Comments on: Seven ways to say “YOU” in Japanese

By: Lauren Goff

Lauren Goff — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:54:07 +0000

I thought it was a little weird that Rosetta Stone was trying to teach me to say “anata,” but I guess that it’s appropriate. I had always thought that it was an extremely weird thing to say to someone other than your boyfriend or husband.

Actually, if I remember correctly, Asuka said that it is weird to call someone that once. Who’s right?

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:49:21 +0000

Thanks so much for visiting the site and good luck with your Japanese.

By: kessa

kessa — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:39:48 +0000

thanks for the up date on the different words. i’m new to learning Japanese and where i live i can’t find any dictionaries so that was helpful cause basically i’m accustom using あなた, 君, お前, われ and i watch anime in Japanese a lot instead of the English version and it help to understand them a little better.

i learn it on my own so basically i’m always on the computer and downloading documents and (though it makes a little more work foe me to learn) this one is great help thanks again ^-^!!!!!!

By: admin

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:17:20 +0000

Nice comments there. Thanks.

As for WARE, it can be used as “you” but I think it may be a little old fashioned.

http://jisho.org/words?jap=ware&eng=&dict=edict

By: Cailean

Cailean — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:00:07 +0000

Actually, われ means “I”, not “you”, and in Osaka we prefer 俺 (おれ) when we’re angry, as われ would be too polite. Also, あんた should be grouped with あなた, as it is more of a colloquial dipthong variation of the more proper あなた and not a separate form. It is also by no means old-fashioned, although that view may differ by region.

Since that puts you down by one, you could always add この人 (このひと; lit. “this person”) to the list as another deferential way to address somebody.

It might be good to mention that てめえ also originates from more polite roots, as it comes from the polite 手前 (てまえ). As with many Japanese insults, the rudeness stems from intentionally pronouncing a polite word in a lazy way (the same goes for あんた, as improper usage can be taken as an insult as well.

The most important thing to remember about being polite in Japanese is that nothing beats addressing somebody by their name and/or title. Japanese usually avoid all forms of “you” in favor of a proper name so as not to appear cold or indifferent.