Yes, there are slight difference in all of them. 1. Watashi ( 私 / わたし )=> used by both male and female. 2. Boku (　僕 / ぼく )=> used MOSTLY by male. I've heard female use it sometimes, but it's better that they don't use it at all. Female uses Watashi and *Atashi. I personally use Boku also. 3. *Atashi (あたし)=> used ONLY by female. The difference between this and Watashi is, Atashi sounds comparatively cuter than Watashi. 4. Ore (おれ)=> a very informal and probably rude way of saying Watashi. It's best not to use this until unless you can completely understand the meaning and effect of this word. In other words, as a Japanese learner, don't use it at all! There are 2 more that I know of! 1. Watakushi (わたくし)=> a very very formal way of saying Watashi! I think it is used during very respective situations like talking to presidents (of a company, school or other respective place)... 2. Ware (われ)=> a very old and obsolete word for Watashi. They used to use this during the Samurai (<-!!!) era I think. I mean, they used it like a few decades or centuries ago and don't use it anymore as far as I am concerned. That's about all that I know of and I hope that it was helpful. After searching in Wikipedia I found a lot more!!! You can see it explained very nicely in the chart in the middle of the page here: =>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pronouns Also, if you are still interested, you can read more here: =>>> http://nihonshock.com/2009/11/the-many-ways-to-say-i/ Alright, enjoy learning Japanese! If you still have any more questions then please let me know! m(^__^)m

And YES there are other ways to refer to yourself in Japanese! 1. Uchi: A very common one we use is "uchi" (yes, as in house). Originally, "uchi" is used in situations when people are talking about their families. For example, if my mom is talking to her friend about how often we do our laundry, she would say, "家は週に一回します" (uchi wa shuu ni ikkai shimasu), meaning, "Our family does it once a week." BUT many young girls will use this term to refer to THEMSELVES. It's a lot more colloquial than "watashi." 2. Atashi: Another one is "atashi." It's the same as "watashi," but we just don't pronounce the W. It's ONLY used by women and is a pretty lady-like word. 3. The last way is to refer to yourself by your own name. It's mostly done by young children, but I know some young women (in their late teens or early 20s) still refer to themselves by their names. It's pretty childish and cute, and I guess that's why they do it. Hope that helped!!! ^___^

Great question! 1. Watashi (私) is the general word for "me" or "I." It's used by both male and female but is only used by females in colloquial situations. For example, if a female is talking to her friends, she would refer to herself as 私. On the other hand, 私 is only used by males in FORMAL situations. So, when a male is introducing himself to his coworkers or boss for the first time, he would refer to himself as 私. However, it's pretty unnatural for a male to refer to himself as 私 in casual situations. 2. Boku (僕) is used by grown men and little boys. When men use this word , it's usually in formal settings, and they place emphasis on the KU of "boku." There is a difference between "boku" and "watashi" because the former more masculine and is friendlier and warmer than the latter. This word is also used by little boys in casual settings, but in this case, the BO of "boku" is stressed. It's a very cute word when a young boy uses it, but it would sound unusual for a teenager to use it. Also, the word "boku" is used by both sexes in songs. 3. Ore (俺) is a VERY casual way for males to refer to themselves. It's extremely masculine, so people only use it in casual conversations. It's not rude at all and is actually extremely natural for men to use it. However, if a woman uses this word, she is considered to be lacking in etiquette because she isn't "lady-like." haha but my cousin, who is a girl, ALWAYS refers to herself as "ore" because she's just weird like that.

Hontoni arigatou! thus was very helpful ^^