Saturday, June 30, 2018
Whats the Difference Between Mina and Minna And Why Does It Matter Anyway
Whats the Difference Between Mina and Minna And Why Does It Matter Anyway
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Hello everybody!
If you watch Japanese tv or anime (or are paying attention in class) youve probably come across the Japanese word ??? (mina-san) meaning "all" or "everybody".
But whats the difference between ?? and ???? Whats ???? all about? And ... does it actually matter?
????Mina-san
Mina means "everybody", and its commonly used with "-san" on the end (the same suffix you put on peoples names to be polite).
???? is often used when addressing a group of people, especially when they dont know either other too well or the situation calls for a slightly more formal greeting.
I find myself using ???? a bunch at the beginning of term when welcoming students back and/or trying to get you all to listen to me.
As you might expect, YouTubers say ????????? a lot too ("HI EVERYONE").
Check out the first five seconds of this video from Ari Keita:
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These example sentences from jisho.org should give you a good idea of the kinds of situation when ???? is used:
????Minna
Also common is ??? which is just a spoken form of ??. Some people will tell you minna is more casual than mina and technically theyre right.
Examples from jisho seem to show us that people also use minna when they talk about everyone:
??????Minna-san
You cant mix them up and use ????? though. Thats technically incorrect.
Probably no one will mind or notice in a casual situation, but if youre trying to be polite, stick with ????.
Or you can even go more polite with...
Or you can even go more polite with...
???Mina-sama
In more formal situations, the -san suffix is switched up to the more polite/formal -sama.
Mina-sama functions a lot like "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN", and is used in writing, and in announcements:
(Source)
Why does this matter? Well really, which word you use is going to depend on the situation.
Mina-sama is super formal and it would sound weird if you use it with your friends. Likewise, minna is pretty casual and might not be appropriate in a business setting.
???????????What do you think? Come find me on twitter and let me know.
???????????????????? Have a lovely Friday, everyone!
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