I’ve been studying Japanese at college, abroad, and on my own since mid-2004. The most common reaction I get from people whom I talk to about it, or who are beginning to learn themselves, is that it must be an extremely difficult language. But over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that Japanese is actually a relatively easy language, and there are in fact numerous ways in which it’s easier to learn than English…
To any English speaker interested in why Japanese is not as “scary” as it seems, I’m going to point out a number of reasons on this post, especially compared to a Japanese person learning English.
Vowels:
English may have five vowels (sometimes six if you include “y”), but it actually has around 15-20 vowel sounds, since each of the vowels could have more than one pronunciation (for example, the “e” in “net” versus “neat” or the “a” in “apple” versus “father”). Japanese only has five vowel sounds, one for each vowel. Thus, unlike English, whenever you come across a Japanese vowel (A I U E O/あいうえお) there can only be one way to pronounce it. With the exception of the lone consonant “n” (ん), every possible syllable in the Japanese language is either a vowel or consonant+vowel. Therefore, once you know how to pronounce the five vowels correctly, you should have no trouble saying any Japanese word.
Pronunciation:
Following the simplicity of Japanese vowels, pronunciation is probably the easiest part of the language. In addition to only five vowel sounds, there are less than twenty consonant sounds in Japanese, and they’re always pronounced the same no matter what word they’re in. For example, the “g” in the Japanese syllable “ge” (げ) is always pronounced like the “g” in “go” and never like in “age.” In fact, the entire Japanese language is comprised of only 102 possible syllables! If you can pronounce all the syllables on this hiragana chart, you can pronounce any Japanese word.
So how does English compare? With all the silent letters and various ways of pronouncing vowels and consonants depending on the word they’re in, knowing the individual sounds of the 26 English letters doesn’t guarantee that you’ll know the correct pronunciations within certain words. For example, the “e” in “elephant” is pronounced different than the “e” in “screen,” and there’s a silent “e” at the end of many words. Or what about certain groups of English letters that can only be pronounced correctly through memorization, such as “-ough” in the words “rough,” “through,” and “bough”? And how about “read” (present tense) versus “read” (past tense) or “convict” (verb) versus “convict” (noun)?
It seems to me that English speakers should have an easy time learning to pronounce Japanese, while English pronunciation for Japanese speakers is a nightmare. English is a language comprised of borrowed sounds from numerous languages – Latin, French, Italian, etc – so all of the relatively few sounds that exist in Japanese are already present in English. But Japanese people can go through life without ever having to pronounce the many consonant clusters that exist in English. Thus, sounds such as “th,” “-ing,” “-ough,” and “-ched” are extremely difficult for them to say correctly. They just don’t feel comfortable without vowels in between consonants, so they’ll often pronounce words with a consonant cluster such as “drink” like the more Japanese-sounding “dorinku.”
Grammar:
Japanese grammar is so much easier than English grammar because 99% of its words will actually follow the rules! English has grammar rules, for example, to make a verb past tense, you add “-ed,” and to make a noun plural, you add “s.” But the number of exceptions to these rules is ridiculous – words like “felt,” “ran,” “slept” and many others don’t follow the add “-ed” rule, just as words like “deer,” “cacti,” and “feet” don’t follow the plural “s” rule. In Japanese however, there are literally only like, five words in the entire language that are exceptions to the grammar rules.
Verb conjugation is one of the most difficult parts of any language, but it’s relatively easy in Japanese because there are only two irregular verbs and only a handful of irregular conjugations in others verbs. Just a few conjugation drills can prepare you for even the most obscure Japanese verbs. Japanese verbs always occur at the end of the sentence and they do not change for person, number, gender, or whatever the subject may be. Other easy things about Japanese grammar is that, to make a sentence a question, all you do is add “ka” (か) at the end, and there’s also no pluralization grammar rule. Pluralization is derived solely from context or occasionally adding a suffix.
The only hard part of Japanese…
Besides the basic difficulties of learning ANY language – memorizing vocabulary and idioms, recognizing colloquialisms and nuances, etc – there is only one major part of Japanese that I feel is more difficult than English. As many of you know, that would be kanji. Having to memorize over 2,000 kanji (plus a couple hundred kana characters) in order to be fluent is quite a leap from only 26 letters. But I will say that kanji gets easier as you learn more because they use the same radicals. Also, since kanji is borrowed from Chinese, a Chinese speaker learning Japanese has it that much easier when it comes to writing.
Another part of Japanese that people think is difficult is the counters. But honestly, I would rather have that than the tons of English words that are exceptions to grammar rules and can only be pronounced through memorization.
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At first glance, an English speaker learning Japanese from scratch may seem like a daunting task. But I hope this post has shown that, with the exception of kanji, everything else about Japanese is actually quite easy and structured, especially compared to English. I’ve also pointed out why it’s actually more difficult for a Japanese speaker to learn English…and they’re forced to learn English in school ;)
LOL,,, that give me SO much hope, since I speak both Chinese and English fluent and I can read in both languages as well. I really want to learn Japanese next, so watching anime can that much more meaningful. Of course, it would also be a plus if I ever decide to go to Japan, which I certainly do. xD
@ xueqir
Although they both use the kanji, pronunciation for Japanese and Chinese is actually quite different (since Chinese is a tonal language). Japanese keeps some of the Chinese pronunciations for kanji, but it also has many of its own.
I actually took a year of Japanese in my 4th semester of college, and I was just starting to really get it when the semester ended. I haven’t even so much as glanced at the Japanese language since then, so I’ve probably forgotten everything. I know that I can’t remember any hirigana or katakana, and I never learned any kanji except sun, which I do still remember.
But you’re right, the only real hard part is the Kanji. That would take about 2 years to really get the hang of if you ask me. Maybe one year. I’m sure that some Kanji would come up in everyday life, and you could probably grasp that rather quickly. God I want to learn Japanese. Time to open my texts again. I could probably teach myself if I really want to.
@ Glo
Anime can help you retain some of what you learned, but yeah, if you don’t keep it up in any other way, you tend to forget. Kana is pretty easy to learn (just took me a few months), but kanji can be a nightmare. But like I said, the more kanji you learn, the easier it becomes since so many of their radicals are the same.
Hope you decide to hit the books again XD
I found Japanese simple to learn so far compared to English.
Kanji isn’t a problem since I can read Chinese.
Now Chinese can be a real nightmare…
@ Prooof
I’ve heard Chinese is much harder – first of all because it’s tonal, and second because it only uses kanji, whereas you can write the entire Japanese language in kana if you wanted to.
“always pronounced the same no matter what word they’re in.”
Really ? How about that business with “sh”/”s'” ? Or “ch”/”t” ?
@ karry
I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Could you elaborate and give examples?
Yeah, Japanese is a really structured language when compared to English. That being said, I think you forgot to mention a big hurdle when learning Japanese from English, and that’s sentence structure. I only mention it because it’s that one big hurdle that kind of makes English speakers shy away from Japanese and Korean. The main problem lies mostly in just getting used to the sentence structure in the first place. When you learn a second language, you mostly do it by doing a semi-direct translation from your first to your second language. It doesn’t really work for English -> Japan, so some people might get thrown off by that when they start. Otherwise, I agree that learning the writing system and vocabulary is much harder than just learning to speak it.
@ Mystlord
Japanese sentence structure can be hard for English speakers just because it’s so different. A typical Japanese sentence has to literally be translated backwards into English (which is what I do when I translate – start at the end of the sentence). But once you get used to it, it’s not that bad because, as I mentioned in the post, Japanese grammar has rules with few exceptions.
You’d think we barbarians have it easier with our quicksilver tongues, true. But I find that native English speakers are notoriously bad at capturing the proper cadence and rhythm of spoken Japanese. And there are syllables we’re just awful at reproducing, like the “kyo” in Kyoto and the “tt” in natto.
As for kanji… For the time being, I’ve resigned myself to being a useless illiterate. :)
@ 2DT
I don’t think it’s that English speakers have trouble pronouncing Japanese correctly – they just don’t know which of the consonant/vowel sounds to use. Since our language has so many, unless they’re used to Japanese or someone tells them the correct pronunciation, it seems like they’ll just pick the most familiar one. For example, an American’s pronunciation of “Kyouto” (Kyoto) or “Toukyou” (Tokyo). It’s not that they can’t say the long vowels, they just don’t know that that’s the correct way unless told.
Haha, you’re not illiterate if you can read kana and some kanji, which I’m sure you can XD You might have the literacy of someone half your age, but it’s something.
I think honorific and humble forms are also difficult to learn. My Japanese lecturer (who is Japanese) had a discussion with my class at one stage about how young Japanese graduates who decide to enter into a company have to take lessons in honorifics.
@ Roxy
Yes, honorifics can be difficult, but when it comes down to it, it’s just memorizing a few extra words (since all the honorific verbs follow the same rules as any other). Also, unless you’re in a very formal business setting, you shouldn’t need to use them much at all. I’ve heard that foreigners aren’t really expected to use honorifics.
Just loved the the timing of this, as I started learning Japanese just a couple days ago.
Anyway… I don’t think the Kanji are all that hard. What do you think of Heisig’s method? I’m blazing through about 30 kanji a day with his book, and I don’t seem to have forgotten any so far… Or maybe that’s because I’m just starting out and don’t have much to forget? And I have no idea what “counters” are. :(
And have you heard of Khatsumoto and his site AJATT? http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency
Basically, the method he recommends is to surround yourself with Japanese stuff to the EXCLUSION OF EVERY OTHER LANGUAGE, and let your brain figure out the details…. Yeah, it’s hardcore, but I’m pretty sure it’s effective. [I know because I learnt English using a toned-down version of the same method. I was raised in a pretty undeveloped part of a country where English=status, and I spoke better English as a kid than most of the adults around me. So much that when I moved to more affluent parts later, people there wouldn’t believe I hadn’t moved in from Britain or America. How did I manage that? By watching nothing other than Cartoon Network.]
@ arcturus
I’ve actually never heard of Heisig’s method or AJATT. I should look into them :)
Counters are suffixes added in Japanese when counting particular kinds of objects. Instead of just saying “one,” “two,” “three,” and so on like in English, when you count things in Japanese, you add a suffix to the number. There are different counters for flat objects, long objects, people, small animals, big animals, large objects, bound objects, etc,.
I surround myself with Japanese to an extent (watching subtitled anime, listening to Japanese songs, reading Japanese) but I can’t go hardcore XD That’s awesome that you were able to learn English so well this way though.
Grammar, nuff said. I’ve met plenty of 4th year Japanese majors who still have huge problems with the Japanese sentence structure. So did I, before I realized it’s closer to Chinese than English. Yet the way words are formed are closer to English than Chinese — so basically it’s a real pain on what mode of thinking I need to use when trying to understand Japanese.
@ Aorii
Hmm, I personally don’t have much trouble with Japanese grammar, since just about everything follows the rules. I still have more to learn, but I actually feel confident with grammar and am now mostly working on building vocabulary and kanji.
It’s a shame that I didn’t learn Chinese when I was younger. If I did, Japanese would be easy… It’s funny because I am one of those Asian Americans that only knows English… Which is why some people wonder why I don’t know any Asian languages.
I have been wanting to learn Japanese for awhile, but yeah… It will take some time. :p
@ Chikorita157
Learning Chinese would have definitely helped you with writing and knowing the meaning of kanji, but it might have confused you with pronunciation, since Japanese uses different pronunciations for certain kanji.
I’m part Korean (but I don’t know any Korean), but when people find out that I know some Japanese, they assume I’m Japanese =P I have to tell them that I’m not or else they’ll always keep assuming that.
Mandarin Chinese is going to be my second major. I wish I had searched harder for a school that offered Japanese, since I’m already semi-fluent in that and the sounds are so much easier. With Japanese, even if I don’t recognize a single word in a sentence, I can tell that someone just said “blah blah blah” and then I can look up the words. Immersion is easy. With Chinese, I’m like, “Was that ha, ha, ha, or ha?!?” I hate the tones.
@ Saere
You’re semi-fluent you say? How so? (Self-study? High school?)
Except for the writing, Chinese and Japanese couldn’t sound more different in my opinion XD
To me, the only problem is the dam pronounciation, i have many japanese friends at uni, and they tell me that the key is the pronounciation, the way you say the sentence etc. they like to speak fast then slow down within the phrase.
meh i guess i got a long way still generally
@ Fabrice
Hmm, you’re the first person I’ve heard who says pronunciation is hard in Japanese. Your native language is Chinese right? That’s probably why…like I said, they sound so different despite having similarities in their writing.
I’ve been studying Japanese ( slowly.. ) for about the last year… And my thoughts are already turning Japanese. Eq, I find myself thinkin’ “Otou-san”, instead of “Dad” now… Japanese just makes more sense to me somehow.
Since I’m learning completely on my own ( Though, I do want to try taking Japanese in college, since the college I’m going to offers it for your AA ), I often get asked if learning is hard. But the main problems I have with the English language isnot there in Japanese. One that my mom found funny is when I was little, I couldnot say the “R” sound right. So, I would say “tomollow” instead of “tomorrow” ( I still cannot roll my ‘r’s… ). But I can pronounce ‘ri’, ‘ra’, ‘re’, ect in Japanese easily.
But I really enjoy the Japanese language and am always driving my friends crazy with it. Lucky, I have a neighbor now that lived in Japan for four years and I can call him ‘baka’ and ‘oji-san’ ( He’s not -that- old, but he’s still ten years older than me and it’s fun to tease him ).
I even remember Japanese history better than I ever remembered American history…
( If I sound stupid, forgive me. It’s almost 3.30am here and I really should go to bed, but I was watching Grave Of The FireFlies, live action |3; )
I try to self-study Japanese with the aim of actually being able to watch anime without subtitle! It can be pretty difficult though since I just could not find time to really practice the language having to work at the same time (and spare time I would rather rest and surf internet than do anything else!).
I really agree with you that Japanese in itself is pretty simple and very structured. Kanji can be quite fun to learn as well since I have watched a lot of anime growing up so it can be quite a thrill when I came across a character that I know or have heard off. It needs constant practicing though so I really believe that the best way to study the language is to go live in Japan for 6-12 months. That is still something in my bucket list I hope I can do!
@Yumeka
I took Japanese during my freshman year of high school and then moved to an area that only offered French and Spanish, so I switched to self-study. It’s hard, but music, anime, and raw manga really help because they’re interesting. I usually look up words while I watch a show so that I follow along using subtitles as only a crutch and more fully immerse myself in how the dialogue is flowing. :) I also went to summer immersion camp a couple years ago, where for two weeks we weren’t supposed to speak English (but often did anyway). The placement test put me in the level 4 group. I guess that’s what I meant by semi-fluent?
I understand way, way more than I can actually speak; I know a ton of vocabulary but very little grammar.
I was looking for some kind of anime class or anime related birthday party for my 11 years old daughter and found this website. Do you have any idea about it? We live in West LA.
Also, she is learning Japanese and loves anime a lot. (She is going to Anime Expo in LA next month). Your site looks very interesting for my daughter. Is this site kids friendly??
Well, English isn’t at all easy to learn, as it contains a lot of irregular bits of grammar. However, the hardest thing for many people of Asian extraction to learn for English are the tense conjugations and plurals. I know in particular that verb tense is extremely difficult for speakers of Chinese dialects because there ARE no verb tenses in most, if not all, of those dialects. So the switch is very confusing.
Having studied both Japanese and Mandarin, I would have to say that I found Japanese to be much more difficult – really, it was the formality levels and the conjugations that went with them. At least with Mandarin the verb tense was always the same – to indicate when something occurred, the verb stayed the same and you simply said when it happened/will happen (e.g. yesterday, this afternoon, next week, right now, etc.). I also enjoyed that I could basically throw words together in whatever manner and it was grammatically correct about 80% of the time.
Now I want to get back to learning Japanese again. I hate that I often give up after just the basic of the basics. ^^;;;
I want so much to learn Japanese by school, but I live in an area that speaks dominantly English and French (even though it is mostly Cajun). I found a love of Japanese culture, music, movies, manga, and anime (I just love it XD) I am currently in my junior year of high school and am searching for colleges. I’m going to major in Law, but I want my minor to be in Japanese Language and Culture. However, I have yet to find a nice, convenient school that provides a Japanese class.
So that I will pleasantly attend a college with no Japanese class (without kicking my own arse for not being able to attend a college with a Japanese class that just happened to be farther away), I took it upon myself to learn Japanese by self-study…two years earlier than desired.
I just started two days ago, and I know the first 20 hiragana characters for now. I’m taking it rather slowly with much repetition, so it would stick. However, I get discouraged rather quickly, and I get stressed really quickly, also, so I start getting so nervous and doubtful of myself when I see the kanji (which I haven’t attempted yet) or when I hear a Japanese song or watch something in Japanese, and I don’t understand much (and I also haven’t even touched the vocabulary yet :P) I guess I am just a bit anxious, and I’m really not in a rush for anything.
I just want to learn something totally different for my own pleasure, but with self-study, I’m not sure I can do it. Unlike others who use self-study successfully, I need to be able to converse with someone else using the language I am learning, and there is no one in or around this area that speaks Japanese. But I will keep trying and try to be optimistic. (:
In all honesty English is the hardest language to learn in the world and its the second most spoken. But, thanks this helped alot but you’re right the writing system in Japan is terribly difficult.
bye.
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I personally believe that complexity is not proportional to difficulty. For instance, I’ve read that English and Spanish are the most difficult languages to learn in the world… but even then there’s millions of people that can use them with ease.
Sure, they are natives, they were immersed in the language for many, many years… well, in order to get good at any language (including of course Nihongo!), is to spend a LOT of time in it. There are tools that can be used to accelerate learning (like SRS software), but overall it’s immersion what gives us the skill of language.
No language is more difficult than any other. Maybe more complex in terms of pronunciation, alphabets, etc…, but not more difficult.
I’ve also heard that the japanese language is easy to learn.If anyone reads this comment,
just in case people didn’t know, that the spanish language is quite comparable to the japanese one. I know u don’t, but … why u ask? Because, to be honest, it has the same pronounciation!!!! To me , learning japanese could be more easier if u know spanish. If u want to look in to it , google it and u might notice it.