It's hard to believe that it has been more than six months since I've written a formal blog post about my continued journey (adventures, sunny moments, and cloudy moments alike) with the Japanese language! Especially since it's probably the most significant difference for me here in Japan. While most of my language posts center around my experiences learning and trying to understand and use the Japanese language, I thought it might be interesting to write a post that focuses more on the actual differences between the Japanese and English language.
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| "Japanese" |
My idea sparked from an article that I read recently which was discussing the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. Those languages were Arabic, Korean, Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin), and Japanese. Japanese was actually listed as the most difficult, which did provide me with a slight sense of relief for my learning struggles. Additionally, a friend of mine did a presentation on cross cultural understanding, which contained a lot of information on the cultural differences between Japan and many other countries. I found the bit on the influences of culture on communication to be of particular interest!
So, using that information combined with all that I've been learning (and realizing) through my Japanese lessons and daily experiences - I've come up with ten differences between the Japanese and English languages.
1. Japanese is a high-context (implicit) language; English is a low-context (explicit) language.
From a language standpoint, Japanese is a high-context (implicit) language, which means that "good communication is seen as sophisticated, nuanced, and layered. Messages are both spoken and read between the lines. Messages are often implied, but not plainly expressed" (Connolly, 2017). Whereas, English is a low-context (explicit) language, which means that "good communication is seen as precise, clear, and simple. Messages are expressed and understood at face value. Repetition is appreciated if it helps clarify the communication" (Connolly, 2017).
Much of this development as a high-context language can be attributed to both the age of Japan (as a country) and to the fact that historically almost everyone in Japan was Japanese and spoke the same language. Additionally, Japan has a history of isolation. The country is an island, which provides some separation from the surrounding world; and, for close to 200 years, Japan went through a period of isolation in which they intentionally shut themselves off to contact with most of the world - further ingraining the view of separation in its people. Therefore, there are a lot of shared ideas and information between Japanese people; and, it may be viewed as redundant to explain a topic or idea that your listener is inherently familiar with. Additionally, some would describe Japanese as a lean and efficient language. When spoken casually, a message is often cut back to just the most important words and speakers let their listeners decide on the details themselves. While an efficient message may seem more explicit (and therefore, low-context), one has to remember the shared understanding that enables this "lean" message to be understood.
I think this concept - out of all the ones I will discuss - showcases the interconnection of language, culture, and communication so powerfully! For example, before moving to Japan, my tutor advised me not to ask people "why." If I asked a person to lunch and she said "another time," then it was best not to follow up my question with "What do you have going on?" or "Would another day/time work for you?" I've also learned that on the few occasions that I ask Kaz or my tutor a "why" question...the answer is often because "it just is" or "it's always been that way." Boy, has that been difficult - especially since my mind is constantly looking for rules in this learning process! Additionally, it is rare for a Japanese person to say "no" or tell you his/her true opinion about something...especially if it's negative (and if he/she is not your family member or close friend). The person may make a more vague or ambiguous comment and the receiver is to imply what was actually meant. With my limited Japanese proficiency, this can definitely be a struggle - as I do not have the skills to imply or read between the lines. However, cultural understanding does help make this a bit easier.
This concept is then reinforced further in the fact that negative questions are often used when asking another person a question. If I wanted to ask you to go for a run - I would actually ask you in a way that essentially translates into - "You don't want to go for a run, do you?" Asking - "Do you want to go for a run?" would be viewed as too direct...especially if I was asking someone who was not my peer. And this is just one of many examples in which societal/cultural norms are reflected in language use.
2. The Japanese language has keigo (honorifics/parts of speech meant to show respect).
Keigo can fall under three main categories: sonkeigo (respectful language); kenjogo (humble language/modest language), and teineigo (polite language). Keigo is used to emphasize either social distance/disparity in rank or social intimacy/similarity in rank. And, speakers and listeners are constantly assessing where they fall within a social circle - and making changes as needed. For example, if a husband and wife are talking - and the husband's parents join the circle - then they would talk one way to the husband, another way to the wife, the husband would talk one way to his parents, another way to his wife, and so on.
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| A sign showing a person "bowing" out of respect. |
Most foreigners learning Japanese will begin their lessons by learning the polite form - ensuring that they won't offend others when speaking (especially in a workplace/business setting). I spent the first year of my Japanese lessons learning polite style and this way of speaking became "the norm" for me. In January, when my Japanese teacher introduced plain style to me - I really struggled...and truthfully, I continue to do so. I'm having such a difficult time deviating from what I already learned... both receptively and expressively. I can hear a sentence in polite style and understand it - and then five minutes later hear essentially the same sentence in plain style and not understand it! On the one hand, I know it is better to speak politely than to possibly offend someone; however, as one starts to speak in multi-sentence utterances...using polite language often sounds weird. Think talking like a character in a Shakespearean play to your friends at dinner!
When changing from polite to plain style - changes are made to verb form, adjectives, and nouns - depending on the meaning of the utterance. Additionally when changing from polite to plain style, ellipsis (formal name for cutting out many words - as mentioned above) is often used. Since it's rather difficult for me to show examples of what a polite versus plain utterance would look like (as their English translations would be the same), I thought this example of ellipsis might help you to better understand this concept.
あなたは昨日銀行へ行きましたか？
If I translate this sentence exactly, word for word, then in English you would be saying:
You yesterday bank to went?
It sounds kind of strange, but I would understand what you mean.
In natural English, you would say:
Did you go to the bank yesterday?
When you speak plains style Japanese, this sentence is much shorter:
昨日銀行行った？
A very close, word-for-word translation of this short sentence would be:
Yesterday bank went?
If you just said this, an English speaker would have trouble understanding exactly who or what you were talking about.
(https://poligo.com/en/articles/grammar/ellipsis-very-important-difference-between-japanese-and-english)
3. The Japanese language has three alphabets.
As I've mentioned before, the Japanese language has three alphabets. Hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Both hiragana and katakana have a set number of letters - and are not that difficult to learn if you give yourself some time. The letters are phonetically the same in hiragana and katakana; however, they are written differently to indicate to the reader that the word is either Japanese or foreign in origin (further supporting the cultural views of separation that I discussed earlier). Interestingly, kanji was the initial Japanese alphabet and hiragana was developed by school teachers to help making the process of teaching kanji easier. Unlike English, each Japanese letter is a consonant-vowel combination. And, Japanese has only five vowel sounds (which are actually a mix of long and short vowels). When learning the Japanese alphabet - it is easiest to take one consonant and then say it with each of the five vowel sounds. For example, か is pronounced as "ka" as in car; き is pronounced as "ki" as in key; く is pronounced as "ku" as in cool; け is pronounced as "ke" as in cape; and, こ is pronounced as "ko" as in coat. There are some really neat iPhone apps that turn the letters into pictures - which is actually what helped me to learn them originally.
Kanji is the third alphabet and it is a picture-symbol system that has thousands of characters. Because of kanji's complexity...I gave it a bullet point of its own. See below!
4. Kanji makes reading...almost impossible (for foreigners, anyway).
When I first came to Japan - I decided that I wasn't going to learn kanji. I couldn't imagine learning to read a character system on top of two alphabets...plus listening and speaking. Learning to write Japanese never even crossed my mind. However, during my time here...I've learned just how limiting my minimal knowledge of kanji is when it comes to reading. I am almost completely illiterate here - and it's probably one of the most frustrating aspects of my language journey. However, in these moments of frustration - I try to remind myself that a child starts by understanding, then begins speaking...and doesn't begin reading or writing until several years later. And some days I expect myself to be able to understand, speak, read, and write after only 18 months!
In my Japanese books, the sentences and paragraphs that I am learning to read are written solely in hiragana/katakana; however, in the real world - written Japanese is a mixture of kanji and hiragana and katakana. The use of these three alphabet systems simultaneously helps readers to identify when one word ends and the other begins. I've learned from Kaz's and my tutor's struggles to read my sentences typed only in hiragana and katakana that they have to look very closely at what I've written to determine how to group the letters into words. And, as the paragraphs I am able to read are getting longer - I am starting to realize that if I don't know all of the vocabulary - I am not sure where one word beings or ends either.
Kanji is not just difficult for foreigners to learn - but for native Japanese speakers as well. Children don't start learning kanji in school until about first grade and then they add words each year (sort of like students in the US learning new vocabulary). And just about every person I've talked to has agreed that kanji is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Japanese. It's funny because many people say the difficulty stems from many Westerners viewing words as a combination of sounds and letters - and not as a picture. However, it seems like the brain is actually wired to see a word as a shape. If we were to remove the middle of a word - most of us would still know what the word is, right?! So...maybe the two systems are not as different as they seem. Regardless, kanji is still extremely challenging!
So far, I've learned probably about 150+ kanji. All of which are a single character - and are words that I see on a daily basis. Words like: day (日); entrance (口), etc. The thing is, I don't often know the Japanese word for the kanji characters. I've learned to identify the symbol as an English word - since it's easier than recognizing the symbol, saying the word in Japanese, and then translating it into English...even though this longer process is probably the better way to go in the long run. The thing is - most kanji don't stand alone. They are combined with other kanji to make words - or they are intermixed with hiragana/katakana. For example: 人 is the kanji for person; 大 is the kanji for big; 大人 is the kanji for adult. This is again where that high-context language piece comes in - as most Japanese people understand the meanings behind these combinations.
Another aspect of kanji that can be confusing is the actual spoken piece. Each kanji tends to have two pronunciations - "kun-yomi" (the Japanese pronunciation; usually used when the kanji stands alone) and "on-yomi" (the Chinese pronunciation; usually used when two or more kanji are combined). Here's an example that may clarify the point just a bit.
Let’s say you’re learning the kanji 豚, which means “pig.” There are two ways to pronounce that same character: the historically native Japanese, “buta,” and the historically Chinese, “ton.” Which way you pronounce it depends on what word it’s in: 豚肉 “pork” is buta-niku, whereas that delicious fried pork cutlet 豚カツ is tonkatsu.
Confused yet?! And this is only a beginning explanation!
4. Kanji makes reading...almost impossible (for foreigners, anyway).
When I first came to Japan - I decided that I wasn't going to learn kanji. I couldn't imagine learning to read a character system on top of two alphabets...plus listening and speaking. Learning to write Japanese never even crossed my mind. However, during my time here...I've learned just how limiting my minimal knowledge of kanji is when it comes to reading. I am almost completely illiterate here - and it's probably one of the most frustrating aspects of my language journey. However, in these moments of frustration - I try to remind myself that a child starts by understanding, then begins speaking...and doesn't begin reading or writing until several years later. And some days I expect myself to be able to understand, speak, read, and write after only 18 months!
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| "I spilled coffee in my car." |
Kanji is not just difficult for foreigners to learn - but for native Japanese speakers as well. Children don't start learning kanji in school until about first grade and then they add words each year (sort of like students in the US learning new vocabulary). And just about every person I've talked to has agreed that kanji is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Japanese. It's funny because many people say the difficulty stems from many Westerners viewing words as a combination of sounds and letters - and not as a picture. However, it seems like the brain is actually wired to see a word as a shape. If we were to remove the middle of a word - most of us would still know what the word is, right?! So...maybe the two systems are not as different as they seem. Regardless, kanji is still extremely challenging!
So far, I've learned probably about 150+ kanji. All of which are a single character - and are words that I see on a daily basis. Words like: day (日); entrance (口), etc. The thing is, I don't often know the Japanese word for the kanji characters. I've learned to identify the symbol as an English word - since it's easier than recognizing the symbol, saying the word in Japanese, and then translating it into English...even though this longer process is probably the better way to go in the long run. The thing is - most kanji don't stand alone. They are combined with other kanji to make words - or they are intermixed with hiragana/katakana. For example: 人 is the kanji for person; 大 is the kanji for big; 大人 is the kanji for adult. This is again where that high-context language piece comes in - as most Japanese people understand the meanings behind these combinations. Another aspect of kanji that can be confusing is the actual spoken piece. Each kanji tends to have two pronunciations - "kun-yomi" (the Japanese pronunciation; usually used when the kanji stands alone) and "on-yomi" (the Chinese pronunciation; usually used when two or more kanji are combined). Here's an example that may clarify the point just a bit.
Let’s say you’re learning the kanji 豚, which means “pig.” There are two ways to pronounce that same character: the historically native Japanese, “buta,” and the historically Chinese, “ton.” Which way you pronounce it depends on what word it’s in: 豚肉 “pork” is buta-niku, whereas that delicious fried pork cutlet 豚カツ is tonkatsu.
Confused yet?! And this is only a beginning explanation!
5. Pronouncing "English words" in Japanese is WAY harder than expected.
As mentioned in #3, katakana is the alphabet/character set used for foreign words...or words/items that did not originate in Japan. Since katakana uses a different set of letters, it's rather easy to identify that you are reading a foreign word; however, the challenge is what follows! While many of these words are English words - and easily identifiable when spoken...they can be quite difficult to say. This is because the words are written, read, and pronounced following the Japanese consonant-vowel syllable pattern. For example, the word "salad" is actually pronounced as "sa-wa-da." So, if I quickly ask for a "salad" - there is about an 85%-90% chance that the person I am speaking to will not understand what I asked for. And apparently, the reverse is also true. My tutor told me about a time when she attempted to order a "sa-wa-da" in Michigan and the waitress had no idea what she was asking for. Imagine my tutor's surprise as she believed that she was speaking English.
I think what I find the most difficult about katakana is that I have pronounced a word a certain way for more than thirty years - and now, it's almost impossible to begin pronouncing that same word in a different way. My brain and mouth automatically want to go back to what I know. And what can be even more confusing is when you are trying to read a katakana word that has an origin that is not English. For example, an entire menu at an Italian restaurant. First you have to read the katakana to figure out what the Italian word is...and then you probably have translate the Italian into English. And chances are...some sound/letter mistakes were made along the way! So, in my opinion, it's much easier to program your brain to pronounce an entirely new word correctly.
As mentioned in #3, katakana is the alphabet/character set used for foreign words...or words/items that did not originate in Japan. Since katakana uses a different set of letters, it's rather easy to identify that you are reading a foreign word; however, the challenge is what follows! While many of these words are English words - and easily identifiable when spoken...they can be quite difficult to say. This is because the words are written, read, and pronounced following the Japanese consonant-vowel syllable pattern. For example, the word "salad" is actually pronounced as "sa-wa-da." So, if I quickly ask for a "salad" - there is about an 85%-90% chance that the person I am speaking to will not understand what I asked for. And apparently, the reverse is also true. My tutor told me about a time when she attempted to order a "sa-wa-da" in Michigan and the waitress had no idea what she was asking for. Imagine my tutor's surprise as she believed that she was speaking English.
I think what I find the most difficult about katakana is that I have pronounced a word a certain way for more than thirty years - and now, it's almost impossible to begin pronouncing that same word in a different way. My brain and mouth automatically want to go back to what I know. And what can be even more confusing is when you are trying to read a katakana word that has an origin that is not English. For example, an entire menu at an Italian restaurant. First you have to read the katakana to figure out what the Italian word is...and then you probably have translate the Italian into English. And chances are...some sound/letter mistakes were made along the way! So, in my opinion, it's much easier to program your brain to pronounce an entirely new word correctly.
6. In Japanese, "L" and "R" are the same sound.
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| Total different meaning... ;) |
The speech-language pathologist in me really wants to produce this sound correctly - and I've watched several YouTube videos trying to teach myself before I came...however, the sound is really difficult. I'm made some improvements...but it's far from perfect! The l/r struggle is also quite apparent when it comes to written English in Japan. Often times "l" is used when "r" should be and vice versa. These signs often provide a bit of comedic relief and a reminder that the language struggle goes both ways!
7. Japanese does not have plurals...just counter words.
Because the Japanese language does not contains plurals - one dog and two dogs are written the same way (いぬ - "inu"). So, something is needed to communicate the difference in meaning between the sentence - "I have a dog" and "I have dogs" and that something is called a "counter word." The Japanese language contains TONS of counter words - and they are used for different items. Which means that it's not as easy as sticking a numerical value in front of the noun and calling it a day.
Here are just a few examples...
-You count the date using a numerical value; however, the 1st-10th of any month have their own specific counters.
-There is a counter to count the number of people; to count long, cylindrical objects (such as bottles or chopsticks); to count thin objects (such as paper or shirts); to count small, round objects; to count number of times; to count number of locations; to count bound objects (usually books); to count small animals (like cats or dogs); and the list goes on and on! And, yep - I tend to use the wrong counters all the time!
8. In Japanese, the verb doesn't come until the end...and the subject may not be spoken.
While English sentences follow a subject-verb-object pattern, Japanese sentences follow a subject-object-verb pattern. This means that the verb does not often come until the very end of the sentence - so listeners have to listen intently to an entire utterance in order to understand the person's idea. Additionally, the verb does not help a listener anticipate what the speaker is going to say next - as it does in English. Japanese does not contain auxiliary verbs - so verbs are conjugated in various different ways to relay a certain idea. In addition to typical tenses like - present and past - I've also learned forms for negatives, forms for expressing wants, forms for giving commands, forms for if-then statements, etc. It's hard to keep them all straight - that's for sure!
And, while the subject technically comes at the beginning of the sentence - it is often omitted during a conversation. Usually, the subject is mentioned once at the very beginning on the conversation and then it is assumed that all conversation partners know what is being talked about. For that reason, very few pronouns exist in Japanese and the ones that do are rarely used. So, if you walk into a conversation late or somehow zone out - you may have to put your problem solving skills to work in figuring out what is being talked about!
And, while the subject technically comes at the beginning of the sentence - it is often omitted during a conversation. Usually, the subject is mentioned once at the very beginning on the conversation and then it is assumed that all conversation partners know what is being talked about. For that reason, very few pronouns exist in Japanese and the ones that do are rarely used. So, if you walk into a conversation late or somehow zone out - you may have to put your problem solving skills to work in figuring out what is being talked about!
9. Japanese has a lot of "damn particles."
One of my friends, who shares the same Japanese tutor as I do, has coined the phrase "damn particles" when referring to one of the most difficult Japanese grammatical concepts. Particles are small words that help to indicate relations of words within a sentence. Particles are probably the most similar to prepositions in English; however, they don't have meaning - only function...which makes them quite difficult to memorize! There are eight types of particles - case markers; parallel markers; sentence ending particles; interjectory particles; adverbial particles; binding particles; conjunctive particles; and, phrasal particles. And, in many cases, the same particle can take on several functions and be used in different ways in different sentences. In this example sentence - the particles are marking topic, time, place, and object.
One of my friends, who shares the same Japanese tutor as I do, has coined the phrase "damn particles" when referring to one of the most difficult Japanese grammatical concepts. Particles are small words that help to indicate relations of words within a sentence. Particles are probably the most similar to prepositions in English; however, they don't have meaning - only function...which makes them quite difficult to memorize! There are eight types of particles - case markers; parallel markers; sentence ending particles; interjectory particles; adverbial particles; binding particles; conjunctive particles; and, phrasal particles. And, in many cases, the same particle can take on several functions and be used in different ways in different sentences. In this example sentence - the particles are marking topic, time, place, and object.
Particles are more often used when speaking in polite style and often omitted when speaking in plain style. The whole idea that we don't actually speak in complete sentences most of the time. Therefore, if the wrong particle is used or the particle is omitted - then thankfully the meaning the sentence is not completely lost. However, once you start writing - it really helps to have a solid grasp of particles!
10. Responses are often not an actual word.
Before learning Japanese, I'd read that it was a rather monotone language with limited syllable stress and inflection. And, in ways - that's true. The language is rather even. However, after living in Japan and studying Japanese for more than 18 months - I'd have to say that Japanese people express a lot of their thoughts and emotions about something through sounds. Things like grunts, sighs, giggles, gasps, and more communicate so much. Sometimes it seems like there are more sound effects in a conversation than actual words...which may tie right back into Japan's desire to be indirect and not actually say what one is thinking.
After reading this post, I'm sure many of you may be thinking - "I do not want to learn Japanese." However, the truth is...I'm sure a foreigner learning English could probably write a blog post similar to mine full of the ways in which English is different from their native language. It's funny to think that I might have to research even more in order to write a post about the rules and nuances of the English language...and I'm a native English speaker...and a speech-language pathologist! I guess it just goes to show how much really goes into the process of language development - and how much we just "get" even though it was never taught to us explicitly! Amazing, isn't it?!
I giggled quite a few times reading this post. I cannot even imagine what a struggle it is to try to wrap your mind around this language! How does Kaz feel about your efforts? I'm super impressed! You've come a long way, I'm certain!
ReplyDeleteSuch a fascinating language! Thanks so much for taking the time and energy to share this with us. I am so impressed with how much you have learned in under 2 years!
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