Monday, December 1, 2008

Back to the Kanji / Addressing People

I haven't worked on kanji specifically in ages. I need to.
I got a cool little keyring of about a hundred blank cards at the bookstore today.
It should help me with practice. It was cheap, so if it proves as useful as i think it will, I'm going to go back and get a few more.

In 日本語, you refer to yourself and others in different ways, depending on context.
For yourself, the common "i" is
私, わたし.(watashi)

わたし(watakushi) is the formal pronunciation.
僕, ぼく, (boku) is the casual/fairly polite for males.
girls can use あたし, (atashi) but it has a very "cutesy" or "girly" sound, so some prefer watashi.
also... 俺、おれ is a very rough one used by guys in certain extremely casual contexts.
わし is used by some middle-aged males.


In addressing others, attaching -san to the first or last name is common. often, Japanese prefers using the specific name. 先生 (sensei) is used to those that have significant knowledge.
other forms of -san are -kun and -chan. Assuming equal or lower status, -kun is a male form, and -chan an endearing female form.

The three levels of politeness are 1-Name(w/suffix), 2-nothing, and 3-あなた(anata). I use it often, but in a real context, anata could come off as rude, unless they're a friend.
きみ (kimi) is a close female form, like anata. It also could be taken as rude, though it implies closeness.

0 response(s):

Post a Comment