It’s pretty common to add さん on to it and say 運転士さん when either talking to them, or talking about them. The rule for Japanese society is to be respectful towards others and humble about yourself. If someone said to you that they ran into 田中さん in the store, you actually wouldn’t know if they were talking about “Mr. Thanks for this interesting, tactical blog about Japanese culture. Again, this is a way to show someone respect and politeness when you don’t know their name. Let’s say that you have two friends who are married to one another and their last name is 田中 (tanaka). You site could be very helpful for him. San, Sama, Kun and Chan) In Japan, most of the time people call each other by their family name rather than their given names. Tanaka.”. Another common example is 不動産屋さん (fudousan yasan) which is a real estate agent. You probably won’t get in trouble if you use this one, so it’s good to use with frequency. for more about Ben Bullock The word for mother is お母さん (o-kaa san) and the word for father is お父さん (o-tou san). This is done to show both politeness and respect to the other person. married or unmarried, so it means all of "Mr", "Mrs", "Miss" and "Ms." While animals are probably the most common non-human to get さん added to them, there are of course others as well. Hey thanks! Additionally, "~kun" isn't used between women or when addressing one's superiors. I will show this to my husband since he picks up languages very well and he knows some Japanese. mountain naming in Japanese. It’s always spelled in hiragana as さん and is roughly equivalent to adding the word “Mr.” or “Mrs.” to someone’s name in English. in the name of mountains, which coincidentally are also called "san" The most common way to see and hear the word “san” used is attached to the end of someone’s name. One of the most common words in Japanese is “san” and the sooner you learn what it is, the better off you’ll be when reading or listening to Japanese. referred to as Tanaka-san, with the san following the name. In both of these situations a polite お (o) has been added in front of the word, and then the respectful さん has been added to the end. For this phrase in particular, you can also swap out the word さん for 様 (sama) which basically has the same meaning, but is an even more polite form. Turtle!”. The other thing that I should mention is that the word さん is gender neutral. See What is the name of Mount Fuji? or use the discussion forum / Privacy policy. Japanska titlar innebär att det som regel i det japanska språket används specifika tilltalsord som suffix till namn på framför allt personer men ibland även till organisationer och föremål. It is not used with one's own name. See What are the origins of the san suffix for names? name. In Japanese, it’s a similar story. The word さん is usually attached to someone’s last name, but if they become close to you through work, school, or just hanging out a couple of times, then you can start using it with the other person’s first name. "San," "kun," and "chan" are added to the ends of names and occupation titles to convey varying degrees of intimacy and respect in the Japanese language. Takana” or “Mrs. San in names is not related to the san See Because it is the most common honorific, it is also the most often used to convert common nouns into proper ones, as seen b… I’m really glad you liked it! The origin of san is as a simplification of a more formal word, Yes, I have heard “san” in the context of honor, but didn’t know how rich and diverse this one word is. Hey Rori, yeah it’s pretty interesting how many different Japanese words sound the same. It is not used with one's own The word san in Japanese names is an honorary title used to show respect to the person being mentioned. How to Use "San," "Kun" and "Chan" Correctly When Speaking Japanese. A final thing that I wanted to talk about in this section is that the word さん can also be added onto certain professions as a way of politely addressing someone. For example, I was watching an episode of School Rumble the other day and there’s a scene where two of the girls are taking a giraffe for a walk when it bolts and starts running away. Many times in English when we encounter an animal whose name we don’t know, we will refer to them by saying the word “Mr.” along with their animal name. Robot. I’ve been using it as “Mr.” so far in all of my examples, but it can be used for “Ms.” or “Mrs.” exactly the same way. Apart from san, and sama, Japanese If you’ve got any questions or comments that you would like to make, then please feel free to do so in the section below. In Japanese, "~ san （～さん）" is a title of respect added to a name. sama. It can also be attached to the name of occupations and titles. I think it’s because the language doesn’t have as many different sounds in it as others do. In the tables below, you'll see how and when it is appropriate to use "san," "kun," and "chan.". It is common for people to attach the word さん to the animal’s name when talking to them and or interacting with them.