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KEIGO

LANGUAGE Studying Japanese

A specialty of the Japanese language are its three different levels of politeness: the colloquial, the neutral-polite, and the very polite, honorific level (keigo). Each level is used depending on the person you are talking to: You are supposed to speak in keigo to people who are of much higher social status than you, like customers, teachers, elder people, the emperor, and the like. The verb forms are different in the three levels of speech, and other words are used for expressing the same ideas. When speaking in keigo, you use very humble expressions when refering to yourself and very honorific ones when referring to the person to whom you are talking. Even a Japanese person needs much exercise to express herself/himself in a correct formal way.

KEIGO The Levels of Speech (Living in Tokyo is ...) General information. No links yet.