that changes the grammar around it — see から and ので for what each one is doing in the first place.

Beyond the basics

です/ます or だ/である?

An essay, a report or an article normally uses である体からだ — the plain form with である for the copula. A letter, an email or a school composition normally uses です/ます体からだ. What you must not do is mix them inside one text.

アニメは日本にほんの重要じゅうような輸出ゆしゅつ産業さんぎょうである。 — Anime is an important Japanese export industry. (である体からだ, essay) アニメは日本にほんの重要じゅうような輸出ゆしゅつ産業さんぎょうです。 — Same sentence. (です体からだ, letter or blog)

Pick one before you start writing and hold it to the end. Switching mid-text is the single most visible structural error in student essays, and unlike vocabulary it is not something a reader can charitably ignore.

ら抜ぬき and い抜ぬき: the two missing letters

Spoken Japanese quietly deletes letters that writing puts back.

  • ら抜ぬき言葉ことば — 見みれる instead of 見みられる, 食たべれる instead of 食たべられる. Extremely common in speech, wrong in formal writing.
  • い抜ぬき言葉ことば — 食たべてる instead of 食たべている, 知しってる instead of 知しっている.

今いま、見みてるところです。 — I'm watching it right now. (spoken) 現在げんざい、視聴しちょうしているところである。 — I am currently viewing it. (written)

If you learned Japanese mostly by ear, ら抜ぬき will feel more correct than the real form. It is worth checking every potential verb in anything you submit.

Hedging: how written Japanese says "I think"

〜と思おもいます is not wrong in writing, but it is thin. Written Japanese has a set of hedges that sound considered rather than casual:

〜のではないだろうか。 — Might it not be that...? (the standard essay hedge, softer than a flat claim) 〜と考かんがえられる。 — It can be thought that... (analysis, no named thinker) 〜と言いわれている。 — It is said that... (hearsay or general belief, and it does not commit you)

That last one is the single most useful phrase in the list. It lets you state a widely held view without claiming it as a verified fact, which is exactly what you want when you do not have a source to cite.

Fact and opinion take different endings

This one is invisible to English speakers and obvious to Japanese readers. A fact does not take a thinking verb.

調査結果ちょうさけっかは、若者わかものの視聴しちょう時間じかんが増ふえていることを示しめしている。 — The survey results show that viewing time among young people is increasing. (fact — 示しめしている, not 思おもいます) この傾向けいこうは今後こんごも続つづくのではないだろうか。 — Might this trend not continue? (opinion, hedged)

Writing 増ふえていると思おもいます about a number you just cited reads as though you are unsure whether your own data is real. Facts get 〜となっている, 〜が示しめしている, 〜である. Opinions get the hedges above.

The vocabulary of describing data

If you ever present in Japanese — a class report, a work meeting — this small set does most of the work:

縦軸たてじくは売上うりあげ、横軸よこじくは年ねんを表あらわしています。 — The vertical axis shows sales, the horizontal axis shows the year. (presentation) 全体ぜんたいの約やく三さん割わりを占しめている。 — It accounts for about thirty percent of the total. (polite written)

縦軸たてじく, 横軸よこじく, 割合わりあい, 占しめる, 増加ぞうか, 減少げんしょう, 調査結果ちょうさけっか. Seven words, and a graph slide writes itself.

Where the line blurs

Blogs, LINE messages, novels in first person and most of the internet sit somewhere in between, and that is not an error. A blog that uses 非常ひじょうに and である reads as stiff and unfriendly. The skill is not "always write formally" — it is knowing which channel you are in, the same judgement call as switching between keigo and casual speech.

Dialogue inside a novel is written as speech, so it keeps ね, けど and 〜てる. Narration around it does not.

Common mistakes

  • Mixing です/ます and だ/である in one text. More damaging than any single word choice, and the easiest to fix by rereading the last word of every sentence.
  • Assuming polite means written. 〜ですね、〜ですよ are polite and spoken. Politeness markers do not launder a conversational particle.
  • Leaving ね and よ in an email. They ask for a reaction, and a reader who is not in the room cannot give one.
  • Using 〜と思おもいます for everything. Three paragraphs of と思おもいます reads as an opinion with no argument behind it. Alternate with 〜と考かんがえられる and 〜のではないだろうか.
  • Writing ら抜ぬき in a formal document. 見みれる sounds native in conversation and looks careless on paper.
  • Translating "like" as みたいな. In writing it is のような. みたいな in an essay is the equivalent of writing "like, sort of" in English.

Practice

Answers are hidden — rewrite the sentence yourself first, then open. Questions 4 and 5 are a pair: the same sentence, once as fact and once as opinion.

1. Rewrite for an essay: 「でも、値段ねだんが高たかいです。」

Show answer

しかし、価格かかくが高たかい。 — でも becomes しかし, 値段ねだん becomes the more written 価格かかく, and です becomes the plain である体からだ ending.

2. Rewrite for an essay: 「みんなすごく見みてると思おもう。」

Show answer

多おおくの人ひとが視聴しちょうしていると考かんがえられる。 — すごく to 多おおく, 見みてる to 視聴しちょうしている (い抜ぬき restored), と思おもう to the analytical と考かんがえられる.

3. What is wrong with 「アニメは人気にんきである。でも、問題もんだいもあります。」?

Show answer

Two things. — である体からだ and です/ます体からだ are mixed, and でも is spoken. Fix: アニメは人気にんきである。しかし、問題もんだいもある。

4. You have just cited a survey showing viewing time rose. Write the fact sentence.

Show answer

調査結果ちょうさけっかは、視聴しちょう時間じかんが増加ぞうかしていることを示しめしている。 — A fact takes 示しめしている, not a thinking verb. Writing 増ふえたと思おもいます about your own cited data undercuts it.

5. Now add your own prediction about that trend.

Show answer

この傾向けいこうは今後こんごも続つづくのではないだろうか。 — An opinion takes a hedge. のではないだろうか is the standard essay form and is softer than a flat 続つづく.

6. Rewrite: 「食たべれる人ひとはいっぱいいるけど…」

Show answer

食たべられる人ひとは多おおくいるが… — ら抜ぬき 食たべれる becomes 食たべられる, いっぱい becomes 多おおく, けど becomes が.

7. Why does 〜と言いわれている appear so often in Japanese essays?

Show answer

It states a widely held view without claiming it as verified fact. — It lets you use general knowledge when you have no source to cite, and it does not commit you personally.

8. Rewrite for a report: 「だから、だんだん変かわっちゃった。」

Show answer

したがって、次第しだいに変化へんかしてしまった。 — だから to したがって, だんだん to 次第しだいに, 変かわっちゃった to 変化へんかしてしまった.

9. A novel's dialogue line reads 「行いかなきゃ」。 Should an editor change it?

Show answer

No. — Dialogue is written as speech. Contractions, ね and けど all belong inside quotation marks; the narration around them does not.

10. Describe a graph: the vertical axis is sales, the horizontal is the year.

Show answer

縦軸たてじくは売上うりあげ、横軸よこじくは年ねんを表あらわしている。 — 表あらわしている is the standard verb for what a chart shows. 縦軸たてじく and 横軸よこじく are the two words that make a Japanese slide sound professional.

FAQ

Is 書き言葉かきことば the same as keigo? No. Keigo is about the relationship between you and the listener. 書き言葉かきことば is about the channel. A text message to your boss can be full of keigo and still be entirely spoken Japanese, and an essay in plain である体からだ is written Japanese with no keigo in it at all.

Do I have to use である in everything I write? No. である体からだ is for essays, reports and articles. Emails, letters and most blogs use です/ます. Choose by document type, then stay consistent.

Is ら抜ぬき actually wrong? It is standard in speech across most of Japan and non-standard in formal writing. Treat it as a register issue rather than a grammar error: correct in conversation, risky in anything graded or published.

Can I use 〜と思おもいます in an essay? Yes, but sparingly. It is fine once, to mark a clearly personal conclusion. Three times a page and the essay reads as an unsupported opinion. Rotate in 〜と考かんがえられる and 〜のではないだろうか.

What about LINE and social media? Spoken Japanese, in writing. Contractions, particles and emoji all belong. Applying essay rules to a LINE message reads as cold, which is a real mistake in the other direction.

How do I practise this without a teacher? Take a paragraph of your own casual Japanese and convert it with the table above, then read both out loud. The conversion is mechanical enough that you can drill it alone, and hearing them back to back is what makes the difference stick.

Vocabulary from this article

Tap the block to select all of it, then copy. In Anki: File → Import, note type Basic, separator Tab — the first column becomes the front, the second the back.

書き言葉	かきことば — written language
話し言葉	はなしことば — spoken language
非常に	ひじょうに — extremely, highly
少し	すこし — a little
多く	おおく — many, much
次第に	しだいに — gradually
さらに	さらに — furthermore, more
さまざま	さまざま — various
しかし	しかし — however
したがって	したがって — therefore
価格	かかく — price
視聴	しちょう — viewing (TV, video)
増加	ぞうか — increase
減少	げんしょう — decrease
調査結果	ちょうさけっか — survey results
縦軸	たてじく — vertical axis
横軸	よこじく — horizontal axis
割合	わりあい — proportion, percentage
占める	しめる — to account for, to occupy
傾向	けいこう — tendency, trend
表す	あらわす — to show, to express
変化	へんか — change

I'm Yuuki, a Japanese teacher based in Tokyo. I've taught on italki as a Top 1% teacher and watched over 1,500 anime. This is the correction I make most often with advanced students, and it is never about their grammar — it is that nobody warned them their conversational Japanese had a written twin.

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Sources: the author's own lessons and standard reference grammars.

More drills like the ones above, plus a timed JLPT-style mock test: Practice · N3

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