1. Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture - Part I
You might be studying this short article since you already have an
enormous interest in Japanese culture. Maybe you a fan of Japanese
animation or comics. Or you could be an avid video sport player with
the affinity for Japanese video games. Or maybe you just stumbled
here for an additional reason. Whatever your curiosity, it's most
likely you've at one point or an additional wished you realized more
concerning the Japanese language or their society.
Prehistory and Written Language
For starters, I should provide you with a fast background on the
country behind the individuals. Japan, referred to as 'Nihon'
or 'Nippon' by the Japanese individuals, is definitely an island
nation with the coast of East Asia. The real which means of its
Japanese title is "sun-origin", aptly named because its eastern
location. The English title 'Japan' evolved from Marco Polo's dubbing
of 'Cipangu' likely stemming from the pronunciation of 'Zeppen' within
the dialect with the then native Chinese he encountered.
The prehistoric people on their own probably moved in the Korean or
Chinese mainland to what's now Japan someplace in between 100,000
and thirty,000 BC. The Japanese people have the longest recognized
recorded background, heading back almost 2600 many years! The lineage
of their emperors supposedly traces back towards the extremely
initial emperor, Jimmu. In accordance to Shinto perception, he was
the immediate descendant with the sun goddess Amaterasu. Japan has
been historically isolated for many of its existence, only getting its
first verified visitor from China about 499 A.D.
In fact, Japan had no formal writing system until it borrowed from
current Chinese characters. Even modern Hiragana and Katakana are
developed, simplified forms of what was originally Chinese 'hanji'.
Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that the real spoken language
evolved totally impartial of other languages, and is unique in that
linguists are still debating what, if any link Japanese needs to
languages of other nations.
As for the written language, Japanese is composed of Hiragana,
Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic and have
set pronunciations (much more or less), whereas Kanji are Chinese
characters that represent an idea or image and can have various
meanings and pronunciations based on how it's used and contextual
factors. The main difference in between Hiragana and Katakana is
really a little tricky to clarify, but like a general rule, native
Japanese words are created in Hiragana (or Kanji), and loan words as
well as names of some locations, individuals, animals, plants, ect
may be written in Katakana. You will find usually exceptions though,
for instance some Japanese people may write their name in Katakana to
seem stylish or unique, or a word that may have been a loan phrase
originally, like "tobacco", would be written in Hiragana. It might
help to consider Hiragana like a easy, 'cursive' type used for most
common writing, and Katakana as a sort of 'block' print utilized to
display distinction. Kanji is utilized whenever a Japanese phrase
features a Kanji counterpart that can replace the Hiragana (or in a
few rare situations, the Katakana). This really is carried out in

2. adult Japanese producing as much as feasible. Kanji utilization shows
an increase in articulation, if everything was created in Hiragana/
Katakana, it might appear like it was created for a child to read,
or that the writer was unintelligent. Kanji also is said to improve
the flow with the sentence, making it simpler to comprehend and read
quickly. Conventional Japanese is created vertically, leading to
bottom, even though it's no longer unusual to see Japanese created
horizontally, left to right. In either case although, publications,
pamphlets, ect are written with the content leading right to left,
opposite of how western publications are created.
This concludes the first part of my introduction into the various
aspects of the Japanese language and culture, make sure you be sure to
examine back for future installments.
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