私はKirstenです。私 is the “I”, は is the particle which in this sentence means “am”, and です indicates that the tense is present. My name is Kirsten and I do know how it is written in Katakana, however, I’m not entirely sure yet how to type it. (: I’ve looked ahead and my short break from learning Katakana is coming to an end at the end of TextFugu’s season 2. /sigh/
Name Ending Honorifics
~さん- this is the standard name ender, if you’re not sure what to use, this one is usually okay.
~くん – This name-ender is mostly used on younger men (even younger adults). When you’re an equal with someone, or higher rank than someone (this could be age, position, etc), and you’re talking to a guy, くん is a viable option.
~ちゃん – This is mainly for girls or young children. It’s pretty affectionate in a “you’re my kid / little sis” kind of way. You’ll also see it being used with people who have known each other for a really long time (or just know each other really well). When using ちゃん, a lot of times names will be shortened too. As a rule of thumb, you’ll usually want to shorten someone’s name to one or two syllables. Basically, you just need to choose something that sounds good.
~せんせい (先生) – this means teacher
~せんぱい – like せんせい , but it is for peers who are at a higher level/rank/grade/etc
Kirsten's Japanese Language Log 