Honorifics 敬語 / 존댓말
keigo / jondaenmal · from English
What are honorifics in Asian languages?
Honorifics are grammatical forms, titles and word choices that show respect or social distance, built deeply into Japanese, Korean, Thai and Javanese.
Honorifics can be name suffixes (-san, -nim), special verbs, polite endings or particles. In Korean and Japanese they are grammatically obligatory: you cannot say a sentence without choosing a politeness level. Thai marks speaker politeness with particles such as ครับ khráp and ค่ะ khâ.
Examples
Japanese 田中さん Tanaka-san; Korean 선생님 seonsaengnim (teacher, honorific); Thai ขอบคุณครับ khàwp khun khráp (thank you, male polite); Indonesian Bapak / Ibu (Sir / Madam)
Kungfucius says: In Japanese and Korean, you cannot say good morning without first deciding how important everyone is.