I've had trouble communicating the concept of 'doing something on the floor/ground' in Japanese. I've seemed to miss the mark by whichever word I used for the situation during several short conversations. In addition, when the other party referred to the floor I couldn't grasp what exactly they used so I can't learn from it (I'm not good at listening comprehension in general).
Examples while talking about games for children:
Q 'Do you need any tables or ..?' A 'No, this game should be played on the ground.'
'When you hear the signal, everyone needs to [activity] on the floor.'
I have found the following words, but I simply don't know anything about their actual usage.
- 床 {ゆか}
- 床面 {ゆかめん}
- 地上 {ちじょう}
床面 and 地上 seem to earn some luke-warm smiles when trying to use them, whereas 床 is usually not understood at all after which I switch to one of the other two.
I also feel that Japanese people tend to use other terms as well when they refer to what I said. I just can't acoustically retain these to look them up later. These are not conversations where I have the leisure to ask for clarification either, due to time constraints mostly.
So with that, is there any general-purpose word for floor/ground that is appropriate whether you may be in a building or outside, in a tatami room or in a swimming pool, etc.? If not, what are the most common terms for these kinda things?
This question and answer seems to suggest 床 is nothing unsual, but since it doesn't match my experience I felt the need to ask anyway.