Kaipo said:
Hey
Im new to anime etc... so im trying to figure out what the difference is between "Chan" and "San" is it different dialects? I think i remember seeing somewhere that San is a title? Like "MR." or "Ms".
Any insight would be apprecciated!
-Kaipo
I've seen it used in various ways. The way I was taught was that since they're suffixes, '-chan' is used for females, '-san' for males. However, I seem to remember them being used for both sexes, possibly like '-chan' for a little boy or affectionate term for a teenager (like how mothers sometimes say, 'my little boy'), and '-san' for girls that are tomboys or more authoritative than others.
Likewise, '-sama' is used for any adult authority figure, such as parents, government officers, or teachers ('-sensei' is used more often for teachers, though). It's also used for anyone that you don't know, if I recall correctly.
Those are the standard three. They're called 'honorifics', which is about the equivalent of a title like Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, etc. in English. The only thing about them is that they're almost always used, unless the person is
extremely familiar with you (whereas in English honorifics are usually only used in formal situations).
Case in point: even in many anime that have a family in them, the parents still refer to the children with -chan and -san, and the children still use -sama. The only exception is sometimes in the case of two lovers. Then those titles aren't used as often, I believe.
If it were dialect (which I think Japanese only has a couple of dialects, or at least distinct dialects), then the honorifics would be used the same way, be different, or be completely absent.
