| Hiroyuki |
Arakawa | A man who befriended a giant wrasse named Yoriko. |
| Karel |
Čapek | A Czech writer and playwright. |
| Nozomi |
Hope Ito | Sayuri's newborn daughter. Aka: Noni. |
| Benjamin |
Lee Whorf | American linguist. |
| Frank |
McCourt | An Irish-American teacher and writer. |
| Roslyn |
McDonald | The ESL teacher. |
| Yume |
Noel | Echidna's daughter. |
| Neil |
O'Brien | Art History lecturer. |
| Annie |
Proulx | An American novelist and short story writer. |
| Edward |
Sapir | Influential American linguist and anthropologist. |
| William |
Shakespeare | An English playwright and poet. |
| E. B. |
White | An American writer. |
| Brendan |
| One of Salimah's son's classmates. |
| Dr. |
| Sayuri's physician. |
| Echidna |
| Nickname given to Sayuri. |
| Francesca |
| Title of a manuscript within the story. |
| Gardner |
| A Japanese-born character living in Australia. |
| Jayden |
| One of Salimah's son's classmates. |
| Jim |
| A hairdresser. |
| Joel |
| A student at ESL. |
| Jonathan |
| Paola's husband. |
| Mehra |
| A conservative and overbearing mother. |
| Melissa |
| Salimah's acquaintance. |
| Nakichi |
| A refugee from Sudan or Somalia. |
| Olive |
| A middle-aged Italian woman Salimah meets at language school. |
| Paola |
| One of the ESL students. |
| Salimah |
| An African refugee to Australia raising two children alone. |
| Sayuri |
| A Japanese immigrant adapting to life in Australia. |
| Tom |
| One of Salimah's son's classmates. |
