Jennifer Berman December 10, 2011JAPN 306Andrew Painter

Honorifics in Japanese

In many languages, there are different ways of addressing someone

that vary in politeness. There is the “T-V distinction” in Romance languages like

Spanish and French, for example, in which there are two words that correspond to

the word “you”: an informal one (tú/tu) and a formal one (usted/vous). The Japanese

language, on the other hand, has a complex system of honorifics known as keigo. The

keigo system is considered to be one of the most noticeable aspects of Japanese and

is said to be richer than ones in other languages (Tsujimura 363). Knowing keigo is

especially important in business situations, so much that not only are there

numerous how-to guides on how to master it but companies also give their new

employees keigo training (Wetzel and Inoue 72). The complexity and many different

forms of keigo reflect the Japanese society, where knowing one’s place in the group

and showing respect to those “above” oneself is important.

There are three different classes of keigo: sonkeigo (尊敬語) or

“respectful language,” kenjougo (謙譲語) or “humble language,” and finally teineigo

(丁寧語) or “polite language.” Which type of keigo to use depends heavily on the

relationship between the speaker and listener, and the situation the speaker is in.

Sonkeigo forms are used to show respect for someone who is a higher rank than

oneself, and thus, is to be respected (Tsujimura 363). They are also used to refer to

that person’s activities, but are never used to refer to one’s own actions. Kenjougo is

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used to humble the speaker or his/her in-group in front of the hearer, who is of a

higher rank than the speaker (Tsujimura 363) and it is only used for one’s own

actions. Teineigo is neutral with regards to the target of respect, and thus can be

used when a conversation does not require the use of sonkeigo or kenjougo but is

still formal (Tsujimura 363).

Here is a table of some common verbs and their conjugations in all

three types of keigo:

Verb (in dictionary form)

Sonkeigo Kenjougo Teineigo English Meaning

iku （行く） irassharu（いらっしゃる）(can also mean “to be”)

mairu （参る） ikimasu （行きます）

to go

taberu（食べる）

meshiagaru（召し上がる）

itadaku（頂く）

tabemasu （食べます）

to eat

miru（見る） goran ni naru（ご覧になる）

haiken suru（拝見する）

mimasu（見ます）

to see/to look/to watch

au（会う） o-ai ni naru（お会いになる）

o-me ni kakaru（お目にかかる）

aimasu （会います）

to meet

suru（する） nasaru（なさる）

itasu（致す） shimasu（します）

to do

How are all these different verb forms used together? Here is an example

conversation between a student and a professor in his music class:

Tanaka: Ano, sumimasen…Shinoda-sensei wa irasshaimasu ka?

(Um, excuse me…is Prof. Shinoda [here]?)

Shinoda: Hai, imasu yo. Nanika no shitsumon ga arimasu ka?

(Yes, I’m here. Do you have a question about something?)

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Tanaka: Ee…ashita no happyoukai de watashi no gitaa ensou o goran ni narimasu ka?

Zutto renshuu itashimashite…

(Yes…will you see my guitar performance at tomorrow’s recital? I’ve been

practicing it for a long time…)

Shinoda: Mochiron mimasu.

(Of course I’ll see it.)

In this conversation, Tanaka used sonkeigo to address Prof. Shinoda

with words like irassharu and goran ni naru, and kenjougo when he was referring to

his own action of practicing the guitar for a long time. Prof. Shinoda, on the other

hand, used teineigo when speaking to him because, as her student, he is considered

to hold a lower social rank and thus it would be inappropriate to use sonkeigo or

kenjougo in this situation. Using teineigo kept the conversation formal, and also

maintained some social distance between the two of them (Tsujimura 364).

Another important part of Japanese honorifics is the “beautification

honorifics,” two prefixes that are commonly placed in front of nouns: o- and go-. O-

is placed before native Japanese words, while go- is placed before borrowed words

from Chinese (Tsujimura 376). In Old Japanese, the main beautification honorific

was mi-, which is reflected in words like miko (shrine maiden), miya (palace), and

mikado (emperor). (Frellesvig 370)

Beautification honorifics are often used for things belonging to

someone the speaker respects. (Tsujimura 376) For instance, in the sentence

“Shachou no o-bentou wa oishisou desu,” or “The company president’s box lunch

looks delicious,” the prefix o- is placed before bentou, to express the speaker’s

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respect towards the company president. If the speaker was talking about, say, a

friend’s lunch, they would just say bentou.

Women also often use o- and go- to “beautify” words for things even if

they are not things belonging to a respected person. This is a prominent feature of

Japanese female speech (onnakotoba), which traditionally uses more polite forms

and expressions than male speech (Smith 67). For instance, in the previous “lunch”

example, a male speaker would more likely use bentou if not talking about a

superior’s lunch, but a female speaker would more likely use o-bentou in any

situation. Using o- and go- in this way makes the speech sound “soft and feminine”

(Tsujimura 376).

What does the complex keigo system reflect about Japanese culture

and relationships? As Takie Lebra wrote, “Sensitivity to rank order entails a

dichotomous differentiation of behavior-the up-faced orientation toward a superior,

and the down-faced orientation toward an inferior. Such dichotomy is indicated in

the Japanese language, especially in the variation of verbs. Verbs tend to be

associated either with upward or downward action…the point is not that the

Japanese language lacks in verbs that indicate horizontal motion, but that it is rather

poor in status-neutral vocabulary, whereas status-indicative expressions are rich

and elaborate…The cultural dearth of ways to express horizontal or status-neutral

relationships forces [one] to make a binary choice between respectful, formal

behavior and disrespectful, informal behavior” (Lebra 70-71).

Some examples of verbs associated with upward or downward action

are the many words for “giving” or “receiving” something in Japanese. There are

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about five verbs that correspond to the English verb “give,” and two verbs that

correspond to “receive” (Tsujimura 334). A table of these words is below.

Give Receivesashiageru（差し上げる） itadaku（頂く）ageru （上げる） morau（もらう）yaru （やる）kudasaru （下さる）kureru（くれる）

Of the verbs for “give,” sashiageru is used when the receiver’s social

rank is higher than the speaker or his/her in-group, in other words in an “upward

relationship.” If both the giver and receiver’s statuses are equal, ageru or yaru is

used (more often ageru), and this is the same if the receiver is lower in status than

the giver (Tsujimura 336). The other two “give” verbs, kudasaru and kureru, are

used to express someone else giving the speaker or his/her in-group something. If

the giver has a higher social status than the speaker, kudasaru is used, like in these

examples:

Sensei ga watashi ni chizu o kudasatta.

(My teacher gave me a map.)

Sensei ga musuko ni hon o kudasatta.

(The teacher gave my son a book.)

In the second example sentence, the son is part of the speaker’s in-group, so

kudasaru is still used (Tsujimura 338). In other cases, where the giver’s status is

equal or lower than the speaker, kureru is used.

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As for the “receive” verbs, itadaku and morau, both are used to

express the speaker receiving something from someone. As Tsujimura says, “When

the speaker or the speaker’s in-group is the giver, the situation is viewed only as

giving…it is extremely rare, or impossible, to describe a receiving event as the

Japanese equivalent of ‘someone receives something from me or my in-group’”

(339). If the giver is higher than the speaker or the speaker’s in-group, itadaku is

used, and otherwise morau is used.

Aside from paying respect, keigo can be used in other ways. As Shozo

Kurokawa writes:

“Is it really necessary for us to use honorifics in communication? If so,

why are honorifics considered so necessary? The traditional idea about honorifics is

that one uses them when he respects some other person with whom he speaks or to

whom he refers. But in reality a Japanese may be using honorifics not only to pay

respect but also for a number of other reasons, as when the speaker tries to avoid

hurting another's feelings or to display his educational background and protect his

social position from damage because of language abuse. In other words, one may

often use honorifics not so much to show respect for others but rather as a lubricant

(junkatsuyu) to facilitate human relations in society.” (18)

In Japan, one often hears about how young people make all sorts of

mistakes in keigo, and how keigo is falling into disuse (Wetzel 115). These

complaints have been around since the 1970s, as Lebra briefly mentioned in her

1976 book that “postwar schoolchildren are spared the learning of elaborate keigo,

and as a result old-timers complain that young people today do not know how to

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speak” (Lebra 71). Recently there have been many articles about keigo mistakes

made by young people doing part-time jobs at convenience stores and family

restaurants. These mistakes are known as baito keigo (“part-time job keigo”) or

konbini keigo (“convenience store keigo”), among other names (Horasawa and Oka

1). In 2003, in response to complaints from customers about waiters’ usage of keigo,

a family restaurant chain in Japan called Royal Host posted a list of “the 5 big

forbidden phrases” (５大禁止語) , which were all common baito keigo mistakes. The

phrases, as well as their corrections, were:

a) Kochira kechappu ni narimasu.

Correct form: Omatase shimashita. Kechappu de gozaimasu.

English: “Here is your ketchup.” / “Thank you for waiting. Here is your ketchup.”

b) Sen-en kara o-azukari shimasu.

Correct form: Sen-en, o-azukari shimasu.

English: “I will take 1000 yen.”

c) O-tabako no hou, o-sui ni nararemasu ka.

Correct form: O-tabako wa, suwaremasu ka.

English: “Will you be smoking?”

d) Yamada-sama de gozaimasu ne.

Correct form: Yamada-sama de irasshaimasu ne.

English: “You are Mr./Ms. Yamada (I see).”

e) Ijou de yoroshikatta deshou ka.

Correct form: Ijou de yoroshii desu ka.

English: “Is that all for you?” (Horasawa and Oka 2)

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In the first example, …ni narimasu is incorrect because it is the

teineigo form of …ni naru, which means “to transform into” or “to become.” It is

being used in place of the copula desu (“to be”), however the correct keigo form

of desu is de gozaimasu. In the second example, kara means “from,” and because

the subject isn’t stated it could be misinterpreted as the 1000 yen itself literally

handed something over to the waiter. ~No hou in the third example generally

indicates a direction, and so the third example could be interpreted as “Will you

be smoking in the direction of the tobacco?” It can also be used to express

preference between two things (for instance, X yori Y no hou ga suki desu = “I like

Y more than X”), but as there is only one suggestion in the third example then

using ~no hou would still be problematic.

In 2002, the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs

surveyed 3,000 men and women 16 years old and up from across Japan, asking

them whether or not this language usage bothered them (Kotoba no tsukaikata –

ki ni naru ka dou ka). This was a follow-up to a similar survey done in 1996

(Horasawa and Oka 2). The results are as follows:

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Bothers me

Doesn't bother me

Can't say

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

"O-kaikei no hou, ichiman-en ni nari-masu" (Your bill comes to 10,000 yen)

2002

1996

(Units in percents. Source: http://www.bunka.go.jp and Horasawa and Oka 2)

Bothers me

Doesn't bother me

Can't say

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

"Sen-en kara o-azukari shimasu" ("I will take 1,000 yen")

20021996

(Units in percents. Source: http://www.bunka.go.jp and Horasawa and Oka 2)

As one can see from the graphs, the total percentage of

respondents who answered “Bothers me” to both baito keigo statements

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increased since 1996, while the number who answered “Doesn’t bother me” has

decreased. The percentage of respondents who answered “Bothers me” to “O-

kaikei no hou…” increased by 18.2 points from 1996, and for “Sen-en kara…” it

increased by 6.8 points. However, Horasawa and Oka state that the percentage

for “Bothers me” actually decreased among the younger respondents for both

statements. Out of the 16-to-19-year-old respondents, about 60% answered

“Doesn’t bother me” to the “~no hou” statement and about 70% did the same

with the “~kara” statement (2).

While baito keigo reflects changes in keigo usage, it seems unlikely

that the keigo system will decrease in importance to Japanese any time soon. In any

Japanese bookstore, one can find tons of how-to books on how to use proper keigo

(Wetzel 117), with titles such as

Keigo no Tsukaikata ga Wakaru Hon (“The Book for Understanding How to Use

Keigo”)

Keigo ni Tsuyoi Hito no Hon (“The Book for People Who are Good at

Keigo”)

Anata no Keigo Doko ka Okashii! Doko ga okashii? (“Somewhere Your Keigo is

Odd! Where is it Odd?”)

Mou Machigawanai Keigo no Hon (“The book for No More Mistaken Keigo”)

Onna no Miryoku wa 'Hanashikata' Shidai – ‘Aisatsu’ kara ‘Keigo’ made,

Shirazushirazu ni Mi ni Tsuku Hon (“A Woman's Charm is in her Language:The

Book for How to Unconsciously Pick up Everything from Greetings to Keigo”)

Keigo no Gokui (“Secrets of Keigo”)

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Keigo Joushiki (“Keigo Common Sense”) (Wetzel and Inoue 70)

There are also many websites that explain proper keigo usage.

Searching for 敬語 (keigo) on Google Japan brings up about 10,800,000 hits, and on

Yahoo! Japan about 7,250,000. Many of these sites, such as Bijinesu Keigo no Tatsujin

(“Business Keigo Experts”) are targeted at businesspeople and people who are

looking for work:

“’Business Keigo Experts’ is a site explaining correct keigo usage, a

business manner you want to master, in an easy-to-understand way, targeting

businesspeople who feel uneasy about their keigo, those who are job hunting or

changing their occupation, and also foreign exchange students who wish to do

activities using Japanese.” (Bijinesu; rough translation by me)

The four sections of the website offer “keigo proficiency tests”

(Keigoryoku Shindan Tesuto) divided into five levels of proficiency, from

introductory level (nyuumon-hen) to expert level (tatsujin-hen); “the basics of

modern keigo” (Gendai Keigo no Kiso Chishiki), a section showing example

conversations using keigo in everyday business situations (Shiin-betsu Bijinesu Keigo

Toreiningu), and a guide to converting plain-form verbs into keigo ones (Keigo

Henkan Tora no Maki). (Bijinesu)

As mentioned earlier, keigo training is also a part of companies’ training

for new employees, particularly larger companies; smaller ones contract it to

specialists (Wetzel and Inoue 72). Patricia Wetzel and Miyako Inoue describe some

training materials:

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“After being recruited and undergoing the entrance ceremony, newly

hired employees receive intensive training in how to behave and properly use

language, including keigo, in the workplace. Often training programs are introduced

as part of what is called "business manners/etiquette." The data can be divided into

two sections: one a set of detailed instructions and helpful hints for those features

that characterize all of the telephone calls that come into or go out of the office…

such calls are in turn divided into three areas: fundamentals of telephone

interaction, making a telephone call, and taking a telephone call. The second section

or level of the program, then, is comprised of scripts for hands-on "telephone

practice" covering (and presumably exhausting) the possible situations that any

representative of [a company] might be required to handle in between initiating a

telephone interaction and closing it: when transferring a telephone call, when you

cannot understand the name of the caller, when the person the caller wants is on

another line, when the person the caller wants is with a client, when the person the

caller wants is in a conference.” (Wetzel and Inoue 74)

These training materials place emphasis on keigo as an “inseparable part

of locally meaningful social actions involving social acts, such as greeting,

apologizing, etc.”, and remind readers to “take the caller’s perspective”:

“’Seki o hazushite orimasu. [dake de naku]’

'Not just “S/he’s away from his/her desk right now."' Rather,

"Tadaima yonde mairimasu no de"... Aite no mi ni natte.

'Take the caller's perspective and use something like "I’ll go and call

him/her right away."'” (Wetzel and Inoue 75)

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Acknowledging the other person’s perspective is a large part of using

keigo properly, and Japanese descriptions of it use expressions like aite no mi ni

naru (take the other’s perspective), hito o yomu (read people), and aite o tateru (pay

due respect to the other) (Wetzel and Inoue 76).

In conclusion, although usage of keigo is changing, keigo’s importance in

the Japanese language has not decreased much. Many Japanese people want to be

able to use it more skillfully (Wetzel 134), such that there are thousands of how-to

books and websites. Knowing one’s place in the hierarchy is still important in

Japanese society, particularly in the workplace, and Japanese people “come to

realize early in their lives that to not use or to misuse keigo has serious

repercussions” (Wetzel 134). As long as these social beliefs exist, keigo will continue

to be around in some form in Japan.

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Ivana, Adrian and Hiromu Sakai. "Honorification and Light Verbs in Japanese."

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