Being respectful and very polite can’t be stressed enough in the
Japanese culture and there will certainly be a time should you
choose to visit Japan or live there, that you will be disrespectful
and impolite. Without growing with the culture it’s almost
impossible to completely understand the rules and exceptions but
we’ll do our best to explain as much as we can over the remainder
of this course.
To do this we’ll begin learning the different honorifics when
referring to others.
In this lesson, we will be using
◯ to denote that an item is checked. This
is the Japanese version of a checkbox known as
marujirushi (丸印). The western equivalent
is used as "
X" or a checkmark.
The marujirushi care also used when denoting that something is
correct and may also be referred to as
maru.
Honorifics are suffix that you add next to a name and act as a
title like
Sir,
Ma’am,
Lord and so on. When referring to others
it is important to always use an honorific unless you are very
close to that person such as a close friend or spouse.
When in doubt, you may ask the person you are speaking to if it’s
acceptable to refer to them without the honorific and by just their
first or last name. In modern Japan, people will generally be
accepting of this particularly to foreigners but it is generally
best to include the honorific regardless on whom it is
(unless
it’s your spouse).
English |
Romaji |
Japanese |
Mr. Mrs. Miss. and Ms. |
-san |
さん |
Prestige version of -san |
-sama |
様 |
Seniority / affection |
-kun |
君 |
Something cute |
-chan |
ちゃん |
Higher level than you |
senpai |
先輩 |
Same or lower level than you |
-kouhai |
後輩 |
Teacher |
sensei |
先生 |
Professor |
hakase |
様 |
Senior/Boss (Title) |
kachou |
課長 |
These are a few, but most popular of the many honorifics available.
We will learn more throughout this course. To use an honorific, you
would use the person’s last name
(unless explicitly told
otherwise) with the honorific.
For example, if you have a younger male friend named
Taki, you could refer to them as
Taki-kun. Let’s now discuss
each of the above honorific in more detail for a better
understanding.
Honorific |
Description |
San さん |
The equivalent of using –san in English is that of Mr. Mrs. Miss.
and Ms. It may be used for anyone in a generic sense. Use it at the
end of a friend’s name, regardless of age, or gender. Use it as a
reference to others during conversations. –San is commonplace but
please be sure to use the appropriate honorific when needed. You
shouldn’t call your sensei with –san, nor should you use it with
those that obviously outrank you.
|
Sama 様 |
This honorific truly does gives honor as it may be used similarly
as –San, but is given with much higher prestige. Sama is used when
referring to someone of greater importance such as a customer, or a
recipient. If one were to refer to themself with –sama, it would be
used by someone very arrogant, someone of noble title, or as an
ironic joke of some kind. In most circumstances, do not refer to
yourself with –sama, people will likely not appreciate the arrogant
tone.
|
Kun 君 |
Using the Kun honorific can be used by many different situations.
The first rule is that it may be used by a senior addressing a
junior male but this isn’t exactly correct anymore. In some cases
such as in business, kun may be used by younger females addressing
their older colleagues but conversely it can be used by male
teachers to their female students.
It can also be used by a female addressing her male partner or
long-term friend to show affection or care but this is not exactly
set in stone, rather males can also refer their female companion
this way and it gets really complicated with non-standard
relationships which is why the rule is not set in stone but
traditionally it’s a girl referring to her boyfriend.
Kun is very complicated because there are no set rules that are
enforced in the language, namely because on how modern society is
always changing.
|
Chan ちゃん |
Chan is used in a way to show love towards a baby, child, teenager
or grandparent. Chan may also be used with animals, plush toys,
robots/creations, close friends and almost anything that is
considered “cute”.
Chan may not be used with superiors as it would be considered
condescending but using it with family other than the parents is
completely acceptable as a “cute” way to say brother or sister for
example. It may be used in conjunction of a relative's title such
as uncle (oji-chan), grand-ma (obaa-chan) and grand-pa
(ojii-chan).
Most people will use –chan to signify their close relationship with
a female.
|
Senpai 先輩 |
Use senpai when you wish to refer to someone whom is of a higher
level than you such as in school. If for example you are in the 9th
grade and the person you are referring to is in the 10th grade,
they would be your senpai.
Senpai may not be used for those in the same level as you or lower.
Senpai may be used on its own without the use of a name and to
better understand this, please refer to Sensei.
|
Kouhai 後輩 |
Kouhai is very similar to Senpai but instead of referring to those
of a higher level, it may be used for those of the same level or
lower. Unlike senpai, you cannot use kouhai on its own to replace a
name, instead, kun must be used when appropriate.
|
Sensei 先生 |
This is quite possibly the most popular of all honorifics in the
world most probably in due part to the ever popular growth of
martial art films outside of Japan. Sensei is used just as they are
portrayed in the movies (in many cases at least) by referring to a
teacher such as a martial arts master.
What is not commonly known is that sensei is also used to those
that have mastered a particular set of skills such as a doctor,
artists, lawyer, politician and so forth. If you are a sensei, do
not use sensei to refer to yourself as sensei is used as a form of
respect.
Sensei may be used on its own such as senpai. For example, you may
be familiar with the phrase “hai sensei” which means “yes, sensei /
teacher”. If you are a teacher and must address another teacher,
use –san instead of sensei. There are many other usages to sensei
and alterations in different situations, we will learn all about
them further in the course.
|
Hakase 様 |
In English there are teachers and professors, both have a different
level of expertise and in such an instance; Sensei would be used
for a teacher but Hakase would be used for a professor.
|
At this time, many of you reading this may be full of questions on
when to use these honorifics and when not to use them. While it
would be silly to list out every possibility, I have provided a
simple chart for each to help explain various situations on when to
use them.
Please take note that many of these answers can vary depending on
the situation and the people you know and meet. This is a general
chart and some situations may require one particular honorific over
another as some of these are not entirely set in stone by the
general populous.
Situation |
san |
sama |
kun |
chan |
senpai |
kouhai |
sensei |
hakase |
Teacher |
|
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
|
Doctor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
|
Manga Artist |
|
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
|
Lawyer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
|
Professor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
Your friend's friend |
◯ |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
Your grandfather |
◯ |
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
Your grandmother |
◯ |
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
Males under 16 |
|
|
◯ |
|
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|
|
|
Males over 16 |
◯ |
|
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|
|
|
|
Your student (male under 16) |
|
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
Your student (male over 16) |
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
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|
Your student (female under 16) |
◯ |
|
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|
|
|
|
Your student (female over 16) |
◯ |
|
|
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|
|
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|
Classmates |
◯ |
|
◯ |
|
◯ |
◯ |
|
|
Students in lower grade |
|
|
|
|
|
◯ |
|
|
Students in higher grade |
◯ |
|
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
Your pet |
|
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
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Your plush toys |
|
|
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
Baby / Toddler |
|
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|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
Customer |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Someone else's boss |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Employee of another company |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
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While being interviewed |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Servant to Master (Maid/Butler) |
|
◯ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Did you notice that your student may be san, kun or chan? That
depends entirely on whether the student is male or female and how
old they are. If the student is
male
but younger than 16, the honorific
"kun" would be used in place of san.
If the student is
female and younger
than 16, "
chan" would
be used but if the
male or female
student is older than 16, "
san" would be used instead.
Family members are interchangeable, generally it taught as
–san, however in the
real-world both
–san and
–chan are used and gender does
not determine this usage.
Spouses and couples don’t require titles just like in Western
society where they refer to each other by their first name or a
cutesy name like the Japanese equivalent to
honey or
darling.
Friends may request to be given a certain title or in some cases
the title just falls into place as an inside joke. It’s
respectful to call your friends by the title that
they request even if it may be silly.
Contrary to other books and resources about Japanese, this
course is about real-world Japanese and we like to explain both the
formal and informal part of Japanese because it’s more practical
and useful this way.
Do you want to be polite to your boss? Well, that’s a little
tricky. Who exactly is your boss? Is he the
president,
department manager,
supervisor? Sometimes businesses will ask
you to call certain people with seniority by different titles but
general rule of thumb is that you don’t call your boss by name and
then honorific, rather you refer to them by using "
kachou".
Kachou is respected title that is reserved for the head of a
division or team. However, an exception to this rule is if you are
speaking about them to others
outside of the
company. In such a case, simply use their name
without any honorific.
If you would like to refer to the CEO, Vice-president, General
Manager or someone else with a high-rank, they all have their own
respective titles which will be discussed in a more advanced
lesson.
Co-workers may require specific titles but for general purpose they
can be referred to with –san. Sometimes in rare instances –kun is
used by males to females but this is seldom ever used. Referring to
employees outside of the company would require
–sama in most situations.
Later, we will be learning all about titles given at different
levels in a company, but it would be too premature to introduce
them all for the time being.
Now that you know about many honorifics, how do you use them in
practice? Generally you would append them to the end of their last
or first name depending on how close you are with them and in some
instances as we’ve learned with Kachou and Sensei, you would omit
the name and just use the title.
Good morning Honda-san!
(Speaking to a
co-worker)
Ohayou Honda-san!
Have you been lifting weights Suzuki-kun?
(Speaking
to a male friend under 16)
I think senpai noticed me!
(Thinking to oneself about a senior
student)
Yes, sensei!
(Telling yes to a teacher)
Hai
sensei!
Do you like teddy-chan?
(Referring to a
teddy-bear)
I’ve done all that you’ve asked in record time kachou!
(Sucking up to your boss)
I think I’ll go kancho my kachou
(Ideal way to
effectively end your employment, perhaps even your career in
Japan)
Older brother-san, I want you to play with me…
(Having high
expectations for your lazy big brother)
Younger sister-san, you’re annoying me!
(Talking down to your
younger sister)
I barely made it but here’s my 1,000,000-page thesis,
hakase.
(Talking to your Professor)
There are so many honorifics and titles in the Japanese language
and it would certainly take many lessons to cover them all, but for
now we have learned many different honorifics and we will be using
them in the coming lessons to become more familiar with them.
Honorifics do not all have set rules and it’s important to
understand that practice in every day Japanese will be very helpful
in properly understanding when, where, and how to properly use
honorifics.
Please be sure to complete your homework assignment before
proceeding to the next lesson as it will help you become more
familiar with honorifics and also expose you to the next two
hiragana columns "S" and "T".