Honorifics in Japanese seems confusing. Some sources say -san is personal, others indicate it’s appropriate/expected for business emails. One person complained about being addressed as -san by Americans. Any insight?
-san is the neutral go-to honorific. It would be appropriate in almost all circumstances for working in group comms. I would generally upgrade external outgroups (clients) to -sama.
-
-
Practice in Japan and Japan-facing teams with respect to using honorifics in English is mixed. If a particular person tells you that they feel that an American using them in English is an affectation, I would strongly consider respecting that preference. No preference universal.
-
(FWIW I customarily -san most of my Japanese and Japan-office coworkers in English (and anyone when speaking in Japanese in a situation where that is socioculturally appropriate) absent an explicit opt-out.)
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.