2736
**In a professional setting, would two professors/doctors/lawyers—who would
normally be addressed as "sensei"—refer to _each other_ (as peers) using
"sensei"?**

Note: This question used to be asking about Japanese formality in English. Now
I'm just interested on how sensei would be used in this context in spoken
Japanese.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-17T15:39:46.317
2710
2011-08-18T15:46:24.687
2011-08-18T11:51:08.163
625
625
question
nuances formality
Usage of "sensei"/"先生" when the recipient is a peer?
_(now that the question is finally on-topic, I am happy to contribute my 2
yens ;-)_

The general use of 先生 (sensei) when addressing a professor/doctor/etc. is
already [discussed elsewhere on
JLU](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/423/is-the-use-of-and-
similar-titles-context-sensitive)... As for the particular case of writing to
someone who is your peer (in rank _and_ range of age), the answer is:

**No you do not have to use it.**

My colleagues/bosses (themselves Drs. and/or Profs.) usually do not use
'sensei' (only 'san') when mentioning or talking to another Dr./Prof.

Of course, if the professor in question is some famous old professor (or
simply an authority figure to the speaker), 'sensei' is used as a form of
politeness.

The bottom line is that you use 'sensei' just the same as you would 'Prof.' in
English: you would probably call your (possibly tenured) lab neighbour "John",
but your advisor or some visiting professor will get "Prof. Smith".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-18T15:46:24.687
2736
2011-08-18T15:46:24.687
2017-04-13T12:43:48.447
-1
290
2710
answer