In Japanese culture it's generally considered rude to refer to people by their given names, thus in most typical contexts, it is considered more respectful and polite to refer to people by their surnames. In Australia we tend to reserve this level of deference for people in certain positions, such as clients, politicians, teachers, doctors etc., but in Japan this level of respect is affording to virtually everyone except for family members and close friends.
Japanese society is a vertical hierarchy and it is extremely important to show the correct level of respect, not only in the way that you address someone, but also in the way that you speak to someone. In English we have different registers that we use to increase or decrease our level of linguistic formality, but Japanese goes to a whole different level with different honorific
forms of speech.
e.g.: Here are different ways of saying,
"I eat sushi" in Japanese with varying levels of politeness.
* 寿司くう (
sushi kuu) ←crude
* 寿司を食べる (
sushi o taberu) ←casual
* 御寿司を食べる (
osushi o taberu) ←honorific casual
* 御寿司を頂く (
osushi o itadaku) ←casual humble
* 御寿司を召し上がる (
osushi o meshiagaru) ←casual respectful
* 寿司を食べます (
sushi o tabemasu) ←polite
* 御寿司を食べます (
osushi o tabemasu) ←honorific polite
* 御寿司を食べられます (
osushi o taberaremasu) ←formal
* 御寿司を頂きます (
osushi o itadakimasu) ←formal humble
* 御寿司をお食べになります(
osushi o otabeninarimasu) ←formal polite
* 御寿司を召し上がります (
osushi o meshiagarimasu) ←polite respectful
* 御寿司を御召し上がりになります (
osushi o omeshininarimasu) ←honorific polite respectful
* 御寿司を御召しになって頂きます (
osushi o omeshininatte itadakimasu) ←honorific humble respectful
Placing "san" after someone's name can be used in both casual and polite forms, so it's actually not
that honorific as some other name suffixes. Other honorific titles include:
+ ちゃん (chan) = used to address someone as a term of endearment. This is a variant of "san" only with the "s" replaced with "ch" to mimic Japanese baby talk. e.g. 赤ちゃん (akachan) = baby
+ 君 (kun) = used to address subordinates or to boys or to male friends. Colloquially used to address close female friends (it's less diminutive than "chan"). e.g. in Dragonball, Gokuu is often called 孫君 (Son-kun) by his friends.
+ 様 (sama) = Lord/lady. e.g. お客様 (okyaku-sama) = Lord/lady customer, 神様 (kami-sama) = Lord God etc.
+ 先輩 (senpai) = used to refer to or address a senior colleague or student (if you're a school student). Notice me.
+ 先生 (sensei) = master. Used to refer to or address authority figures such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, head chefs etc., as well as anyone who is accomplished in their field such as acclaimed writers, musicians, artists etc.
+ 博士 (hakase) = doctor, as in a professor and/or person who's been awarded a PhD. e.g. ホーキング博士 (hookingu-hakase) = Dr. Hawking
+ 氏 (shi) = used in very formal speech or when writing to someone you don't know very well, like when addressing people on the internet. e.g. Δプライム氏 (Δpuraimu-shi) = DELTAprime
+ 殿 (tono) = same meaning as "sama," although not quite as honorific. Similar to saying, "Milord" or "Milady." e.g. 薫殿 (Kaoru-dono) = "Milady Kaoru"
+ 閣下 (kakka) = Your Excellency (yes, I know that every Italian speaker is now rofling at this
)
etc. etc. etc.
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P.S.: It took me a couple of minutes to work out what the hell you meant by "devs."
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
In Japanese culture it's generally considered rude to refer to people by their given names, thus in most typical contexts, it is considered more respectful and polite to refer to people by their surnames. In Australia we tend to reserve this level of deference for people in certain positions, such as clients, politicians, teachers, doctors etc., but in Japan this level of respect is affording to virtually everyone except for family members and close friends.
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