Currently, the Japanese language is the ninth most spoken language in the world. It is used by around 130 million people living in the Japanese archipelago, but it also extends beyond its borders into Taiwan, the Philippines, the United States, Brazil, Peru, and many other corners of the world.
Uncertain origins
Due to the great economic and cultural expansion Japan has experienced over recent years, there is increasing interest in studying Japanese worldwide. However, little is known about the origins of this fascinating language.
Despite having two millennia of history, there aren’t many records of the birth of Japanese as a language. Thus, it is considered an isolated language; that is, when compared with other living or dead languages, it is nearly impossible to find similarities or any indication of its derivation.
Some theories consider it an Altaic language (originating in the Altai Mountains region in Asia) like Korean or Mongolian. But without any records or evidence of its origins, it cannot be confirmed that they descend from a common language. On the contrary, it is more likely that their similarities result from influence among neighboring languages.
It is characterized as an agglutinative language: words are formed by combining linguistic elements that have independent existence and meaning. For instance, the word “Nihongo“, which means “Japanese”, is written as:
日 本 語
It is formed by combining the characters 日 (Ni; Sun), 本 (Hon; Origin), and 語 (Go; Language) which have independent meanings.
The Japanese language and its writing system
The Japanese writing system derives from Chinese, although the languages of these two countries are very different. In the language’s evolution over the years, four stages are identified:
Prehistory
So far, no evidence has been found to study the Japanese language before the introduction of Chinese ideograms around the 4th century AD. Therefore, Japanese prehistory extended until that moment.
Old Japanese
From the 3rd and 4th centuries AD onwards, there was significant influence from Chinese culture in Japan, with the introduction of writing and Buddhism from that country. This led to the use of kanji, a Chinese writing system based on ideograms, each representing a complete word. Over time, these characters merged with the existing language, contributing vocabulary and phonology.
Middle Japanese
This is the most important period in the Japanese language. It is further divided into two stages:
- Early: covering the 7th to the 12th century. During this time, the phonetic system that resulted in the Japanese syllabaries or kana was developed. Unlike kanji, where each symbol represents a concept, in kana each symbol represents a syllable. Consequently, the Japanese language invented its own syllabic writing systems, named hiragana (used to write Japanese words) and katakana (used for writing Western words adopted into Japanese).
- Late: between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Japanese language evolved and improved, incorporating some European words, forming the Japanese language as we know it today.
Modern Japanese
From the 17th century and especially in the 19th century, linguistic borrowings from Western languages increased significantly, completing the language.
Currently, all three writing systems (kanji, hiragana, and katakana) are used, sometimes even within a single sentence.
Some curiosities of the Japanese language
The richness of this language is reflected in peculiarities, such as:
Honorific language System (Keigo)
Japanese speakers use different words or expressions depending on whether they are addressing a superior, a stranger, a child, a family member, or a friend. This is known as the honorific language system (keigo). It implies that, depending on the context, adjustments are made in the discourse to show various degrees of respect from the speaker towards the listener. In this way, one can choose from a wide range of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to express the appropriate level of politeness for the situation, allowing a single statement to be expressed in more than twenty different ways.
Japanese names
For Japanese people, choosing a given name (and the character that represents it) is done from a list of 2999 characters authorized by the government for this purpose. Parents select it based on its symbolism and the luck it may bring to the child.
Additionally, Japanese names consist of the surname and given names, in that order. Being an agglutinative language, additional suffixes can be added to the surname: san, equivalent to “Mr.” or “Mrs.”; or chan which is added to the surnames and names of close friends. Sensei can also be added after the surname, indicating “teacher” or “doctor”.
Dialects
Japan’s complex geography, with more than 6000 islands and numerous mountains, gave rise to many dialects that still remain alive. The variants spoken in Kyoto and Osaka are the most prestigious and widely used. The “standard” Japanese is spoken in Tokyo. It spread to the rest of the country through education provided in schools and the media.
Passion for Japan
Learning Japanese also involves knowing the history of Japan and its culture. In this way, the entire learning process is much richer and more interesting, and those who study this language become passionate about it.
My name is Pablo Galian. For many years, I have lived in the city of Buenos Aires. I have always been interested in various forms of artistic expression as a way to express the richness that we all carry within. I attended different workshops in painting, collage, photography, and writing, and my work combines a bit of each form of expression. In 2024, I began studying for a degree in Text Writing to professionalize in that field.
In Manabu, I found a space where I can share what I’ve learned about Japan and its culture from my time visiting the country. It also allows me to share with readers the research I conduct on these topics.