Re: addressing someone without -san or similar

From: Travers Naran (tnaran_at_no-more-virii-please.direct.ca)
Date: 06/22/04 

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 02:05:34 GMT

Michael Cash wrote:

> That is one of the options. If you haven't figured it out by now, you
> no doubt will in the near future; all this interpersonal stuff can
> give the Japanese learner conniption fits.
>
> "What pronoun (if any) should I use for Person A in Situation X?"
> "What pronoun (if any) should I use for myself in Situation Y?"
> "What honorific (in any) should I use?"
> "Which giving/receiving verb is appropriate for Situation Z?"
> "Even if it's Person B doing it for Person C who isn't there?"
>
> Et cetera e pluribus unum ipso facto hibiscus carborundum.
>
> Some days it don't pay to get out of bed, ya know?
>
> One monkey don't stop no show, as the song says. The monkey also has
> to be careful that don't no one show stop him. You're looking at a
> very limited sample from a genre which isn't known for reflecting real
> world actualities in the first place. What is they say? "Absence of
> evidence is not evidence of absence". Just because you don't see it in
> this one show doesn't mean you can or should tend toward a supposition
> that it likely doesn't occur at all.

I'm finding that a lot of the stuff I'm reading these days is pretty good
for learning that. I have a good feeling about when/what to use, but not
perfect. Just a lot better than relying on my textbooks alone.

One thing I would add is it might be inappropriate for a gaijin to use おじ
さん or おばさん to a stranger, which is pretty common in anime and manga.
:-) Oh, and I still think 俺 is too strong to use for myself, no matter
what some textbooks might claim.

But nothing replaces talking to a real live native speaker, which is easier
to do now thanks to instant messaging and "voice chat".

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