Post by LadyEvatrice on Jun 22, 2017 0:07:22 GMT
As it's a Japanese-based thing, I probably should have explained some of these.
-san: Your basic honorific, tacked on to generally the family name of the person (you generally don't address people by their given name unless they've asked you to, you're close to them, or if there's a bunch of people with the same family name. There's also the odd chance that they're foreign, so addressing them by their given name is seen as appropriate). For example, Koizumi-san, which could refer to on here as Hanayo's mother, Hanayo's father, or Hanayo herself, depending on the context (but as translated, it would be like Mrs. Koizumi, Mr. Koizumi, or Miss Koizumi.) It's seen as polite and in actuality, is what you would address most people with.
-chan: generally viewed as the childish or familiar form of -san, as it's meant to be like a child trying to pronounce -san. It's seen as being extremely cutesy. People use it to refer to pets, lovers, children, close friends, their younger family members, younger people in general, or to be demeaning at times. To address anyone else with -chan is seen as offensive. An example would be Rohan-chan (though hilariously, in the official English subtitles, it's rendered as Rohannie, as a cutesy diminutive of his name). As mentioned before, this should only be used with those mentioned above or it's seen as an insult to them.
-sama: like a more elegant and formal version of -san, but for those of a particularly higher standing than the speaker, or someone they have a lot of respect for. For example, while most of the furniture would address Eli with -sama, she also addresses the higher witches with -sama (or in the rare instance X-kyou, which implies the same thing), and it would be translated, for example, as Lord Gawain or Lady Kyouko. It's extremely polite, but depending on the context, can be used in a mocking manner.
-kun: Another sort of basic honorific, and despite what people will tell you, it can be used on people of all genders. However, it's generally used with males to convey familiarity or a term of endearment. It's also used to address someone of a lower social standing, but in this particular example, Ryouko uses it to convey her fondness and closeness to her crush, Rohan-kun.
-senpai/-kouhai: -senpai is generally used to address upperclassmen or seniors or mentors in the workplace. Likewise, -kouhai is used to address lowerclassmen or juniors. Generally, one doesn't address their kouhai with "-kouhai" to their face as it's considered rude, and both of these can be used as standalone titles, such as in the flashbacks, you'll see Ryouko call Rohan Rohan-senpai or just Senpai.
-sensei: This is another standalone term that is also an honorific. It's used to refer to doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers, and particular masters of the arts. It's commonly used to address manga artists (for an example, Hanayo calls her favorite manga artist Tengoku-sensei or Kishibe-sensei.)
-Niisan/-Neesan: Often used to refer to an older sibling, but can also refer to an older relative, or a way young kids address older people at times (as this is very common for Illya in FSN canon to address people with). It's often used with an "O" in front to convey politeness. The obvious example is Malphas' use of Onii-chan and Onee-chan, though she'll sometimes drop the "-chan" to convey familiarity.
No honorific: A major one that gets lost in translation. Addressing people with no honorific implies a sort of closeness, or it can be considered outright insulting if the person it's directed at hasn't asked for it. Except in the case of Cry, whenever a certain manga artist doesn't address anyone without an honorific, he's doing it to be rude to them.
-san: Your basic honorific, tacked on to generally the family name of the person (you generally don't address people by their given name unless they've asked you to, you're close to them, or if there's a bunch of people with the same family name. There's also the odd chance that they're foreign, so addressing them by their given name is seen as appropriate). For example, Koizumi-san, which could refer to on here as Hanayo's mother, Hanayo's father, or Hanayo herself, depending on the context (but as translated, it would be like Mrs. Koizumi, Mr. Koizumi, or Miss Koizumi.) It's seen as polite and in actuality, is what you would address most people with.
-chan: generally viewed as the childish or familiar form of -san, as it's meant to be like a child trying to pronounce -san. It's seen as being extremely cutesy. People use it to refer to pets, lovers, children, close friends, their younger family members, younger people in general, or to be demeaning at times. To address anyone else with -chan is seen as offensive. An example would be Rohan-chan (though hilariously, in the official English subtitles, it's rendered as Rohannie, as a cutesy diminutive of his name). As mentioned before, this should only be used with those mentioned above or it's seen as an insult to them.
-sama: like a more elegant and formal version of -san, but for those of a particularly higher standing than the speaker, or someone they have a lot of respect for. For example, while most of the furniture would address Eli with -sama, she also addresses the higher witches with -sama (or in the rare instance X-kyou, which implies the same thing), and it would be translated, for example, as Lord Gawain or Lady Kyouko. It's extremely polite, but depending on the context, can be used in a mocking manner.
-kun: Another sort of basic honorific, and despite what people will tell you, it can be used on people of all genders. However, it's generally used with males to convey familiarity or a term of endearment. It's also used to address someone of a lower social standing, but in this particular example, Ryouko uses it to convey her fondness and closeness to her crush, Rohan-kun.
-senpai/-kouhai: -senpai is generally used to address upperclassmen or seniors or mentors in the workplace. Likewise, -kouhai is used to address lowerclassmen or juniors. Generally, one doesn't address their kouhai with "-kouhai" to their face as it's considered rude, and both of these can be used as standalone titles, such as in the flashbacks, you'll see Ryouko call Rohan Rohan-senpai or just Senpai.
-sensei: This is another standalone term that is also an honorific. It's used to refer to doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers, and particular masters of the arts. It's commonly used to address manga artists (for an example, Hanayo calls her favorite manga artist Tengoku-sensei or Kishibe-sensei.)
-Niisan/-Neesan: Often used to refer to an older sibling, but can also refer to an older relative, or a way young kids address older people at times (as this is very common for Illya in FSN canon to address people with). It's often used with an "O" in front to convey politeness. The obvious example is Malphas' use of Onii-chan and Onee-chan, though she'll sometimes drop the "-chan" to convey familiarity.
No honorific: A major one that gets lost in translation. Addressing people with no honorific implies a sort of closeness, or it can be considered outright insulting if the person it's directed at hasn't asked for it. Except in the case of Cry, whenever a certain manga artist doesn't address anyone without an honorific, he's doing it to be rude to them.