What is 敬語 [keigo] in Japanese?

In Japanese, 敬語[keigo] refers to honorific language, or a way of talking that demonstrates respect or indicates the speaker’s place within the social hierarchy.

It’s difficult to draw parallels between this system and English, but take a moment and imagine how you would speak differently with your boss at a business meeting from how you would with your friends at a bowling alley…. Did you imagine differences in your tone of voice? In the types of words and expressions that were acceptable? In the ways you choose to shorten or simplify words?

In Japanese, all of these things are still relevant, of course, but there would also be some more significant changes in grammar and terms of address, all meant to adjust the level of formality.

In this post we’ll briefly introduce some of the considerations you should keep in mind when you’re figuring out how to alter your speech style depending on the social setting and who you’re talking to in Japanese. Ready to have a look? Let’s dive in!

In addition to the plain style of speech, Japanese has three levels of formal language, or 敬語[keigo], some of which have sub-categorization.

• Polite speech, or 丁寧語[teineigo], is general all-purpose formal or polite speech, like you might use with a stranger or someone you don’t have a close relationship with.

  Polite speech can be elevated using 美化語[bikago](word beautification), which makes words sound more sophisticated or elegant.

• Respectful speech, or 尊敬語[sonkeigo], is used to “elevate” the listener, to show respect for someone of a higher status.

• Humble speech, or 謙譲語[kenjōgo], is used to “lower” the speaker, in order to show deference to others.

  To show deference to an occasion or situation, rather than to a particular listener, you may also use 丁重語[teichōgo](courteous speech).

In this post, we’ll be introducing you to the three levels above, and sending you off to some further resources where you can learn more about each of the levels. Let’s dive right in!

In Japanese, polite speech, or 丁寧語[teineigo], is mostly used to acknowledge some social distance between the speaker and the listener. Here are a few cases where you might use polite speech:

• Strangers or acquaintances → We often use polite speech with people we are less familiar with, even if you’re at the same social rank.

• Higher social rank → Someone above you in the hierarchy at work or in school should always be addressed in polite or respectful language, not in plain language.

• Formality of the situation → If you’re in a business meeting, you’ll probably use polite language, even if you’re friendly with your coworkers.

• Personality → Some people are just more formal in their style of speech, and might keep things “proper” more often. Often this is tied with age or gender.

• Putting some distance → In a social situation like an argument, you might choose to use polite language to actively put some distance between yourself and someone you’d usually address with plain language.

Want to learn how to use polite speech in Japanese? Check out some of these posts to learn the details!

• Plain form and polite form: when to use which in Japanese? → To learn the basic grammar associated with polite speech.

• Polite language: What is 丁寧語[teineigo] in Japanese? → To learn more expressions and grammatical structures that are often used in a polite style of speech, such as 美化語[bigako].

In Japanese, we use respectful speech, or 尊敬語[sonkeigo], when speaking to or about respected or prominent people. This could be any person you think deserves particular respect, but would often include:

• Someone you would defer to at work, like a customer, a collaborator from another company, your boss or superior, etc.

• Public figures like royalty or and politicians (especially the Japanese Imperial family).

• Deities and other religious figures.

• Someone in a respected role, like a professor, doctor, religious leader, etc.

• Other people’s family members, like your friends’ parents.

• Anyone else to whom you wish to show deep respect in context, such as an elder, a new acquaintance, etc.

Notice that these are people you could reasonably refer to using terms of address like “sir” or “ma’am” in English.

Want to learn how to use 尊敬語[sonkeigo] in Japanese? Check out our post on respectful language in Japanese!

In Japanese, humble speech, or 謙譲語[kenjōgo], is used to lower the speaker as a way to highlight the prominence of the person listening. It’s a bit more formal than polite or respectful speech.

Often, you’ll use humble speech and respectful speech together: using humble speech to refer to your own actions or situation and using respectful speech to refer to the actions of a superior. For example:

Want to learn how to use 謙譲語[kenjōgo] in Japanese? Check out our post on how to form and use humble expressions in Japanese!

In Japanese, honorific language, 敬語[keigo], represents a range of grammatical choices a speaker makes when constructing their sentence that signals different types of respect. It’s a broad term applied to the three types of speech discussed above.

The term “honorifics” on the other hand is generally used by Japanese learners to refer to honorific titles, which are endings like さん[san] or 様[sama] that are attached to the end of a name to convey the speaker’s relationship to that person. Check out this chart of Japanese honorific titles to learn some of the most important ones, or read our post on Japanese terms of address to learn when to use them.

Honorifics might remind you of English titles like Ms., Miss, Mrs., Mr., or Dr., but culturally these are used very differently from their Japanese counterparts. Here are some of the important points to remember about honorific titles in Japanese:

• Japanese honorific titles are not optional! Even close friends and family members generally use honorific titles for one another. Dropping the title off the end of someone’s name is usually unacceptable and comes across as very rude.

• English titles can often be used on their own, as in “Hey, mister! You dropped your wallet!” In Japanese, though, titles like さん[san] or 様[sama] are always used as suffixes. Using them on their own makes no sense.

  Exception!

  先生[sensei] and 先輩[senpai] can function as normal nouns as well as honorifics. But you would still not use these on their own to address someone directly.

  黒木先生は去年からこの学校で働いています。

  Kuroki-sensei wa kyonen kara kono gakkō de hataraite imasu.

  Mrs. Kuroki has been working at this school since last year.

  今年から新しい先生が来ます。

  Kotoshi kara atarashii sensei ga kimasu.

  A new teacher will be coming this year.

• You should never use an honorific title on your own name. Sometimes you will hear young children or fictional characters (or adults when they’re joking around) refer to themselves with 〜ちゃん[chan] or 〜くん[kun], but this sounds very childish. If your name is Anne Johnson, instead of saying ❌ジョンソンさんです[Jonson-san desu], just say ✅ジョンソンです[Jonson desu].

Remember, though, that 敬語[keigo] in Japanese is more than just the use of honorific titles!

In this post we introduced you to the idea of honorific language, or 敬語[keigo], in Japanese. We saw that there are three main speech styles to follow:

• Use polite language with people you’re not close with, or to add a bit of formality to a conversation.

• Use respectful language to talk to or about a respected individual.

• Use humble language to tell a respected individual about your own actions or situation.

Now it’s time to learn more about these speech styles. Check out one of the posts linked above to continue your learning journey!