{"id":463,"date":"2006-09-24T15:07:39","date_gmt":"2006-09-24T07:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/09\/24\/beginners-japanese-chapter-vi-keigo\/"},"modified":"2006-11-01T06:45:21","modified_gmt":"2006-10-31T22:45:21","slug":"beginners-japanese-chapter-vi-keigo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/09\/24\/beginners-japanese-chapter-vi-keigo\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner’s Japanese – Chapter VI – Keigo"},"content":{"rendered":"
You hear it in anime and drama all the time, often without realizing it. It is the bane non-native Japanese speakers (or at least one of the numerous). It lurks in the shadows as it descends upon you with such suddenness and ferocity that leaves you confused and speechless. It was invented by the Japanese with the sole purpose of making foreigners suffer in eternal damnation and to punish us for pretending to speak the language.<\/p>\n
It is \u00e6\u2022\u00ac\u00e8\u00aa\u017e (keigo<\/em>), or the dreadful “levels of politeness” in Japanese. Haruhi save us all. Keigo<\/em> mainly involves the manipulation of verbs. Please read the chapter on verbs<\/a> first if you haven’t already.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Japanese is a very polite language. You can barely swear with it. In fact, the easiest way to be insulting in Japanese is simply to NOT be polite. In that respect, Japanese is whole new world for English speakers.<\/p>\n There are various grammar rules dealing with politeness and they are all categorized under \u00e6\u2022\u00ac\u00e8\u00aa\u017e (keigo<\/em>). \u00e6\u2022\u00ac means “respect” and \u00e8\u00aa\u017e means “language\/words”, so it literally means “words of respect”. Clever, huh?<\/p>\n The types of Keigo are mainly as follows:<\/p>\n A lot of textbooks teach the last two categories as part of the first three, so generally you will only learn three types of Keigo: honorific form, humble form and polite form.<\/p>\n ZOMG sir you are totally cool and awesome! Your brilliantness makes me tremble in orgasmic reverence and please confer upon me the honour of having your children! Heartfelt appreciations from the bottom of my heart!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Okay, so maybe it’s not that<\/em> extreme, but the general idea of the honorific form is to glorify every action and item associated with a person who is of a higher social rank than you. This social rank can come in many forms, such as age, experience, wealth, skills and family structure.<\/p>\n Whether you use sonkeigo<\/em> or not does not depend on who you are speaking to<\/strong>. Rather, it depends on who you are speaking about<\/strong> (of course the listener is often that person, but not always). This is very important.<\/p>\n Some situations where you have to use honorific form<\/strong> to describe the actions of another person:<\/p>\n Here’s an example:<\/p>\n kana:<\/small> \u00e3\u201a\u00ad\u00e3\u0192\u00a7\u00e3\u0192\u00b3\u00e3\u0081\u00af\u00e9\u2013\u2030\u00e9\u017d\u2013\u00e7\u00a9\u00ba\u00e9\u2013\u201c\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e5\u2026\u00a5\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u0178<\/strong>\u00e3\u20ac\u201a kana:<\/small> \u00e3\u0192\u008f\u00e3\u0192\u00ab\u00e3\u0192\u2019\u00e6\u00a7\u02dc\u00e3\u0081\u00af\u00e9\u2013\u2030\u00e9\u017d\u2013\u00e7\u00a9\u00ba\u00e9\u2013\u201c\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e5\u2026\u00a5\u00e3\u201a\u0160\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u0178<\/strong>\u00e3\u20ac\u201a The two sentences above share the same meaning, but \u00e5\u2026\u00a5\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (“to enter”) is replace with \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e5\u2026\u00a5\u00e3\u201a\u0160\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u201a\u2039 for Haruhi-sama because we are describing the actions of a higher being. :P This is the basics of honorific form.<\/p>\n A more complex example:<\/p>\n kana:<\/small> \u00e3\u0081\u201c\u00e3\u201a\u0152\u00e3\u0081\u00af\u00e7\u00a7\u0081\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e5\u00bc\u0081\u00e5\u00bd\u201c<\/strong>\u00e3\u0081\u00a0\u00e3\u20ac\u201a kana:<\/small> \u00e3\u0081\u009d\u00e3\u0081\u00a1\u00e3\u201a\u2030\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e3\u0081\u00af\u00e3\u0192\u008f\u00e3\u0192\u00ab\u00e3\u0192\u2019\u00e6\u00a7\u02dc\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e5\u00bc\u0081\u00e5\u00bd\u201c<\/strong>\u00e3\u0081\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u201e\u00e3\u201a\u2030\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e3\u201a\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u2039\u00e3\u20ac\u201a Note the numerous changes made to the sentence even though the meaning stays the same. Keigo<\/em> is like a whole new language by itself.<\/p>\n The prefixes \u00e3\u0081\u0160 or \u00e3\u0081\u201d (depends on the word) for nouns make them more polite. This is usually used in conjunction with the honorific form, but there are some words that almost always come with the prefix. For example, \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e9\u2021\u2018 (okane<\/em>) and \u00e3\u0081\u201d\u00e9\u00a3\u00af (gohan<\/em>). There are also some nouns that convert differently, for example the bikago<\/em> of \u00e5\u00ae\u00b6 (ie<\/em>), which means “house\/home”, is usually \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e5\u00ae\u2026 (otaku<\/em>) and not \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e5\u00ae\u00b6 (oie<\/em>). BTW, that is<\/em> where “otaku” came from, but that’s a topic for another day…<\/p>\n Some common conversions to honorific form<\/strong> for verbs:<\/p>\n To go<\/strong>: \u00e8\u00a1\u0152\u00e3\u0081\u008f (iku<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u201e\u00e3\u201a\u2030\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e3\u201a\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (irassharu<\/em>) Still with me? Good. Fortunately, most conversions to honorific form are not as senseless. The examples above are actually the exceptions. Most verbs follow a general rule when converting to honorific form:<\/p>\n \u00e3\u0081\u0160 + Root -masu<\/em> form + \u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u201a\u2039<\/p>\n Simple huh. Some examples:<\/p>\n\n
\n Used to show respect for the actions\/possessions of people who are higher in social status than you. (i.e. teachers, elders)<\/li>\n
\n Used to belittle the actions\/possessions of yourself or people in your “group” so as to be humble.<\/li>\n
\n Used for general politeness required when dealing with strangers\/unfamiliar acquaintances.<\/li>\n
\n Not sure about the English term; more polite than teineigo<\/em> and has generally been subsumed under kenjougo<\/em>.<\/li>\n
\n Not sure about the English term; this simply refers to the addition of \u00e3\u0081\u0160 (o-<\/em>) or \u00e3\u0081\u201d (go-<\/em>) in front of nouns to make them more… uh… dignified? This has generally been subsumed under sonkeigo<\/em> and teineigo<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\u00e5\u00b0\u0160\u00e6\u2022\u00ac\u00e8\u00aa\u017e (Honorific form)<\/h3>\n
\n
\nro-maji:<\/small> kyon wa heisa kuukan ni haitta<\/strong>.<\/em>
\nenglish:<\/small> Kyon entered the Sealed Dimension.<\/p>\n
\nro-maji:<\/small> haruhi-sama wa heisa kuukan ni ohairi ni natta<\/strong>.<\/em>
\nenglish:<\/small> Haruhi-sama entered the Sealed Dimension.<\/p>\n
\nro-maji:<\/small> kore wa watashi no bentou<\/strong> da.<\/em>
\nenglish:<\/small> This is my bentou.<\/p>\n
\nro-maji:<\/small> sochira nowa haruhi-sama no obentou<\/strong> deirassharu.<\/em>
\nenglish:<\/small> That is Haruhi-sama’s obentou.<\/p>\n
\nTo come<\/strong>: \u00e6\u009d\u00a5\u00e3\u201a\u2039 kuru<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e3\u0081\u201e\u00e3\u0081\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (oide ni naru<\/em>)
\nTo be<\/strong>: \u00e3\u0081\u00a0 (da<\/em>) \/ \u00e3\u0081\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u201a\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (dearu<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u201e\u00e3\u201a\u2030\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e3\u201a\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (deirassharu<\/em>)
\nTo eat<\/strong>: \u00e9\u00a3\u0178\u00e3\u0081\u00b9\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (taberu<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e5\u008f\u00ac\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e4\u00b8\u0160\u00e3\u0081\u0152\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (meshiagaru<\/em>)
\nTo look<\/strong>: \u00e8\u00a6\u2039\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (miru<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u201d\u00e8\u00a6\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (goran ni naru<\/em>)
\nTo know<\/strong>: \u00e7\u0178\u00a5\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (shiru<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u201d\u00e5\u00ad\u02dc\u00e7\u0178\u00a5\u00e3\u0081\u00a7\u00e3\u0081\u201a\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (gozonji dearu<\/em>)
\nTo say<\/strong>: \u00e8\u00a8\u20ac\u00e3\u0081\u2020 (iu<\/em>) \u00e2\u2020\u2019 \u00e3\u0081\u0160\u00e3\u0081\u00a3\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e3\u201a\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u2039 (ossharu<\/em>)<\/p>\n