Sensei Update

~Back in my post on Japanese name suffixes, I mentioned that the suffix "sensei" can be used for professions other than teachers; for example, doctors. Just yesterday I learned another interesting and subtle way for the suffix to be used for a particular job.

During a make-up lesson with one of my more advanced students, we played a game of "20 questions", selecting a word from a particular category and asking yes-or-no questions to determine what word the other person picked. After going through animals and countries, my student wanted "Characters from Harry Potter" as the category, because we are reading through the first novel in class. I complied, secretly selecting the school headmaster, Dumbledore.

The questions she asked me were good: "Are you a student?" (no). "Can you do magic?" (yes). "Are you a friend of Harry?" (yes). Questions like this continued for some time, until she asked, "Are you a teacher?". I responded negatively, as Dumbledore is the headmaster (principal) of the school, and doesn't actually teach any classes.

My student eventually conceded, but became irritated when I revealed my character. I expected her to understand and be amused when she realized the difference between "headmaster" and "teacher", but for some reason she was unable to make the distinction.

Later that day, I had another student, a genki high school girl. One of the vocabulary words for her lesson was "boss", and I asked her who the "boss" of her school was. Immediately, she replied, "Suzuki-sensei!". I asked her if Suzuki-sensei was a teacher, and she said no, explaining that he was the school "manager" (i.e., the principal).

The problem from the previous lesson suddenly clicked into place. School principals and similar leaders, it seems, also get the -sensei suffix, even if they aren't technically teachers. The student from my previous class understood the difference, but was unable to make a quick distinction in her mind. She must have defaulted that Dumbledore, as headmaster of Hogwarts, automatically deserved the title of "sensei", and in her mind she must have filed him under the category of "teacher" for the question she asked me. Interesting. ~Oyasumi!