Hello, @mods, I think I found an error in a vocab lesson, it’s this one:
Isn’t it pronounced お母さん? Or is おかあさま the reading for お母様?
I think this is a bit unclear, this is why I asked.
I hope I’m not too annoying 
2 Likes
There is a difference between the word for your own mother and the mother of someone else. okaamasu is for someone else’s mother. Okaasan is for your own mother.
The text looks correct to me.
お母さん - For your own mom. This is the vocabulary word being presented. It is read/pronounced おかあさん.
お母様 - For someone’s mother you don’t really know. It is read/pronounced おかあさま as stated.
2 Likes
Yep, that’s right! We wrote out the kanji reading in hiragana there.
3 Likes
Also, Ariel calls King Triton おとうさま、right before he blows up her statue because she said she loves a human. So I think you can also use it for when you are in deep do-do and want to be extra polite, but it could also be because he’s King. I was unclear. I can watch again as see if she calls him something more casual when he’s chill.
2 Likes
-sama
Mostly because he’s king. Also a bit like the stereotype of an American father making his kids call him “sir”.
Fun fact, if you want to sound like a samurai, you can also try 父上 and 母上. 
6 Likes
It’s so funny that they translated in that way though, because in the english she says, “Daddy, no!” The most casual version.
2 Likes
Thank you! Would you mind rewriting the last sentence such that it’s also clear to idiots like me that おかあさま is the reading for お母様 and not for お母さん, like I thought at first? 
1 Like
I think you misunderstood. The text is about a whole different kanji that has nothing to do with おかあさん. The last paragraph is kind of like “oh, and if you want to talk about someone else’s mother, do this” type of thing.
It’s there to make sure you don’t call someone else’s mother おかあさん (since there’s no difference in English when you say “mother” – it brings to your attention that Japanese does have different honorifics)
Yes, I know, I misunderstood because I am an idiot. Maybe they could make the text idiot-proof
To misunderstand doesn’t mean you’re an idiot 
.
But I also don’t think it’s particularly confusing, especially because the first paragraph clearly makes a distinction between “when you’re talking to your own mom or talking about her with friends”, following in the second paragraph with “If you need to talk about someone’s mother that you don’t know”.
2 Likes
Perhaps I should just read less Latin and more English lol
1 Like
Nah man, they’re just using the polite conjugation of your mom
2 Likes
I think the “until then” part of the explanation makes it confusing and can be easily misunderstood to be referring to the actual vocab word. I think rephrasing that would help clear things up.
2 Likes
I think it would be clearer if it said.
“…, you’ll want to use お母様, pronounced おかあさま. Don’t worry, you’ll learn that last kanji, 様, in a few lessons. Kay?”
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.