1597
Some Japanese websites have no problem addressing me as Amandaさん, but how
common is this in human-produced Japanese? Under what circumstances would
someone refer to someone else as Amandaさん, בועזくん, or Екатери́наちゃん instead of
アマンダさん, ボアズくん, or エカテリーナちゃん?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T04:17:20.057
1580
2011-12-25T23:25:19.510
2011-12-25T23:25:19.510
28
question
honorifics names
Using Japanese honorifics with non-kana names
It's used quite normally. My business emails, spam mail, post from the bank or
government are all normally addressed to `David 様`, or whatever exact name
they happen to know me by. The same goes for more informal communication using
〜さん or other less honorable honorifics. A certain client of mine is addressing
me as `DAVID SAN` in emails. Non-roman, non-Japanese alphabets probably won't
be used that easily though, mostly because few people can understand or write
them. If you introduce yourself to people using the katakana spelling of your
name, people may be more likely to use it instead of rōmaji. It always depends
on the individual author though. Some will try to find out how to spell your
name in kana, others may be glad for the opportunity to use rōmaji.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T04:30:21.233
1581
2011-06-28T04:30:21.233
88
1580
answer
Both of my language partners call me William-san all the time on the phone and
in written communications in both English and Japanese.

I only use 'san' in Japanese when speaking to them, though. (English is my
native language.)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T11:02:16.607
1588
2011-06-28T11:02:16.607
393
1580
answer
Perhaps unrelated, but my Japanese teacher though told us to learn the
katakana version of our names, always calls me by Joseph-さん

while taking attendance she calls everyone by [name]-さん so I was thinking the
katakana version of our names is just for fun/show
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T15:50:58.867
1596
2011-06-28T15:50:58.867
264
1580
answer
Non-Japanese names are usually written with Japanese letters in Japanese text,
but it is not rare to see them written with the original letters, too. I do
not think that use of honorifics is related to whether foreign names are
spelled in kana letters or in the original script.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T15:56:01.863
1597
2011-06-28T15:56:01.863
15
1580
answer
I can only speak to my personal experience, but my Japanese coworkers usually
refer to us as [English First Name]さん (like Michael さん), even though we
sometimes sign our emails in Katakana.

Perhaps it's because the Katakana isn't always exact (in fact, some names
sound completely different in Katakana because the syllables don't exist in
Japanese). By using the original language, they can write your name as it was
meant to be written instead of a foreign adaption of your name.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-28T18:36:28.143
1601
2011-06-28T18:36:28.143
162
1580
answer