Following on from that Kimi, Anata, Omae thread, what is the correct way to address friends.
My Sit Rep: We have a Japanese girl who I'm becoming fairly good friends with (even despite the odd inter cultural misunderstandings when using MSN) she sits in on our Japanese classes in her own free time to help out (I'm assuming its because she finds English kids butchering her language amusing) and I try to help her with any English queries she has. From next semester we've kinda casually agreed that If I speak to her in Japanese she will only answer in Japanese and If I speak English so will answer in English (practice for both of us)

What's the protocol for names? -Chan sounds too close, -San maybe too formal? (seeing as we are friends..ish) I realise we are in England and I can get away with just using her first name alone, but that's beside the point.

And also how would that work with guys your own age too, as there's a few Japanese exchange guys we talk to in the library when you can find them. ( I swear the Japanese really are ninja-like if they don't want to be found, you can't.)

Gingerninja Wrote:( I swear the Japanese really are ninja-like if they don't want to be found, you can't.)

Lol agreed. Why not ask her directly? Or Ask Magamo™!

Edit: if you want to emulate ninja behaviour yourself you could refer to her as くノ一ｗｗｗ

How about you just drop all suffixes? When I get close to Japanese friends I generally just drop the san/kun/chan etc. Except for one. I call one of my friends 兄貴. But he's awesome, and older.

Definitely avoid ちゃん unless you grew up with her, or she's 10 and you're at least 30 something...

Generally, if you aren't hanging out with her in private all the time, you might not be close enough to drop さん yet. Of course, you don't need it when you speak to her in a language other than Japanese. I would continue to call her さん until she tells you it's okay to stop, and then you don't have to anymore. It seems strange, but at least for non-Japanese, first name+さん is usually a good compromise because it's polite but still not too formal. In the end, she'll tell you when she wants you to stop using politeness without you having to ask.