anesan vs oneesan

Simple question. I�fve been wondering for quite a while now. There are two types of terms for family members, right? One�fs for others and one�fs for your own.
Ex: sister-
Own: anesan Others: Oneesan

But when I watch animes, why do they use oneesan to call their elder sister instead of anesan? The same goes to otōsan and onīsan and the rest. Can someone enlighten me please? Thank you.

Zyzzyva,

Firstly, in the case of "elder sister", it is "ane" and "oneesan". You never add "-san" to "ane".
"Ane" is for talking about your sister, while "oneesan" is for addressing your sister or for talking about someone else's sister.
A similar situation applies to other family terms (ani/oniisan, haha/okaasan, etc.), although younger siblings are usually addressed by name.

I can't explain to your question in linguistics but I can say it is bad to use the word "anesan" in normal conversation.
The word is used by yakuza henchmen. They call their boss's mistress "anesan".

I don't know where you learned that "anesan" is older sister, but Dave in Saitama is correct- it is ane or oneesan.

I learnt the word from Shakugan no Shana anime.
In that case, two persons call someone lady older than them ane-san. If you want to verify, here is the link to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shakugan_no_Shana_chara...

Check under 'Eita Tanaka'

The explanation for ane-san (as provided by Wiki) is respectable elder sister. That's why i thought ane-san is more respectable than oneesan or smth like that.

By the way, when I talk to others (eg:friends), can I use okaasan/obaasan......
to refer to my family members? Cu I've heard of it mentioned that way too......

Zyzzyva,

I learnt the word from Shakugan no Shana anime.

Therein lies your problem. ;-)

If you want to verify, here is the link to wikipedia:

Wikipedia is often written by people who don't really know what they are talking about - particularly in the case of anime/manga articles, so you should treat that with a very large pinch (bucket?) of salt.

By the way, when I talk to others (eg:friends), can I use okaasan/obaasan......
to refer to my family members? Cu I've heard of it mentioned that way too...

The "correct" way is to use "haha" or "chichi" etc. to describe your own family members, but it is not uncommon to hear people say things like "uchi no okaasan", especially children.

As Dave in Saitama says, it's a bit childish, but I hear my Japanese female friends saying "uchi no okaasan", so I do too, but switch to haha or hahaoya with people I don't know- it's kind of like saying "my Mum/Mom" as opposed to "my mother".

Men, including my Japanese husband, will often refer to their mothers as "ofukuro" and their fathers as "oyaji" around their friends because it sounds more masculine.

Manga and Wikipedia are probably not the best sources to base your ideas about normal Japanese usage on, I'm afraid.

Actually, I'm very inclined to think you're right, Dave in Saitama. Cuz they really use words like 'ore' and 'omae' so carelessly that I was led to think that they are as common as the likes of 'watashi' and 'boku'.

Just to confirm something else, is 'anta' frequently used in daily conversations?

I learnt the word from Shakugan no Shana anime.
In that case, two persons call someone lady older than them ane-san.

Yes they do.

But in fact she is not their real sister and "anesan" is used to show her and their relationship is something like yakuza mistress and henchmen's.

Be careful to learn Japanese from manga and anime; they are full of Japanese expressions you will never use in daily life.

i can only agree with the poster above me. be very careful with japanese learned from mange/anime (in fact, don't use it at all if you are trying to impress people, because it will have the opposite effect). you may think that because it appears in anime, it's widely used in daily japanese life, but far from it. i've had some bad experiences myself because of this, so i can only urge you not to do the same.

I rarely hear anta other than on TV, and I have heard that it is mostly used by women to address women of a similar or lower social status than themselves. This person is usually a family member, so it's unlikely you will be using/ hearing it other than on TV.

I can't remember the last time I used any Japanese word for "you" actually, even "anata" isn't common as you either leave out the "you" completely in the sentence, or use the name of the person you are talking to, i.e. "Suzuki san wa..." instead of "Anata wa..."

"Ane-san" is an old-fashioned Tokyo way of calling "(o)ne-san". My grandmother used to use this term all the time when she refered to her own elder sister or other people's elder sisters. She is from a respectful civil servant family, by the way.

The reason the term is now used mainly by the yakuza is probably because the yakuza have enjoyed maintaining various aspects of Tokyo tradition that has been way dated by now. The yakuza is very conservative.

Today if someone uses the word "ane-san" or "ane-go" one can automatically assume that they are trying to emphasize a gangster type of image. Otherwise, if you play traditional instruments you'd notice the term in traditional songs from Tokyo.