On Wed, 31 Aug 2005, Dimitri wrote:

>
> "Stark" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Like to watch the first 10 or 15 minutes of Iron Chef, especially when
>> they're preping big fish. But when they introduce the challenger chef,
>> his named is printed on the screen as Komico Seiko, for example. But
>> when the host bellows out his name he calls Seiko Komico. What's with
>> the reversal?
>
> Generally people in Japan refer to others by their surname followed by a term of
> respect (san, = Mr or Mrs. sama = Mr. or Mrs. (pol) , manner, kind,
> appearance) or familiarity (kun Mr (junior) (suf), master, boy). The given name
> is seldom used.
>
> I work with a Mr. Naruo (given) Uchida (surname) he is almost always referred to
> as Uchida san.

In Japan, the Surname comes first. As in most Asian countries. given
names are used to talk about close friends and relatives. If you want to
give the impression of formality (and, trust me, unless you've known
someone for a long time, you do.), you generally use -san.

Sama is something that is not considered "polite". it is beyond "polite".
it is calling someone royalty.

> In the Eastern European countries people were known by their given name follows
> by their fathers given name. As example Anna Ivanivavna = Anna the daughter of
> Ivan.

I've noticed, when reading dostoyevsky, that russian names tend to be
entirely too complicated. three different last names, depending on what
you want to use (if someone's russian on here, and feels like illuminating
my ignorance, i'd appreciate it)

lena