Home
Back

Dear visitor, if you know the answer to this question, please post it. Thank you!

Note that this thread has not been updated in a long time, and its content might not be up-to-date anymore.

How children appeal to their adult friends? 2013/2/8 21:37
Hallo.

I would like to know how children would appeal to their parents' friends or to an adult (same age of their parents) who they know very well and they are friends to.

Would they use oniisan / oniichan / oneesan / oneechan?

Like ''uncle'', so ojisan / ojichan / obasan / obachan (but I heard a young woman would be very angry if appealed this way, as it is for older people) .

Or would they use -san?

Thank you for replying.
by Laura (guest)  

Re: How children appeal to their adult friends? 2013/2/9 12:49
Do you mean how do children address their parent's adult friends? It really depends on a lot of factors. For example, how well the family knows the other person, the family friend's age, the age of the children, and how the parents personally call their friend could all be a factor. There is no definite rule.

When first meeting someone, for example, children may start out with -san, but not necessarily. If the children are very young and the person is a close family friend, they may start out with a nickname to make it easier for the child to say. For example, the young daughter of a friend of mine calls our other friend, Mizuki, "Micchan". Likely if the name is known, the child will call them some form of their name plus -san, -chan, -ni-san, -nee-san etc.

However I am not Japanese myself and I can only go on what my experiences have been so far, so please wait for other responses too.
by scarreddragon (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: How children appeal to their adult friends? 2013/2/9 14:39
As scarreddragon said, it presents an infinite variety.

In general, if they are not so close, ojisan/obasan (or oniisan/oneesan if she/he is still young) is used.
Then -chan is often used as baby talk.

And to call obasan, no-one get angry to kids, it's joke, but with a smile she force them to call her oneesan.
BTW, my sister's boy who are 4 years old call me "oniichan". I forced him.
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: How children appeal to their adult friends? 2013/2/9 19:03
First of all, thank you for replyin'.

And sorry for the wrong verb I used. I'm not English mother-tongue, and so I fell in "false friend"trap, as in Italian we use "appellarsi" with the meaning of "to address", that is what I meant ^^' .

Well, in the specific case, I mean children of about 5 - 10 years, addressing to their parents' close friends, who are the same age of the parents (25-40), and who became confident with the children too, to the point that the children consider these adults as a sort of uncle / aunt.

Here in Italy we could call them right "Zio (uncle) NAME" or "Zia (auntie) NAME". And I would know how Japanese children express this kind ofrelation through honorifics.

I knew that "oji-san/chan" and "oba-san/chan" usually refer to middle-age people (and I don't think 25 / 40 years aged could be considered this way ^^), but "onee-san/chan" and "onii-san/chan" (besides for addressing your real siblings) should be used for people you're confident with, but who are an age they can be your sibling, and not as old as your parents could be.

Thank you.
by Laura (guest) rate this post as useful

reply to this thread