70591
Why is the term 者 used in some job titles and not others? I see the term used
for doctor, dentist and translator 医者, 歯医者, 翻訳者 to name a few, but not for
teacher, mayor, secretary, etc.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-05T11:02:12.650
70562
2019-09-06T06:01:11.833
18435
question
usage kanji
Why is the term 者 used in some job titles and not others?
The [many different] title endings often reflect [the partly historical]
status or the way in which the person contributes when doing his/her job.

The 者 is typically used for jobs where the person possesses some rare /
advanced / intellectual skills that allow him/her contribute thanks to the
skills. And here we mean directly contributing, i.e. although leadership
skills are advanced skills, "they don't count", as the contribution comes
through boosting the performance of others.

I believe that the reason why e.g. a driver is untenshu, but an engineer can
be referred to as a gijutsusha, relates to using gitsushusha to mean something
more like a "meister" [with not so much stressing the "sensei" aspect of
meister]. Today, a driver contributes individually, and it is a lot about also
intellectual skills, while an engineer typically works as a part of a team,
which would mean that if today inventing the words, an engineer would probably
not be written with 者.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-05T12:08:55.240
70565
2019-09-05T12:25:05.100
2019-09-05T12:25:05.100
18435
34261
70562
answer
~者 is a generic suffix which means "person who does the job of". It's usually
used when there isn't a common alternative. It's typically used for a
profession and doesn't require membership of an organisation. The emphasis is
on the skills that they perform, not where they perform them.

医者 doctor (medicine-person) 歯医者 dentist (dentistry-person) 翻訳者 translator
(translation-person) 研究者 researcher (research-person) 記者 reporter

In contrast ~員 means that you perform that role within an organisation (some
jobs can use both of these). For example I'm both a 分子生物学の研究者 (researcher of
the field of molecular biology) and 理研の研究員 (researcher of the RIKEN
institute). 者 and 員 cannot be used interchangeable here.

会社員 employee (staff member) 会員 member (of an association) 研究員 research
associate (for and institute)

Many positions are referred with the suffix ~手 instead. If one of these exists
it is not natural to use ~者 for these. These imply that you perform a
specialised role within a team or organisation. This is used for specialised
skills and craftsmen. This emphasises that you perform these skills as part of
a larger team.

若手 young (intern, apprentice) 投手 pitcher (baseball) 捕手 catcher (baseball) 運転手
driver 話し手 speaker 造り手 builder 砲手 gunner (military)

These are the 3 main suffixes for professions but there are many exceptions.
There are many other suffixes for different jobs, particularly those with a
long tradition will have an irregular suffix or one specific to a particular
industry. Some of these clearly share similar skills or environment, such as
white collar or blue collar jobs.

裁判官 judge 警官 police

料理人 chef

秘書 secretary

作家 author 建築家 architect 政治家 politician

弁護士 lawyer 会計士 accountant

牧師 pastor 理髪師 barber 技師 engineer 教師/先生 teacher/instructor/professor

女優 actress

農民 farmer

建具屋 joiner 鍛冶屋 blacksmith 仕立て屋 tailor

大工 carpenter 配管工 plumber 電工 electrician
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-06T06:01:11.833
70591
2019-09-06T06:01:11.833
14608
70562
answer