Is Japanese Difficult To Learn
So, how difficult is it to learn Japanese?
So, how difficult is Japanese to learn? Well, that'due south a great question! I'm glad you asked. And it's a question I get asked a lot, perhaps partly due to the mass of disruptive data on the internet on this question.
On the one hand, there are a lot of blogs with like titles such every bit "10 reasons Japanese is mode easier than yous retrieve". On the other, there are more scholarly enquiry papers that put Japanese upward there with Mandarin, Cantonese Standard arabic and Korean in terms of difficulty.
And then there's the question of how do you define "hard"? And who is it hard for? And…I understand if your head is starting to hurt now.
But fear not my friends, as someone who has lived in Japan for xx years and uses Japanese on a daily basis, peradventure I can offer some personal anecdotes and experience to assistance answer this question.
But before that…
What kind of language is Japanese? Is it like to anything else?
Brusque Respond: Japanese is sort of unique…ish…
Japanese is an exotic colourful bird out there in the menagerie of world languages. It'south part of the Japanese-Ryukaan linguistic group, Japanese being the only branch in this family and is spoken by 130 million people. It has a similar grammar structure to Korean and adopts Chinese kanji characters into the writing system.
It'south non as widely spoken as English and doesn't take as many speakers every bit Standard mandarin, but 130 million speakers is a fair amount of people.
One of the features of Japanese is the written language which has three main scripts. They are Hiragana, the bones syllabary, Katakana, used for foreign words and kanji, pictographs imported from China. It'south also quite common to see romaji or roman letters used in magazines, posters and books so things can become a piffling confusing at times for a student new to Japanese.
So with the exception of Chinese kanji and the increasing mass of Katakana words, Japanese isn't that similar to other languages.
Yes, but is Japanese difficult? First of all we have to enquire…
What is a "difficult" linguistic communication?
Brusk answer: A language that takes a long time to learn and/or is very dissimilar from your female parent tongue…with exceptions…
One way, but non the only way, to ascertain a "difficult" language is to expect at how dissimilar information technology is from your ain female parent tongue. For instance, learning Spanish is supposedly piece of cake for an Italian speakers as both languages are quite similar in grammar and vocabulary. They also have a common Latin root. On the other hand, it would take a French speaker a longer time to get to the same level of proficiency with Cantonese as both languages are almost completely unrelated.
The Foreign Service Institute of the US Section of State has released a list of languages ordered in difficulty for native English speakers. They calculate the estimated number of hours you would have to study to go to an "S3" level which is "general professional proficiency in speaking". For example, they summate it takes an English language speaker about 500 hours to learn Afrikaans, 750 hours to larn German and 900 hours to learn Swahili to comparable levels of proficiency.
So approximate where Japanese falls on the scale? That's right, 2200 hours right upwards there with Standard arabic and Standard mandarin.
Ouch…
The idea is that because bones Japanese grammar and vocabulary is so unrelated to English, information technology's going to take your boilerplate English speaker really long time to become their caput effectually it.
It's interesting that Korean, Chinese and Japanese are grouped together. If you've e'er been to a Japanese Language Proficiency Test center in Nihon, it's not uncommon to meet a lot of Chinese and Korean students beating their Western counterparts hands down on the test.
Korean and Japanese grammar is quite like and Japanese contains a lot of Chinese kanji characters. And then, you lot can run across how our Chinese and Korean friends often get a good head start on learning Japanese.
But hither's where this theory breaks down a little: I personally felt that French was way harder to acquire than Japanese. That's probably considering:
a) I didn't pay attention in French grade at schoolhouse and made my poor teacher'south life hell…excuse moi.
b) I found French confusing because when I didn't know a word, I'd just utilize an English word with French pronunciation. This worked virtually of the time for words like "international" but at other times it left my poor suffering French friends confused, laughing hysterically or sometimes then angry, they wouldn't give me another slice of pain au chocolat.
c) I'm just a weirdo
So "difficulty" can exist a little tricky to ascertain and we haven't even talked about other factors such every bit motivation and hours of exposure to the linguistic communication.
But for at present, permit's break Japanese down into it's component parts and run into how hard speaking, grammar, listening and writing are and how they compare to other languages, at least in my feel.
How difficult is speaking Japanese?
Short answer: Pronunciation is straightforward and basic conversation isn't too challenging.
Let's start off with pronunciation. The great thing nearly Japanese is you can get abroad with imperfect pronunciation and however brand yourself understood to some degree. On the other hand, y'all have tonal languages such equally Thai, Cantonese and Standard mandarin which are notoriously hard for English language speakers to pronounce accurate. A shout out to my Cantonese friends who suffered the indignity of my murdering their beautiful language as they tried to teach me a few simple phrases in vain. Merely at least they had someone to laugh at so I'm sure it wasn't all that bad.
Japanese pronunciation requires you to only learn 5 vowel sounds: a, i, u, e o as in the often quoted sentence "Please pass me two egg rolls". Acquire those vowel sounds and yous're washed. Although it is never mentioned that this mnemonic works best with an American emphasis rather than a British 1.
As for basic conversation, I would argue it's pretty simple. This is considering in my experience, elementary Japanese grammar is somewhat logical. Also, Japanese is fantastic considering in that location is a list of high frequency daily set phrases that can be used in a lot of situations. Just learn a list of them and you're well on your way to mastering elementary conversation.
For instance:
i) おはようございます– ohayou gozaimasu – Good morning
2) お疲れさま – otsukaresama – Thanks for your hard piece of work / Well done / Squeamish job
iii) よろしくお願いします – Please practise something for me / Nice to meet you
iv) いつもお世話になります – Thanks for your continued back up
This doesn't translate easily into English but is used a lot at the start of a polite business conversations.
five) ありがとうございます – arigatou gozaimasu – Thank you
6) すみません – sumimasen – I'thousand deplorable
(Apologizing is one of the most of import skills you lot can learn in Japanese. Read more most how to apologizing in Japanese here. )
Speaking really fluently and sounding like a native is difficult, but that is true for any language. So basic conversation, I think, isn't too difficult.
How difficult is reading and writing Japanese?
Short answer: It's a tough slog only not necessarily rocket science
Equally mentioned earlier, you have 3 scripts in Japanese. Hiragana has 46 basic characters and Katakana a few more than that. Nevertheless, the primary creature to slay is kanji which includes thousands upon thousands of characters. To read 90% of a newspaper you lot would demand to know around yard kanji.
Ouch…
But learning Hiragana, Katakana and kanji has go a niggling easier with mobile apps, games and websites.
There are a few rules to call up only again, it'south not astrophysics. If you have the motivation, time and a big stack of kanji cards to do with yous can do information technology. But I won't lie, it's a long battle. I used to be a weird kanji nerd all those years ago in higher which definitely helped.
Is listening comprehension in Japanese difficult?
Short answer: It depends only understanding basic conversation isn't too challenging
If you lot tin can get plenty of listening exercise though either listening to Japanese music, news, online videos, or best through conversation, y'all'll kickoff to find that basic Japanese conversation uses repeating patterns of grammar and daily set phrases. Also, equally Japanese people can sometimes be a little minimal when speaking and so listening comprehension, at to the lowest degree at an elementary level, isn't too challenging.
If you watch Tv set, y'all'll notice that some things are easier to understand such as the weather forecast and Tv set dramas as a lot of the language used is repeated on a daily or weekly ground.
Again, compared to tonal languages such as Thai and Cantonese, Japanese is easier to embrace every bit tones are much less of import.
Of class information technology's not all easy particularly if y'all are listening to high level native conversation. Plough over to a Manzai show (stand upward comedy)on TV and you'll be completely lost due to the in-jokes and culturally specific topics they talk about.
How difficult is Japanese grammer?
Brusque answer: It'south different just somewhat logical
I won't get besides bogged downwards in grammar hither but in that location are a few things to acquire about Japanese grammar.
1) Speak like Yoda: The verb at the stop of the sentence you lot put.
東京に行きました Tokyo ni ikimashita Lit. Tokyo to went
(someone) went to Tokyo.
two) Verb endings follow piece of cake patterns
There are a few exceptions simply at that place are learnable patterns to cohabit verbs. For example:
食べる – Taberu – I eat
食べた – Tabeta – I ate
食べない – Tabenai – I don't/won't eat
食べなかった – Tabenakatta – I didn't consume
You lot'll notice the stalk of the verb 食べ tabe- doesn't alter unlike other European languages. There are a few exceptions to this but not that many
3) Y'all accept to cohabit adjectives BUT they are very similar to verbs
So once yous take learned some basic verb conjugations, information technology's almost the same rules for adjectives:
美味しい – oishii – succulent (present)
美味しかった – oishikatta – was delicious
美味しくない – oishikunai – isn't delicious
美味しくなかった – oishikunakatta – wasn't delicious
Equally you can encounter, the blueprint is very similar to verb conjugation.
four) In that location is no hereafter tense
Hooray! That will brand you lot happy!
5) The verb and field of study don't accept to agree as in many European languages
Hooray again!
私は東京に行きます– watashi wa Tokyo ni ikimasu
I go to Tokyo
田中さんは東京に行きます– Tanaka san wa Tokyo ni ikimasu
Tanaka san goes to Tokyo.
Run across? Just use the aforementioned verb regardless of the bailiwick! Yeah!
6) Yous tin get out out the subject and even the object of the sentence if the meaning is obvious to the listener
Hooray! Oh expect, boo! That tin make things vague and a little unclear.
And so, on residual, although Japanese grammer is quite different to English grammar, once you lot principal the rules, it'due south really not that hard. Koreans patently have a really easy fourth dimension learning Japanese equally the grammar is so similar.
What else is difficult most Japanese?
Vagueness in Japanese
Honestly, apart from the writing organisation, I never really struggled that hard with Japanese. But if there is one thing that leaves me utterly dislocated, information technology'southward the vagueness.
Japanese people tend not to speak too directly as it can be seen as slightly rude or aggressive. Too, Japanese is a very high context language. That means the basic information you need to understand something is not only independent in the judgement, it should be obvious from the situation. For case yous could say:
昨日のパーティーは楽しかったです – kino no paati wa tanoshikata desu
The party yesterday was fun.
Only if the topic of conversation is obvious to both parties so you could simply shorten it to:
楽しかった – tanoshikatta
(It) was fun
Argh! At that place'south no subject or even an object. Something, was fun, that's it. It's great for quick shorthand communication but if you walk in on a chat mid-flow or weren't paying attention you will get lost. Therefore yous have to be quite attuned to the situation around you lot. It'due south not even the kanji or the exotic vocabulary that I found nigh challenging almost Japanese. For me, it was trying to understand the vagueness.
Levels of politeness in Japanese
This deserves it's own blog post, or book, or possibly an entire library. Suffice information technology to say, the Japanese language has many levels of politeness that uses distinct vocabulary and grammar. Hither'south an instance of various ways to enquire someone if they desire to eat:
ご一緒にお食事に行きませんか goissho ni oshokuji ni ikimasen ka – Would you like to consume with me (very polite)
食べませんか tabemasen ka – Won't you lot eat? (polite)
食べる？taberu – You lot wanna eat? (Casual)
飯食う？meshi kuu – You eating? (Very familiar normally between men)
And then, information technology's not only hard to learn all this different vocabulary but likewise know when to utilize information technology in the appropriate state of affairs. But don't give upwards in despair. You're non lonely, I'm regularly told by Japanese people they find information technology hard too.
So is Japanese difficult?!
To summarise I would say that, speaking unproblematic Japanese is pretty easy and the grammar, albeit with a few exceptions, is non too challenging. Koreans volition find Japanese grammar easy to acquire.
Reading and writing are very challenging but non necessarily complex. You lot've just got to put in the time to larn the kanji only apps and online courses can help. Of class Chinese people go a head outset on kanji.
Cultural agreement and modes of communication in Japanese including vagueness and levels of politeness are perhaps the most difficult affair to principal for the intermediate and advanced pupil of Japanese.
I as well recollect that the degree to which Japanese is different to other languages may not exist such a big gene in how hard it is to learn because, without being too obvious or trite…
Learning Japanese is all about motivation
In that location, I said it. I know information technology's cheesy but like most things in life, if you love it and desire to practise it, yous will observe a fashion achieve it. Added to that, everyone learns language differently and then there is no one single method or single best practice that I could prescribe for learning Japanese. If y'all are highly motivated to learn, the whole procedure of studying Japanese becomes more enjoyable. In this way, even though Japanese might be very different from English might not matter anymore.
So although request if Japanese is difficult to learn is a great question, it'due south also very helpful to enquire yourself things like:
Why do I want to study Japanese?
What goal volition I accomplish if I study Japanese?
Thanks for reading and delight leave your comments and questions below . Are you studying Japanese now? What practice Yous find difficult almost studying Japanese?
Source: https://learnjapanesepod.com/how-difficult-is-japanese-to-learn/
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