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Honorifics in Naruto Manga?




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Jamee



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 79
Location: North Carolina
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:48 pm Reply with quote
Some questions for anyone with access to the original Naruto manga in Japanese?

1. What honorifics does Sasuke use to refer to Naruto and Sakura? Does he use chan and kun or just san?

2. What honorific does Kakashi use with his students?

3. Is the Hokage referred to as sama or dono?

If anyone can answer I'd be very happy! I love Viz's translations except for the removal of the honorifics.
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Alucalb



Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 171
PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 1:32 am Reply with quote
Sasuke doesn't use honorifics when refering to Naruto or Sakura. And it is "Hokage-sama".
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Jamee



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 79
Location: North Carolina
PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 2:53 pm Reply with quote
Thanks so much for replying! Very Happy
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 2424
Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 3:13 pm Reply with quote
Not all characters use honorifics. I find that when the honorifics are translated, they tend to get in the way. (This is the only problem I have with Negima!)
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 6:15 pm Reply with quote
Aromatic Grass wrote:
Not all characters use honorifics. I find that when the honorifics are translated, they tend to get in the way.


I've never heard anyone say that. I find that honorifics add a lot to a manga, because of all that they reveal about characters and their relationships.

The only time I could see them really getting in the way would be something clearly not set in Japan (but I find that amusing in anime as well, like in Gunslinger Girl we have Italians in Italy speaking Japanese).
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Jamee



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 79
Location: North Carolina
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:34 pm Reply with quote
Now I'm a little confused. You say not all characters use honorifics, but I thought saying someone's name without an honorific was a sign of an extremely close relationship. Has Del Rey's notes on honorifics been steering me wrong all this time? Smile
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hanachan01



Joined: 11 Dec 2005
Posts: 504
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 12:05 am Reply with quote
Well, squads are all forced to be close with one another, so that is the reason they don't use honorifics I assume. I'm not a Naruto fan, so I'm not sure...
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 1:01 am Reply with quote
Jamee wrote:
Now I'm a little confused. You say not all characters use honorifics, but I thought saying someone's name without an honorific was a sign of an extremely close relationship. Has Del Rey's notes on honorifics been steering me wrong all this time? Smile


No, that is right, use of honorifics generally suggests a fairly close relationship between two characters, though I'm sure there are exceptions.
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 2424
Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2006 5:50 pm Reply with quote
marie-antoinette wrote:
Aromatic Grass wrote:
Not all characters use honorifics. I find that when the honorifics are translated, they tend to get in the way.


I've never heard anyone say that. I find that honorifics add a lot to a manga, because of all that they reveal about characters and their relationships.


Personally, I would rather just have them removed. Like I said, honorifics are all over the place in Negima! and that just makes it all the harder to read.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2006 10:02 pm Reply with quote
Aromatic Grass wrote:

Personally, I would rather just have them removed. Like I said, honorifics are all over the place in Negima! and that just makes it all the harder to read.


I guess it's just a matter of personal taste then, I find that honourifics provide a much more accurate translation than removing them entirely ever could.
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Mobiletortoise



Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 4
Location: My computer room
PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2006 10:10 pm Reply with quote
I do know that they say hokagesama (sorry if these have arlready been answered) and sometimes I do believe kakashi says naruto-kun, or sakura-san, or he doesn't use any at all. I do not think sasuke uses any honorifics with his teammates, probably because he doesn't think of their relationship as close at all, even with naruto this far into the series.
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Shorty22



Joined: 09 Aug 2003
Posts: 504
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:09 pm Reply with quote
For some reason, I had thought that Sasuke would call Naruto by his last name, 'Uzumaki', so it'd be as impersonal as possible, since they/he dislike(d) Naruto. And vice versa for Naruto with Sasuke due to their difference in ability and rivalship. Actually, I thought Sasuke would use 'Haruno' for Sakura as well.

I'd also thought that those girls fawning over Sasuke were probably overstepping their boundaries and calling him Sasuke-kun instead of Uchiha-kun, which was more of an annoyance to him and contributed to part of his attitude or something.

I do like the reasoning of that they're supposed to be a close group and should be familar with each other. But is that really why, seeing as especially in the beginning, they obviously do not get along and don't like each other? Could it be because it's a action shonen series? Does the series' genre even matter to when/if they use honorifics or a first/last name basis?
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DarkTenshi90



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 440
Location: Nebraska
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2006 9:45 pm Reply with quote
Shorty22 wrote:
For some reason, I had thought that Sasuke would call Naruto by his last name, 'Uzumaki', so it'd be as impersonal as possible, since they/he dislike(d) Naruto. And vice versa for Naruto with Sasuke due to their difference in ability and rivalship. Actually, I thought Sasuke would use 'Haruno' for Sakura as well.


Actually, Sasuke really cares about his team mates, he doesn't show it, but he does. Also spoiler[he calls Naruto his best friend] so they don't hate eachother, but they are rivals against one another.
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