One way to make a great first impression in your new workplace or school is to address people in Japanese correctly. Using the right honorific shows your level of Japanese cultural awareness, your regard for the other person and sets the tone for the rest of the interaction.
Beginner learners of the Japanese language are often taught to default to last name and “san” when addressing someone they meet, but there are other Japanese honorifics that might better suit the context.
In this post, we’ll discuss the basics of honorifics, other common examples and when to use them.
What are Japanese Honorifics?
Photo: iStock/ marokeJapan has always had a hierarchical culture that can be traced back to feudal times. This culture of respect is reflected in manners and language, which are still practiced today. Japanese honorifics or keishou (敬称) are suffixes added to a person’s last name. These honorifics define rank, familiarity, gender, and, in some cases, social class. How you address a neighbor differs from how you address your manager or relative, and so on.
Common Ways to Address People in Japanese
Photo: iStock/ LeoPatriziHere are some of the most common ways to address people in Japanese that you might have already heard of. Remember that it’s important to understand the context of how you’re meeting this person, be it at the office, at a party or at school. Use teineigo (丁寧語) or polite language whenever you meet someone new.
San
San (さん) is a neutral and polite way to address anyone you’re meeting for the first time. It’s pretty much like Mr. or Ms., and it’s one of the most common ways to address people.
One of the most interesting uses of san is that it can be added to a job description as a general way to describe someone who does that job. Don’t know your bookseller’s name? You can simply call that person 本屋さん (Honya-san or Mr. Bookstore) to refer to that person or their business.
Sama
Sama (さま) is added to the end of esteemed people’s names. The good news is that most of the time, you will only have to use sama to talk directly to customers. Either add sama to the end of someone’s name or refer to them as お客様 (o kyaku sama) if you don’t know their name. You should be careful not to overuse sama.
Sensei
The honorific sensei (先生) is used on its own or attached at the end of the person’s name. It’s meant for teachers and professionals in the fields of science, the arts, law and politics, architecture and the like. Never use this when speaking about yourself.
Senpai
Senpai (先輩) is used to address someone who is in a more senior position than you. This standalone gender-neutral honorific is commonly used in group settings, such as at school or an extracurricular activity. You’ve probably heard of this honorific through anime or manga.
Chan
As a general rule, chan (ちゃん) is used for female names as a form of affection. In most cases, it’s an informal way to refer to a younger girl that you’re close to. Chan can also be used to address something cute. The ever-popular Hello Kitty character, for example, is usually referred to as Kitty-chan. You will often hear people using it when they talk about animals and pets. For the super cute, you may even hear tan (たん), which is a sweet version of chan. As a general rule, this cuter-sounding version is mainly used by young kids, such as in お兄たん (oniitan—my big brother), as tan is a lot easier for little mouths to say.
Kun
For male names, kun (くん) is used as a term of endearment. It’s informal and is used by those in higher-ranking positions to refer to younger men (and sometimes women) at school or in the workplace.
Office-related honorifics
If you plan on working in Japan, familiarize yourself with addressing the managers within your company by using office-specific honorifics. Depending on the context, you can use the honorific by itself or add it to the last name of the person you’re referring to. There’s bucho (部長) for department head, kacho (課長) for section manager, kaicho (会長) for chairman and shacho (社長) for company president or CEO.
When to Not Use Honorifics
Photo: iStock/ ako76Unless someone explicitly tells you not to use an honorific when speaking to them, you’re better off using it. If you forget to use the right honorific, it might come across as rude to the person you’re speaking to.
So, when else should you forego using honorifics? Ditch them entirely when referring to yourself, when you’re speaking with someone within your inner circle (uchi) and when you refer to someone within your inner circle with someone you aren’t close to (soto). While it’s helpful to know the difference between Japanese honorifics the rule of thumb is to refer back to using san.
Have you ever made mistakes when addressing people in Japanese? Share your experiences in the comments below.
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If you are in the service industry, you should definitely add an “o-” prefix to “kyaku-sama”, and make it ” o-kyaku-sama”! Also, don’t be surprised if you are a female and get addressed or referred to as X-kun by your (older) boss, supervisor, or teacher.
I am just wondering, if you meet someone for the first time, what would you call them? I know using “anata” and “omae” is rude. But I am kind of confused what to use that would not make it rude.
kun is a difficult form of address. In the senpai.kohai world, the kun suffix can be added to people who are below you in rank or grade. Some older people will use -kun to refer to underclass men long after graduation. My college professor was an upper classman of my father’s and referred to my father as X-kun, which was weird for me as i never heard someone refer to him that way before. But old people still adhere to that. Sometimes you can hear old politicians calling PM Abe- “Abe-kun”
You can also use kun for people that work directlty at the same level as you “douki” or under you. However, if the person is younger than you but outranks you you should not use -kun. It is a tricky suffix to use, and just sticking with -san is generally safer. but in a corporate environment, referring to your co-workers with the -san suffix when talking about him or her to clients is considered a faux-pas. In these cases you can usually use just the last name. As in “うちのXさんが参ります”would be weird if you are are referring to your co-worker MR. X going to visit a client. うちのXが参りますis better.
When you are introducing yourself, never ever add a suffix. That is considered rude and weird.
Geting the correct honorific is a good first step in understanding the dynamics of Japanese social heirarchy.
Good point.
realy very nice..
Something I never seem to get right: how to greet people in the street, in stores, in a taxicab, etc? Saying ‘Konnichiwa’ never seems really appropriate, but saying nothing is awkward to me.
I’m not an expert, but I’d use the common “good morning/afternoon/evening” greet (ohayou gozaimasu/konban ha). It feels simple and polite enough.
On paper, yes, but in practice, I almost never hear people greet each other in the street or in stores…
When is 先生 (sensei) appropriate? I am a teacher, so I am often called that. But I have heard it used with other professionals as well.
Sensei- i
s for teachers and instructors. Professsors can also have the kyojyu title after their name as in Einstein-kyojyu.
Doctors get this honorific
Artists- writers, painters, comic book writer/artists/ not really journalists
Politicians of a certain rank.
usually is used for doctors and artists (musicians, painters, authors) as well
I had also heard it used for doctors, but artists – that is interesting! So it can be used for someone who is a “master” of some skill.
Exactly. That’s what sensei means: master (of a skill).
Never refer to yourself as sensei; it’s an honorific title and considered rude. Only talk about other teachers, doctors, etc. using it. The more humble word for teacher is kyoushi.
I have never referred to myself as anything, since I was sure I would say the wrong thing. But I could use “kyoushi” to describe myself? Or as a title, as in 私は Baker 教師です?
Kyoushi just means teacher. It’s not really a suffix, so you’d have to make 2 sentences. “ベイカーです。英語の教師です。” or something like that.