

The Kanji system, or “Chinese words” system, is logographical. Simply put, the two “kana” systems are alphabet-like and based on English vowels. Modern Japanese has three systems of writing. It is thus at most a historical situation of Chinese exerting an enduring influence on Japan’s native language. Verbs follow nouns in Japanese, while it’s the other way around in Chinese.Įven the above-mentioned ancient texts already displayed notable differences in sentence structures. For a start, the Japanese grammar system is utterly unlike that of Chinese. It is very wrong to assume Japanese is derived from Chinese, though. Furthermore, the earliest Japanese texts were entirely written using Chinese characters. During the Heian Period between AD 7, Japanese phonology was also heavily influenced by the Chinese tongue. The classic Chinese writing system was imported into Japan together with Buddhism. The Language Was Heavily Influenced by Chinese It is also one in which Chinese-sounding nouns, English transliterations, and Japanese particles can all coexist within one short sentence, harmoniously. The end result is the complex language that we know of today which by the way, is still evolving. Within Japan, the subject is called kokugo (国語), which means “national language.”įrom the 8 th century, written and spoken Japanese both underwent substantial transformations too, with significant changes to the Kana scripts and the inclusion of European/English loanwords. Children’s study guide for the Japanese language. Though today classified by linguists as part of the Japonic language family, relationships with other native tongues such as Korean and Austroasiatic languages remain uncertain. Historically, text with substantial use of Japanese only appeared in the 8 th century. Though the ninth most-spoken language worldwide, with some 128 million native speakers, the origins of the Japanese language are unknown.

Historical Origins of the Japanese Language are Unknown One of the Most Flexible and Fascinating Languages in the World.Formal and Informal/Spoken Japanese Can Be Utterly Unlike.Japanese Onomatopoeia Words Are Fascinating and Befuddling.There Are Different Levels of Formality.

