Nihongo / Anime Honourifics

[rogue-kun]

-san : used for safe level for any adult
-sama: used for an adult which you have a lot of respect for.

-kun: yes for (mainly) males who on first name basis with, or a boy younger than you.

-chan: like -kun but for (mainly) girls instead, but also used for baby/todders of both genders

(-)neesan: means literally Big sister, but is appropriate for an non adult girl older than yourself.
(-)neechan: is a more cute/familiar version of -neesan
(-)oneesama: a high respect version.

(-)niisan: as the male form of -neesan and literally means big brother.
(-)niichan: is also a cutes way of saying it big brother, despite you would think it would be -niikun (which is not used)
(-)oniisama: a high respect version

(-)ojisan: liteually means Uncle, but is the polite way of addressing and young to middle age adult by a child.

(-)obasan: Literally means Aunt, and is the female counter pare to ojisan.

(-)ojiisan: literally Grandfather, but is the polite way to address and elderly man (even if you are and adult)

(-)obaasan: Literally means Grandmother, used like Ojiisan, though is a good way to insult a lady who does not think she old enough to qualify.


(-)Sensei, means Teacher, but can bes used for Doctors, Lawyers, or anyone who you hold as a mentor.

(-)Senpai (often spelt Sempai in romaji) means Upperclassman.

[Ai]

Some extra info

-chan is also used as either a derogatory term for a male, or to literally mean "Cute". Girls may use the "-chan"suffix after their boyfriends name.

-kun is also used in working environments for people of both genders (but mainly male) who are of a lower rank than you

ojisan, obasan, ojiisan and obaasan can all have "san" replaced with "sama" to show a higher level of respect.

Now a couple you missed ^_^ (Not often used as a suffix, usually as a title)

-okaasan means mother (I have seen it replaced with "kaachan" - note the dropped "o" as well. In japanese a prefix of "o" to a lot of words often means honerable eg "honerable mother") the "san" can also be replaced with "sama" to show more respect
-otoosan means father (As above I have seen the honorific "o" dropped, but the san always seems to remain) the "san" can also be replaced with "sama" to show more respect

Some slightly more obscure ones :

-kohai : literally the reverse of sempai, but -kun, -chan or -san is normally used instead

-tan : A common mispronunciation of -chan by young children - can also be used when the speaker wishes to look overly cute ^_^

-ue (One I didn't know, so explanation ripped from wikipedia :P) : Ue (上) literally means "above" and, appropriately, denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer very common, it is still seen in constructions like 父上 (chichi-ue) and 母上 (haha-ue), reverent terms for one's own, or someone else's, father and mother, respectively.

-dono is a true honorific - used when you are showing the greatest respect to someone - literally calling them Lord or Lady. However this is not used in modern japanese

-shi : used in formal writing to refer to a person unfamiliar to the writer

There are also thousand more which denote someones job, for instance (as I never remember any this is ripped from wikiepdia again lol): A master carpenter might have the title tōryō (棟梁, tōryō?), meaning "master carpenter", attached to his name, and be referred to as "Suzuki-Tōryō" rather than "Suzuki-San".

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_titles

[rogue-kun]

Originally Posted by Ai

-tan : A common mispronunciation of -chan by young children - can also be used when the speaker wishes to look overly cute ^_^

-tan has takon on a speical meanin though, it now often used to refure or to a "avatar" of o object, like the OS-tans, or Firefox-tan. (ther is even a Wikipie-tan)

[RobM]

There's also Oneewee and Chichiwe. Very honourable honourifics refering to a highly respected and important older sister and brother.
I'm not sure the spellings, I've only heard them in animes and live-action drama's once or twice.
I've also heard Oneewee as Oneewu, but I think thats a dialect. More titles than actual honourifics but still worthy of mention, perhaps?

[rogue-kun]

RobM, if they spelt right they are archaic. as We (ゑ) is norlger par of the modern japanese alphabet and Wu i nerver head of (Wa (わ) Wo(を) and also archaic Wi (ゐ))

[RobM]

oh yeah, they're archaic alright, they're used in things like Inuyasha and animes about ancient clans.
I thought I wrote that, I don't know why it wasn't added into my first post.

[_cf]

I was used to understand chichiue, hahaue and other family terms ending in ue as:

[kanji for family member][kanji for above]

thus meaning something like "honorable family member". Only used in very polite speech, for evident reasons, etc.

EDIT: Ai already said this, and with better kanji support! This is what I get for not reading all the thread.

[Ai]

^_^ Saved me commenting lol - i think what robm was refering ot was the -ue suffix (and I ripped that small part from wikipedia lol - i can't read any kanji yet)

[Arukan]

I personally believe we should not use the honorifics in English speech/fanfics. they just don't belong, we're not in Japan. >.>

I'm gonna get raep'd for that, huh? XD

[Ai]

Originally Posted by Arukan

I'm gonna get raep'd for that, huh? XD

Oh yes :P I hate watching a subtitled anime where they try and translate the honorifics / titles to English equivalents. If you understand a small amount of Japanese they make a big difference. One example is "-sama" being translated to "sir-" or "-miss" etc. The other reason is there are usually no translations that flow properly in English. I know that at the end of the day it is personal choice but I would prefer to read subtitles that use the Japanese honorifics or read a story that uses them as you can gain a lot more information