Your Fast Japanese Language Information: Origins, Alphabets, Honorifics, Grammar

4.8K

Japanese is among the hottest trendy languages to be taught. Whether or not it’s the meals, the style, the popular culture, or any variety of different facets of Japanese tradition, hundreds of thousands of individuals world wide are leaping into Japanese language studying. So are you able to!

Japanese has many facets to get accustomed to, so this information presents an summary to the origins of Japanese, writing programs, essential honorifics, and primary grammar guidelines. After studying, you is likely to be able to be taught Japanese your self. With simply 10 minutes per day, you possibly can progress by way of bite-sized classes, learn tales, and apply your pronunciation with our TruAccent speech recognition engine to turn out to be a superb Japanese language speaker!

Overview of the origins and historical past of the Japanese language

There is no such thing as a different language fairly like Japanese on this planet. Each language is exclusive in its personal means, however Japanese is taken into account a language isolate. Meaning Japanese is its personal language household—the Japonic language household—which incorporates Japanese dialects and the native language of the southernmost area of the Japanese archipelago.

Previous to the eighth century A.D., Japanese existed as solely a spoken language with no writing system. At the moment, the Chinese language written language was adopted to be used as a brand new Japanese writing system often known as kanji (漢字). By the tip of the ninth century A.D., the Japanese “alphabets”—hiragana (平仮名) and katakana (片仮名)—had been developed primarily based on kanji. Each of those writing programs are native to Japanese and aren’t utilized in some other language.

So, is Japanese a tough language to be taught? Is Japanese a straightforward language to be taught? It will depend on the person, but it surely’s essential to notice that simply because it’s distinctive doesn’t imply it’s troublesome to be taught.

Right here are some things that set Japanese aside:

• Whereas Japanese does have three writing programs, Japanese pronunciation is simple since every sound is pronounced the identical means it doesn’t matter what phrase it seems in.
• There are not any capital letters.
• If Japanese sounds quick, that’s as a result of it’s. It’s one of many quickest languages on this planet, with a median of about 7.84 syllables per second! 

Japanese alphabets and writing programs

Japanese has three writing programs, every with their very own makes use of: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Most Japanese sentences are made up of all three, and differentiating them is step one to studying Japanese.

Hiragana and katakana: the Japanese alphabets

Japanese has “characters” as a substitute of “letters,” and hiragana and katakana are the 2 phonetic writing programs that the majority intently resemble a Japanese alphabet. They’re every composed of 46 characters with equivalent pronunciations. Because of this, regardless that they give the impression of being totally different, they sound precisely the identical while you converse the characters out loud.

Hiragana is primarily used for native Japanese phrases, corresponding to arigatо̄ (ありがとう, thanks), or for grammatical parts like verb conjugations. It’s additionally used as a typical to point out the right way to learn Japanese phrases written in different writing programs.

In the meantime, katakana is primarily used for loanwords or gairaigo (外来語). When a phrase borrowed from one other language is adopted into Japanese, you’d write it in katakana. The identical rule applies to names of individuals and international locations.

Kanji: Chinese language characters

The Japanese written language is predicated on the Chinese language written language, and the borrowed characters are nonetheless recognized right now as kanji, which accurately means “Chinese language letters.” As the 2 languages have developed individually since kanji’s introduction to Japan, some Japanese language kanji differ barely of their trendy iterations. Nevertheless, many meanings stay the identical.

As for what a kanji is, a single character encompasses every little thing from names to nouns to numbers. Their pronunciation or “studying” might be troublesome to type out at first, however a basic rule of thumb is that if a kanji is by itself, it makes use of kun’yomi (訓読み), which is the native Japanese studying with out Chinese language affect. If a phrase consists of a number of kanji back-to-back, it normally makes use of on’yomi (音読み), which is a Japanese phrase influenced by the unique Chinese language phrase. 

On this instance sentence, the singular kanji use the native Japanese readings whereas these with two characters use the tailored Chinese language readings.

• Watashi wa chikatetsu ni notteimasu.（私は地下鉄に乗っています。）= I am boarding the subway.

Being well mannered in Japanese

Having good manners in Japan goes past bodily gestures and cultural consciousness. Understanding the right way to be well mannered utilizing the Japanese language can also be essential whether or not you’re touring there or assembly somebody in your hometown. All of it begins with a superb first impression and the precise greeting.

Greetings in Japanese

One of many first belongings you’ll be taught in any new language is the right way to say “hey.” Many Japanese greetings, or aisatsu (挨拶), are equal to acquainted expressions utilized in English.

There are additionally different greetings utilized in particular conditions that require you to have some understanding of Japanese tradition. The expression yoroshiku onegaishimasu (よろしくお願いします) is one such instance because it has many various interpretations relying on the context. It could possibly imply, “Good to fulfill you!” on the primary day of college, “Thanks prematurely!” when asking for a favor, and extra. Figuring out greetings like these is not going to solely polish your Japanese etiquette, however it should additionally make it easier to to sound extra fluent!

Japanese honorifics

Moderately than cordially addressing somebody you simply met by their first title, it’s customary in Japanese to name somebody by their surname adopted by an honorific suffix. Whether or not the dialog is informal or formal, Japanese honorifics are quick phrases just like “Mr.” and “Ms.” that connect to the tip of names. For instance, for those who meet a person whose surname is Takeda, you would possibly first greet him as Takeda-san (武田さん), which is the generic, gender-neutral title.

There are lots of honorifics, some that are extremely particular, however listed here are a couple of of the commonest:

Japanese formal speech

One of many trickier facets of the Japanese language you’ll be taught is its further grammar guidelines and vocabulary for formal conditions. This algorithm is broadly often known as keigo (敬語)  or “honorific language.” That is totally different from the set of honorifics which might be suffixes corresponding to -san and -kun, though probably the most respectful honorifics, like -sama, are sometimes used alongside keigo.

Figuring out when to make use of formal versus casual speech in Japanese takes time to grasp intuitively, however generally, keigo is used within the office. Prospects are greeted respectfully at a division retailer, workers at a big enterprise converse humbly earlier than purchasers, and so forth. 

Inside keigo, there are three subcategories, that are:

• Teineigo（丁寧語）: Formal language most just like on a regular basis Japanese, utilizing customary well mannered conjugations with some barely extra formal nouns.
• Sonkeigo（尊敬語）: Honorific language that holds the listener in exceptionally excessive regard with particular conjugations and a few distinctive vocabulary.
• Kenjōgo（謙譲語）: Humble language the place the speaker makes use of particular conjugations and a few distinctive vocabulary to put themselves beneath the listener linguistically.

Primary Japanese language grammar

Many facets of Japanese grammar will probably be acquainted to a local English speaker, corresponding to recognizable elements of speech and punctuation marks. Nevertheless, there are extra guidelines that set it aside, which speaks to the distinctiveness and complexities of the Japanese language

Phrase order and sentence construction in Japanese

The core Japanese phrase order differs from English. Moderately than putting the verb in the course of the sentence or clause, you’ll put the Japanese verb on the finish. That is known as an “SOV” (“subject-object-verb”) phrase order. Past that, Japanese phrase order is sort of versatile!

Usually talking, the phrases in an entire Japanese sentence alternate between full phrases you could possibly discover in a dictionary (like nouns and verbs) and a brief phrase or grammatical part, often known as a “particle,” that helps establish the roles of the phrases round it. It’s like utilizing blocks to construct a construction that types the sentence.

Whereas some Japanese elements of speech do have considerably established locations in a sentence (corresponding to verbs going on the finish of a clause), others might be moved throughout the sentence with out drastically altering the that means. We do that in English, too!

Each of the sentences beneath have almost equivalent meanings with a slight variation in connotation:

• Shichi-ji ni yuki to satsuki wa toshokan de sūgaku o benkyо̄ shimasu.（七時にゆきとさつきは図書館で数学を勉強します。）= At 7:00, Yuki and Satsuki will probably be learning math at the library.
• Yuki wa satsuki to shichi-ji ni toshokan de sūgaku o benkyо̄ shimasu.（ゆきはさつきと七時に図書館で数学を勉強します。）= Yuki will probably be learning math with Satsuki at the library at 7:00.

Japanese verbs and verb conjugation

Sentences in Japanese are incomplete with out a verb. The verbs are break up into three classes primarily based on the final character of the verb:

• Godan verbs: often known as u-verbs, all the time finish in a personality with an “u” sound on the finish.
• Ichidan verbs: often known as ru-verbs, all the time finish with the character ru (る).
• Irregular verbs: solely embody the verbs for “to do” (suru, する) and “to come back” (kuru, 来る).

Simply as Japanese has a number of ranges of ritual, so do Japanese verb conjugations. The usual Japanese verb conjugation is called masu-form, which is called for the ending of the current affirmative type. You’ll discover that is probably the most well mannered kind of conjugation to make use of.

In the meantime, “plain type” (often known as “dictionary type” or “quick type”) is used for informal speech and for sure grammatical buildings. It has its personal set of conjugations.

Japanese adjectives

To explain a noun in Japanese, adjectives are added earlier than the noun (like in English) or earlier than the conjugated “to be” to say one thing “is” a selected adjective.

• Amai tabemono ga suki desu.（甘い食べ物が好きです。）= I like candy meals.
• Kono tabemono wa amai desu.（この食べ物は甘いです。）= This meals is good.

Like verbs, Japanese adjectives have conjugations, however in contrast to verbs, the conjugations are a lot less complicated. How they’re conjugated will depend on what kind of of adjective they’re:

• i- adjectives: all the time finish within the character i (い).
• na– adjectives: embody the character na (な) earlier than a noun.

The conjugations on this chart are solely used if the adjective just isn’t straight paired earlier than a noun and is separated like “[noun] is [adjective]”

Particles

Japanese particles are quick phrases in a sentence that establish elements of speech and different grammatical parts. Visually, they separate phrases to make it simpler to establish the place one phrase ends and one other begins, which is handy in a language with out areas. 

Though there are dozens of Japanese particles, you’ll see three totally different particles exhibit how they operate in context on this instance:

• Watashi wa resutoran de bangohan o tabemashita.（私はレストランで晩ご飯を食べました。）= I ate dinner at a restaurant.

Japanese numbers and counters

Counting numbers and counting objects in Japanese are two various things. Itemizing numbers in Japanese is easy: You simply assign a phrase and kanji to every numeral.

When utilizing Japanese counters to rely objects, utilizing the quantity by itself isn’t sufficient. As an alternative, suffixes are added to the tip of the quantity to qualify what’s being counted.

Whereas there are a whole lot of Japanese counters, a small handful of them will get you by in most conditions. In lots of instances, the pronunciation of the quantity or suffix adjustments barely when the suffix is added, however there are patterns that can assist you bear in mind. The primary unit in Rosetta Stone’s App covers a wide range of counters used for folks, small objects, books, and animals!

Key takeaways in regards to the Japanese language

• Japanese is its personal language household, making it distinctive from each different main language.
• There are three writing programs in Japanese: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
• There are 9 elements of speech in Japanese, seven of which have almost equivalent counterparts in English.
• Japanese has a number of kinds of speech and conjugations primarily based on how formal a dialog is.