Sense of politeness is key to understand not only the Japanese culture, but also the whole Far East cultural area — China, Korea, and Vietnam. These countries were all influenced by Confucian ideas. That sense of respect is a fundamental element in socialization. Like engine oil that runs social relationship smoothly.
For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima denki might be referred to as Kojima Denki-san by another nearby company. This may be seen on the small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san.
San is also applied to some kinds of foods. Both san and its more formal equivalent, sama , imply familiarity. In formal speech or writing, the title shi may be preferred. It is used by superiors to inferiors, by males of the same age and status to each other, and in addressing male children.
In business settings junior women may also be addressed as kun by superiors. Schoolteachers typically address male students using kun , while female students are addressed as san or chan. In the Diet of Japan, diet members and ministers are called kun by the chairpersons. However, when Takako Doi, a woman, was the chairperson of the lower house, she used the san title.
The change from san to chan is a kind of "baby talk" in Japanese where "sh" sounds are turned into "ch" sounds, such as chitchai for chiisai , "small". Chan is also used for adults who are considered to be kawaii cute or loveable. Chan is sometimes applied to male children if the name does not fit with the kun suffix. For example, a boy called Tetsuya may be nicknamed Tetchan rather than Tekkun for reasons more to do with phonetics than anything else.
And there you have it! The basic rules of using Japanese honorifics. Their usage is much more complex and can be difficult to interpret at times.
But as a foreigner, people will cut you some slack if you mess up. That being said, if you work in Japan, you may want to be extra careful when using these honorifics.
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This became the basis for his use of medieval terminology like "thou" in the Woolsey-penned script. This is usually rendered as "master X" in English. Vile-sama , on the other hand, becomes "Lord Weil". In a drama track , Harpuia realizes that the Eight Gentle Judges are not themselves when they refer to Vile this way. Here's an analysis of the honorifics and pronouns used in the original Japanese version of Mega Man Battle Network.
The translation did manage to adapt some of them, such as the high formality of Yai's Navi and programs. In the Battle Network anime , Meijin Mr. Famous is always called Meijin-san, which he thinks is unnecessary; he always replies "No need for formalities. In Katawa Shoujo , despite the story being set in Japan, almost nobody uses honorifics. The most blatant case of their use would be Misha, who attaches "-chan" to her close friends's names : "Hicchan" for Hisao, "Shicchan" for Shizune, "Yucchan" for Yuuko, etc.
Keep in mind that Kyo is a rather rough speaker and uses yobisute with almost everyone, so this shall give you an idea of how highly he thinks of Souji. Several people call Kyo by his name and with yobisute. Each case lays parallels about First-Name Basis in Japanese: i. Kyo's fanboy and sort-of apprentice Shingo Yabuki refers to him as "Kusanagi-san".
Athena, who is quite a polite speaker compared to others, calls Kyo "Kyo-san" since he's older than her and one of the strongest fighters around. Actually she tends to use "-san" on almost everyone Iori, Kim, Terry, etc.
Danganronpa : Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc : The Otaku Hifumi Yamada as a character quirk of referring to pretty much everyone by their full name and with the outdated "-dono". In the English version, he simply refers to everyone by Mr. It's a plot point after his murder. Similarly, the Clairvoyant Yasuhiro Hagakure uses "-chi" diminutive of "-chin" for the others. Toko Fukawa uses "-sama" on Byakuya Togami, since she has a massive crush on him. Some of the more polite students, including Makoto, use "-kun" on boys and "-san" on girls.
After Chihiro turns out to be a boy, some of them end up having to switch from calling him "Fujisaki-san" to "Fujisaki-kun. The traitor turns out to be a girl. While Monomi and Chiaki are usually somewhat formal with the other students, and nobody refers to Monomi with honorifics, after Chiaki is outed as the traitor and Monomi is revealed to be her accomplice , they start referring to each other as "Chiaki-chan" and "Monomi-chan.
Komaru also starts out calling Toko "Fukawa-san," then switches to "Toko-chan" after they become friends. In ' Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony '', Tenko Chabashira, despite her hatred for "degenerate males," uses "-san" on boys and girls. This is a gameplay mechanic in some installments of the Tokimeki Memorial series; choosing the wrong honorific when addressing a potential love interest may have unfortunate consequences. Examples include Homura and, unusually, Kaori.
The English translations of the Yakuza series used honorifics inconsistently. This is largely reflected in Goro Majima, who refers to protagonist Kazuma Kiryu with the affectionate "Kiryu-chan". In the first game's English Dub, Majima calls him "Kazuma-chan", while later games translate Majima's pet name as "Kazzy". Yakuza 0 features honorifics in its English subs along with the first instance of "Kiryu-chan" appearing in an English script.
It is left ambiguous if Majima referring to Kiryu as Kiryu-chan is an instance of Insult of Endearment , Terms of Endangerment or if Majima is genuinely flirting with Kiryu.
In beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro , the Professor always addresses the player's Q-pro character with "-kun", even if the player has designed the character to be female. The fact that the rather bratty Princess Rayfa uses "-dono" on Beh'leeb shows how much she respects the couple. The Great Ace Attorney has characters use honorifics to signify that they're speaking Japanese.
In the original Japanese version, Susato uses the extremely formal "-sama" honorific on those she's close enough with to call by their first names- Kazuma, Iris, Gina and Rei. In the English localization, she only does this with Kazuma. This is Lost in Translation in the fan translation, in which Justine Courtney simply calls most people by the more conventionally polite "Mr.
For example, the Love Interest Tatsuki is commonly referred to as Tatsunii by the player character, and at the end of Shin 's route, after the Relationship Upgrade , he asks you to drop the "kun" from Shin-kun and just call him Shin. In Kindred Spirits on the Roof , Aihara uses the shock of calling Maki by her first name with yobisute for the first time in order to snap her out of assaulting a third year who called her a masochist. Ensemble Stars! Souma however makes an exception for Kaoru, with whom he often clashes, instead typically referring to him rudely as 'that man' despite Kaoru being his senior.
Kanata uses yobisute with everyone , probably due to his very childlike personality and possibly also a result of previously considering himself a God who need not consider himself with rules of formality.
Chiaki on the other hand refers to everyone by their surname only, reflecting a more manly friendliness , except Kanata, with whom he uses yobisute due to their close friendship. Nazuna likes to refer to friends with '-chin', which fits his cute appearance, but contrasts with his general desire to be treated like an adult, and his resulting usage of the masculine first-person pronoun 'ore'.
Eichi always uses yobisute with Chiaki despite them not really being friends and Eichi typically being polite with others; this went unexplained for years before it was confirmed that they were friends briefly while hospitalised together as children.
Hajime typically speaks politely, referring to his peers with '-san' except Childhood Friend Tomoya who gets yobisute and seniors with '-sempai', but as he grows in confidence over the year eventually asks to call the producer 'oneechan' and is encouraged by his Tea Club seniors to call them 'Eichi-oniichan' and 'Ritsu-oniichan'.
Mitsuru tends to use nicknames and '-chan' a lot e. Arashi always speaks in a very girly way and so uses '-chan' for most people, and insists on being called 'Naru-chan' or 'Naru-nee'. Mika uses '-kun' for everyone the same age or younger than him apart from the aforementioned Naru-chan and uses '-sempai' for those older than him except Shu who is 'Oshi-san' essentially 'mentor' and Eichi who is rudely referred to as simply 'you' 'anta'.
In the Japanese version of Octopath Traveler , most of the travelers don't use honorifics on each other, with the exception of Ophilia and Tressa, who use "-san" on the others. Some of them call Cyrus, a professor, "sensei. After noticing Taiko use "-chan" on Raiko whom he's implied to have a crush on , Nobara says that she "want s to be chan-ified , too.
Kamen rudely calls Raiko by her last name without honorifics, due to her dislike of her.
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