With lessons 1-16 of the Pimsleur Japanese I course we should be able to understand most of the following clips from ‘Shigatsu wa kimi no uso” (Your lie in April).

honorifics

The honorific that we use when addressing a person says what we think of our relationship with this person. In the clip below, from ‘Your lie in April’ – Ep. 18, a boy addresses the teacher of a girl using the teacher’s name, Arima Kousei, without using the honorific ‘sensei’ (teacher), and the girl goes into a rage at the insult.

 
The two default honorifics are ‘sama’ and ‘san’, both gender-neutral, with their respective casual forms that convey affection:

‘chan’ is most commonly used for females and children, but it can be used for males, e.g., Japanese people affectionally refer to Arnold Schwarzenegger as ‘shuwa-chan’. On the other hand, ‘kun’ is most commonly used for males, but it can be used for females.

There are many other ways to refer to someone:

• [last name] ‘dono’ means ‘lord’, less polite than ‘sama’ but more polite than ‘san’; it is used specially in business and official letters
• [last name] ‘sensei’ (先生, せんせい) means ‘born before’; it is the respectful way to address teachers and physicians
• [last name] ‘senpai’ is someone ‘before’ (先-, sen-) of us, similar to a mentor, e.g., a student in a higher grade, or a co-worker with more seniority
• [last name] ‘kouhai’ is someone ‘after’ (後-, kou-) us, similar to a protégé, e.g., a student in a lower grade, or a co-worker with less seniority
• [last name] – casual, used with close friends
• [first name] – very intimate, used by family and childhood friends

Another way to address someone is with a nickname. The first go-to suffixes that females use to address other people, when -chan or -kun are not appealing enough, are -chin, -cchi, and -rin, which are similar to diminutives that we can apply to either the first or last name.

There are many other honorifics. For example, in ‘My Hero Academy’, All-Might addresses his teen-age students as ‘shounen’ and ‘shoujo’ (Young man, Young woman), e.g., ‘Midoriya shounen’; this is similar to Capt. Picard, in the Star Trek series, addressing Wesley as ‘Young Wesley Crusher’.

In general, been able to call someone with a more intimate honorific (or without one) is a sign of the evolution and closeness of the relationship. Still, regardless of the closeness, often an honorific remains, not as a sign of distance, but of respect; for example, I had an American acquaintance who had been married to a Japanese lady for about 10-12 years, who addressed her (at least in public) as ‘Miki-san’.

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mata ashita, moshi-moshi Ep.1

 

• In this context, ‘sore-dewa’, ‘sore-ja’, ‘dewa’, and ‘ja’ are all interchangeable.

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ja, mata, ashita Ep.6

 

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kore, ga, no Ep.8

 

• the ‘ga’ particle emphasizes what comes before it, while ‘wa’ emphasizes what comes after it.

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watashi/boku/ore, wo, te form Ep.13

 

• ‘boku’ and ‘ore’ are casual forms of ‘watashi’; ‘boku’ has a connotation of being respectful, while ‘ore’ has one being manly, tough, and confident.
• ‘mite’ is the imperative of ‘miru’ (to look); ‘miro’ is used when you are angry
• we mark with を the direct objects of verbs, and with が the direct objects of adjectives.
• the particle を is most often pronounced ‘o’, in spite that it is written as ‘wo’.

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wa, ni, arimasen Ep.16

 

• Kawori is apologizing so she speaks formally to Kousei
• ‘kaban’ is bag or briefcase
• ‘gakkou’ is school

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desu/da, watashi/boku Ep.16

 

• ‘boku’ is a casual form of ‘watashi’
• ‘kaba’ is ‘fool’, or ‘idiot’
• ‘da’ is the casual form of ‘desu’
• ‘yuki’ is ‘snow’