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Comment by boomboomsubban | Hacker News Reader

My Japanese knowledge is even more limited, but Japanese seems to use a persons name in conversation far more often than English. Like in English we would say "it's nice to see you" but Japanese seems to say "it's nice to see Anidiot."

When you're regularly calling everybody else by their name, calling yourself by your name makes sense.

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Ah! Thanks for this comment. It reminded me of another case where someone speaks in third person: in business settings. For example, I have seen this in code reviews when someone is disagreeing with a change in a pull request in a company: " Since <<reason>>, ABC thinks this change is unnecessary."

However, do keep in mind this is anecdotal so I don't know how much it applies to more broad settings.

> seems to use a persons name in conversation far more often than English

Actually, calling the other one by their name + san/chan/kun is the most common way. Using "anata" (= you) can even be considered rude under certain circumstances. My wife never calls me "anata". Also, pronouns are often omitted if it is clear who is being meant (a bit like in Italian).

well hold on. In italian you have at least the verb endings to help you infer the pronoun. You don't have that in japanese, it's fully contextual.

You're right, of course.

I'm currently formally learning Mexican Spanish in Mexico. In day to day life here it's very uncommon to hear the pronoun. The only exceptions I can think of are 'Usted/Ustedes' or 'Nos'.

Using or not using the pronoun has the same emphasis as saying to someone:

'You're drunk.' versus pointedly saying 'You, are drunk'.

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Soy Latte, por favor! (In Spanish this translates literally as 'I'm a latte. please.')

Maybe that is why Terry from Brooklyn Nine-Nine constantly speaks of himself in the third person. (The character spent a lot of time in Japan)

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