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Whenever you’re learning Japanese, it’s essential to have a 休憩
(きゅうけい) — break every so often.
So as a substitute of educating you 日本語
(にほんご), we’ll go into all about it as a substitute.
We’ve discovered some tremendous attention-grabbing and distinctive details in regards to the Japanese language that you just most likely didn’t know.
Test these out!
Contents
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This weblog publish is on the market as a handy and moveable PDF that you just
can take anyplace.
Click on right here to get a duplicate. (Obtain)
1. There’s little or no proof of Japanese prehistory
Many historians consider that Previous Japanese and 琉球語派
(りゅうきゅうごは) — Ryukyuan languages, the indigenous dialects of the Ryukyu islands off mainland Japan, have been introduced in by vacationers from Asia and close by Pacific Islands throughout the 弥生時代
(やよいじだい) — Yayoi interval round 200 BC.
Sadly, there’s little to no proof to assist this.
We simply don’t know very a lot about Japan throughout the Yayoi interval in any respect. Anthropologists have deduced that the earliest recorded textual content that incorporates writing just like 漢字
(かんじ ) — kanji wasn’t discovered till across the eighth century.
How the language developed earlier than that’s really a thriller!
2. There are different nations exterior of Japan the place Japanese is spoken
After all, Japanese is the de facto language of Japan, and it’s additionally the one place the place Japanese is the official language.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply Japan is the one place the place the language is spoken—and no, I’m not simply speaking about folks studying the language (such as you and me).
In reality, Japanese is acknowledged as a minority language within the Republic of Palau, the place the island state of Angaur speaks primarily Japanese. It’s additionally spoken in locations that traditionally had a big inflow of immigrants from Japan, resembling the USA the place there are roughly 418,840 Japanese residents as of 2022.
3. Whereas many Asian languages are tonal, Japanese shouldn’t be
A “tonal” language makes use of much less distinct syllables and distinctive phrases, and as a substitute differentiates between phrases utilizing inflections.
Japanese isn’t a tonal language.
That is truly fairly odd, since many East and Southeast Asian languages are tonal in nature. Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese language, Vietnamese and Thai, as an example, all depend on tone to convey that means. Contemplating its location, it’s attention-grabbing that Japan didn’t undertake the same phonology.
For Japanese learners, particularly those who grew up talking a Latin or Germanic language, it is a welcome aid. Tones could be very troublesome for some learners to get used to, in any case.
4. Nonetheless, Japanese does have a pitch accent
Like all languages, although, Japanese does have a sure rhythm and cadence to its phrases and sentences. A lot of that is accounted for by what linguists name “pitch accent.” It’s like in English the place you pronounce “sure” as CER-tain and never cer-TAIN.
All the Japanese dialects, together with the usual Japanese you’re most likely learning, have their very own distinctive pitch patterns. One of the simplest ways to be taught the distinctive music of the Japanese language is by listening to genuine speech on language studying platforms like FluentU.
5. Japanese is among the most fast-paced spoken languages on the earth
That is, after all, a bit onerous to measure.
Audio system of any language have their very own dialects, accents and personalities that have an effect on how shortly they converse. (All of us have that one pal, am I proper?)
In 2011, a gaggle of French linguists performed a examine the place they tried to measure the common velocity of some languages world wide.
Curiously sufficient, Japan has a spoken syllable price of practically eight syllables per second. That beats out Spanish, French and Italian.
6. But it surely additionally has the bottom quantity of data density per second
In accordance with the identical examine above, Japanese additionally has the bottom quantity of data density per second.
What meaning is, whilst you can say loads of stuff in Japanese, you additionally don’t give loads of data. This isn’t too stunning when you consider it—it takes virtually all eight syllables simply to say “not.”
In distinction, they discovered that Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese language and English had the best charges of data shared per second whereas sustaining among the slowest spoken syllables per second. Languages are superb, aren’t they?
7. Katakana can hint its origins to tenth century Buddhism
Should you’re far sufficient alongside in your Japanese research, you’ve most likely already come throughout 片仮名
(かたかな) — katakana.
Contemplating that many katakana loanwords are from English, and that Japan didn’t come into contact with the English language till the 1600s, you’d assume that it’s a comparatively fashionable writing system.
In reality, way back to 951 AD, katakana was already being utilized by Buddhist monks to annotate Chinese language writing for Japanese readers—kind of like how furigana is used for international and younger readers at this time.
Over time, it turned a means for Japanese officers to speak with international merchants and is used to this present day to indicate international or borrowed phrases (until they arrive from China), onomatopoeia and international names.
8. Katakana was rather more troublesome (and fewer inclusive) again within the day
When it was initially conceived, katakana contained many various symbols to signify every syllable sound and was primarily utilized by males.
At present, the katakana system consists of 48 distinctive syllables and is utilized by everybody. Thank goodness for that!
9. Katakana performed an important function within the Japanese army
If the Western world had Morse code, Japan had katakana.
Katakana was closely used to transmit coded messages throughout World Battle II, although it was used for that very same function a lot earlier. In case you’re within the Japanese ciphers that the nation utilized within the wars it fought all through the trendy interval, right here’s an article for you.
10. Ladies helped develop hiragana
Curiously, 平仮名
(ひらがな) — hiragana, which is among the first ideas Japanese learners examine, owes its growth to ladies.
In the course of the eighth century, Chinese language characters have been used to signify Japanese sounds. Nonetheless, this wasn’t an ideal system: not all Japanese sounds or phrases may very well be sufficiently expressed by a international alphabet.
To deal with this drawback, noblewomen from the Heian court docket began placing collectively a writing system that not solely helped to precise these added nuances of the Japanese language, but additionally made written Japanese extra accessible to the broader inhabitants. (On the time, solely males had sufficient training to learn Japanese texts utilizing Chinese language characters.)
This possible explains why characters with kunyomi or native Japanese readings are sometimes differentiated by trailing hiragana characters or 送り仮名
( おくりがな) — okurigana.
11. “The Story of Genji” ( 源氏物語
or げんじものがたり) was (supposedly) written virtually solely in hiragana
Talking of ladies and hiragana, “The Story of Genji” penned by the noblewoman 紫式部
(むらさきしきぶ) was stated to be written virtually wholly in hiragana—or, if you happen to’re going to make use of the previous time period for it, yamatokotoba or actually “Japan phrases.”
I say “supposedly,” as a result of the unique copy of the novel wasn’t capable of survive to the current day, so we will’t actually confirm this declare.
12. There are two methods to place hiragana so as
Should you’re learning hiragana utilizing charts, likelihood is you’re taking a look at a 五十音
(ごじゅうおん) — gojuon (lit. “fifty sounds”) chart. It’s the place the kana characters are organized such that the vowels comprise one row/column and the consonants comprise the opposite row/column.
However there’s one other, extra old style (and, I daresay, tougher) solution to be taught hiragana and that’s by the いろは
(iroha) system. It’s primarily a poem the place the entire hiragana characters (together with archaic ones) seem precisely as soon as. If studying by Japanese poems is extra your fashion, go for it!
13. It’s best to learn about 連濁
(れんだく) — rendaku
I say you “ought to” learn about rendaku, as a result of it explains loads of the extra complicated points of the Japanese language.
Rendaku is a phenomenon distinctive to Japanese the place, in a compound phrase consisting of at the least two kanji, the primary consonant within the second kanji modifications its sound or turns into voiced.
A number of easy examples of this are:
- 目
(め) — eye and 玉
(たま) — ball mix to type 目玉
(めだま) — eyeball. - 花
(はな) — flower, and 火
(ひ) — fireplace, mix to type 花火
(はなび) — fireworks. - 池
(いけ) — pond, and 田
(た) — rice discipline, mix to type 池田
(いけだ) — Ikeda, a standard surname.
Should you’re questioning in regards to the normal guidelines on utilizing rendaku—nicely, it’s truly simpler to listing the cases the place rendaku does not happen. Even then, there are exceptions, and the one solution to grasp these is by fixed immersion within the language.
14. Regardless of widespread perception, Japanese has no genetic relation to Chinese language
We’ve established that kanji is adopted from Chinese language characters and used as a Japanese writing system. We additionally know that Japanese “borrows” fairly a number of phrases and phrases from Chinese language.
The Japanese language as an entire, nevertheless, isn’t derived from the identical language household as Chinese language and has no genetic relation to it in any respect.
In reality, Japanese is taken into account probably the most distinctive languages on the earth with no direct spinoff language that birthed it. Different such languages embody Sumerian, Korean and plenty of Native American languages.
15. ローマ字
(ローマじ) — Romaji, a.ok.a. the romanization of Japanese phrases, has Christian roots
One would assume romaji would have come about throughout commerce relations and early interactions with European nations within the sixteenth century. However this isn’t the entire story.
Romaji was developed within the 1500s by a Japanese Catholic who wished to assist European missionaries evangelize and promote their Jesuit faith in Japan with out having to be taught the complicated character programs of Japanese.
In a while, as an increasing number of folks started to go to Japan, romaji turned refined as a device to assist non-Japanese learners verbally sound out Japanese characters.
16. Some Portuguese phrases have made their means into Japanese
Talking of Christians, Portuguese missionaries have been among the many first Europeans to reach on Japanese shores. It is smart, due to this fact, that a few of their phrases would get absorbed into and grow to be a everlasting a part of the Japanese language.
Maybe essentially the most well-known instance is 天麩羅
(てんぷら), which is derived from the Portuguese phrase “tempero” (seasoning) and refers back to the deep-frying method that offers sure Japanese meals their distinctively crunchy but gentle texture. Heck, Wikipedia has a whole entry devoted to those phrases!
17. The primary Japanese-English dictionary to function romaji was printed within the nineteenth century
Though romaji was already utilized in Japan as early because the sixteenth century, it wasn’t till 1886 that the primary Japanese-English dictionary utilizing it might be printed by a person named James Curtis Hepburn.
If his final title rings a bell, that’s as a result of he lends his title to the idea of “Hepburn romanization.” He’s usually credited for inventing it (because the title suggests), although a Japanese group referred to as the 羅馬字会 ( ろーまじかい
) developed the system in 1885—a 12 months earlier than Hepburn’s dictionary was printed.
18. There are between 40,000-50,000 kanji characters in all
Relying on who you ask, the Japanese language has both 40,000 or 50,000 kanji characters. 10,000 is a big distinction when you think about how troublesome it’s to grasp the really helpful 2,000+ characters!
However hey, at the least it can save you your self the headache of getting to be taught 38,000 to 48,000 extra characters. Even native Japanese audio system don’t know all of them, and figuring out the two,000 most typical kanji is sufficient that can assist you get by a newspaper or subtitled TV present.
19. Japanese has a number of grammatical options which will appear unusual to non-Japanese
The writing system is the obvious distinction between Japanese and plenty of different languages. There’s additionally:
- The omission of pronouns. You could have realized that, in Japanese, there’s no must say 私は
(わたしは) — “I’m” or “I” over and over. So long as it’s clear from the context who the topic is, you may omit the pronoun within the succeeding sentences or statements. - The dearth of gendered pronouns. In contrast to Romance languages, for instance, Japanese doesn’t have an equal to “he” or “she.” Nonetheless, there are sure phrases, expressions and contexts that may clue you in to the gender of the particular person/folks being talked about.
- Sentence construction. In English, sentences usually comply with the “subject-verb-object” order. In Japanese, it’s “subject-object-verb.”
Fortunately, there are many locations the place you may grasp Japanese grammar on-line, so benefit from these!
20. Japanese is the thirteenth mostly spoken language in your entire world
Round 125.4 million folks converse Japanese. It’s essentially the most space-concentrated of all of the most-spoken languages, with a overwhelming majority of its audio system residing completely on the island of Japan.
This appears to be altering, nevertheless. Individuals exterior of Japan have gotten an increasing number of serious about studying the language.
In reality, as of 2021, there are practically 3.8 million Japanese learners world wide. That’s an enormous soar from 1979, when there have been solely over 127,000 learners—a 30-fold improve in over 4 many years. Persons are extra serious about Japanese tradition and thus need to be taught the language.
That’s why you, reader, are right here, proper?
21. Japanese has its personal signal language
After all, the Japanese language doesn’t simply come within the type of spoken and written phrases.
Simply because the U.S. has American Signal Language (ASL) in order that deaf and hard-of-hearing people can talk utilizing hand gestures, Japan has Japanese Signal Language (JSL) or 日本手話
(にほんしゅわ).
In comparison with ASL, JSL makes use of extra mouthing and fingerspelling, and naturally follows the syntax and grammar of the Japanese language.
Even if you happen to’re not prone to meet a Japanese one that can’t hear or hear very nicely, that is nonetheless factor to know!
Bonus truth: English is the one international language taught in Japanese center faculties
Okay, so this isn’t a lot of a language truth as a cultural one, however we thought it was too attention-grabbing to not embody.
Whereas many language choices can be found in Japanese faculties, English is taught as a second language in Japanese center and excessive faculties and is a requirement for Japanese college students.
Like English audio system studying Japanese, English is particularly troublesome to be taught for the common Japanese pupil as a result of vastly totally different grammar and writing programs.
Just a bit reminder when you end up struggling: if you happen to have been capable of grasp your individual language, you may grasp Japanese, too!
Did you discover a truth or two that shocked you on this listing? Japanese is such a singular language with an much more distinctive historical past. If Japanese is the language you’ve chosen to be taught, you’ve made an important selection!
Obtain:
This weblog publish is on the market as a handy and moveable PDF that you just
can take anyplace.
Click on right here to get a duplicate. (Obtain)
And One Extra Factor…
Should you love studying Japanese with genuine supplies, then I must also inform you extra about FluentU.
FluentU naturally and steadily eases you into studying Japanese language and tradition. You may be taught actual Japanese because it’s spoken in actual life.
FluentU has a broad vary of up to date movies as you will see under:
FluentU makes these native Japanese movies approachable by interactive transcripts. Faucet on any phrase to look it up immediately.
All definitions have a number of examples, and so they’re written for Japanese learners such as you. Faucet so as to add phrases you’d wish to assessment to a vocab listing.
And FluentU has a be taught mode which turns each video right into a language studying lesson. You’ll be able to at all times swipe left or proper to see extra examples.
The most effective half? FluentU retains observe of your vocabulary, and provides you additional apply with troublesome phrases. It’s going to even remind you when it’s time to assessment what you’ve realized. You may have a 100% personalised expertise.
The FluentU app is now accessible for iOS and Android, and it is also accessible as a web site you could entry in your pc or pill.
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