Main Features of the Japanese Language
ByJapanese is relatively easy to learn to speak at beginner’s level and the language has some interesting features.
Regular grammar rules – There is no masculine and feminine in Japanese, no specific plural (although there are a few exceptions such as the addition of tachi when talking about people in the plural, for example, watashi means / and watashitachi means we) and no conjugation of verbs. In other words, the verb ending remains the same regardless of who does the action (compare with English, / go, he goes and so forth which are all covered by ikimasu in Japanese). There are only two main tenses, the past and the present/future, with a ‘probably’ used for future events which are not certain (e.g. the weather). There is no definite article (the, a, etc.) and instead of prepositions (in, to, from, etc.), Japanese has postpositions (that is, the word is placed after not before – gakko kara means school from). One unusual feature (for Western learners) of Japanese is that adjectives as well as verbs change their endings according to tense, negative or affirmative statements as well as other forms.
Sentence order – Japanese sentence order has the basic pattern of SOV (subject object verb) with the verb spoken at the end of the sentence, as sometimes in German. English, by way of contrast, has the pattern of SVO (subject verb object). For example, in English we would say ‘I [subject] eat [verb] meat [object]‘ which in Japanese translates as watashi wa niku o tabemasu meaning literally ‘I meat eat’. In addition, the subject is not used in Japanese if it is clear who or what the subject is and so niku o tabemasu also can be translated as ‘I eat meat’. This means that, essentially, Japanese sentence order is the reverse of English and the main point to remember is that the verb comes at the end of the sentence.
Pronunciation – Japanese has relatively ‘easy pronunciation rules. Sounds are created by combining the five standard vowel sounds, a, i, u, e and o, with one of the 19 consonant sounds (e.g. ka, ki, ku, ke, ko). These sounds are always pronounced in the same way and so, once learnt, are easy to remember and use. Unlike English, there is no stress accent; in other words, every syllable has equal stress. For example, the city name Hiroshima should be pronounced Hi-ro-shi-ma and not Hi-ro-shi-ma or Hi-ro-shi-ma as it is often mistakenly pronounced by foreigners. One interesting point about pronunciation is that, unlike English, there is no separate / and r sound and the Japanese can only pronounce these as a single sound, somewhere between the two. This has led to a number of confusions and misunderstandings for Japanese people when trying to distinguish between, for example, the English words lamb and ram, lice and rice or election and erection. The foreign learner of Japanese should aim to keep the r sound soft (not like the French r) and aim at a sound somewhere between r and l.
One other important feature of Japanese pronunciation is that of pitch. For example, words using identical sounds are distinguished in pronunciation through use of high and low pitch. The word hashi can mean either bridge or chopsticks. Hashi means chopsticks and hashi means bridge (the acute accent above a syllable shows it has high pitch). Of course, context will also usually indicate the meaning of a word, and pitch is neither as strong as stress accent nor as complex as tonal languages (e.g. Chinese).
Standard Japanese – Although there are a large number of local dialects (hogen) in Japan, they do not vary as greatly as some of the European regional languages and, as a result of centralized compulsory education and the influence of television and radio, the vast majority of Japanese people speak hyojungo or standard Japanese (based on the Tokyo dialect) alongside any local dialect. One dialect which is still widely used today is the kansai dialect (which includes the cities of Kyoto and Osaka). An example of this is the word okini meaning thank you (in standard Japanese the word is arigato).
Levels of speech – A more complicated feature of Japanese is the use of different levels of language depending on the status, age and sex of the person being addressed. Before looking at this in greater depth, here is a simple example of how it works. In Japan, shop assistants in department stores are trained to show extreme respect for all customers. After all, the saying goes O-kyakusama wa kamisama desu – the customer is god. Therefore, when speaking to customers (e.g. in the elevator or over the i annoy system) they use/humble language to refer to themselves .md the store and respectful language to address the customer. ( aistomers, however, because of their higher status, only need to speak to the assistant in neutral polite or plain language.
Now let’s take this apart a little. There are three main levels of polite language (also called honorific language or keigo). These .ire humble (kenjogo), respectful (sonkeigo) and neutral polite (leineigo). Humble and respectful language is used when the person being addressed is of a higher ranking (age, sex and work status can all be factors). In our example, this was the customer. Humble language is used by the speaker in referring to themselves or their in-group (e.g. family or company). In our example, this was the shop assistant and the store. It has the effect of lowering the speaker’s status and deepening respect for the person being addressed. Respectful language is used by the speaker in referring to the person being addressed and anything connected with them. In this situation, the person being addressed (the customer) would usually reply using more informal language to reflect their higher status.
Neutral polite language is used when there is no need to show specific respect to someone. For example, it would be used by two people who didn’t know each other very well but were of the same social status. And finally, plain language is used in more informal situations (e.g. between two friends) or by a higher ranking person to a more junior person.
They speak too quickly! – This is often the complaint of learners of Japanese when they first hear a Japanese tape or meet a Japanese person. Actually, it is the most common complaint of learners of any language but the fact is that all languages are spoken at more or less the same speed! The habit to develop is to train the ear to pick out key words and information and even more importantly, not to panic. And don’t forget, you can always say motto yukkuri itte kudasai – please speak more slowly.
Written Japanese – When confronted with a page of Japanese writing, you could be forgiven for thinking that to unravel and comprehend it would be an impossible task. In fact, many foreign learners of Japanese become fascinated by the script and find it challenging, exciting and ultimately very satisfying to master. And your Japanese friends will always be very impressed by your grasp of their written language, however basic this may be.
There are three scripts in Japanese (four if you include rdmaji or romanized script, in other words, the Western alphabet). These three scripts are kanji, hiragana and katakana. Each has its own specific function and the three are used in combination (plus romaji for some foreign words and acronyms, e.g. NATO) within whole texts. Let’s look at each individually, beginning with kanji.
Related posts:
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.