What is keishō?

Keishō (敬称) is the Japanese word for honorific titles. An honorific title is a title used to convey respect, status, and the like. Some well-known keishō are -san and -chan. This article explains the most common keishō.

-san

-san (さん) is one of the most well-known honorifics, and also the most widely used in real life. It can be used to refer to everyone, and usually is, too. It's used to show respect to who you are talking oo/about, and when you just meet someone for the first time, you should probably use this. (In fact, drop the probably, not the keishō!)

お、こんにちは、レイコさん。
Oh, hello, Reiko-san.

-chan

-chan (ちゃん) is an honorific that signals that something is cute. It can be used to refer to pets, your crush, and other people that you are close with. -chan shouldn't be used in formal situations.

ヘイ、レイコちゃん、どうしたの？
Hey, Reiko-chan, what's up?

-tan

-tan (たん) is a baby-speak version of -chan that implies something is even cuter than if using -chan.

-kun

-kun (君) is an honorific used to refer to one's kōhai, since kōhai itself is not an honorific. It can also be used to address people younger than you, or people you're close with.

お、ハルキ君！元気の？
Oh, Haruki-kun! How's it going?

-sama

-sama (様) is used to refer to people higher up than you, like political leaders and deities. In fact, you'd always use 神様 (kami-sama) to refer to a god, not 神 (kami) by itself. In addition, in Japan, customers are treated with very high respect, so they also use -sama to refer to customers.

ありがとうございます、お客様。
Thank you, customer-sama.

-dono

-dono (どの) is an archaic honorific used similar to -sama; however, it is used when you are on the same level as the person you are talking to. Think about this as maybe the vice president would refer to the president as president-dono... actually don't think about it that way, because -dono isn't widely used anymore.

すみません、田中どの、あの地図は正しいではありません。
Excuse me, Tanaka-dono, that map is incorrect.

-sensei

-sensei (先生) is both an honorific and a normal word. Standalone, it can mean teacher.

あの人は僕の先生です。
That person is my sensei.

However, as an honorific, it can also be used to refer to coaches, doctors, and the like.

ナイスレッソン、ウカイ先生!
Nice lesson, Ukai-sensei!

-senpai

-senpai (先輩) is also a standalone word, like -sensei. It's used to describe someone with more experience than someone else. The closest English equivalents are "upperclassmen", "senior", and "superior", but even then, those don't fully capture the meaning of senpai.

こちらはわたくしの先輩。
This is my senpai.

お、あの人？あちらは山口先輩です。
Oh, that person? That is Yamaguchi-senpai.

kōhai

A kōhai is the opposite of a senpai - someone with less experience. However, unlike -senpai, kōhai is only used as a standalone word, not as keishō. However, it'll still usually be preserved in subtitles. Instead, the honorific -kun is usually used instead.