Many aspects of Japanese are quite different from English, making learning Japanese at times more challenging, but also quite interesting for learners interested in the similarities and differences among languages. Learn more about what makes Japanese a unique language with these facts!
- Japanese has different styles or words used by speakers that sound either feminine or masculine. A girly girl’s word choices can differ from a more masculine figure.
- Unlike English and other languages, Japanese does not require the use of the articles “a” or “the”.
- The origins of spoken Japanese are unknown. While the written Japanese form origins are more easily identified, spoken Japanese has been connected to Korean and the Ural Altaic family of languages.
- Japanese verbs do not change form on the subject of the sentence. Often times, the subject is often excluded, leaving the listener or reader to rely on context clues to understand what is being said. Japanese verbs change forms based on the tense needed.
- Prior to the 4th century, Japan had no writing system. Once communication started with China, the Chinese writing system of kanji was adopted in Japan and adapted for Japanese sounds.
- Japanese now uses multiple writing systems. Kanji, borrowed from China, is used to represent specific meanings. Hiragana and katakana are used for their sounds, and are based on syllables. Katakana is generally reserved for foreign words. Finally, romanji, or the English alphabet, is also used.
- There is no distinction between “r’ and “l” sounds in Japanese. These two are instead combined into one sound. This may cause a native Japanese speaker to have trouble pronouncing words like “red” and “look” when learning English.
- In English, we distinguish between singular and plural nouns by adding an “s” at the end, like in the case of “cat” and “cats”. Occasionally, a new word will be used to differentiate singular nouns from plural ones, like in the case of “mouse” and “mice”. Japanese does not distinguish between singular and plural nouns. If you want to tell someone how many there is of a noun, a counter must be used.
- The somewhat choppy, syllabic style of Japanese allows for many tongue twisters. See if you can say any of these without stuttering.
- If you are visiting Japan without any Japanese abilities, there is a possibility that native Japanese speakers will be able to understand some of what you are saying! Many foreign words have been incorporated into Japanese. Some English words, when spoken in a Japanese accent, like hamburger (pronounced han-baah-gaah), can be understood.
Do you have more facts you’d like to add? Let us know in the comments!
