[US] 12. Language

One of the more interesting aspects about Japan is its language. The mix of kanji, hiragana, and katakana is something that fascinates me. In the english language, we have a set of 26 characters that are used to build the language. In Japanese, there are thousands of kanji, and almost each one has a story or pictogram behind it. It is really quite fascinating when you combine the different characters together to create a new word. Although there are similarities to English when building words, Japanese uses pictures or symbols that look similar to the thing it represents.


For example, the word TREE in Japanese is 木, which essentially looks like a tree. Contrast that with english, were there are no clues to help you determine whether what a word is. Take another example here:

 

CHICKEN – English

POULET (pronounced poo-lay) – French

鶏 (にわとり) – Japanese

To me, what is most interesting about Japanese is how the pictogram “looks” like a chicken. I can use my imagination to see the image of the chicken. That’s is just a small example, but it is one of the nice things about learning Japanese.

Questions:

1) What do you think is most interesting about Japanese?

2) In your opinion, what are some of the major differences between Japanese and English?

3) Which style do you prefer, the pictogram style of kanji or the “build” of the language like english?

4) Do you think learning a language is difficult? Why or why not?

5) What part of learning a language do you like the most?

Key Words and Phrases: aspects, characters, pictogram, combine, clues

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Author: sayinsei

英語の発音矯正と会話クラスを提供する新宿の語学学校. A language school in Shinjuku offering English classes

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