referring to one's parents by name?

[DewarHolmes]

I was watching Ponyo in Japanese yesterday and I noticed that Sosuke + his mom call his dad by name （こいち）, instead of saying おとうさん or ちち.
By the same token, Sosuke calls his mom りさ instead of おかあさん or はは. I'm not positive, but he might have referred to himself by name at one point as well.

Can anyone offer an explanation for this? Thanks in advance!

PS.Also-perhaps because of their closeness-he never says りささんorこいちさん.

[Sashimister]

This proves once again that you should never learn Japanese from anime. We. the real people, simply don't talk like anime characters.

Originally Posted by DewarHolmes

I was watching Ponyo in Japanese yesterday and I noticed that Sosuke + his mom call his dad by name （こいち）, instead of saying おとうさん or ちち.

That would be pretty rare but still possible. But you will never use ちち there, period. You use it to talk to another person outside your family about your father.

By the same token, Sosuke calls his mom りさ instead of おかあさん or はは. I'm not positive, but he might have referred to himself by name at one point as well.

That would be super-rare to nearly impossible. Never seen a family like that in my rather long life in Japan. Again, はは is utterly impossible to begin with.

PS.Also-perhaps because of their closeness-he never says りささんorこいちさん.

Impossible. You don't address your parents "Mr. ~~" or "Mrs. ~~", do you?

[steven]

Referring to one's self in the third person does happen in Japan, though. I don't know too much about the context of a family-- but I have seen it in that context a few times. Referring to one's self in the third person is actually quite a feminine thing to do. Guys can do it to, but it sounds funny (and if that's your intention then it works). I do it sometimes with my girlfriend, actually.

Sometimes your parents will have nicknames-- as a lot of people have nicknames. I've heard my girlfriend call her dad by his nickname before (what the snack ladies call him), and it was said as well as taken as a joke.

Sashimister is Japanese so that says a lot about this kind of thing. I'm happy that someone agrees with me that Anime is a bad way to learn the language. While you might get some insights on language usage from them, you will also get fantasy, which is what most anime is full of.

As a side note, it may be a regional thing, but I have almost never heard ちち (chichi) or はは (haha) said in actual spoken Japanese. In the handful of times that I have, it's always 父親 (chichioya)... living in the inaka like I do, I may have a biased view on things, but I don't know why they teach such words so early on in Japanese courses. I'm also suprised at the amount of times I've heard people call their parents パパ　and ママ. With that said, I've seen husbands call their wives mama and wives call their husbands papa (or お父さん、お母さん, or whatever they go by). In English, a husband will refer to his wife to his kids as "mom" or a wife will refer to her husband as "dad" to her kids... but I haven't heard a husband calling his wife "mom" or a wife calling her husband "dad" when actually talking to each other too often (I've heard it, but not nearly as much as I've heard it in Japan). I might have made that more complicated than it needs to be, but i hope you get my drift.

Sashimister, I have heard of Americans calling their dads "Sir" before. That's usually when you get busted for something though. (unless you have a super ultra strict dad).

[Nyororin]

Referring to yourself in third person is pretty normal, but it isn`t what the original poster was asking about...

Ponyo brought up that same sort of question with Japanese viewers. Why does he call his parents by name? Is it following after some country where it`s normal? Are they not his real parents? etc etc. Supposedly it was an artistic move to represent them all as distinct people, and not let anyone fall into the faceless roles of "mother" and "father".

In other words, it isn`t normal in Japan and doesn`t represent real life.

The closest to using ちち/はは for your own parents I have seen is jokingly calling them 父親様/母親様 like my husband and his siblings do to their parents. The key is that it`s jokingly and not what you`d REALLY call them.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by steven

Referring to one's self in the third person does happen in Japan, though. I don't know too much about the context of a family-- but I have seen it in that context a few times. Referring to one's self in the third person is actually quite a feminine thing to do. Guys can do it to, but it sounds funny (and if that's your intention then it works). I do it sometimes with my girlfriend, actually.

The sexual divide in language is surprisingly more grey in Kansai compared with Kanto. Men in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and the surrounding areas) use their names or references as much as "ore" or "boku". I have found this isn't as true in Kanto (Tokyo and surrounding areas).

[SHAD0W]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

This proves once again that you should never learn Japanese from anime. We, the real people, simply don't talk like anime characters.

So true, I hear that anime characters often speak in their own made up dialects too right? Only going to add to confusion. Though I have learned vocab from anime like 伝説, It's not something I'll be using in daily conversation!

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by SHAD0W

So true, I hear that anime characters often speak in their own made up dialects too right? Only going to add to confusion. Though I have learned vocab from anime like 伝説, It's not something I'll be using in daily conversation!

Really? I wash my dishes with 伝説の魔法スポンジ.

[DewarHolmes]

Thanks, everyone for your answers + additional conversation. Quite helpful!

Heck, most times 'real' people's speech doesn't have any semblance to movie character's dialogue-especially when it's well written!
While not attempting to learn Japanese through anime, I did think it might be fun to see how much of the language I could pick up on while watching Ponyo.

I wouldn't refer to my parents as Mr.__or Mrs.__, but as steven alluded, 'sir' is more respectful than calling them by name. In America, the only time I've heard one call his parents by name is when the parents are divorced or the kid is adopted. The attempt to represent everyone as distinct-although perhaps a little confusing at first-makes sense.
Thanks, Nyororin. You explained it beautifully. =)

Man, there's so many awesome ways to use 伝説 in daily conversation...it would just take someone like Jack Black to find out what they are.
And 伝説の魔法スポンジ sound like an amazing product...Is it really as legendary and magic as advertised?

..Since the subject was (albeit vaguely) mentioned, is it more masculine to refer to ones' self as わたし、ぼく、or おれ？ Sosuke called himself ぼく several times, and from what I've read (from some sources) it's considered rather little-boyish. I did quite a bit of research, but found so many different views on the subject.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by DewarHolmes

..Since the subject was (albeit vaguely) mentioned, is it more masculine to refer to ones' self as わたし、ぼく、or おれ？ Sosuke called himself ぼく several times, and from what I've read (from some sources) it's considered rather little-boyish. I did quite a bit of research, but found so many different views on the subject.

おれ = the tough guy's "I"
ぼく = the nice guy's "I"
わたし = the nice and unisex "I"
わたくし = businessman and busineswoman's "I"

Calling ぼく little-boyish is ludicrous. You will see many senior ciitizens referrring themselves ぼく.

The thing is, believe it or not, many men use all four depending on the situation. Besides, you always have the choice of not using a pronoun.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by DewarHolmes

Man, there's so many awesome ways to use 伝説 in daily conversation...it would just take someone like Jack Black to find out what they are.
And 伝説の魔法スポンジ sound like an amazing product...Is it really as legendary and magic as advertised?

I bought it at the 100 yen shop. :P It`s a sponge stuck on the end of a stick - the package had a (pathetic) drawing of a witch like character waving it around like a wand with soap suds flying off of it. It`s great for washing the inside of glasses and bottles. To the point of being legendary? I don`t think so. But the name was funny enough that I emphasize it every time I refer to it.