FROM ENGLISH TO 日本語: KEY PHRASES

Konnichiwa こんにちは = Good afternoon; often mistaken to mean hello, this is most commonly heard in the daytime.

Onegaishimas おねがいします = Please; often placed at the end of the sentence and can be used with people you don’t know well.

Sumimasen すみません = Excuse me or I’m sorry; can also express gratitude for someone who went out of their way to help you.

A Brief History

The origins of the Japanese language are debated due to the lack of evidence of a writing system at the time. Though Japanese words recorded in kanji (Chinese characters) were found in Chinese documents in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it wasn’t until the 8th century that significant amounts of text were produced. Old Japanese in the 8th century continued to evolve into the modern Japanese that we know today. The writing system also evolved from using kanji to the inclusion of kana, two native syllabaries also known as hiragana and katakana. Today, 123 million people speak Japanese worldwide.

Interesting Facts About the Language

There are thousands of onomatopoeia (words that represent sounds) and ideophones (words that represent feelings or ideas) in Japanese. Some examples: ぺらぺら (pera pera – to be fluent in another language), ぴゅーぴゅー (piyuupiyuu – strong, cold winter winds), わくわく (wakuwaku – excited)

Japanese has its own sign language, JSL 日本手話, which (as compared to ASL) uses mouthing and fingerspelling to differentiate between signs.

Japanese is one of the most fast-paced languages in the world (measured by syllables per second). 

 Japanese has three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. 

There are different levels of formality in Japanese. The level of formality changes the form of verbs and other words. 

 Japanese can be written vertically (from top to bottom) or horizontally (from left to right). 

What Japanese Means to Me