About the Japanese Language

Around 125 million people on the islands of Japan speak Japanese, making it the ninth most widely spoken language in the world. Outside of Japan, there are another 5 million people who speak Japanese with some degree of proficiency-- predominantly Japanese descendants in Hawaii and Brazil.

Japanese is not directly related to any other language or family of languages. Although some resemblance to Korean and the Altaic languages (such as Mongolian) has been noted, a clear relationship has yet to be demonstrated.

The Japanese language has a number of dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible. Thanks to the development of mass communications and the government’s directive to establish a common language, many people now speak a common tongue (though often in their individual dialects.)

Japanese has an extremely complicated writing system, consisting of two sets of phonetic syllabaries (with approximately 50 syllables in each) and thousands of Chinese characters called kanji, approximately 2,000 of which the Ministry of Education has designated as required learning before high school graduation. The adaptation of Chinese characters during the 6^th to 9^th centuries A.D. was the most important event in the development of the language. By the 12^th century, the syllabic writing systems, hiragana and katakana, were created out of kanji, providing the Japanese new freedom in writing their native language. Today, Japanese is written with a mixture of the three: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

The Japanese language has absorbed a large number of foreign words from various other languages: Chinese (along with kanji) in the 6^th to 9^th centuries, Portuguese in the 16^th century, and English after World War II. Today, 80 percent of loanwords are English and written in katakana. Examples include: maikaa (my car), taimingu (timing), konpyuutaa (computer), supiido (speed), and rasshu awaa (rush hour). English words that come from Japanese vocabulary include: tsunami, futon, sushi, judo, karate, karaoke, honcho.

Formal and informal address

Japanese has four different ways of addressing people. Kun is used for a younger man or a man of lower rank. Chan is for little children or intimate friends. San is universally used for almost anyone but children. Sama is very polite and is used when speaking to customers or VIPs.

Because of the nature of Japanese culture, which is characterized by a hierarchical system, Japanese has evolved into a very complicated language. The style of speech varies significantly according to social class, gender, age, and so on. Only if you have personal information about your partner in conversation will you be able to choose the appropriate manner of speaking.

For instance, a man talking to his colleagues might say, "Ore ga kuu" (I eat), or more politely, "Boku ga taberu" (I eat). In a more formal situation, though, he would have to say, "Watashi ga tabemasu" (I eat). But even this is not polite enough if he is talking to people of superior rank. Then he will have to use a humble form for the verb "taberu" and an honorific form for the person he is addressing. The appropriate phrase would accordingly be, "Watakushi ga itadakimasu" (I eat) and "Tanaka-san ga meshiagarimasu" (Mr. Tanaka eats).

Believe it or not, he has not yet scaled the absolute summit of politeness! If he is talking to someone who requires the greatest respect, he will have to say, "Tanaka-sama ga omeshiagarini nararemasu" (Honorable Tanaka eats).

False Friends!

As you learn Japanese, you will come across some basic Japanese vocabulary words that sound like words in English. Hai is one example. It does not mean "hi!" In fact, it means "yes", and it is equivalent to an American saying "hmm" or "I see" in a conversational setting-- a verbal cue to let the speaker know that the listener is following along. (It is important to understand that hai does not necessarily mean that the listener agrees with the speaker!) Another example of a false friend is Ohayoo, the Japanese word for "Good morning," which sounds like the name of the state, Ohio.

Japanese Grammar and Japanese Pronunciation

Several aspects of Japanese grammar may be surprising to English speakers who are learning Japanese. For example, there is no distinction between singular or plural in Japanese. Moreover, even though Japanese grammar does not assign gender to words, Japanese vocabulary can vary according to whether a man or a woman is speaking.

Word order in Japanese may also pose some difficulties for students learning Japanese. Japanese verbs usually come at the end of the sentence, instead of near the beginning as in English. Since there are no relative pronouns, sentences tend to be long and complicated.

Japanese particles may be difficult, too. All the words in a Japanese sentence are connected by these tiny word fragments, which define the grammar of preceding words. And although learning a plain, spoken style may not frustrate you, as you advance in the Japanese language, you will find expressions of politeness-- honorific and humble forms-- to be somewhat mind-boggling, to say the least.

Japanese pronunciation is dramatically different than English pronunciation. Since all Japanese words end in vowels, English speakers learning Japanese may have to spend quite a long time practicing them to get the hang of the rhythm. At first, the tongue tends to tie itself in knots! Forget your English and say To-Yo-Ta, Ka-Wa-Sa-Ki, Ma-Tsu-Shi-Ta. It helps to know that individual vowel sounds in Japanese are not very different from Italian or Spanish.

Learning written Japanese is not easy. The Portuguese missionaries who stayed in Japan in the 16^th century called it "the language devils created." Even native speakers spend twelve years learning the 2,000 essential kanji.

Regular practice is necessary to learn to speak Japanese well. That's why good Japanese software and other Japanese learning products can be so useful. It's easier than ever to learn Japanese and to begin to speak Japanese with the language resources and Japanese language software from Transparent Language. With JapaneseNow!, KidSpeak, and our other language learning products, you will speak Japanese, learn the Japanese alphabet, learn Japanese vocabulary, understand Japanese grammar, and master Japanese pronunciation quickly. Plus, our Japanese translation software, EasyTranslator, will help you translate Japanese to English and translate English to Japanese. Best of luck as you learn Japanese!

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