language fact file: Japanese

Language fact file: Japanese

Japanese is spoken as an official language in: Japan

Number of native speakers: 123 million

Learn some: Manners are important in Japanese culture, so learn the basics: ‘arigatou gozaimasu’ is ‘thank you’, and there are two ways to say please, depending on whether you are requesting an object: ‘kudasai’, or a service: ‘onegaishimasu’.

Fast facts:

While now only an official language in Japan, Japanese was once the official language of the Republic of Palau. This is a nation made up of hundreds of islands, situated in the Pacific Ocean. It was ruled by Japan between WW1 and WW2, after which time it was governed by the USA. It finally gained full sovereignty in 1994.

While Japanese uses some Chinese characters and loan words from other languages, it is what linguists call a ‘language isolate’, meaning it shares no roots with any other language.

A Japanese character can have up to ten different readings! Add to this the fact that there is no definite (the) or indefinite (a) article and no way of making a plural, you can see why it might be a challenging language to learn!