What does "san" mean?

[Erik]

What does the suffix "san" mean? Does it imply formality? Friendliness?

Also, on that note, while Americans may address someone as "buddy" or some other affectionate nickname, do the Japanese (typically or stereotypically) emphasize respect as opposed to warmth to show friendliness?

Just wondering.

We have a Japanese guy at Judo who has taken to calling me "Erik san" and I'm not quite sure what it implies. We're just becoming friendly and familiar. Really nice guy and he moves like a whirlwind. Blind, as well.

There's also another Japanese guy, about 65 with a mean arm bar after an equally gnarly foot sweep. We're also becoming friendly and familiar.

How do I address him?

He's an nth-dan black belt (Judo for ca. 50 years!!!), very Japanese (thick accent, body language, etc.) and almost twice my age. Nice guy, too. Nasty, nasty foot sweeps....

[Eye4NEye]

http://www.jref.com/language/japanese_suffixes.shtml

[David Craik]

"san" is simply an honorific. People in Japan I hardly knew called me the same...it is no more of anything than 'mister'. Now if someone calls you "Erik-sama" you have a weirdo. If said someone were Japanese in the latter case, you must be incredible. Mount Fuji is only called "san".

[Erik]

So what do I call them?

The guy my age first-name san?

The older guy last-name san? Or last-name sensei?

[Prince Loeffler]

So what do I call them?

The guy my age first-name san?

The older guy last-name san? Or last-name sensei?


Last name then San, and you can't do no wrong.

[RickMatz]

"san" is simply an honorific. People in Japan I hardly knew called me the same...it is no more of anything than 'mister'. Now if someone calls you "Erik-sama" you have a weirdo. If said someone were Japanese in the latter case, you must be incredible. Mount Fuji is only called "san".

In the case of Mt Fuji (富士山), "san" = mountain. The on yomi or "chinese" pronunciation of 山 is "san" while the kun yomi, or native japanese pronunciation is yama.

[Shinken]

So what do I call them?

The guy my age first-name san?

The older guy last-name san? Or last-name sensei?

It depends as much on rank as on age and any other factors affecting closely.

The guy your age you'd probably stick with either first or last name -san, depending on how close you guys were.

The older guy's a bit harder. If he's an instructor or sensei, then I'd go with last name-sensei. However, if he's just a senior student, I'd go with last name-sempai.

Interesting note on the whole "sempai" (senior) vs. "junior" (kohai) thing, too. You never directly refer to someone as kohai, either as an honorific suffix or to their face. You can only do this with "sempai." However, should another person ask you to describe a relationship you have with someone, you can feel free to describe them as kohai.

It turns out that the Japanese, particularly in martial arts, place such a priority on hierarchy that it would be rude to actually enforce the mechanisms by someone "pulling rank." It is expected that everyone is aware and abiding by the hierarchy without resorting to such methods.

This was really weird for me in a Japanese college club, having attended kendo in my senior year. I was sempai, even though I had had no experience in kendo whatsoever, simply because of my class rank. Most dojo outside of the school system however use primarily rank and teaching status to determine one's place.

Anyways, that was a really long answer to a really short question. Sorry about that. Good luck in your training.

[Jeff C.]

During a military exercise in Japan, one of the translators was a very friendly Japanese man who happened to be a warrant officer in the JGSDF. He spoke excellent English due to spending a significant amount of time in the States. I greated him in the formal first-time way. He was very pleased that I referred to him as "sama" and told me that was the PERFECTLY correct way for an NCO to refer to a Japanese warrant officer.

I also frequently heard Japanese troops using the "sama" honorific with superiors. David, I am curious to know why you think it is strange and weird.

Jeff Cook

[David Craik]

Just because it's a very formal honorific normally used to refer to royalty, senior clergy, etc. Didn't know they used it with each other in the JSDF...particularly between a very senior NCO and a warrant officer.


In the case of Mt Fuji (富士山), "san" = mountain. The on yomi or "chinese" pronunciation of 山 is "san" while the kun yomi, or native japanese pronunciation is yama.

Yeah, I was kind of being facetious with a play on words. I remembered a story of a Westerner who was trying to impress the Japanese with his politeness and referred to Fujiyama as 'Fuji-sama', thinking he was 'going one better' than simply saying 'Fuji-san'. Needless to say, he got some puzzled stares.

[Jeff C.]

David, I suspect the Japanese troops are a little whacky anyway, and maybe not a true representation of the Japanese population as a whole. I would be interested in hearing the perspective on that from someone living there, who has some familiarity with those troops. So you may be right brother.

Jeff Cook

[DragonMind]

Pretty good piece on Japanese titles on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_titles