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- The Sound. First cab off the rank, the lack of phonemes. Japanese only has 46 distinct sounds for you to master. On top of this, Japanese is not a tonal language like Mandarin, Thai or Vietnamese.
- Japanglish. Japanese has always had a unique way of dealing with loan words from other cultures. They even went so far as to create an entirely new writing system to deal with them called katakana.
- No gender difference and no plural ‘s’ Learners of Romance or Germanic languages may rejoice to hear that upon starting their Japanese language journey, they will never again have to remember if a chair is feminine, masculine, or neutral.
- Kanji. With 2041 kanji considered “Jyoyou” or what a student completing Year 12 is expected to learn, it may sound counterintuitive to say that kanji is one of the factors making Japanese easier to learn.
Learning to understand Japanese culture is major part of learning the language and keigo – the Japanese “politeness” system – is a big part of that. If you want to speak to people who “outrank” you (and that’s a lot of people—teachers, officials, and even your bosses and managers), then “honorific speech” (called keigo ) is very important.
And yet for some reason, it’s soooo common for foreigners learning Japanese to do this exact thing. It’s almost like there’s a pre-existing assumption that “Japanese is so hard”, which, like a self-perpetuating bias, makes people go looking for difficult stuff to mull over and complain about to “prove it”.
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For one, Japanese phonology (the sounds that make up the language) is really simple. There are only five basic vowel sounds (most of which are common in other languages), and the consonants are pretty basic as well. Compare that to English phonology. English phonology, especially the vowels, and much more complex than Japanese. Another nice thing a...
Anybody who has tried to learn a Romance language knows that subjunctive tense will make you want to rip your hair out. What issubjunctive tense? Basically, it's expressing a future desire. In Japanese, it's really, really easy to do. But in other languages, well…let's just say that I'm a native English speaker and, to be honest, I don't have a clu...
Even kanji, the boogeyman of the Japanese language, is actually pretty easy. Technology has not only made it a lot easier to learn kanji (through spaced repetition systems), but a lot easier to read and write kanji too. You no longer have to memorize the stroke order of each kanji; now, you can just type it in! And if you don't know a kanji, it's i...
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Oct 9, 2024 · Check out our comprehensive list of Japanese language schools in Tokyo to find the best learning option for you. There are also many very affordable and free Japanese classes in Tokyo. For details, please check here. You can also learn Japanese for free with great online tools or use Japanese Learning Apps.
Jul 26, 2024 · The FSI placed Japanese in Category V (along with Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Arabic), rating it as a “super-hard language to learn.” This means that, on average, it took FSI candidates 2,200 in-class hours to achieve ILR-3 proficiency in speaking and reading — about four times as long as languages like Spanish or French!
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May 26, 2024 · While Japanese is hard to learn, understanding the reasons behind its perceived difficulty and implementing effective learning strategies can significantly enhance your progress. By embracing the complexities of the Japanese language and incorporating targeted tips for Kana, Kanji, and grammar, beginners can navigate their learning journey with confidence and success.
