How many different ways are there of saying words?


Sorry if the title of the question is not so clear but I understand there are
some different ways of using words.

For example casual, polite, and honorific

Are these the only different ways or are there some other ways that an expert
speaker would know / use?

What makes me confused is that I see

[code]

    -san is honorific but then 
    -sama is a more respectful version of -san   
    -kun is used to address someone younger or children
    -chan when addressing very young children
    
[/code]

So if that is the case is there a special class for -sama

Thank you




> For example casual, polite, and honorific

It seems that what you're asking about are formality levels in Japanese. As
some other have noted, they can be broadly classified as "casual," "polite,"
"humble," and "honorific," but even within these classifications one can make
their speech more/less formal depending on the context (e.g. the level
formality one would use when speaking to the emperor is much higher than when
one is speaking to the president of their company).

> Are these the only different ways or are there some other ways that an
> expert speaker would know / use?

An "expert" speaker (whatever we'd like that to mean) mixes and matches
various speech levels based on the context in which they are in and their
relationship(s) with the people to whom they're speaking. For example, at a
company dinner you'd speak differently to coworkers with whom you work
everyday than with someone from another department than with your boss than
with another section head, than with the head of your company. In such a
situation it would not be unlikely that you'd make use of all four categories
of formality (perhaps not casual, but again that depends on your relationships
with people). Japanese has a salient saying for this, 「空気｛くうき｝を読{よ｝む」which
broadly means to "read the situation in order to decide how to conduct
oneself." If your goal is to become an "expert," then it's important to learn
not only the different formality levels, but also to be able to distinguish
when it's prudent to use which.




Technically all those are "honorifics" (the meaning of honorific doesn't
necessarily imply that the other person is of higher status). -sama is
especiallly respectful towards people such as guests and customers. -san is
probably the most common as it's used towards coworkers, friends, etc.

