Lena B Katz said:Dimitri said:
"Stark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:Like to watch the first 10 or 15 minutes of Iron Chef, especially when
they're preping big fish. But when they introduce the challenger chef,
his named is printed on the screen as Komico Seiko, for example. But
when the host bellows out his name he calls Seiko Komico. What's with
the reversal?
Generally people in Japan refer to others by their surname followed by a term of
respect (san, = Mr or Mrs. sama = Mr. or Mrs. (pol) , manner, kind,
appearance) or familiarity (kun Mr (junior) (suf), master, boy). The given name
is seldom used.
I work with a Mr. Naruo (given) Uchida (surname) he is almost always referred to
as Uchida san.
In Japan, the Surname comes first. As in most Asian countries. given
names are used to talk about close friends and relatives. If you want to
give the impression of formality (and, trust me, unless you've known
someone for a long time, you do.), you generally use -san.
Sama is something that is not considered "polite". it is beyond "polite".
it is calling someone royalty.
Quoted message said:In the Eastern European countries people were known by their given name follows
by their fathers given name. As example Anna Ivanivavna = Anna the daughter of
Ivan.
I've noticed, when reading dostoyevsky, that russian names tend to be
entirely too complicated. three different last names, depending on what
you want to use (if someone's russian on here, and feels like illuminating
my ignorance, i'd appreciate it)
lena
A Russian name generally has three parts: a given name, a patronymic,
and a family name.
The given name is like a first name in English. Most male names end in
a consonant, and most female names end in the sound "a".
The patronymic is the one that's unusual from an English perspective.
It's name that is based on the person's father's name. It's generally
formed by taking the father's name and adding -ovich for a man, or
adding -ovna for a woman (these endings can change to -yevich and
-yevna if the father's name ends in a "soft" consonant).
The family name is like a surname in English. For a woman, the sound
"a" is tacked on to the end of the surname, but it's considered to be
the same surname. There are also some surnames that end in -sky (or
-ski or -skiy, depending on the transliteration). This changes to
-skaya for a woman.
Some examples:
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
His given name is Vladimir, his father's name is also Vladimir, and his
family name is Putin. His daughter is Yekaterina Vladimirovna Putina.
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova
Her given name is Anna, her father's name is Sergei, and her family
name is Kournikova (or Kurnikova if you want a more accurate
transliteration). Her father's last name would have been Kournikov.
The most common way for two adults to refer to each other is by their
first name and their patronymic. The patronymic would be dropped only
in the case of a very close relationship. Using the last name would
generally be seen as being extremely formal.