From what I understand Japanese people have different ways of calling their family members and others.
Like “おとうさん” for other person’s dad while “ちち” is for theirs or “おねえさん” for other person’s sister while “あね” is for theirs and so on.
But in the anime whether it’s their own family or others it’s always referred to as in “other person’s family member”. Like the little boy would call his big sister in anime “おねえちゃん” or call his mother “おかあさん” instead of “あね” or “はは”. (Sometimes I also see “ちちうえ” or “ははうえ” but that’s another story)
Is there any particular reason behind this?
(Sorry in advanced for any mistyping I might have made)
5 comments
take this with a grain of salt, because i have no source of this, but arent はは and あね and stuff only for referring to your own family members? when talking to them directly, you still call them お母さor お姉さん.
I assumed it was politeness. Like saying, “How is your mother?” because it sounds more respectful toward the person mentioned. Meanwhile they might call their own mother “Mama” because it they used it as a child and its a sign of their closeness and familiarity.
Japanese language loves its politeness, formalities, and degrees of familiarity.
Good catch!
It’s all about inner-circle and outer-circle relationships between the speaker and the listener. Using the honorific form, or not, isn’t between the speaker and the person spoken of, but between the speaker and the listener.
When speaking about someone from the inner circle to someone from the outer circle, Japanese people don’t use honorifics. Even in business meetings, they will skip the さん when talking about their boss or coworkers TO clients or representatives of other companies. If sounds strange, but that’s how it is.
“Tanaka will take over your case from now on.”, but: “Tanaka-san, please take over the client’s case.”
“Please enjoy this cake, made by mom.”, but: “Mother, could you make a cake for my birthday party?” <– this sounds super opposite, but that’s how it is.
I live in Japan and I almost never hear people say anything other than お母さん or the like, at least 18+ people even referring to their own parents. Not sure why just thought I’d throw some of my own experience here
It’s an Asian thing I guess. Asians have different ways to call their parents depending on their relationships. A very close and casual family has different way of calling each other than a close but keep a certain respect between a child and parents.