1. Is Japanese Language Difficult to find out?
The reply is "yes" and "no". Sure, simply because, first of all, the
Japanese language features a couple of sounds with 5 regular vowels
and easy pronunciation scheme; syllables are shaped by just one vowel
or perhaps a consonant-vowel combination. For the grammar, you will
find few exceptions to its guidelines, and restrictions on sentence
structure are not serious.
The Japanese language is regarded as difficult by many due to
the mixture of various kinds of characters, particularly, kanji
characters, hiragana characters, katakana characters and Roman
letters; the most challenging one is kanji. There are about
three,000 commonly used kanji characters such as the 1,945 "daily use
characters", and 46 hiragana and katakana characters each.
One aspect with the language that makes it difficult for foreigners to
grasp quickly is the presence of numerous words that are pronounced
the same but have different meanings. For instance; hana can
be "flower" or "nose", ame for "rain" or "candy". Knowing kanji
assists within this element of studying as each of these words can be
effortlessly recognized by kanji.
Cultural Considerations
Another feature which tends to make the learning of Japanese difficult
yet interesting is the fact the way Japanese is spoken differs based
on whether the speaker is a man or perhaps a lady, and grownup or
perhaps a child. Can you imagine, for instance, how unusual a male
foreign speaker, especially a large macho-looking guy, sounds, if he
speaks Japanese which he has picked up informally from Japanese lady's
speaking?
What's even more troublesome is that the speaker must select his
words thinking about the relationship in between himself and the
individual he is talking to or talking about. The barriers in between
the speaker and the listener/person within the subject are mainly
created by familiarity in between two people, age and position in
society. The greater unfamiliar you're towards the listener, and also
the more youthful you're, and also the decrease your social standing
is, the more your speech becomes formal. The reverse is the casual
speech. One example is that there are numerous words meaning "I" and
every speaker refers to himself using the 1 what is most appropriate
for his situation. Apart from, these situational differences may
be accentuated by the body language; custom of bowing (45 diploma
generally), space between two speakers, eye contact, and so on., which
projects the cultural aspect with the Japanese society.
In general, the Japanese are notorious for being a very poor speaker
of foreign language. Consequently, they value the foreigners' studying
Japanese. Their typical response to foreigners' speaking even a little
Japanese is "Joozu desu ne!"; "Your Japanese is good!" Therefore,
understanding a little Japanese can go a long way, not just in
communication, but captivating the center of Japanese.
Ganbatte! (Hang in there!)
