Learning Onii-chan with Hetalia

[natsmina]

I'm surprised many fans of anime and manga outside Japan know the word, "おにいちゃん(onii-chan)". You know, Japanese is a language that has many kinds of designations. I showed them about "I" on this entry. The naming of a big brother also has variety. You can find it in Hetalia.

お兄さん(Oniisan)


お兄さん would be the standard naming of a big brother. I guess you would learn this word as a big brother if you learn Japanese.

兄さん(Niisan)


兄さん sounds friendlier than お兄さん. Everyone can use this, no matter whether you are a male or a female, young or old.

お兄ちゃん(Oniichan)



お兄ちゃん sounds cute. This word suits children using. It wouldn't be strange to use for an adult woman, but it sounds a bit odd for an adult man. It would sound too sweet if a man says "oniichan", so he looks kind of a feminine or childish man.

兄ちゃん(Niichan)


兄ちゃん is a popular naming of a big brother in informal. It sounds cuter than 兄さん because it's used "chan". You can use this in your daily life, no matter whether you are a male or a female, young or old. It sounds friendly, so you better not use it when you are in a formal place.

お兄さま(Oniisama)


This sounds a bit unique. Yes, I wrote on this entry what Liechtenstein's Japanese sounds a young elegant lady. If you are a noble family, you can say it so naturally. Oh, you can say Oniisama if you get Sealand's special individual titles! But I can't recommend you to say in the real life. Oniisama sounds so noble...too noble ^^;

兄貴(Aniki)



兄貴 sounds informal and manly. So females hardly use it. But a boyish girl would use it from time to time.
Aniki is also used for calling a manly man.
For that reason, Isaji, who is a famous singer in niconico, is called as Aniki.

Click to view

Isaji aniki is so cool!! I love his voice!

兄(Ani)

 
兄 is an objective expression about a big brother in literary Japanese.
But it's used in conversation on this strip. In that case, you can think it as a kind of humble language(謙譲語). It sounds so polite when you say about yourself or your brother as Ani.
Yes, don't get surprised, Romano in this strip seems to be so polite!! Incredible!

あんこ(Anko)


This would be an exception. Because Norway doesn't use the standard Japanese. あんこ means a big brother in Tohoku-ben(the dialect of Tohoku).

Sources of these images ; Kitayume