There are countless ways to tell if a girl likes you. Knowing this is very relative; each person thinks differently, especially the Japanese.
But there is a unique way in Japan to know if a girl likes you, through her name. The closer you get to a girl, she will call you by your name in different ways.
Girls in Japan are not usually direct and like to maintain a friendship before getting into a relationship, so the dreaded Friend Zone is a bit more favorable in Japan.
If you don’t live in Japan, this guide isn’t very useful, but it’s quite interesting to note the cultural differences in interaction and dialogue between people. We notice this a lot when watching anime and reading manga, and now we can delve deeper and understand much more.
The way she calls your Name
In the following example, let’s take a very common name “Hiroshi Suzuki”. And remember, since the pronoun “you” is rarely used in Japan, the names below are used instead of the word “you” in a normal conversation.
If a girl calls you in the following way it may mean:
6. Suzuki-san
A distant person, who is not very friendly, or does not know you personally.
5. Hiroshi-san
This person has already called you by your first name, but since she used the honorific -san, she is still a bit out of your reach.
4. Hiroshi-kun
Still a bit distant, perhaps a friend or classmate.
3. Hiroshi
She is using only your first name; you have a certain type of intimacy, but it may mean nothing.
2. Hiroshi-chan
You are close, or she thinks of you as a child. Be careful not to confuse love with friendship.
1. Hiro-chan, Hi-chan, Shi-chan
She called you by nicknames, shortened names, and even added -chan. You now have chances; it may just be a long-standing friendship, but I would try something.
A real tip
So far, this may seem quite normal. But it makes perfect sense to use name endings and politeness to show distance or closeness. But there is another factor that shows she may be interested in you.
If the girl stops using pronouns like わたし (watashi) or あたし (atashi) and starts referring to herself in the third person, she may have romantic interest in you.
Remembering that all the items above may really say nothing; it might just be an attempt to be friendly with you. But who knows, you might be lucky.
What other verbal suggestions have you seen where a Japanese girl shows that she likes a guy?
- The photo of the article was taken from the manga: 僕だけがいない街 (Boku dake ga inai machi)
- The idea for the article came from the site japaneselevelup
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