A little bit of confusion I’ve been having lately that I hope some of you can clear up.
Throughout Dragonball, the word “father” I typically hear as ‘Otou-san.’ When it’s translated “Dad”, I hear simply ‘Tou-san’ which I’m assuming is a little less formal. Trunks in the current timeline seems to use “Papa” as opposed to Gohan or Goten who use Otou-san. When referring to their father to others, such as Bardock in the special, the word used is chichi.
That last one is what confuses me. I’ve seen other animes where characters refer to their father with “chichi-ue” and their mothers with “haha-ue.” Usually these same characters use “ani-ue “ instead of Onii-san, “Ane-ue” instead of Onee-san, etc.
What do these translate to? Are they a different sort of respect? Are there certain rules that dictate when to use Otou-san instead of chichi-ue or is it a dialect style? Something like that? Any answers would be appreciated.
Ulisa
Translations of family terms
Translations of family terms
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TripleRach
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Well, "chichi" is a reference term, the way you would use "my father" or "your dad" in English. The others are all for direct addressing, though.
Papa = Casual, and feels kind of kiddie.
Otouchan/Touchan = Most childish terms; probably closest to "Daddy." O- is more respectful, and it doesn't seem to be dropped much.
Otousan/Tousan = Probably the most common and neutral terms. O- is more respectful, but older kids are prone to dropping it.
Chichi Ue = Literally "father above," it's very honorific and respectful. Upa uses it for Bora.
Otousama = Very respectful and polite (the only example I can think of off the top of my head is a princess in a game talking to her father who's a king), but I'm not sure if it's above or below Chichi Ue. I've never heard it with the O- dropped.
(Those can obviously all be substituted for terms for other family members, except Papa, which I think only has Mama as an equivalent.)
What is used when is mostly just determined by your relationship with the person, or just personality (especially in anime/manga). Gokuu would probably use "Touchan," for instance, since he's pretty much just a big kid, and he's not very respectful. Gohan and Goten are fairly respectful and polite, so they use "Otousan." Future Trunks is definitely polite and formal, but he's probably sort of grown out of the O- prefix since he's practically an adult himself, so he uses "Tousan." Meanwhile, Chibi Trunks is rather laid back and somewhat spoiled (thus he wouldn't much care about being polite), hence "Papa." (Videl also uses "Papa," and what she in Trunks have in common is being spoiled rich kids. But I don't mean to imply that everyone who uses it is a brat.) Upa is respectful child who grows up in a sacred place, and he really reveres his father, so he uses "Chichi Ue."
The only thing that comes to mind as possibly dialect-related is the fact that Chichi uses "Otou" for her father, but I'm not completely sure on that one, since I don't think I've ever heard it anywhere else.
(Since my Japanese is mostly self-taught, someone with better cultural knowledge is welcome to correct me.)
Papa = Casual, and feels kind of kiddie.
Otouchan/Touchan = Most childish terms; probably closest to "Daddy." O- is more respectful, and it doesn't seem to be dropped much.
Otousan/Tousan = Probably the most common and neutral terms. O- is more respectful, but older kids are prone to dropping it.
Chichi Ue = Literally "father above," it's very honorific and respectful. Upa uses it for Bora.
Otousama = Very respectful and polite (the only example I can think of off the top of my head is a princess in a game talking to her father who's a king), but I'm not sure if it's above or below Chichi Ue. I've never heard it with the O- dropped.
(Those can obviously all be substituted for terms for other family members, except Papa, which I think only has Mama as an equivalent.)
What is used when is mostly just determined by your relationship with the person, or just personality (especially in anime/manga). Gokuu would probably use "Touchan," for instance, since he's pretty much just a big kid, and he's not very respectful. Gohan and Goten are fairly respectful and polite, so they use "Otousan." Future Trunks is definitely polite and formal, but he's probably sort of grown out of the O- prefix since he's practically an adult himself, so he uses "Tousan." Meanwhile, Chibi Trunks is rather laid back and somewhat spoiled (thus he wouldn't much care about being polite), hence "Papa." (Videl also uses "Papa," and what she in Trunks have in common is being spoiled rich kids. But I don't mean to imply that everyone who uses it is a brat.) Upa is respectful child who grows up in a sacred place, and he really reveres his father, so he uses "Chichi Ue."
The only thing that comes to mind as possibly dialect-related is the fact that Chichi uses "Otou" for her father, but I'm not completely sure on that one, since I don't think I've ever heard it anywhere else.
(Since my Japanese is mostly self-taught, someone with better cultural knowledge is welcome to correct me.)
-Rachel
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Conan the SSJ
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Well, she has a similar hick accent in her speech that Goku does, right? So then could "Otou" be a result of that? "Goku-sa" comes to mind with Chichi's accent using incomplete terms.TripleRach wrote:The only thing that comes to mind as possibly dialect-related is the fact that Chichi uses "Otou" for her father, but I'm not completely sure on that one, since I don't think I've ever heard it anywhere else.
14 years later
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Super Sonic
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Super Sonic
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TripleRach
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It's nice that people pick up on these. One other I would mention is "oyaji," which I tend to translate as "my old man" in 3rd-person and "Pop" in 1st-person. I think the only one who uses it in DB is Broli, but it's not uncommon in other shows.
Keen ears may have noticed that Gohan drops the "o" and adresses Goku as just "Tou-san" sometimes later in GT. I've always thought that sounded out of character for him, and I may have still used "Father" anyway (instead of "Dad"), but TripleRach pretty well nailed it above, and Super Sonic caught the "Pa" thing (and it actually sounds to me like she's saying "ottou," with a hard "t," just in case "otou" by itself didn't sound hickish enough).
Keen ears may have noticed that Gohan drops the "o" and adresses Goku as just "Tou-san" sometimes later in GT. I've always thought that sounded out of character for him, and I may have still used "Father" anyway (instead of "Dad"), but TripleRach pretty well nailed it above, and Super Sonic caught the "Pa" thing (and it actually sounds to me like she's saying "ottou," with a hard "t," just in case "otou" by itself didn't sound hickish enough).
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