Manga: "Assassination Classroom," Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 暗殺教室 (Chapter 2)
Kanji of Sensei
The kanji of sensei 先生 mean "previous," 先, and "life," 生.Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)
In other words, sensei means literally "previous life," because your teacher is usually someone who is older than you, he's passing onto you knowledge of his life, the previous life.
- saki ni umareta hito 先に生まれた人
Person [who] was born earlier.- saki 先 and umu 生む are read with the kun'yomi readings of the kanji while sensei 先生 has the on'yomi.
Of course, it's not always the case that your sensei is older than you, but that's just where the word comes from.
"Teacher" in Japanese
The word sensei 先生 can mean "teacher" in Japanese.Manga: "Assassination Classroom," Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 暗殺教室 (Chapter 2)
- Context: a teacher talks to a student.
- sensei wa ne, Nagisa-kun
先生はね 渚君
Nagisa-kun, [about me], [you see]- In this line, the speaker is the teacher, the sensei.
- So when he talks "about the sensei," he's talking about himself: "about me."
- In Japanese, using titles in this way is uncommon, but possible.
- aru hito to no yakusoku wo
mamoru tame ni
kimi-tachi no sensei ni
narimashita
ある人との約束を守るために君達の先生になりました
To keep a promise with a [certain] person, [I've] become your teacher.- kimi-tachi no 君達の
Your. (plural. The teacher of you, and the rest of your class. See: pluralizing suffix.)
- kimi-tachi no 君達の
Note that there are also other words that can refer to teachers, for example:
- kyoushi 教師
Teacher.- Who teaches in a:
- kyoushitsu 教室
Classroom. - Can also refer to a teacher as in someone who offers guidance in a:
- kyoukai 教会
Church. - senkyoushi 宣教師
Missionary.
- katei kyoushi 家庭教師
Family teacher. (literally.)
Private tutor. - tan'nin kyoushi 担任教師
tan'nin no sensei 担任の先生
Teacher in charge.- The teacher who's in charge of a classroom, also known as "homeroom teacher."
- kyouin 教員
Faculty member.- Any "educator" from grade school to high school.
- kyouyu 教諭
Licensed teacher.- Someone with a license to teach in a school.
- kyouju 教授
Professor.- Specially of an university, or college, daigaku 大学, as opposed to high-school and below.
- hakase 博士
Professor. PhD. Doctor.- In anime, these are often researchers, inventors, scientists, not teachers.
"Master" in Japanese
The word sensei 先生 may also refer to a "master," in the sense that they're an expert in their field or craft and you can learn from them, even if they aren't in fact officially teaching anyone as a normal teacher would.Manga: Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro 魔人探偵 脳噛ネウロ (Chapter 1)
- Context: just... just focus on the dialogue, okay?
- boku wa joshu deshu!!!
僕は助手です!!
I'm an assistant!! - kono meitantei
Katsuragi Yako-sensei no!!
この名探偵桂木弥子先生の!!
Of this famous detective, Katsuragi Yoko-sensei!!- Here, sensei is an honorific. (explained further below.)
- She's a famous detective, because of her incredible detective skills, so she's addressed as a "master" of her craft.
- The no の at the end turns the noun into a no-adjective, which normally qualifies what comes after it, but, in this case, it qualifies joshu, which is in a previous sentence.
- sensei no joshu
先生の助手
Sensei's assistant.
Assistant of sensei.
Of course, there are also other words for "master" in Japanese, like:
- shishou 師匠
Master. (e.g. of martial arts.) - goshujinsama ご主人様
A retainer's lord.
A slave's master.
A pet's owner.
A shop's owner.
A woman's husband. - masutaa suru マスターする
To master. (a skill.)
"Doctor" in Japanese
The word sensei 先生 may also refer to a "doctor."Manga: MONSTER (Chapter 7)
- Context: patient in wheelchair talks to their doctor.
- sensei
先生
Doctor... - sensei to ore,
anmari toshi
chigawanai kedo............
先生と俺、あんまり年違わないけど・・・・・・・・・・・・
[You] and me, [our] ages don't differ much, but.........- We're about the same age, but...
- sensei...... oyaji mitai da.
先生・・・・・・親父みたいだ。
[You]...... are like [my] father.
Note that there are other words used to refer to doctors, for example:
- isha 医者
Doctor. - oishasan お医者さん
Doctor. (polite variant.) - ishi 医師
Doctor (certified.)- The difference between ishi 医師 and isha 医者 is that an isha is a "doctor" in the sense that they're treating patients, while ishi 医師 is literally a "master of medicine."
- That is, ishi 医師 puts emphasis on knowledge and expertise, and, perhaps most importantly, on their medical certification, their medical license.
- In manga, sometimes you have black market doctors who don't have a license but go around treating people. Those would be isha, but not ishi.
"Author," "Writer," "Artist" in Japanese
The worse sensei 先生 can also refer to authors, writers of fiction, novels, and artists, painters, illustrators, etc.In the manga and anime Bakuman バクマン, for example, Ashirogi Mutou 亜城木 夢叶 is the pen name used by the two main characters on the manga they author. It's not even a real name, it's just a pseudonym. Even so, they are still called Ashirogi-sensei 亜城木先生 by other characters in the series because their skill and knowledge in the field has been deemed real.
Note that, again, there are other words for this stuff:
- sakka 作家
Author. - shousetsu-ka 小説家
Novelist. Fiction writer.- Writes:
- shousetsu 小説
Novel.
- manga-ka 漫画家
Manga artist. - ga-ka 画家
Painter. - irasutoreetaa イラストレーター
Illustrator.
Honorific
When sensei 先生 comes after a person's name, it means that person is a sensei. That is: that person is a teacher, or a doctor, or an artist, or a writer, etc. For example:- watashi no sensei 私の先生
My teacher.- Here, sensei is a noun.
- Tanaka-sensei 田中先生
Tanaka (who's a teacher.)
Teacher Tanaka.- Here, sensei is a honorific.
- watashi no sensei wa Tanaka-san
私の先生は田中さん
My teacher is Tanaka-san. - sensei ni osowatta koto wa isshou wasurenai
先生に教わったことは一生忘れない
The thing [that] teacher taught [me, I] will [never] forget.- sensei ni osowaru 先生に教わる
To be taught by teacher. - isshou wasurenai 一生忘れない
To not forget in one's whole life.
To never forget.
- sensei ni osowaru 先生に教わる
- Tanaka-sensei ni osowatta koto wa isshou wasurenai
田中先生に教わったことは一生忘れない
The thing [that] Tanaka-sensei taught [me, I] will [never] forget.
The thing [that] Tanaka (who's a teacher) taught [me, I] will [never] forget.
The thing [that] teacher Tanaka taught [me, I] will [never] forget.
When this sort of thing happens, it's called a honorific. In Japanese, when a noun is used as a honorific, it means that person is that noun. This often happens with titles of professions. An example of another noun honorific:
- watashi no senpai 私の先輩
My senior. - Tanaka-senpai 田中先輩
Tanaka (who's my senior.)
- Tanaka-hakase 田中博士
Tanaka (who's a professor.)
Professor Tanaka. - Tanaka-shishou 田中師匠
Tanaka (who's my master.)
Master Tanaka. - Tanaka-oniisan 田中お兄さん
Tanaka (who's my older brother.)
Big bro Tanaka.
せんせー
The word sensee せんせー is a distorted spelling of sensei. It means the same thing, it's just spelled differently, and likely pronounced more casually.Manga: School Rumble (Chapter 3)
Thank you for teaching this -
ReplyDeleteHowever this is wrong in many cases where the "gakusei" is an illiterate adult and the "sensei" is a young child.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, the origin of the word doesn't match how it's used in the modern world.
DeleteI have heard that sometimes the "dehati" people address each other as "sensei" even if the other person is a teacher or not
ReplyDelete