もっと若いの日本人皆さん:

This question may seem a little weird or rude, but I promise I have no intention of offending anyone

Are the younger generation of Japanese very particular about the use of 敬語？And is it very prevalent in daily life, or only mostly present in professional settings?

お願いします！

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I'm not Japanese but I think most young people are not very good at 敬語, especially if they're not in the service industry or so.

I'm a Japanese student.
I don't use 敬語 to my friends, but I use it to people older than me and people I've never met before. I almost don't use it to people younger than me, but if we aren't close, I use 敬語. So, 敬語 is mostly present in professional settings, but it is also prevalent in daily life.

@ayzg That's actually what a Japanese friend of mine told me. And even though I'm not Japanese, I've been learning the language for years now.

Japanese people learn the honorific language at a very early age. Here's an interesting sample. This is a manga about a 5 year old girl, Yotsuba Koiwai. She cries and screams because she is separated from her father and her friends at a fireworks display. 「こいわい・よつば・です！」("This is Koiwai Yotsuba speaking!") It is very amusing because that is one of things that Japanese children actually do in such situations. Now she is speaking in the speech form of "です". The "です" speech is the simplest form of Japanese honorific language. Honorific language is a formal dress of language. Formal wear can be an armor, or a spacesuit, for a close encounter of the third kind with total strangers. Look at how she is in a place where she doesn't have anyone around her who knows her. For her, it's the same as being thrown out into space. So she wears a space suit of "です" and sends out an SOS desperately.

@ayzg BTW do you think "She cries and screams because she is" should be "She is crying and screaming"?

@ayzg
No problem.
Yes, for me 敬 語 comes almost naturally because the use of 敬 語 is one of Japan's customs. And I work part-time, so I got used to that. But I think 敬 語 is difficult even for Japanese people, so sometimes I use it incorrectly, and sometimes it doesn't come out immediately, especially when I use complicated 敬 語.
It is true that honorifics often make people feel a sense of distance, but in Japan, there is a way of thinking politeness is very important, so I think many people use polite language.
However, when I want to get along with someone, it sometimes takes me time to lose my honorifics, so I honestly think 敬 語 is a bit of a hindrance when I make friends.

@ayzg Hmmm, if the person speaking to me is a Japanese speaker, I'm very sensitive to see how well he or she uses honorifics correctly. If it's a non-Japanese speaker like you, I am tolerant to it, but sometimes I correct the person's Japanese when I see he/she is capable of learning Japanese on higher level.

The honorific language has been used in Japan (and Korea) for over a thousand years, but it was only organized into a syntactic system a hundred years ago or so. The honorific system was studied and organized as an important function of the linguistic OS called "Japanese language" so that it would give authority to the emperor system. It would be too long to talk about this, so I won't do it here.

@ayzg Over 18.

@ayzg
No, I am not offended.
In the case of an international person, I don't think that more and more Japanese people will not be offended. Even if it's Japanese, I don't care, wondering it's a friendly person.