What Japanese pronouns would your characters use?

Couldn't find any other place to put this, as it's generally a writing exercise and a bit of character brainstorming.

Simply put, if your work was made an anime or manga, what Japanese Pronouns would your characters use to refer to themselves and others?

At this point, I can probably come up with one character that would use each of these...

• Atai/ashi/atashi: One particular female antagonist, for certain reasons.
• Boku: Nathanael and Nadine, for completely different reasons.
• Chin: The High King at the Green Harrow.
• Jibun: Evan.
• Maro: Lang and Timon.
• Ora: Joss.
• Ore-sama: Emil, as an intentionally obnoxious affectation.
• Shousei et al: Borislav.
• Soregashi-domo*
  (assuming no wild grammatical inaccuracies therein)
  : The Maker of Masks.
• Uchi: Zillah.
• Wagahai: The Veiled Lord of Blackmarch.
• Warawa: Our Lady of the Fields.
• Ware: Sixtus.
• Washi: Any older members of Holtmann's cabal.
• Watakushi: Vasile, possibly Ianto.
• Watashi: Ariadne.
• Yo: Maurice.

P.S. This is an interesting exercise to perform, as it forces you to think about how characters think of themselves in a very particular context. It is also an aspect of language that a lot of people overlook, yet one that defines the tongue and furthermore defines the way that a story reads in a given language. If it ever comes to pass that what I am writing is not only published but reprinted in a foreign language, particularly one with as complicated a pronoun system as Japanese, I shall have to keep these conventions in mind... however exceedingly unlikely that may be! (Of course, this would imply that I should have learned enough Japanese by that point to be at all helpful in a translation of my own work. Being someone who adores linguistics and intends to seriously study several languages, this is actually a lot more likely than the translation itself ever coming to pass.)

edited 26th Apr '12 5:52:38 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

• Boku: Matthew, mainly because he does not want to seem threatening. When one of your nicknames is The Bloody Angel, you NEED to seem unthreatening. And Sorata uses it for different reasons.
  • Matthew starts using Ore from Book 1.5 onwards, mainly to show he is more confident and capable.
• Chin: Used mainly by Lanius Nemes-Faulk. For very good reasons. He has been the "Child-Emperor of the Hidden Village" for twelve hundred years. He stopped using it after his "World Chlorination Plan" failed and he Heel–Face Turn'd. Anyone who correctly pronounces Lanius Nemes-Faulk I personally congratulate.
• Maro: The Seer uses Maro, mainly to show how archaic he is.
• Atashi: Hector Gibbs uses this one, mainly to show case his...unique...personality.
• Wagahai: Elijah Gibbs uses this, mainly to show his haughty personality which seems goofy and misplaced in a serious work.

edited 26th Apr '12 11:26:17 PM by NickTheSwing

Hmm.

I'm actually a little embarrassed to realize that I have a female character who would probably use ore. She's a very aggressive bodyguard, so it makes some sense.

Lady Katrina would probably use watakushi, and I suppose Nem would use ora or boku normally and shousei when sucking up to Katrina.

This is a really good exercise. I'm totally stumped with a few characters, and trying to think it through is helping me think about how they see themselves and how their backgrounds could affect their speech and self-image.

I don't understand what the point of this is, and I'm not just saying that because I'm not remotely an anime/manga person - it's a vaguely interesting thought exercise, but I don't see why it's getting such high praise.

I never actually said that I thought that this was a brilliant thread idea myself; honestly, I think it has the potential to be incredibly silly and pointless. But at the same time, it is a potentially useful thought exercise, if narrower than ideal. I perhaps would have posed this question: How would the way your character addresses others or themselves in conversation change with the language you are using?

While Japanese is actually a pretty good one on the simple grounds of nuance—every pronoun has a distinct implication, and there are many—there are plenty of others that this experiment could apply to. For example, Hungarian and Thai both used to use expressions meaning "servant" or "slave' as the formal first-person singular; the logical question under those circumstances would be how formal a given character's speech patterns might be, and whether or not they might embrace, reject or manipulate that factor of language.

edited 26th Apr '12 6:28:03 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

It's particularly useful for the story I'm working on because it has very strong themes of social class and personal background. And also I'm a huge language geek.

edited 26th Apr '12 6:37:13 PM by ChocolateCotton

Okay, fair enough. Your comments were actually what made me react, come to think of it.

I also posted here on grounds of language geekery! Let's party!

That's fine. Your point is decent, and you honestly could have said worse.

edited 26th Apr '12 6:37:04 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

The sad thing is, I've spent time thinking about this before this topic even came up. Language geekery is exactly why. I spend a lot of time thinking about how my work would be translated into different languages.

I'll only list the ones which I think are particularly interesting:

• Dawra: Sessha. In English, Dawra talks in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe, and thinks of himself as something of a knight. "A knight and a gentledragon," he often calls himself. Thus, he would take an archaic pronoun. Plus, the excessive humility it denotes serves as a clue to his backstory.
• Jasper: Watashi. Despite being male, and royalty, he would use a very aloof pronoun because he's a very aloof person, at first. Plus, being royal, it fits in terms of the politeness.
• Alex: Ore-sama, no doubt. Alex is a smug, uptight bastard who thinks a lot of himself. He definitely would have the most pompous pronoun.

Another note about Dawra: In English, there's a scene where his Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe fails him, and he admits not knowing the proper pronoun and conjugation for the situation at had. I've always wondered how that scene would translate (probably not well at all), but in Japanese, it would actually probably work pretty well, due to the wealth of old-fashioned-sounding second-person pronouns he'd have to choose between.

edited 26th Apr '12 8:37:40 PM by FreezairForALimitedTime

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

@nrjxil: It's also pretty useful if you're writing something set in Japan, or have a character from Japan.

I'm gonna try taking a shot at this

Ore

• Atra. Partly due to spending most of her life fighting and such, and partly due to her blunt nature. She'd switch to something like Atashi or Watashi when around her lover.
• Alastor when he's in a grumpy mood (which is most of the time).
• Roy. Mostly because he's a hot blooded Big Brother Mentor type character. He's also something of a delinquent, so using this pronoun would make sense I think.
• Zain would switch to this during his more Hot-Blooded moments, and when taking charge. He'd use boku otherwise.

Boku

• Asuka and Karen. In Karen's case, she'd switch to Ore in more assertive or hot-blooded moments, similar to Zain.
• Leon
• Saya

Watashi

• Isaac
• Alastor would use whenever he's in a good mood.
• Claire and Azelle would refer to themselves with either this or Jibun. Since they're part of a Church Militant , I'd figure they'd use something formal.

Watakushi

• Catherine and Lenora. For Catherine's case, she'd gradually switch to Watashi when around friends. In Lenora's case, she'd use it even in more casual contexts except when she's with her girlfriend.

Atashi

• Alice
• Phoenix, even though she's part of the same Organization as Claire and Azelle, she's more laid-back than they are.
• Asuka when she's being particularly playful.

edited 28th Apr '12 7:28:58 PM by Rynnec

That's a fairly limited "if".

I am in fact writing a story set in a Fantasy Counterpart Culture Japan. So yeah, I do kind of think about it.

But the main character is a deliberate take-off of every shonen hero ever, so he uses a pretty normal "boku."

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

Alexander would probably use jibun at first, or in public, and watashi or boku later on. Katherine would use watashi. Gravity would probably use ore, or ore-sama if he's trying to wind someone up. Lord Haargen is among five equals who basically rule the world, so might or might not actually use chin.

In less-developed work, Benjamin would most likely use watashi. Wind would definitely use ore. Lightning would probably use atashi or maybe boku; Water would use watashi or watakushi.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

I'll give this a try, though I really need more humans.

Watashi: Thalia, to pretty much everyone. Also, Dany, because of his aloofness.

Uchi: Aida, mostly to show that she's not a local. However she might just use Watashi, depending on how not a local she is.

Washi: Soren. He acts a lot older than he is, so this would probably fit him.

Jibun: The Traitor. He did, after all, used to be called the Warrior. Probably Dany would begin referring to himself as this when he gets the short end of a split-personality takeover by this guy.

Soregashi: the First, who first unpacked the universe and is long dead.

Yo: The Royal, the current queen of Gods.

Watakushi: the Janitor, who is set to be the Royal's successor and pack up (destroy, for our intents and purposes) the universe.

Ware-tachi: the Gray, who was there before the universe was unpacked the first time. They would probably also refer to others as "nanji-tachi", or by their name-tachi, so much that "tachi" would sound like a verbal tic.

Atashi: the three sisters (the Huntress, the Virgin, and the Judge) when they're together.

Phil: Boku or watashi, depending on the context. He is not a very assertive person and is the type who would pay attemtion to what tone is suitable.

Howard: Ore in all but very formal situations.

Zaran: Atashi most of the time. Switching to watakushi (ie. the standard "princess" pronoun) when introducing herself with her full name and title (romankhisasa Zarangore il Legio Ered'nash) or warawa when being very serious.

Professor Armitage: Washi, since that's what old men usually use in fiction.

Priest: Jibun, as he is a very detached person who pretty much lives for his duty.

The Herald of the Outer Gods: Wagahai. Very arrogant and somewhat archaic, which fits the Herald perfectly.

Lord Maladath (Zaran's father): Yo or ware. The Overlord's way of talking is supposed to be very dignified but not necessarily arrogant like the Herald's.

The chancellor: Washi, watakuchi or sessha, depending on the context (the last one only when talking to the Overlord).

Legionnaires: Shousei when talking to their superiors. Zaran's friend/bodyguard Jeffroth would use boku when talking to her in a non-formal context.

edited 27th Apr '12 1:22:29 AM by Nomic

Huh, certainly an interesting thread.

• Casper Stratoavis: In his teenage days I can see him going with watashi or ore, the latter especially because he was, well, a prick back then. After learning a lesson from Midnight, I suppose he would start using soregashi.
• Marcus Aftermath: boku all the way.
• Michael Rattenberger: watashi.
• Kate Windsdaughter: watashi or atashi.
• Kimberly Ironfist: She's somewhat arrogant(though she has the power to prove it), so she can go with ore-sama.
• Night Shooter: ore-sama all the way.
• Porcupine: Although he's not that old, his... mind kinda got aged a bit, so washi.
• Chaos: ore, since he's not as boisterous as N.Shooter, but quite boisterous anyway.
• Allistair Rasmunsen: He's a little antisocial and quite detached from the modern world, so wagahai seems nice.
• Murphy Greenblade: ora, for added hilarity.
• Albrecht Kaiser: Shousei, likely to make his enemies let their guard down.
• Veronica Greenblade: boku would be in full effect. In case of dealing with Sonia, atashi.
• Sonia Flayer: watashi or even watakushi, given how old-fashioned is she.
• Himler Gunsche: Given his soldier nature, jibun.
• Ezekiel Goldbaum: Well, he can only speak German or Yiddish, but should he use Japanese, that would likely be ware.
• Midnight: watakushi, to further the horror.
• Forcas: His hang on modern times is even worse than that of Sonia and Allistair combined, so he'd likely go maro.
• Jarema Wisniowiecki: I can totally see him using chin. If not that, jibun or ware.
• Adeon Falcontet: ore, given his tough nature and the likes.
• Samuel Phantom: ore-sama, hands down.
• Nathaniel J. Claw: ore.
• Areus Harbinger: wagahai all the way.
• Rudiger Ritter: ...Yeah.
• Logan: watashi, should she even bother introducing herself.
• Crimson Viper: ore-sama.
• Raguel: ashi, just to screw up with everyone.
• Michael: jibun or watashi, depending on who he talks to.
• Gabriel: ore or watashi.
• Uriel: ore-sama.
• Raziel: Given his refined appearance and similiar manners, watakushi.
• Rafael: watashi.
• Sigma: boku or watashi.
• Samael: chin, what with being in charge of Heavens and all...
• Metatron: Watakushi.
• Alastor: chin or wagahai, likely depending on his mood.

edited 29th Apr '12 3:34:13 PM by FergardStratoavis

grah

I kind of already thought about this when my work was still heavily Animesque.

• Ryu (who is basically in his sixties) would be using ore around his peers mainly because he's sort of a mixed-type Eaglelander and likes America better; and the conservative, nonthreatening boku when speaking with people he plans on manipulating.
• Sora, Ryu's identical twin brother, would either use wagahai or jibun because he sort of exudes this silent arrogance.
• Daisuke would be using the obvious boku for a long while.
• Lien would use atai around prey good-looking men, and atashi everywhere else.
• All of the Cline triplets would probably use boku in normal situations, but Matt, being a theater actor, would have different pronouns for each character to further dissociate himself. Gian's would be boku around his girlfriend and ore-sama for everyone else; Alexander's would be jibun, and Isaiah's would be watashi.
• Vince would use ware. Because... he's sorta weird and doesn't fit in with Japan.
• Chiara and Bianca would both use the standard atashi.
• Cyrus would use ore at first, then switch to jibun later.
• Selene would use boku. Because she is also weird and not of this earth.

edited 3rd Nov '12 7:20:20 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

So much for the gender segregation of pronouns, I'd gladly break the rule of gender in the Japanese language without even thinking a bit. I have come to my own terms of different pronouns as I'd let my female hero use ore, speaking the same as any young male would without a bit of stereotype aggressiveness. If she is to deal with the society that looks down on any female behaving like that, she might have a mask personality that uses "atashi" while acting "cute" and "genki" all around, while retaining her true, more serious personality to people she trusts, using "ore". In battle, she consistently uses "ore" all around.

Hm....interesting. For my cast(The one I'm working on not for Na No Wri Mo), it's....

• Ore: Aragaki Hato
• Ore-sama: Narumi Tantei
• Watakushi: Nakama Yuki
• Uchi: Sanada Hanarobu
• Atashi: Arisato Kasuka

edited 25th Oct '12 9:45:17 AM by danna45

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue

A few odd observations regarding the behaviour of my own characters relative to how they would use pronouns:

• I could easily see Baraqiel alternating (in specific contexts) between watakushi and waga-hai, especially if one recognises that the latter literally means "my class" or "my cohort." In his mind, that is exactly for whom he is speaking.
• Borislav's gradual movement from avoiding personal pronouns altogether to referring to himself as "I" would actually be much simpler in a language like Japanese, what with the degrees of potential assertiveness.
• The archaic first-person-plural soregashi-domo has just enough uncomfortable subtext to fit the Maker of Masks' bizarre speech patterns and general lack of ego. Likewise, jibun suits Evan's motives quite nicely.

edited 25th Oct '12 12:38:20 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Why are you answering this a second time?

I honestly don't know anything about japanese pronouns I dunno what my 2 characters would use.

But I wish I could know to answer

edited 25th Oct '12 10:52:00 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

This looks fun.

• Duir/Puca would use boku while incognito and in casual situations, switching to chin when he needs to throw his royal weight around.
• Rose starts off using atashi. After her Training from Hell and fully understanding her duty as The Chosen One she begins to use jibun; by the Time Skip she uses it exclusively.
• Lugh would usually use sessha; however, he would use jibun when in drill sergeant mode. In fact, he's where Rose would pick up the idea of using jibun.
• Aldamina would use warawa.
• Gretel would use watashi. Her younger brother would use boku.
• General Bluebeard would use ore, except when speaking to Aldamina where he uses watashi.
• The Fomorian King would use wagahai.

People are mirrors. If you smile, a smile will be reflected.

do you have to have japanese characters for this?

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.