99 replies to this topic

[Hiroyuki]

[Nightdragon]

Isn't it disrespectful not to put a honorific with someone?

[Hiroyuki]

Not within your own circle of friends.

It's interesting to listen for use of honorifics (or lack of use) in anime, since it tells you how well they get along with one another, e.g. here's how it is between the girls in Lucky Star:

- I think Kagami and Konata are pretty typical of Japanese teenagers in not using honorifics within their own circle of friends.
- Tsukasa uses "chan" because she's a sweetie.
- Miyuki using "san" shows she's more formal or traditional.
- The fact that Konata and Miyuki both use a more respectful way of addressing one another than they do towards the twins suggests they don't know each other that well: Miyuki is on first-name terms with the twins (albeit with -san) but not with Konata, who she calls "Izumi-san".

[Dayokun]

This is not what i typed myself though,i just edited some things so it would not look crappy and weird on the forum so the honer goes to Theresa Martin although i don't know who that is

here it goes :
Here are the most common honorifics and terms of address.

-sama 
Very respectful ending.  Not normally used with someone's names.  Used to people of superior status, like your boss, or to your guests as a host.  Envelopes should be addressed with "-sama".  A shopkeeper might call a customer "o-kyaku-sama"(Respected Mr. Customer).

sensei
A respectful term meaning "teacher", also used with physicians.  Frequently used to refer to experts in a field or people in any respected occupation.  Lawyers, master chefs, fashion designers, and even some manga artists are called "sensei".  Sometimes used like an honorific with a name or title, as in "kouchou-sensei" (Mr. Principal, Sir).

-san 
Usual term of respect.  It can stand for Mr. and Ms., and is attached to either first or last names, and names of occupations like "o-mawari-san" (Mr. Policeman).  You use it for strangers and people you don't know well, but are more or less the same social status.  When in doubt, use "-san".

However, never use "-san" with your own name or your family members' names.  Also, it shouldn't be used to refer to famous people, since a small degree of intimacy is implied.

High school girls are usually called "-san".

sempai 
Somebody in the same general social class, but socially superior to you.  "Sempai" can also be used as an honorific.

Older students may be addressed respectfully as sempai, especially by girls.

-kun 
Used by a socially superior male to a socially inferior male.  Familiarly used among male students and boys who grew up together.  Recently, some teachers call girl students and some bosses call office ladies with "-kun", but it's still considered a masculine suffix.

High school boys are called "-kun".  Girls go from "-chan" to "-san" in high school, but boys go through a period of "-kun" in between.

Calling someone by a family name alone is being very familiar (or rough).  Calling someone by given name alone is less rough, but more familiar.  Using no honorific when one is expected can be an expression of contempt.

-chan  
Intimate form of address.  Families that are close use it, and "-chan" is often used to, and by, very young children. Used with given names, abbreviations of given names, and nicknames, but not family names.  Children who grow up together (like Madoka and Hikaru), may keep using "-chan" into adulthood.  Note: to call a social superior "-chan" without reason is very insulting.


Family terms are also common terms of address.
(Note: One may sometimes identify a person by taking the listener's point of view, as when a man refers to himself as "father" to his children.)

                Referring to                    Addressing
yours(1)  someone's(2)    yours (*)(3)    someone's(4)

grandfather    sohu(1)            ojii-san(2)        ojii-san(3)        ojii-san(4)
grandmother    sobo(1)        obaa-san(2)        obaa-san(3)        obaa-san(4)
uncle              oji(1)              oji-san(2)        oji-san(3)        oji-san(4)
aunt              oba(1)            oba-san(2)        oba-san(3)        oba-san(4)
elder brother  ani(1)          onii-san(2)      (o)nii-san(3)      [Name]-san(4)
elder sister     ane(1)          onee-san(2)      (o)nee-san(3)      [Name]-san(4)


These six forms of address occur a lot.  Children call strangers by the above family member terms, depending on whether what type of relative they consider them old enuf to be.  (A good example of this is a scene recently described in this newsgroup where a child addresses a question to a young woman as "oba-san", and she responds, referring to herself as "oNEE-san".)

father         chichi / otou-san / (o)tou-san/papa otou-san
mother        haha / okaa-san / (o)kaa-san/mama okaa-san
younger brother otouto / otouto-san / [Name] / [Name]-san
younger sister imouto / imouto-san / [Name] / [Name]-san
daughter       musume / ojou-san / [Name] / [Name]-san
son            musuko / musuko-san / [Name] / [Name]-san
wife          tsuma/kanai / oku-san / omae/[Name] / oku-san
husband        shujin / goshujin(-sama) anata /goshujin(-sama)/[Surname]-san



Ways of saying "you" and "I":
Some ways of saying "you":

  otaku    -  very polite
  sochira   -  very polite
  anata    -  polite, common (*)
  kimi    -    informal masculine pronoun, common (*)
  omae    -    very informal or rough (*)
  anta    -    very informal or rough contraction
  temae    -  very rough  (Note: can also mean "I")
  onore  -    very rough  (Note: can also mean "I")
  kisama    -  very rough

Some ways of saying "I":

  watakushi  -  very polite
  kochira   -  very polite
  watashi    -  polite, common (*)
  atakushi   -  polite feminine contraction
  kotchi    -  polite
  washi     -  informal masculine contraction, used by old men
  atashi  -    informal feminine contraction
  boku    -    informal masculine pronoun, common, used by boys/young men (*)
  uchi    -    informal feminine
  ore     -    very informal or rough

I've marked with a * the ones that come up frequently.  Learning them will make watching unsubtitled anime more pleasant, but there's no need to memorize them, all at once.

You may notice that the very rough words for "you" are often translated as curses.  These are pronouns that insultingly imply the speaker's superiority.  They come up often as fighting words.

Me Again
Hope that helped you
sayonara

Moderator's Note: Please use the full line when typing sentences. Spacing fixed. Spoiler tags added to reduce the length of the post.

Edited by chiisai_hana, 20 October 2007 - 09:59 PM.

[Prideless]

Aye I believe I am called -chan. How do I manually change that? or does it change with post count? like a level up thing?

I cant find the options anywhere.

Thanks In Advance.

[Kit-Tsukasa]

it changes on its own depending on your post count and how much content is in your post as well as your overall contribution to the forums and discussion. Once you hit a high enough status you will have the freedom to change your own member title.

[Kid-Wolf]

Well it's really a complicated poast out system. From what I can guess the more intracate your postings are the shorter it takes for your honorific to change. Although it'll take some time and it usually varies from poster to poster along wiht what is being commented on.

Also, once you reach a certain honorific I think it was -sama you could actually change it in the Edit Profile Info sction. Which would be the section right above your DoB section.

*edit*

Gah got ninja'd, but yeah that's pretty much the gist of it all.

Edited by Kid-Wolf, 28 January 2009 - 06:22 AM.

[JunMisugi]

That topic also might be of interest http://boards.fansub...topic=2588&st=0 , it's more focusing on honorifics in general but it contains also a bit of the honorific system here.

[EggBeast]

[Prideless]

Wow that really cleared things up thanks a lot, much appreciated.

-edit

Actually do you know where I can find a list of the "ranks" all the way up to sama. (The FTV ranking ladder) Thanks. pretty curious hehe

[JunMisugi]

[monsta]

To expand on what Jun said. The rankings are as follows:
chi > chan > san > dono > sama

To become a rank you need to fulfil 2 conditions:
-chi = 10 posts AND 2.5 days old
-chan = 50 posts AND 12.5 days old
-san = 150 posts AND 37.5 days old
-dono = 500 posts AND 125 days old
-sama = 1000 posts AND 250 days old

I shouldn't be doing arithmetic at this hour!

[EggBeast]

[becca8756]

[Kid-Wolf]

Well if you put it that way it could be a childish version of -chan, but probably different then -tan or -kun though. Since -tan is the childish way of saying -chan and -kun is pretty much something different all together if I remeber correctly.

[Gustav1976]

isn't -kun used only if an intimate relationship such as family or childhood friend or lover is present.eg. I would call Kid-Wolf Wolfie-kun because it indicates that I know him almost as well as his family.

[dchaosblade]

[Gustav1976]

It's all so confusing for me lol, anybody have some guidleines I could read through? I'm actually starting to make an effort on my japanese again

[Barbobot]

[Gustav1976]

hontoni, arigatou gozaimas barbobot-sama *bows*