In Japanese why do they put those articles after peoples name ?!


Question: Like can someone explain .

1. sama
2. nii chan
3. chan
4. nee chan
5. kun
6. san
7. ouji
8.basama
9. sennin


Answers: Like can someone explain .

1. sama
2. nii chan
3. chan
4. nee chan
5. kun
6. san
7. ouji
8.basama
9. sennin

Where in English we have a basic set of prefixes (Mr., Mrs., Ms.), Japanese titles are suffixes (they come after the name), there are more of them, and they are more strictly based on the speaker's rank in society relative to the person they're talking to. They are also not usually gender specific. Ones you will hear most commonly in anime are:

-san: The basic "Mr."/"Ms." suffix; not gender specific. Used by adults (or sometimes younger people) to refer to roughly social equals, or as an all-purpose polite suffix.

-chan: The standard "cute" suffix. Generally used with the names of small children or younger girls; also occasionally used affectionately by boyfriends/girlfriends to refer to each other.

-sama: Very honorific suffix. Used when being extremely polite, or more commonly toward people far socially superior (kings, lords, gods). Not common in modern use, but frequently heard in anime.

-kun: Generally used to refer to social equals or slight inferiors, particularly younger males.

-dono: Rarely used, old fashioned honorific; similar to -sama.

-sempai/Sempai: Can be used as a suffix or as a stand alone "title" (not attached to a name, that is). Usually used to refer to people in the same group as you, but somewhat higher (for example, students in a higher grade).

-kouhai/Kouhai: The opposite of "sempai"--used to refer to social inferiors.

-sensei/Sensei: Roughly "Teacher", also used as both a suffix and term of reference. Can also be used for respected people in educated positions, such as doctors. This is the once case where there is a rough English equivalent; one can say, for example, "Professor Smith", or merely call him/her "Professor" (the word "sensei," however, includes other English titles, like "Doctor" or "Teacher" as well).

It's just like our Mr. and Mrs. and Sir. - but it goes a lot more indepth in Japan.

We also do it for a lot of honorable and important professions: Doctor Smith, Professor Dougan, Lord Davis... etc. Those articles do the same thing.

here's what they mean in english:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ti...

It's called Honorifics. Not only Japanese used it. Only it goes into more depth when it comes to Japanese.

From Wikipedia:

Japanese honorifics are similar to English titles like "Mister" and "Miss", but in Japanese, which has many honorifics, their use is mandatory in many formal and informal social situations. Japanese grammar as a whole tends to function on hierarchy—honorific stems are appended to verbs and some nouns, and in many cases one word may be exchanged for another word entirely with the same verb- or noun-meaning, but with different honorific connotations. The Japanese personal pronouns are a good example of the honorific hierarchy of the Japanese language—there are five or more words that correspond to each of the English words, "I" and "you".


^_^

it can show how you know a person and where they stand on a social scale i beleive



The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007 enter-qa.com -   Contact us

Entertainment Categories