I sometimes have difficulty differentiating friend levels when explaining something to a Japanese person. For example, when I am telling a story about a friend, I want to specify the level of friendship we have based on the context of the story.
So there are 4 commonly known levels of friendship (click here for those who are not familiar):
- Acquaintance
- Casual friend
- Close friend
- Intimate friend
Others:
- Best friend (a little bit different from intimate friend)
There are several terms I do hear when Japanese refer to friends like 友達, 友人, 親友, and 仲間{なかま} (translates as 'comrade' but commonly used to mean 'friend' in anime). How do I differentiate them in Japanese? Or do Japanese not differentiate between them?