Comprehensive Guide for
“The Japanese Language”
Japanese Language History (日本語の歴史)
Fascinated by learning the origin of the Japanese language and its exciting history? You would be! Despite being one of the smaller Asian countries, the Japanese language is the eighth most spoken language around the Globe. A total of 130 million people speak Japanese worldwide, of which 125 million Japanese speakers live in Japan. Here, the Japanese language is the de facto language of the country despite not holding official status. The remaining 5 million speakers are mainly immigrants who speak Japanese. The reputation of the Japanese and their language continues to grow as they travel internationally and move abroad. Most prominent is the fact that the Japanese language is widespread in Hawaii and Brazil. There are also ample Japanese-speaking populations in Australia, the US, and Canada. The Japanese gained independence over 70 years ago, and their success and power speak for themselves. Japan is one of the most prominent countries across the globe! It has the 10th largest population globally and thus a considerable number of Japanese speakers. As you would have thought, Japanese language translation services are more in demand than ever, especially in today’s globalised economy. Even more remarkable is that the Japanese language is considered a language isolate. The origin of the Japanese language is unclear and holds no verifiable connection to any other language. How this unique and unrelated language has become overriding in the modern world is extremely interesting.
Origin of the Japanese Language (日本語の起源)
The origin of the Japanese language is heavily debated. Evidence could link several language families, including Chinese, Polynesian, and Ural-Altaic. Many even deliberate that Japanese is a language isolate! Yet it is most widely believed that the Japanese language belongs to the Ryukyuan family of languages, brought to Japan via the Korean peninsula in the 4th century BC.
The lack of evidence of origins is primarily due to the lack of a writing system for the Japanese language until this time. People speak Japanese, but it is hard to define the “beginning” of the language without any preserved text. However, the Japanese population started using Chinese characters in the 4th century. These are the earliest known texts written in Japanese, known as Old Japanese language, which uses many of the same grammatical rules in place today.
The language of Japan evolved and experienced several phonological changes, becoming Early Middle Japanese in the Heian period (794 to 1185). This language was the literary standard in Japan and incorporated many Chinese borrowed words. The Late Middle Japanese period followed and spanned from 1185 to 1600, characterised by the addition of European borrowed words.
Modern “Japanese Language” (現代の日本語)
The Modern Japanese period moves further from the origin of the Japanese language. Previously, the Kansai dialect of Japanese was deemed the language standard. But in the Modern Japanese era, there was a shift towards the dialect spoken in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). From the 1600s onwards, the city developed into the largest in Japan, and people used the regional language diversity to speak Japanese professionally and in their daily lives.
The Japanese language continued to evolve in due time. The number of European borrowed words increased significantly from 1853 onwards. As trade opened and connections formed, these additions were necessary. More foreign words were borrowed post-war, particularly from German, Portuguese, and English.
The Japanese language used for communications and taught as a foreign language is known as Hyojungo (Standard Japanese). However, the Japanese language spoken by natives is somewhat different. There are still many dialects spoken over the 6,852 individual Japanese islands, known as Hōgen, which can be split into four groups: Eastern, Western, Kyushu, and Ryūkyū.
Alphabets & Writing System (文字と表記体系)
Before the 4th century AD, the Japanese language had no writing system. Japan then came into contact with Chinese culture, including the Chinese script, in the 5th century. The Japanese started developing their own script based on traditional Chinese characters, which is thought to be the origin of the Japanese language alphabet and writing systems. The characters are known as Kanji (漢字).
Thousands of Kanji are part of the writing system of Japanese. The Japanese Ministry of Education expects students to be familiar with around 2,000 characters before high school graduation, which is usually an adequate number for standard printed material. Highly educated Japanese speakers may know up to 8,000 characters.
The modern Japanese language can also be written in two other scripts that appeared during the 9th century: Hiragana (平仮名) and Katakana (片仮名). Hiragana is a simplified version of Kanji, created by the Japanese Imperial Court and used by most people who speak Japanese. Buddhist monks developed Katakana, which is more like a shorthand version of Kanji. It is a sound-based script that can be used to write foreign borrowed words.
Japanese Language Honorifics (日本語の敬語表現)
The origin of the Japanese language is not related to any other language family, often making it a language isolate. However, one related language is Korean. The Korean and Japanese languages have significant differences in pronunciation, but both use honorifics. In the Japanese language, this is known as Keigo (敬語), translating literally to “respectful language.”
Formality is vital in Japanese culture, so, unsurprisingly, this is prominent in the language of Japan. There are broadly three levels of formality: polite (丁寧語, teineigo), respectful (尊敬語, sonkeigo), and modest (謙譲語, kenjōgo). Strangers speak Japanese to each other politely, whereas the respectful Japanese language is used when talking to superiors and customers. When talking about oneself, modest language is used.
This feature of the Japanese language is deeply rooted in culture. For the Japanese, family and country are more important than self. This idea comes from Confucianism, an ancient Chinese religion focusing on the importance of ethics, morality, and ancestors. It merged with the Japanese culture via the Korean peninsula in the 3rd century, explaining why both Japanese and Korean languages have honorifics.