So, during my first week here in Japan, I learnt something interesting about the Japanese language that I didn’t know before — Keigo (敬語、けいご), where honorific words were added (or substituted) into parts of the speech to show respect.
I knew about how Japanese can be spoken in two ways — the casual way and the formal way (Keigo). However, I find it difficult to wrap my head around it, as they have different ways of speaking honorifically or humbly, deemed by whether it is directed to adults/elders or youngsters. There are three different types of Keigos, namely Teineigo (丁寧語、ていねいご), Sonkeigo (尊敬語、そんけいご), and Kenjougo (謙譲語、けんじょうご).
Disclaimer though, I am very fresh to the Japanese language, and all the information below is based on what some people tell me and some of my own research. Obviously, it may not be as accurate.
Before I start, I must also briefly mention about the dictionary form of the Japanese words. As a non-native beginner, we were taught the dictionary form first, which is the original Japanese vocabulary, and is often used during casual speech. Then, we were taught to state them in a more polite way, which transforms it to Teineigo. For example, the dictionary form of “to eat” is taberu たべる, but usually we say it in a more polite manner — tabemasu たべます. I will (try to) explain more about this below.
First off, Teineigo a.k.a. polite keigo, is the easiest amongst the three keigos. Teineigo is simply the casual speech topped with some polite icing, and is taught to all non-native beginner Japanese learners. For most sentences, it is sufficient to just add -desu/-masu (-です/-ます) (or the negative form -dekimasen/-masen -できません/-ません). For example, ohayogozaimasu おはようございます (good morning), or nihongo wa dekimasen 日本語はできません (I do not understand Japanese). Another common way of adding politeness to a sentence is to add o-/go- (お-/ご-) infront of a word or an object. Fun fact, did you know that ocha お茶 and gohan ご飯 (green tea and rice, respectively) has the polite prefix added in already? It is interesting to know that some basic words that we use everyday is already a form of Teineigo. おもしろい, interesting…
Now, this is where it gets messy. Sonkeigo a.k.a. honorific keigo, is a style used when you are speaking about or to those who are in position of power, e.g. your boss, elders, or customers. Many people that I talked to about this topic and many websites I’ve read specifically highlighted to not use this form of speech when you talk about yourself. This is considered arrogant and rude. From this point onward, all of the information I’ve learnt are from the websites that I researched, as we are not taught this form at all, and I don’t see it being taught to us in the near future. This is because not only the noun vocabulary changes, even the verb/adjective’s vocabulary changes! Using the same “to eat” example, dictionary form: taberu 食べる; Teineigo: tabemasu 食べます; Sonkeigo: meshiagaru 召し上がる. It is a totally different vocabulary! What in the world……
Another fun fact: being a big Japanese anime/movie fan myself, at every ending of the movie, a pretty standard sentence will be mentioned — kono bangumiwa goran no suponsaa no teikyou de okurishimasu この番組は、ご覧のスポンサーの提供で送りします (sounded familiar yet? Anime fans?). This sentence meant something along the line of “This program is brought to you by the following displayed sponsors”. After researching more on this Keigo topic, I have come to realize that this is in fact Sonkeigo, where parts of the sentences, namely goran ご覧, is an honorific way of saying “to see” (dictionary form and polite form: miru 見る and mimasu 見ます). So, the program is requesting its customers (in a higher position of power) to take a look at the sponsors (also in a higher position of power), therefore the use of Sonkeigo.
Now, the last one, Kenjougo a.k.a. humble keigo, is a style used when you are speaking to someone of a higher position of power about yourself. In its essence, you humble yourself down, e.g. when speaking to your boss about yourself. Similar to Sonkeigo, some of the vocabularies may change. Again, using the same “to eat” example, dictionary form: taberu 食べる; Teineigo: tabemasu 食べます; Kenjougo: itadaku/itadakimasu いただく/いただくます. Does itadakimasu sounded familar? Apparently some of the daily phrases that we use is already in Kenjougo form (itadakimasu is said before you eat/drink something, and it roughly means “please let me enjoy this meal”). Yup, so does おはようございます ohayogozaimasu (good morning) and どういたしまして doitashimashite (my pleasure/you’re welcome). MIND…BLOWN…
Imagine you talking to your boss or a senior high school student talking to his junior, both Sonkeigo and Kenjougo forms need to be used, with Teineigo added in frequently. I can imagine it to be incredibly annoying and difficult! So, apparently non-Japanese got it easy, even if they master the whole Japanese language. Japanese tends to cut some slack to non-Japaneses for screwing up the Keigo forms. However, native Japanese were thrown into the real world where they were forced to differentiate all Keigos properly and use all of them correctly when they are only in their elementary schools. They will need to use different form when speaking to their senpais せんぱい (seniors), and another totally different form when speaking to their kouhais こうはい (juniors). To this, I give them my full respect!
Some references:
