Topic 1 NAMES 8/28/23

 

Well, I guess technically I grew up in three different cultures: American, Cambodian, and Vietnamese, and each of them had a different way of using names/ honorifics. I feel as though in America things are very casual. The closest we have to honorifics is using Mr. or Ms for teachers/ people older than you. I remember meeting my friend’s parents and they would ask me to call them by their first name ( which I didn’t do. I only refer to them by their last name because it felt more polite). Even in college, it took me a while to call my professors by their first names because it just felt rude to call them that! While in Cambodia we have lots of honorifics and it is taken very seriously. There is a word for every type of relationship you could have depending if that person is older or younger than you. And Vietnamese culture is the same way. For a long time, I thought my uncle’s honorifics was his true name until my dad told me the truth. But a common thing between Cambodian and Vietnamese culture is that honorifics are more communal/ familial than English I believe. Almost every title we use to address strangers is some variation of grandma/grandpa, auntie/uncle, brother/sister. So It kind of feels like we're one big family in a way. Whereas Japanese honorifics seem much more formal and a bit ridged in some ways. ( a least to me. it much more polite.)