Learn

Everyday Japanese: How to Address Someone

When meeting people in Japan, be sure to use the appropriate title.

By 4 min read 17

When you first start learning Japanese, it is easy to get confused about how to address people correctly. The first form of address many learners come across is ‘san’. San is such a useful general purpose address that at first that it becomes easy to forget that there are plenty of others.

Keep studying and soon you will soon come across sama, then kun and chan, may even hear tan.

The different uses of all of these addresses can be quite difficult for learners, so here we’ll look at some of the common uses.

Being polite: san and sama

Whether to use san or sama can be quite tricky at first. 様 (Sama) is usually added to the end of particularly 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 客様 (Kyaku-sama) if you don’t know their name.

You should be careful not to overuse sama. In one particularly embarrassing experience, after spending my weekend getting my phone, Internet and my apartment sorted out in my first week in Japan, I had become so used to be addressed as ‘Kyaku-sama’ that I introduced myself at my school as ‘Coslett-sama’. The awkward silence immediately told me how wrong this was.

This would be weird in English too as I basically introduced myself as ‘the honorable Mr. Coslett’. While this was a minor mistake, adding sama to your name can be considered shockingly rude in certain cases. 俺様 (ore-sama), for example, creates a pronoun so rude that people will stare at you like you just came out of a cartoon if you use it. Admittedly, this is probably because most have probably never heard this used except by the villains in anime!

Talking about people’s careers: the general san

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. ‘Mr. Bookstore’) to refer to that person or their business.

コックさん (Kokku-san. Mr. Cook) and even 外人さん (Gaijin-san. Mr. Foreigner) are some common uses of this grammar point that you will hear.

Getting closer: Chans, tans and kuns

While both san and sama are gender-neutral. Some of the more affectionate phrases are usually attached to one sex or the other. As a general rule, chan is attached to female names as a form of affection. For men’s names, kun is more often used.

As ‘chan’ means that someone feels fond of something, a lot of really cute things are chan. 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 such as 犬ちゃんはかわいそうな (inu-chan ha kawaisou na- Poor Mr. Dog).

For the really super cute you may even hear ‘tan’ which is a sweet version of chan. As a general rule, this cuter sounding version is mostly used by very young kids such as in お兄たん (oniitan – my big brother), as tan is a lot easier for little mouths to say.

This is not the only use, however, as it can be used for older people to emphasize how young they are. Examples of this use can be found in the popular manga Binchoutan or as the nickname for one of the pop band NMB48’s popular members (Known as ななたん – Nanatan).

While chan is usually considered slightly feminine, a lot of men have happily attach chan or even tan to their names. The famous entertainer Kaba-chan or even Arnold Schwarzenegger (Known as shuwa-chan in Japan) are some examples of this. In this case, it is designed to give an affectionate or cute image even if the person you feel affectionate about is a hulking Austrian strongman!

The romantic addresses

Most of the time, it is ok for women to add chan to the end of their boyfriend’s name and vice-versa. A 2009 survey asked couples about how they would like to be addressed and discovered that the top answer for men was simply their name. If this seems a bit impersonal, this answer was closely followed by their name+ kun/chan or an affectionate nickname.

On the other hand, women overwhelming preferred hearing their name+chan or a nickname. Interestingly, name+san was an overwhelming loser for both sexes and name+sama was considered so impersonal that it didn’t even feature.

Luckily the Japanese are generally quite accepting of mistakes. Even my huge error was quickly forgotten. However if you listen closely, you may hear your audience mutter something about 呼び捨て (Yobisute) which is a Japanese code word for someone inappropriately dropping the required address. If you hear them mutter this term, then you have just enough time to apologize and use an appropriate term to save face.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service

  • FALANA TAIWO says:

    Please can anyone tell me the best hospital for EAR,NOSE and THROAT { Chronic Sinuses infection} in Kanagawa or Tokyo?

  • Pusztai Beáta says:

    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.

  • Kenny Martinsz Kehinde Martiz says:

    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.

  • maulinator says:

    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.

  • Priya Sangam says:

    realy very nice..

  • Barnaby Jones says:

    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.

    • Kymars says:

      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.

      • Barnaby Jones says:

        On paper, yes, but in practice, I almost never hear people greet each other in the street or in stores…

  • Mark Baker says:

    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.

    • maulinator says:

      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.

    • Mounira El Kaabi says:

      usually is used for doctors and artists (musicians, painters, authors) as well

      • Mark Baker says:

        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.

    • GeneralObvious says:

      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.

      • Mark Baker says:

        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?

        • GeneralObvious says:

          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.

Related

Live

Downplaying Your Foreign Language Ability

When they stop telling you your Japanese is good, then you know it's good.

By 1 min read 7

Live

The Pitfalls of Addressing Foreigners in the Workplace

Honorifics are an interesting part of Japanese culture, and they can be more than a little confusing! For foreigners in Japan, using honorifics correctly can be difficult, and perhaps more troubling than correct usage is understanding the meanings when they are used in reference to yourself.

By 7 min read 15

Explore

Groovy Osaka: Tips On Buying Electronics In Japan

Japan is known for its electronics but that doesn't mean buying them is easy.

By 5 min read 9