Japanese Language - Nihongo

The Japanese Language is interesting and unique. It is interesting because it shares some base similarities with Ural-Altaic languages such as Mongolian and Turkish. It also shares some sound and word pronunciations that seem similar to Polynesian languages.

Even with these surface level similarities, much of the previous information continues to be debated, which in turn, helps to highlight the unique nature of the Japanese Language.

The Japanese Language does not have the sounds L or V. For that reason, native Japanese speakers most often substitute the “R” sound for “L” and the “B” sound for “V”.

Japanese has 3 different types of writing systems. Hiragana is the first writing system that is taught in elementary school. It is phonetically based and each character represents a sound/syllable. It is used to write Japanese words and consists of 46 basic characters.

Katakana is the second system taught in elementary school. It is also phonetically based. It is primarily used to write foreign, borrowed, and onomatopoeic words or sounds. It also consists of 46 basic characters.

Hiragana tends to be more curved and round like cursive, while Katakana tends to be straight and sharp like print.

The final writing system used is also the most difficult. Kanji are Chinese-characters that have been modified to match Japanese spoken language. To be considered proficient, a person would need to learn at the minimum; a basic set of 2,136 Joyo-Kanji. In Japan, elementary students are also introduced to Kanji; which they will continue to learn all the way up to high school.