Japanese Language & 9 Surprising Facts About it
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FACT 1 Verbs aren’t conjugated. Verbs aren’t conjugated for person or number, so once you’ve learned the base verb, you don’t have to memorize tons of pesky derivatives. instead, you can focus your attention on the complexities of the notoriously difficult Japanese writing systems.
FACT 2 Japanese bears no relation to any other major language. Japanese is not closely related to any other major language. In fact, until recently, it was classified as a language isolate, meaning that it is completely unique among all current world languages.
FACT 3 The Japanese word for “Japan” means “Land of the Rising Sun” The word “Japan” is a foreign word – Japanese people call their country にほん (Nihon) or にっぽん (Nippon), which roughly translates to “Land of the Rising Sun”.
FACT 4 Almost 10% of Internet users speak Japanese. Japanese is the 9th most-spoken language worldwide, but it’s the thirdlargest language on the Internet, behind English and Spanish. Even though Japanese speakers represent less than 2% of the world population, they make up almost 10% of Internet users.
FACT 5 The Japanese language evolved in the 6th century from the Yamato people. Around 1500 years ago, the Yamato people set up the first dynasty in what is now known as Japan. Their language eventually evolved into modern Japanese as we know it today.
FACT 6 Japanese features loanwords from languages all over the world. Japanese contains a vast amount of 外来語 (“gairaigo”, loanwords from other languages). However, these don’t just come from English. Some words like テ レ ビ (“terebi”) derive from English. Indeed, other languages are present too: パ ン (“pan”, bread) come from Portuguese pão, and アルバイト (“arubaito”, part-time worker) comes from the German word Arbeit (work).
FACT 7 Homophones abound. If you thought that English has a lot of homophones (words that mean different things but are pronounced the same), try studying Japanese! All eight characters below are pronounced shin, but they mean totally different things: God, to advance, to believe, new, true, stretch, heart, and parent, from left to right.
FACT 8 Honorifics abound, too. Japanese makes extensive use of honorifics, which involve adding suffixes to words in order to show various degrees of respect. Different honorific suffixes are used for peers, children, guests, elders, colleagues, teachers, and more!
FACT 9 Japanese is one of the fastest spoken languages. A recent study compared the speed (in syllables per second) at which native speakers of various languages talk. Japanese topped the list at a rip-roaring 7.84 syllables per second! For comparison, English is spoken at a comparatively snail-paced 6.19 syllables per second.
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