My anime-junkie friends always ask me how to use and for what purpose are Japanese honorifics used. So in case anybody needs to know (and happened to come across this blog rather than one of the other multiple sources for learning this information), I thought I'd explain a few that you are likely to come across.

Chan - This is used for babies and children as well as teenage girls but with teenage girls it's more of a term of endearment or used if you have a higher status than them.

Kun - This is used for males who are lower status than you, and also young boys.

San - This is the general term and probably the one you will hear the most out and about. If you don't know the person you should probably use this. It is sort of the equivalent of Mr/Mrs.

Sama - This is a very respectful suffix used for people with much higher status than you, probably the head of the company you work for or someone you have great respect for.

Dono - An extremely respectful suffix that you will probably only hear in animes, it is similar to my lord.

What are they used for? Well they are used as a sign of respect for the most part, it would be rude not to use someone's title when addressing them if you are not close friends with them and it would also be rude to called them chan or kun, as a general rule use san.