Is Japanese Language difficult to learn?

Is Japanese Language difficult to learn?

The answer is "yes" and "no". Yes, because, first of all, the Japanese language has a few sounds with five standard vowels and simple pronunciation scheme; syllables are formed by a single vowel or a consonant-vowel combination. For the grammar, there are few exceptions to its rules, and restrictions on sentence structure are not severe.

The Japanese language is considered difficult by many due to the mixture of different types of characters, namely, kanji characters, hiragana characters, katakana characters and Roman letters; the most difficult one is kanji. There are about 3,000 commonly used kanji characters including the 1,945 "daily use characters", and 46 hiragana and katakana characters each.

One aspect of the language that makes it difficult for foreigners to grasp quickly is the presence of many words which are pronounced the same but have different meanings. For example; hana can be "flower" or "nose", ame for "rain" or "candy". Knowing kanji helps in this aspect of learning as each of these words can be easily recognized by kanji.

Cultural Considerations

Another feature which makes the learning of Japanese difficult yet interesting is the fact that the way Japanese is spoken differs depending on whether the speaker is a man or a woman, and adult or a child. Can you imagine, for instance, how strange a male foreign speaker, especially a big macho-looking man, sounds, if he speaks Japanese which he has picked up informally from Japanese lady’s speaking?

What is even more troublesome is that the speaker must choose his words considering the relationship between himself and the person he is speaking to or speaking about. The barriers between the speaker and the listener/person in the topic are mostly created by familiarity between two people, age and position in society. The more unfamiliar you are to the listener, and the younger you are, and the lower your social status is, the more your speech becomes formal. The reverse is the informal speech. One example is that there are numerous words meaning "I" and each speaker refers to himself using the one what is most appropriate for his situation. Besides, these situational differences can be accentuated by the body language; custom of bowing (45 degree in general), space between two speakers, eye contact, etc., which projects the cultural aspect of the Japanese society.

In general, the Japanese are notorious for being a poor speaker of foreign language. Therefore, they appreciate the foreigners’ learning Japanese. Their typical response to foreigners’ speaking even a little Japanese is "Joozu desu ne!"; "Your Japanese is good!" Thus, knowing a little Japanese can go a long way, not only in communication, but captivating the heart of Japanese.

Ganbatte! (Hang in there!)

Yumiko Lee is founder of Japan hiWays. Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Yumiko married Eric Lee in 1984 and has since been staying in Singapore teaching Japanese with regular Japan Immersion Program for students and working adults. She provides information and news on Japanese Language, Living in Japan and Japan Travel.


Yumiko Lee is founder of Japan hiWays. Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Yumiko married Eric Lee in 1984 and has since been staying in Singapore teaching Japanese with regular Japan Immersion Program for students and working adults. She provides information and news on Japanese Language, Living in Japan and Japan Travel.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Is Japanese Language difficult to learn?

Is Japanese Language difficult to learn?
The answer is "yes" and "no". Yes, because, first of all, the Japanese language has a few sounds with five standard vowels and simple pronunciation scheme; syllables are formed by a single vowel or a consonant-vowel combination. For the grammar, there are few exceptions to its rules, and restrictions on sentence structure are not severe.

The Japanese language is considered difficult by many due to the mixture of different types of characters, namely, kanji characters, hiragana characters, katakana characters and Roman letters; the most difficult one is kanji. There are about 3,000 commonly used kanji characters including the 1,945 "daily use characters", and 46 hiragana and katakana characters each.

One aspect of the language that makes it difficult for foreigners to grasp quickly is the presence of many words which are pronounced the same but have different meanings. For example; hana can be "flower" or "nose", ame for "rain" or "candy". Knowing kanji helps in this aspect of learning as each of these words can be easily recognized by kanji.

Cultural Considerations

Another feature which makes the learning of Japanese difficult yet interesting is the fact that the way Japanese is spoken differs depending on whether the speaker is a man or a woman, and adult or a child. Can you imagine, for instance, how strange a male foreign speaker, especially a big macho-looking man, sounds, if he speaks Japanese which he has picked up informally from Japanese lady’s speaking?

What is even more troublesome is that the speaker must choose his words considering the relationship between himself and the person he is speaking to or speaking about. The barriers between the speaker and the listener/person in the topic are mostly created by familiarity between two people, age and position in society. The more unfamiliar you are to the listener, and the younger you are, and the lower your social status is, the more your speech becomes formal. The reverse is the informal speech. One example is that there are numerous words meaning "I" and each speaker refers to himself using the one what is most appropriate for his situation. Besides, these situational differences can be accentuated by the body language; custom of bowing (45 degree in general), space between two speakers, eye contact, etc., which projects the cultural aspect of the Japanese society.

In general, the Japanese are notorious for being a poor speaker of foreign language. Therefore, they appreciate the foreigners’ learning Japanese. Their typical response to foreigners’ speaking even a little Japanese is "Joozu desu ne!"; "Your Japanese is good!" Thus, knowing a little Japanese can go a long way, not only in communication, but captivating the heart of Japanese.

Ganbatte! (Hang in there!)

Yumiko Lee is founder of Japan hiWays. Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Yumiko married Eric Lee in 1984 and has since been staying in Singapore teaching Japanese with regular Japan Immersion Program for students and working adults. She provides information and news on Japanese Language, Living in Japan and Japan Travel.


Yumiko Lee is founder of Japan hiWays. Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Yumiko married Eric Lee in 1984 and has since been staying in Singapore teaching Japanese with regular Japan Immersion Program for students and working adults. She provides information and news on Japanese Language, Living in Japan and Japan Travel.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Do You Want To Learn Japanese Easily?

Do You Want To Learn Japanese Easily?

Let's start by giving a good number of reasons why learning Japanese might be of interest to you. ** You may be about to travel to a Japanese speaking country ** You have an opportunity to occupationally train some colleagues who only speak Japanese ** You want basic Japanese for business reasons and want to become more valuable at your job by being bilingual ** You are a fan of Japanese animation films, video games, manga comics and want to want to enjoy them more fully without relying on subtitles ** You would like to read books, magazines, and web sites written in Japanese ** Enable you write to and email Japanese speaking people ** Feel more confident and comfortable around Japanese speaking people ** Allow you to get hired by a multi-national business firm and possibly even work and live in Japan ** Japanese fluency definitely stands out on a college/university application, resume or curriculum vitae ** Just enjoy the possibility of making tons of new Japanese friends Besides that, it would be pretty impressive to be able to tell your family, friends, and members of the opposite sex that you "speak Japanese". Your goal should be to learn to read, speak, and understand modern Japanese. Obviously this can't be done from just a book. One of the better proven ways of doing this with less effort is utilizing "picture learning". This method appears to better lock the language into your brain. Some computerized courses feature this approach to build vocabulary in terms of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Japanese. This system makes the whole process more fun and can have the student mastering hundreds of words in a matter of days. Make sure that whatever course you take covers both the Hiragana and Katakana Japanese alphabets. The better courses utilized a "game" type approach to reduce boredom, stimulate interest and improve speed of results. Once you gain the competence in Japanese, you will open up many personal and business related opportunities. For example, the U.S.A. does more business with Japan than any other country. You will be a valuable employee if you speak the language of the customer. Japanese is among the top 10 languages on Earth and spoken by over 130 million people. "Speaks Japanese" looks great on a resume or curriculum vitae, no matter what your line of work. In Japan especially, language has been grooved by culture. So as you study Japanese you also discover and learn more about their wonderful culture. Stepping outside your own culture and language will give you a fresh, new perspective. In addition, Japan has lots of great music that can be appreciated so much more because you can now understand it.

If you would like to get rid of the problem of learning japanese then just simply visit our site learn japanese.There are lots of people who visit our site and get rid of this problem. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Everyone needs to learn English in Japan

Everyone needs to learn English in Japan

"There were days when your intellect as a Japanese would be measured in terms of how well you knew the different dialects of the Japanese language. All that is slowly changing nowadays. What I hear from Japan is that knowing English is slowly being used as a benchmark to judge a person’s dialect. That is a big sea change for a country that has made a lot of progress in 60 years after the atomic bombings.Now, students are exposed to English at a very early age. The thinking of Japanese citizens is that if they learn English at a very young age, they would not have problems communicating in English when they grow up. It is this thought that forces a lot of English teaching jobs in schools and universities. Please do not be surprised when a kid sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "Mary had a little lamb to you". English teaching has acquired unprecedented popularity in Japan and kids aged 6-12 are one amongst the first to be educated.The teens, who are aged 13-18 are also being a part of the revolution. I am told that there are compulsory English classes in their schools. Though for now, English is not their primary medium of communication for all other subjects, it is learnt as a second language. That in itself is a good change. I am also being told that everyone enrolling in schools must complete tests in English. Without passing the tests, they would not be allowed to go to the next grade.The last set of popular age group that has been taking to education in English quite predominantly is the middle aged people. Quite a lot of these guys are employed with MNC Firms. With most of the firms in the world going global, Japanese have realized that they would need efficient communication in English for them to survive. It is this need that is forcing a lot of these guys to take to English. More importantly, a lot of these guys learn English as an additional skill for them to apply for jobs. A lot of companies in Japan give weight to your resume if you know English.All this tells you that if you are an English Teacher, you have a wide base of people that you can target. It just requires you to be certified and if you are, chances are you could land a high paying English teaching job."

Ms. Mistina Thomson, the author of the article. If you would like to Teach English in Japan start by browsing available English Job. You can also visit one of the many web forums for English teachers.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com