![]() Also used between peers by men, or when addressing someone younger or of a lower social standing. -kun (君): Used with boys' names to denote familiarity or endearment.The only place it's still more or less widely used is the military, cf. In anime, it's sometimes used as an anachronism to indicate the speaker's age (Cologne in Ranma ½, Washu in Tenchi Muyo!, etc.), or in feudal/historical settings. However, it's rather archaic to use at all these days. Today, it's considered slightly less respectful than -sama due to the lack of self-humbling. It thus serves as a face-saving way for high-ranking Jidaigeki characters to address others of high rank. However, while -dono denotes high status on the part of the person being addressed, it does not necessarily imply lower status on the part of the speaker, unlike -sama. -dono (殿): Originally "Lord" in the feudal sense, once denoting a higher level of respect than -sama.This is often Woolseyed into Third-Person Person. The pejorative second-person pronoun kisama is written with kanji that means something like "honored sir," but today the real meaning of the term is more along the lines of "you bastard." (In military parlance, it keeps its old respectful sense, which is an endless source of jokes among civilians.) Men who want to express over-the-top arrogance can attach -sama to the macho and aggressive first person pronoun ore and refer to themselves as ore-sama, something along the lines of "my magnificent self". In rare cases, -sama can also be used sarcastically to indicate extreme disrespect.It's also used when addressing letters to friends, and a young woman may playfully use it for a guy she has a massive crush on. However, it has some standard uses in modern society: it's a flattering way for a business/company to address its customers and clients. In situations where there isn't a massive gap in social status between the speaker and the person being addressed, the use of -sama can border on grovelling. In fantasy or historical contexts, it's generally translated as Lord/Lady, Master, or a similar term, but since modern English really has no honorific expressing such extreme deference, Mr. -sama (様): A term of great respect, one step higher than -san.Not used very much if the vowel sound of the last character ends with "i", "u" or "n". -han (はん): Kansai-ben version of -san.(Example: It is common for Japan high school students to address each other with "-san", whereas addressing each other with "Mr." or "Ms." would come across as overly formal in an English-speaking setting.). This is most commonly equated to the English "Mr." or "Ms." However, it's often dropped entirely in translations, since it's often used in Japanese contexts where any honorific at all would seem excessively formal in English. Roughly equivalent to most everyday English honorifics, it is generally employed with someone of the same or similar social standing as oneself, but it's become the default honorific to use when one needs to be generically polite. -san (さん): The most common honorific, and the one most familiar to non-Japanese speakers.It's expected that the consumer has a level of familiarity with the cultural context behind the honorific choices. This makes sense in context the use of a particular honorific carries a lot of weight for the relationship between characters and how it develops, and trying to explain why Character A dropped the "-san" for "-chan" when talking to character B, or stopped using honorifics at all, would probably take an entire paragraph in English, when simply keeping them is a better solution. Nowadays, they are often used without explanation in English translations in subtitles or translations of manga. Using the wrong honorific, or the right honorific in the wrong way, can result in anything from simple disdain to (in feudal times, at least) clan warfare. In general, they are expressions of respect or endearment, but as with many terms in many languages, delivery - tone and emphasis - can change a title of utmost honor into a sarcastic insult. Etiquette is a critical part of Japanese language and culture, and honorifics play a key element in that. ![]()
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