Yeah...This is fun >.>

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

No. Not at all. Chinese seems to have no structure at all, it just sounds like random noises. You can actually make out words in Japanese.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

I hear that Chinese has no subject-verb agreement. Is that true?  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

I don't know. I really don't know that much about Chinese.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

There are also a ton of suffixes in Japanese put on the ends of names that I don't know much about.  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

Like -chan and -san? Yeah, theres loads. They're pretty easy though, you only ever end up using one or two. Pretty much just the two I said. Oh, and -sama, too.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

I know what the first two mean, but the third?  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

- sama is what you'd use to a superior. I suppose its like "sir" or "ma'am" but more.....emphasis, I guess. If you call someone "sama" you're saying they are above you in every way. Its very respectful. You'd call teachers or your boss at work this.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

I know somebody who calls a mutual friend that. It's odd to watch.  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

It'd be a little strange to call your friend that. Well, if you were actually living in Japan. Perfectly ok everywhere else. Like "-chan." All my friends who learn Japanese call each other "chan" because its cute, but you're only supposed to call small children that. Oh well.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

Or just young people, right?  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

No, literally small children. Apparently you're not supposed to use it over, say, the age of seven.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

Tell that to some of my other friends...  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

Yeah. Mine too.  

[kittyfox_kumiko]

One person I know uses it to refer to anyone she's really fond of, like how ancient Romans used diminutives to talk about people they loved in some way or another.  

[Sayuri-Ryuu]

As a matter of interest, does she learn Japanese, or have a connection to Japan, or is she being cool and different?