BubbleC
Floating Idiot
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2021
- Messages
- 125
- Points
- 63
So, I’m thinking of writing a story set in your typical Japanese light novel high school. But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to add the “-san” or “-chan” or “senpai” or “sensei” tags onto character names or not.
Is it cringe to read a story with someone addressing someone as Yamada-sensei or Kanzaki-san? Should I use the English Mr./Ms. for teachers but keep the “-chan’s” and “-san’s”? What about familial titles like “onii-chan?”
Personally I feel like these seniority and familial titles don’t really have a good equivalent in English. You don’t really address people other than with their name, a Mr./Ms., or sir/ma’am where I’m from. You also don’t address your brother as “older brother” in English either unlike other Eastern languages that have “gege,” “onii-chan,” or “hyung,” which could all serve as friendly addresses as well (well maybe not the onii-chan one, but still).
Seniority titles are even rarer in English. No one I know calls their senior in school by some special title, they just address each other by name.
I suppose the easiest way to circumvent this issue is by making a setting that isn’t in East Asia, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the question. I guess what I’m asking is what honorifics should be transliterated to English and what should be replaced with existing English vocabulary?
Is it cringe to read a story with someone addressing someone as Yamada-sensei or Kanzaki-san? Should I use the English Mr./Ms. for teachers but keep the “-chan’s” and “-san’s”? What about familial titles like “onii-chan?”
Personally I feel like these seniority and familial titles don’t really have a good equivalent in English. You don’t really address people other than with their name, a Mr./Ms., or sir/ma’am where I’m from. You also don’t address your brother as “older brother” in English either unlike other Eastern languages that have “gege,” “onii-chan,” or “hyung,” which could all serve as friendly addresses as well (well maybe not the onii-chan one, but still).
Seniority titles are even rarer in English. No one I know calls their senior in school by some special title, they just address each other by name.
I suppose the easiest way to circumvent this issue is by making a setting that isn’t in East Asia, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the question. I guess what I’m asking is what honorifics should be transliterated to English and what should be replaced with existing English vocabulary?
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