In romaji is it okosan or oko-san?


I am reading the Japanese for Busy People book and I notice in the dictionary
in the back some of the words ending in san use a hyphen:

[code]

    okyaku-san
    
[/code]

and some don't

[code]

    okosan
    
[/code]

Sometimes they use a hyphen after o-

[code]

    o-kashi
    
[/code]

and sometimes not

[code]

    okyaku-san
    
[/code]

Does anyone have any idea why they do this?




I don't think there is a "right way". There are many ways to use romaji and
each with their own rules. In general, names like Takeda-san, Takahashi-san
tend to use the hyphen while words like okasan, otosan, etc tend to not use
them.

The hyphen after the o is probably used to indicate that the o is not part of
the word itself but just a polite prefix. But to use it or not is also
dependent on what kind of romaji rules you abide to.




I don't think there is a "right way". There are many ways to use romaji and
each with their own rules. In general, names like Takeda-san, Takahashi-san
tend to use the hyphen while words like okasan, otosan, etc tend to not use
them.

The hyphen after the o is probably used to indicate that the o is not part of
the word itself but just a polite prefix. But to use it or not is also
dependent on what kind of romaji rules you abide to.

