Japanese Names Kun

It isn t used between women or when addressing superiors.

Japanese names kun. Kun can be attached to surnames and given names. For example arnold schwarzenegger gained the. Japanese names are usually written in kanji chinese characters although some names use hiragana or even katakana or a mixture of kanji and kana. The change from san to chan is a kind of baby talk in japanese where sh sounds are turned into ch sounds such as chitchai for chiisai small.

Chan ちゃん is a form of san used to refer to children and female family members close friends and lovers. Honorific suffixes also indicate the level of the speaker and referred individual s relationship and are often used alongside other components of japanese honorific speech called keigo 敬語. These suffixes are attached to the end of names and are often gender specific. The japanese language makes use of honorific suffixes when referring to others in a conversation.

If you re a little bit familiar with japanese culture you already know that people rarely use another person s first name and therefore japanese honorifics are tied to last names. San sama kun and chan in japan most of the time people call each other by their family name rather than their given names. Titles and honorifics in japanese san kun chan senpai the use of honorifics in japanese of which san is probably the best known is an inevitable part of the language but also quite a confusing area for many of you. While most traditional names use kun yomi native japanese kanji readings a large number of given names and surnames use on yomi chinese based kanji readings as.

Men may use the suffix to address women who are socially inferior. The most common japanese honorifics are probably san kun chan and sama and they all have a different role and are used in different situations. It s not the easiest concept to understand and is probably not something beginning students of japanese need to worry about. Chan is also used for adults who are considered to be kawaii cute or loveable.

A male might address female inferiors by kun usually in schools or companies. Kun shows intimate relationships among the participates or shows the addressee is subordinate to the speaker. A japanese honorific title is a suffix that goes after the person s name as in satou name san honorific to raise this person up. But if your goal is to become proficient or even fluent in japanese it will be important to understand the subtle differences between on reading and kun reading of some of the most.

Here we explain the difference between on reading and kun reading of kanji characters. Additionally kun isn t used between women or when addressing one s superiors. However it is less polite than san.