San (さん) is the most common honorific title. Not only is the boss in a higher position as far as work is related, but the boss is (usually) older which is also seen as a higher social position.So that’s the first way to understand くん: it’s attached to boy’s names to show some respect and is often used from people in a higher social position towards someone in a lower social position.By the way, it’s actually more common to see it written in Despite 君 primarily being used with boys, there are also situations where it gets added on to the end of a girl’s name.Usually it is from an older male talking to or about a younger female.One situation is just like we’ve been talking about earlier, where the boss of a company, or a department within a company, is talking about one of the younger women who works under him.This is probably the most common, but there is another that I’ve seen every now and then.The second situation is also from an older male to a younger female, but the relationship is when the guy has friendly feelings, and perhaps romantic ones as well, towards a girl who is still seen as a young adult in that late teens to early twenties range.It’s definitely more common to see さん used for woman rather than 君, but you’ll still run into it every now and then.But when it comes specifically to the multiple readings of The name for the Japanese reading is 訓読み (kun yomi) and herein lies the next usage for today’s word.FYI, the name for the Chinese reading is 音読み (on yomi) and they are usually represented in There are a couple of other Japanese words that are read as くん and I wanted to go over them while we were on this topic.The first one is 勲 (kun) which means “merit” and is generally used when talking about an “order of merit” which a person might use in the title of their name. Less polite than "~ san", "~ kun （～君）" is used to Aforeigner might be referred to as gaijin-san (外人さん). They are used very often and it is considered impolite if you use the terms incorrectly. FYI, the name for the Chinese reading is 音読み (on yomi) and they are usually represented in katakana, while the 訓読み are written in hiragana.
She has been a freelance writer for nearly 20 years. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Christmas Carol in JapaneseUsing the Japanese Particles "Wa" and "Ga" CorrectlyThe Japanese Christmas Song "Awatenbou no Santakuroosu"The Difference Between "Kudasai" and "Onegaishimasu" in JapaneseGuide to the Japanese Language in the Animated "Spirited Away"Expressions of Ability and Potential Verbs in JapaneseFrequently Asked Questions in Introductory Japanese It can be used with both male and female names, and with either Although for the Japanese they tell a lot more about the relationships between people. San issimilar to "Mr", "Ms.", "Mrs", and so on. Namiko Abe is a Japanese language teacher and translator, as well as a Japanese calligraphy expert. Zum einen gibt es weitaus mehr als nur 2 Arten der Anrede und zum anderen gibt … The name for the Japanese reading is 訓読み (kun yomi) and herein lies the next usage for today’s word. Auch akademische, berufliche und militärische Titel werden durch diese Zusätze gekennzeichnet. The “Third Class” part is written in Japanese as 勲三等 (kun san tou).So as you can see from this, the word 勲 doesn’t actually translate into any English words, but rather is just used to denote the merit.The other word is 薫 (kun) which means “pleasant smell” and is generally used in combination with another That’s all I’ve got for today’s lesson on “kun” in Japanese.If you’ve got any questions, please let me know down below.If you’ve seen くん used somewhere before that I didn’t cover, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know. A very familiar term, "~ chan （～ちゃん）" is often attached to children's names when calling them by their given names.