Language Profile Japanese
Japanese (日本語 / にほんご) is spoken by nearly 130 million in Japan and Japanese communities worldwide (notably Brazil). Japanese language is related to Ryukyuan languages but is unique in its development being distinguished by a complex set of rules and structures that mirrors the hierarchical nature of Japanese society through the ages. This means that there are several “honorific” forms which indicate not only status but other subtleties defining the relationship between the speaker and the listener. Writing: Japanese has three scripts, Hiragana ひらがな, Katakana カタカナ and Kanji 漢字. Hiragana and Katakana are syllabic scripts as opposed to Kanji which are derived from Chinese characters. These three scripts are all used together not exclusively.
Learning Japanese is easy because:
Japanese contains many “loan words” literally borrowed from other languages. Although many come from Asian roots there are hundreds of words you will instantly recognise as being French, German and English. These words are most commonly written in the Katana script: バイク(Baiku=Bike) パソコン (Pasocon=Personal computer) アルバイト (Arbaito , from the German Arbeit/work= part time job) This means that when you start to study Japanese you already have a fairly large starting vocabulary! Japanese is easy to pronounce having only five pure vowel sounds. Once you have mastered the syllabic alphabet of Hiragana you will be able to pronounce most Japanese words with little difficulty. Japanese grammar has no dedicated future tense, often using Present forms to indicate future events. One less structure to worry about!
Learning Japanese is challenging because:
Writing Japanese is challenging, even for young Japanese since the use of keyboards and mobile phones etc. has become widespread. Reading is even more challenging, in order to read the newspaper you will need to master around 1945 individual Kanji, many of which have two or three readings each dependent on context. Japanese unlike most western languages, has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. Most relationships are not equal in Japanese society. The differences in social position are determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favour tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until they are teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. It is difficult for a learner to understand these cultural and hierarchical elements of the language without guidance from a native speaking trainer.
Japanese with Cactus:
Cactus provides Japanese language training as 1:1 programs, closed groups for in-house company training, full-immersion courses, online courses, self-study, and on public evening courses.