fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3153 ]

[ SECRET POST #3153 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3153 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like, when are they used and when will just the person's name suffice, and stuff.

I don't remember all of them, but when I took Japanese, this is what I learned:

-sama = for someone who's of a higher class than you.

-chan = cuteness diminutive

-kun = boys

-san = girls, adult men/women

-sensei = teachers

"just a person's name" = intimacy, and would be considered rude outside of that context.

-kun Endearment appended to male names
-chan Endearment appended to female names. Is considered insulting when used with a male's name
- san General polite honorific. Often used with siblings, peers, etc
- sama shows great respect; when used to refer to onesself (ore-sama) is a sign of arrogance/hubris

-chan is cutsey and familiar, so it gets used for little kids and sweethearts. -kun is for older kids/teenagers and people you grew up with (not unusual to hear two older guys still referring to each other as -kun 'cause they are friends from highschool. -san is general usage, pretty much everyone who has not given you permission to use your direct name should get this. -dono is old fashioned, but used for senior executives or old-money folks. -sama is pretty much reserved for the highest of the high, it'll never be used unless you are speaking to royalty or divinity.

They are all unisex, anon baka-chan.

They're all technically unisex, but in practice -kun is usually for boys, unless it's your female subordinate in a company or something.

nayrt

I lived in Japan for a few years and heard -kun for women, too. I don't claim to be an expert, but I get the sense that "-kun is for boys, -chan is for girls" is very simplified, for the sake of Japanese 101 classes.

I'll defer to your experience, then. I was only there for a year.

I know that used to be true, but I've seen -kun getting used a lot for young women too now. It seems to be catching on, but yeah, in general for older characters and older works, it should be kept more for the male characters.

San = respectful, similar to "Ms." or "Mr."
Chan = sign of friendliness and/or closeness for females. Not respectful to use for females older than you. Can also be used for males (e.g. sweethearts or pets).
Tan = cutesy, used for babies
Kun = used for males to signify some familiarity of friendliness. Also not respectful to use for males older than you. Also used for females - for instance, a teacher referring to a female student, or a boss referring to a female employee in the office

What about -bei? I've only seen it in the anime Jubei-Chan, where it sets up a sort of historical in-joke (Jiyu's father calls her Jiyu-bei, and she becomes a successor to the ninja Jubei.)

ayrt

I've never heard that as a suffix added onto a name but, "jiyu" can mean "freedom" and as a suffix "bei" can mean "protect" or "protection". Perhaps that's where the nickname comes from? I don't know enough about the show to really know.

Stuff you'll run into IRL:
-chan = cute diminutive, used for (very young) boys and girls, pets, etc.
-kun = subordinate or equal male in your organization (school, work, etc.), I've heard of it being used for subordinate females in progressive companies, but I never personally came across it when I was a josei-salaryman in Japan; can also be a cutesy boy-specific diminutive if used that way, particularly by an older woman
-san = male superior or female subordinate/equal/superior, unless that superior has a specific title (see below)
-senpai = superior who has been in an organization (school, club, work, etc.) longer than you have, even if it's just a year
-bucho/kacho/shacho/etc. = specific work titles, equivalent to manager/director/president/etc. You use these after names just like any other suffix
-sama = these days primarily used by people in the service and hospitality industry to refer to guests/customers/clients, but can also be used to denote someone very important or far superior to yourself, or very distant and somewhat superior from yourself (e.g., your boss's wife is "oku-sama" or "goshujin-sama" for husband); also used jokingly, a lot
-sensei = most commonly teachers or professors, but also doctors, well-established artists (including mangaka), and mentors of any kind

Shit you might come across once in a blue moon IRL:
-dono = verrrrrryyy old school but it still rolls around as a term of high respect, particularly with corporate culture (for example, I literally just translated a document using "-dono" to refer to the director of another company's production facilities last night)
-shi = technically gender neutral, but 90% of the time refers to a man - it's how you refer to someone you've never met and thus don't know the standing of in formal writing; gets used in newspapers and academic journals (also jokingly on the internet)
-heika = king/queen
-kakka = ambassador (equivalent to "your excellency")
-tenno(-sama/-heika)(BANZAAAAAAAAIIIII) = the emperor

Historical shit you'll probably only come across in anime
-hime = technically princess, often any young lady of high standing
-tono(-sama) = samurai lord

Keep in mind, however, that there are two scales on which these things need to be judged: intimacy and social position. Inferior women in a company in Japan might get "-san" while an equivalent male gets "-kun" not because she's superior, but because she's "outside" what I affectionately call the -kun ladder. (Seriously just listen to a group of guys from the same company talk for a couple of minutes and you'll know their standing just from who calls who -kun and who calls who -san.) This is why you get progressive companies including them: isn't a step down, it's a step in. Someone from another company is always -san, even if they're in a lower position than you, and if they're in a higher position, they're -dono, and -sama. Or if two girls are hanging out together and one of them calls the other "-chan" it doesn't necessarily mean she's an inferior, it might mean they're close friends (though if they're not, that's exactly what it means).

Also, any/all of these can be used facetiously or ironically. I once saw a young woman ordering her boyfriend around on their shopping date and at one point it got to be too much and he dropped down for a samurai-style bow and "hai, tono!" and all of their friends laughed.

teal deer, -san is what you're going to run into 99% of the time used on yourself because, even if someone is superior to you, you're the ultimate outsider. Being both female and foreign in my company, even though I was the lowliest of the low - an intern - no one -chan'd or yobisute'd me. After a couple of years in a club I was finally "(last name)-chan" to my senpai and "(last name)" to my equals. -san is also what's going to be appropriate to use on other people 99% of the time, too.

Edited 2015-08-23 00:56 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does leaving out a suffix from someone's name either mean you are being disrespectful to that person, or that you are very close to that person? I never understood this

Not an expert, but I think it's both. It's a sign of intimacy to do if you are close to them, but if you do it when you're not close to them, it's rude.

I guess it's a little like an acquaintance who isn't your family or gf/bf calling you an intimate nickname like "sweetheart" or "darling" -- except way more so? Or like in internet comments, when we want to be especially patronizing or want to really annoy someone, we sarcastically call the person "honey."

sa

Thanks for replying! That makes sense

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #3153 ]

Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

You know this doesn't mean I like you!

Re: You know this doesn't mean I like you!

Re: You know this doesn't mean I like you!

Re: You know this doesn't mean I like you!

Re: You know this doesn't mean I like you!

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?

Re: Can someone explain Japanese suffixes to me?