Hello! First time posting here and I’m actually not sure if this is the right place to be asking this, so if I should be asking this somewhere else please let me know.
I am a fic writer and I was wondering about the use of Japanese honorifics. A few questions:
1) For younger children who would address older siblings/adult figures with -chan (onee-chan, oji-chan, etc.), would they change their method of address as they become older?
Ex. Say that a five year old child has a fifteen year old sister who they address as onee-chan. Would they still call their sister onee-chan when they’re a teenager? What about when they’re an adult? An old grandma?
2) Actually, what about the reverse situation? Would the fifteen year old sister still use “-chan” for the five year old as they become older? Teen/adult/elderly?
3) A character attends a school that a relative who they are on good terms with happens to be a teacher at. I assume that they would address them as “[Last Name]-sensei” during school as appropriate, even if the relative is usually addressed by first name? Would it make sense for the character to be switching back to their usual form of address instead of “sensei” after classes/outside of school?
4) A little more general, since there’s no specific situation that I have in mind, but: Under what circumstances are honorifics usually dropped entirely? Like, under what circumstances would you address someone as just “[Last Name]” or just “[First Name]” without any honorifics?
Thank you!
2 comments
There’s a lot to unpack here. You may want to read [this general article](https://thetruejapan.com/how-to-say-brother-in-japanese/) to understand the gist.
First, forget honorifics in the manga sense for a moment. Politeness in speech and how you address someone is based on social hierarchy. The first, most basic, thing to consider is age. A person (acquaintance level) who is older automatically gets addressed in more polite terms.
Relationship dynamic is the next level of hierarchy to consider. Is someone a close friend? A classmate? A neighbour? Are they in the same position as you at work? Have they been at work in the same role as you but longer? Are they an expert who is mentoring you in something?
As for the sibling question, you do need to consider age and the dynamic of the relationship. You also need to consider gender. In Japanese, there is no word for just “sister” or “brother” without indicating if they are an older/younger sister/brother. Additionally, the word you use to TALK ABOUT that person to someone else is different than the word you use TO ADDRESS THEM.
​
**Examples:**
Word for mother = O-Kaa-San
Word for when referring to your own mother to someone else casually: Ha-ha
Word for wife: Tsu-Ma
Word for when referring to your own wife to someone else: O-Ku-San
Word for older brother: O-Nii-San
Word for referring to your own older brother to someone else: A-Ni
Word for addressing your own older brother in an affectionate way: O-Nii-Chan / Nii-Chan
​
As for using last names or first names, that is entirely nuanced on the relationship you have with someone. Siblings will obviously use first names, as would close friends (who may or may not use honorifics). Some casual friends or acquaintances may use last names with an affectionate honorific ( -chan, -kun, etc.) or they may stick to last names with polite honorifics ( -san).
You also have gender considerations for honorifics. Using the wrong one could be belittling, patronizing, teasing, etc. when you do not mean to be and can sound unnatural. Really close friends or family may drop honorifics altogether, such as a mother referring to her 13 year-old son as just “Takeru” rather than “Takeru-kun” depending on the context of the situation.
“Sensei” is a professional title. It indicates they are a teacher or skilled professional in something. It is not used outside specific contexts. A teacher would NOT describe themself as “sensei” when telling someone they are a teacher, for example. If you were the child of a teacher you would not refer to them as “sensei” nor would you if your grandfather was a doctor and you were addressing them while in their house.
The other poster gave a good overview. As an additional note, the focus on these name suffixes (and referring to them as “honorifics”) is much more a concern of Western anime fans than it is of Japanese people — I think because it’s something that anime fans can pick up on by listening even if they don’t understand Japanese, it was assigned an vastly greater importance than it actually has in Japanese culture.
In truth, these name suffixes are only a very tiny part of the overall system of politeness and honorific language.
Furthermore, anime and manga tend to use a wider variety of them than are actually used in real life (as one example, the “-sama” honorific is extremely rare in speech in real life; in real life it’s almost exclusively used in openings to e-mails/letters, and in a situation like a formal introduction of a speaker at an academic conference.)
To be honest, if you are writing a fanfiction for Western readers, you may be better served reading a guide to name suffixes written for anime fans, since that’s what your readers’ knowledge will be.