What makes the Japanese language a hard one to learn?
Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 128 million people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, and its relation to other languages, such as Korean, is debated. Japonic languages have been grouped with other language families such as Ainu, Austroasiatic, and the now-discredited Altaic, but none of these proposals has gained widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language’s prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial texts did not appear until the 8th century. According to FSI [Foreign Service Institute], Japanese is the toughest to master for a native English speaker. Japanese is difficult, but you can surely learn.
Generally, Japanese is perceived as a hard language, but it is not as difficult as you think, even though it differs from European languages. You can understand the basics without knowing the complete Hiragana (Native Japanese words), Katakana (Foreign words), or Kanji (adopted Chinese characters). You can learn Japanese, at least the elementary level, with the help of Rōmaji (Romanized Japanese). It was developed to describe Japanese sound in the Roman alphabet for those who have not mastered the three main scripts. To read a newspaper, one has to learn at least 2,000 Japanese characters, mainly Kanji. Like any other language, it requires a lot of time, persistence, and effort.
If you want to learn, whatever your purpose – as long as you have a reason – you’re more likely to reach your language goals. Let’s understand the difficult or intimidating parts of Japanese and how you can master them:
Japanese Kanji Script
When you start, it will look very complicated and impossible to master. Actually, it is unusual, and you have to get used to the way it differs. Once you get over that initial hurdle, it’s very straightforward. Nouns have no gender, no articles, and no plural forms: only two verb tenses, present and past. With only five vowel sounds and consistent phonetic spelling, the language is relatively comfortable to pronounce.
Writing System
Experts agree the Japanese writing system is one of the most complexes in the world because it combines five different systems — kanji, hiragana, katakana, Arabic numerals and even the Roman alphabet.
Pronunciation
Most kanji have two different pronunciations, depending on whether they refer to words of Japanese (“kun yomi”) or Chinese (“on yomi”) origin. A number of words needed to start conversations. According to a survey by the National Institute for Japanese Language, contemporary Japanese magazines use about 30,000 words, but 90 per cent of sentences are constructed from a pool of just 10,000. The figure is much larger than English and Spanish, each of which requires knowledge of about 3,000 words, while French requires only about 2,000 words, according to Kotobano Chishiki Hyakka (the Encyclopedia of Words), published in 1995.
So how do you master them?
Like any other language, you need to practice lots of listening, reading, and of course, speaking. If you’re interested in the Japanese language certification test in India, you can pass N2 of the JLPT test in 3 years. It is not that tricky If you probably thought the difficulties were the main reason not to learn. Armed with the right language learning methods, materials, and motivation, one can accomplish the Japanese language eloquence in a matter of a few years, not a decade, as many assume.
Honestly, when I look at the very few people, I actually know who’ve succeeded, it’s clear why.
They got up at 4 a.m. every morning to do speaking drills, or wrote 50,000 flashcards, or went to language school five hours a day. It’s clear that dedication plays a huge role here. Part of the problem with those who don’t succeed lies with their ever-loftier goals. While your goals should be realistic, they shouldn’t be extremely easy. They should force you to put in the effort and time.
Finally,
Though no longer considered a linguistic isolate, Japanese forms a family with only the Ryukyuan languages and its origin remains uncertain. For English speakers at least, it is considered one of the most difficult languages to master. Studying Japanese takes some time, effort and money, but more importantly, it takes dedication. If I had to say how long it would take to get reasonably good at Japanese, I’d estimate a minimum of 3 to 7 years, and possibly much more, depending upon how much time you devote and how many advantages you bring to the table.
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