This is, I think, a quirk of the Japanese language. It famously has many of what we would consider first person pronouns, which have a feeling to me of kinda being third person themselves. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say they don't have such a strict delineation. Occasionally one can even hear someone use, for example, 'boku' as a second person pronoun. It's maybe kinda like in a casino a dealer might say that "the house" wins, or a judge might say "this court" regarding a decision. Only many such 'role' pronouns exist in Japanese.

One can imagine growing up as a child and hearing Japanese with its variety of first-person pronouns, which also are not used as much as we use them in English, and choosing to use your name as it is consistently associated with you.

That said, I've had only a smattering of Japanese study, so definitely take all of that with a grain of salt.

My Japanese knowledge is even more limited, but Japanese seems to use a persons name in conversation far more often than English. Like in English we would say "it's nice to see you" but Japanese seems to say "it's nice to see Anidiot."

When you're regularly calling everybody else by their name, calling yourself by your name makes sense.

Ah! Thanks for this comment. It reminded me of another case where someone speaks in third person: in business settings. For example, I have seen this in code reviews when someone is disagreeing with a change in a pull request in a company: " Since <<reason>>, ABC thinks this change is unnecessary."

However, do keep in mind this is anecdotal so I don't know how much it applies to more broad settings.

> seems to use a persons name in conversation far more often than English

Actually, calling the other one by their name + san/chan/kun is the most common way. Using "anata" (= you) can even be considered rude under certain circumstances. My wife never calls me "anata". Also, pronouns are often omitted if it is clear who is being meant (a bit like in Italian).

well hold on. In italian you have at least the verb endings to help you infer the pronoun. You don't have that in japanese, it's fully contextual.

I'm currently formally learning Mexican Spanish in Mexico. In day to day life here it's very uncommon to hear the pronoun. The only exceptions I can think of are 'Usted/Ustedes' or 'Nos'.

Using or not using the pronoun has the same emphasis as saying to someone:

'You're drunk.' versus pointedly saying 'You, are drunk'.

----

Soy Latte, por favor! (In Spanish this translates literally as 'I'm a latte. please.')

You're right, of course.

Maybe that is why Terry from Brooklyn Nine-Nine constantly speaks of himself in the third person. (The character spent a lot of time in Japan)

Whoa, how on earth could boku be a _second person_ pronoun? Admittedly I don’t speak any Japanese, but referring to myself, when I actually say “you” sounds confusing.

I usually use boku and my girlfriend sometimes calls me boku, whether she's talking to me or about me to someone else. There's no confusion because she couldn't be using boku to mean herself.

I'm not a linguist, but it seems like there's no grammatical difference between first/second/third person in Japanese - you can consider all the sentences to be in third person.

Thinking of it as 'I' or 'you' is misleading. That's kinda what I'm trying to say in my post: it's more like these are all third-person roles. If you think of 'boku' as more like 'this boy' than 'I' or 'me' it becomes easier to understand I think.

There's some good info about Japanese 1st- and 2nd-person pronouns here, including a brief mention of boku in a 2nd person position, but unfortunately doesn't go into any depth. https://legendsoflocalization.com/personal-pronouns-in-japan...

That’s funny, the same is the case with small children in China. Instead of “我饿了” (I’m hungry) they could say “人家饿了” which is something like “people are hungry”. This is also seen as cute and naturally goes away as they get older.

Same here in Indonesia.

If not their first name, then their title "younger brother/sister" (adik), "older brother sister" (kakak). Interestingly, when the second child is born, the "adik" becomes the "kakak", which you would think would be confusing but the switch happens pretty naturally.

Kids talk in third person about themselves in slavic languages too. It is normal as they are learning to talk. They switch to first person by themselves later.

Interesting. Does speaking in the third person sound “childish” to people in Japan? (That would explain Pokémon quite a bit at least.)

It depends on how you define childish, and also the age of the person in question, but in general: Yes.

Also, in case of adult women, if they speak in third person, to me it sounds あざとい(azatoi). I am sorry, I don't know how to phrase it in English without ruining the nuance. It's a mix of calculating, cunning, and a bit flirtatious? Either way, you also need to consider the tone of their voice, body language, and the contents itself. (Maybe if they want you to carry the shopping bag because it's a bit heavy for them, they might use this way of speaking.)

That being said, I do not have any real-life examples to back this up so take it with a grain of salt.

> I am sorry, I don't know how to phrase it in English without ruining the nuance. It's a mix of calculating, cunning, and a bit flirtatious?

The closest word I can think for what you describe is insincere. See also: almost every influencer on TikTok.

I see where you are coming from with that one. However, this acting doesn't often have that strong of a negative connotation as insincere seems to have. To me, it's a more light thing, a bit of playful acting, atleast for the scenario I mentioned in the previous comment.

Going between languages is hard. :)

Well, I'm not so sure that insincere has negative connotations in English anymore, given how ubiquitous this behavior is. But point taken.

"Disingenuous" in the sense of "pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf"?

It does sound childish, but I know women in their 30s who still speak like that. For a man it would be very strange / unusual though.

Yes, but I'd say that women in their 30s who speak like that purposefully try to be childish.

Kids at young age are more a thing than a person, so it kind of fits.

This is not uncommon in the West either. A lot of parents talk to themselves by title in the third person to their children, e.g. "Daddy doesn't want to play right now, daddy is working". It's even worse if they refer to each other by a 'parental' name. Just makes me wince.

To people that actually do this, do not erase yourself; you are a person, you have needs and an identity of your own. You can express your needs, not a mythical 3rd person parental figure.

When my wife calls me 'dad' or 'daddy' I know she might be talking as well to one of our kids instead of to me. It gives it context, and it also does something with me by increasing my responsibility instead of slacking. After all, if you are once a dad or mom, you're always one.

Honestly, I think its a great way to get some perspective (but I am on the spectrum). I also find it plain fun, and -sometimes- cute. Doesn't mean I always do it in family circle. Its just that, in a work environment, there's an etiquette, and this one isn't part of it. If you're too different (e.g. weird in this context), they don't want you, and one way or another you'll get cast out. Goes for weird people too.

Counterexample - When my wife calls me daddy she’s definitely not referring to my role as a father.

Are you sure she is not subtly convincing you to take the role? Presumably she is temping you into the manner in which it happens.

A perfect example of the importance of context.

You are not just ”a person” when you are a parent. You are a person with a very special role and you spend a lot of time acting in that role. As I see it, the border is fuzzy and the overlap large, but the role and the person are not the same.