Japan is a small but diverse country. This affected, first of all, the language, because Japan is famous for its huge number of dialects. Residents of different regions may not understand each other, the differences are so strong!
This should be taken into account by those planning to move to Japan or travel around the country. Sometimes standard Japanese may not be enough for communication. This article contains information about Japanese dialects that will help you understand this linguistic diversity!
general information
- The Japanese language has some common pronunciation rules across all dialects. But basically, they are so different that the Japanese can hardly understand each other. This is due, first of all, to its geographical location - the state consists of 6,800 small islands. Accordingly, historically it happened that most of the population was isolated from each other for centuries.
- By the way, about history. Japan had an isolated life until the middle of the 19th century, and also constantly fought internecine wars. The Japanese united into shogunates and clans, which led to linguistic isolation. These two factors, together with others, have led to the formation of groups of dialects that differ from each other on the territory of this island state.
- These variants differ mainly in pronunciation, use of particles, and changes in word forms. The differences are significant. All dialects are called -ben, for example, Saka-ben, Hakata-ben. They are divided by cardinal directions, regions and even localities.
Features of the Japanese language
The Japanese language is very different from most languages of the world. Both Russian and English are quite strong. Therefore, studying English and other languages will not help you in learning Japanese. The other side of the coin is the Chinese and Korean languages. They have small connections with Japanese.
Accordingly, the first difference between the Japanese language and others is the Japanese writing system. For example, the Japanese borrowed characters from China and added a little of their own to them. They introduced two alphabets into them. In Chinese, everything is written in hieroglyphs, but in Japanese, everything is written in hieroglyphs and alphabet. These are two syllabary alphabets - one of them is called hiragana , and the other is called katakana . The characters in Japanese are called kanji .
Several thousand years ago, the Japanese did not have any written language. They decided to borrow writing from the Chinese because at that time the Chinese nation was very developed. But the Japanese found it difficult to read such characters, and they began to come up with various signs to sign the reading of kanji. This is how two alphabets arose - hiragana and katakana.
In previous articles, we have already said that these alphabets differed in gender application. That is, katakana was invented by men, and men used it, and hiragana, accordingly, was invented by women - Japanese aristocrats. As you may have noticed, these alphabets are really different in nature. Hiragana has smooth outlines, but in katakana it’s as if all the characters were carved into the rock with a sword.
Nowadays, everything has changed and borrowed words are written in katakana. For example, you come to Japan and want to write your name. Your name will be written in katakana. Accordingly, words such as computer, internet, skirt, bus, etc. are written in katakana. Originally Japanese words are written in hiragana, and you can also write a word in hiragana, even if it has a hieroglyphic spelling, but you do not know how this hieroglyph is written. Mostly Japanese schoolchildren do this. When they come to study, then, of course, they don’t know this huge number of hieroglyphs - they write everything in hiragana. Later they learn hieroglyphs and write the word in hieroglyphs. Also, inflected endings of words in Japanese and various cases are written in hiragana.
The second feature of the Japanese language is that Japanese nouns do not change in gender, number and case. For example, the word日本人(nihonjin) can mean Japanese as well as Japanese
or the Japanese.
Accordingly, the word itself does not change in any way. There are special suffixes that make the singular a plural, and there is also a way to say “two Japanese,” “three Japanese,” etc., but the word itself (if you don’t add any suffixes) does not change. The word can be used in various situations and you can only understand from the context whether it is Japanese, Japanese or Japanese. The next word is 先生(sensei). It could be a male teacher, a female teacher or teachers. This, on the one hand, is very convenient, but, on the other hand, sometimes people get confused, especially in the first stages. The Japanese language relies heavily on context.
The third feature is that the definition always comes before the word being defined.
The fourth feature is that there are only two tenses in the Japanese language and this is also a big plus, but in some cases you may get confused. Therefore, I will explain how to understand where the time is. So, in Japanese there is present/future tense and past tense. If we do not know the context of the sentence, then we can translate the verb both in the present and in the future. If we want to make a proposal in the future tense, then we add the word “tomorrow”. The time adverbial is placed at the beginning of the sentence. Once added, the sentence is translated into the future tense. If we want to make the present tense, then we add the word “today”.
The fifth feature is levels of politeness. There are different levels of politeness in Japanese. Depending on who you're talking to, you may sound a little different. Somewhere the endings are changed, somewhere a more polite word is chosen. This is due to the fact that Japanese society is highly hierarchical. Accordingly, there are three styles of politeness in Japanese speech:
• Colloquial speech – used when you are talking to loved ones, family or friends. Also, conversational speech can be allowed by the elders in relation to the younger ones.
• Neutral polite style is the most common. Used when meeting strangers. Also used at work with colleagues of equal status or in educational institutions.
• Polite speech – used in the service sector and also used by juniors towards seniors. (At work or school).
And to learn even more features of the Japanese language, follow the link and sign up for our main course!
We recommend:
[edit] Sources
- Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary/V. N. Yartseva. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - P. 625. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.
- ↑ 2,02,12,2 2009 Survey of Overseas Organizations Involved in Japanese-Language Education: in Korea 910,957 students are studying Japanese. In China 684,366 students are studying Japanese. The ten countries with the largest numbers of students, in descending order, were Korea, China, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan…
- A. Yu. Ivanov. “The influence of the Korean language on the process of formation of the Japanese language”
About the characteristics of the Japanese
Helpfulness
You will meet it everywhere, wherever you are. Even if a random passer-by does not know English, and you do not speak Japanese at all, nevertheless, your new acquaintance will do literally everything to solve your problem and make sure that now everything is fine with you. So it’s almost impossible to get lost or make a mistake - just ask for help and you’ll definitely get it.
Lack of emotions
This is something that not only well-trained samurai were famous for, but all modern residents of the country will adhere to the same principle. Of course, they are not absolute robots, but demonstrating their feelings in public (both positive and negative) is completely unacceptable here. Keep this point in mind if you decide to travel here.
Punctuality and accuracy
Here they don’t know what a “train delay” or a sudden change in schedule is. Transport runs every second, and changing drivers on metro trains takes only half a minute (and also not a second more or less). It is extremely difficult to be late somewhere here. Unless, of course, you are a “talented” foreigner 
Language courses
As already mentioned, Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, but this does not mean that trying to master it is useless. According to statistics, there are at least 15 million people in the world who have learned Japanese on their own as a hobby. Many people were prompted to do this by their acquaintance with Japanese cinema and anime.
And yet, if you are going to approach language learning thoroughly, it is better to do it in a special institution in Japan. Fortunately, there are many language schools in the state, as well as training programs. You can find a group based on:
- planned length of stay in the country (from 14 days to two years);
- age (there are courses for schoolchildren, students, adults, pensioners);
- city of residence and financial opportunities (in Tokyo, school classes and rent for living space will cost almost twice as much as in the outback).
By the way, if you are going to enroll in a Japanese university, it is better to “get a job” at a school at one of the universities to which you plan to apply. In this case, they will help you master not just the language, but also professional terminology.
[edit] Links
Dictionaries
- Russian-Japanese, Japanese-Russian dictionary online Electronic version of the Great Japanese-Russian Dictionary edited by Academician N. I. Conrad.
- Minna no Nihongo Japanese lessons + Japanese-Russian and Russian-Japanese dictionary online
- YYNIHONGO.JP
- Russian-Japanese, Japanese-Russian dictionary online YakuRu
- YARKSI - Japanese-Russian dictionary of hieroglyphs
- YARP - machine online Japanese-Russian translator
- Japanese-Russian and Russian-Japanese dictionary (kanji, kana and kiriji)
- Vocabulary on economic topics
- Japanese-Russian and Russian-Japanese online dictionary: + interlinear translation program.
- Japanese-Russian dictionaries and glossaries Yakusite.ru: + online dictionaries
- EJLookup, Japanese dictionary online
Lessons and materials for classes
- Russian-Japanese lessons on Internet Polyglot
- Japanese lessons with NHK World
- Kana Copybook (PDF)
- Japanese: - Technical aspect.
- Japanese language based on anime: - Japanese language lessons based on anime, with grammatical comments.
- Writing Japanese characters
- Dictionary of Japanese grammatical structures
- Japanese language - audio lessons (Russian). — Lectures 1 (10:20 — 53:07, 1:02:15 — 1:22:21) cultural for beginners. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
Catalogs
- A selection of useful links for Japanese scholars
[edit] Literature
- Syromyatnikov N. A.
Ancient Japanese language. - M., 1972. - Alpatov V. M.
Japan: language and society. - M.: Ant, 2003. - Lavrentyev B.P.
Self-instruction manual of the Japanese language. - M., 1992. - Akamatsu, Tsutomu.
Japanese phonology: A functional approach. - Munich: LINCOM EUROPA, 2000. - Feldman-Konrad N.I.
Japanese-Russian dictionary of hieroglyphs. - M., 1977. - Feldman-Konrad N. I., Tsyn M. S.
Textbook of scientific and technical translation. Japanese language. - M., 1979. - Bloch, Bernard.
Studies in colloquial Japanese IV: Phonemics //
Language
. - 1950. - Vol. 26. - P. 86-125. - 新日本語の基礎. Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS)
- Materials on the Japanese language (English). Archived from the original on June 27, 2012. (Retrieved June 26, 2012)
- Materials on Japanese writing (Russian). Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. (Retrieved June 26, 2012)
- Materials on phonetics and grammar of the Japanese language (Russian). Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. (Retrieved June 8, 2010)
Facts about the Japanese
"Plush" dresses
The European world can, at a minimum, be shocked by what is found in the Japanese (and, regardless of their gender and age). They even say that “Japanese fashion is not fashion at all,” because any trends are literally lost when anyone can wear a dress made of soft toys or thick socks under summer patent leather pumps.
Apple products
In modern Japan, everyone carries an iPhone, and they try to purchase the latest models. It's all about the payment system that this phone supports. Everyone here has switched to electronic payment, regardless of age and technical savvy, which means that without an Apple phone they will be without hands. Or rather, without a wallet.
"Women's" carriages
These can actually be found on the Japanese subway. And this is not a matter of division for religious or cultural reasons, but of security issues. The Japanese are sure that women need personal space, so, unfortunately, the stronger sex will not be able to get into some parts of the train.
[edit] Classification
The genetic connections of the Japanese language have not yet been fully elucidated. Japanese can be considered as an isolated language (if it is included in the same group with Ryukyuan - the Japanese-Ryukyu languages). There is also a hypothesis (supported, in particular, by S.A. Starostin) according to which Japanese belongs to the languages of the Altai family, the Buyeo group, along with modern Korean and Buyeo (ancient Korean) languages, with a significant Austronesian substrate and Chinese adstrate. The grammatical structure of the Japanese language is very similar to Korean. And many words of the Goguryeo language (an ancient principality in North Korea) and, to a lesser extent, other Buyeo languages, find parallels in the ancient Japanese language[3].
The vocabulary of the Japanese language can be compared with the vocabulary of Altaic or Austronesian languages. Like Korean, Japanese experienced a strong lexical influence from the Chinese language, however, due to the fact that this influence mainly affected the vocabulary and almost did not affect the grammar, Japanese is not classified as a Sino-Tibetan language.
