Japan Languages
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In other languages: 日本語Description[edit | edit source]
Modern-day Japanese is the language of virtually all Japanese living in Japan, but prior to 1868 there were many significant regional variations. Korean is spoken by one-half of one percent of the population. The Ainu language, spoken by the aboriginal Ainu people, is nearly extinct. There are also several Ryukyuan languages, closely related to Japanese, used in Okinawa and other islands in the south. These languages are disappearing as the younger generations are using modern Japanese.
The earliest documents in Japan were written in Chinese. Japanese language documents are written with a complex mixture of three separate writing systems: Japanese in Chinese characters (called Kanji) and two phonetic syllabic systems - Hiragana (more cursive and often used with Kanji characters) and Katakana (more angular and for transcribing words of foreign origin).[1]
| Tip: You can decipher "old" kanji, by using the IME pad on the Language Bar on your computer? Draw the kanji - in stroke order, then move your curser over the corresponding kanji on the right. It will reveal the different options of how to read/speak the kanji. |
Word List(s)[edit | edit source]
- Japanese Genealogical Word List
- 101 Core and Commonly Used Japanese Words - Fluent in 3 months
- Top 100 Basic Japanese Words - Coto Japanese Academy
Alphabet and Pronunciation[edit | edit source]
The Japanese written language has three writing systems:
- Kanji
- Characters are borrowed from Chinese (tens of thousands)
- only 2,000 kanji are needed to read Japanese
- Hiragana
- Phonetic system
- 46 basic symbols or letters --- See List
- Katakana
- Phonetic system
- 46 basic symbols or letters --- See List
Online Resources
- Aids for Vowels and Consonants - Wikipedia
- Japanese Phonology (including Consonants, Vowels, Accent, Sound Change, etc.) - Wikipedia
- List of Numbers in Japanese
- List of Days in Japanese
- List of Months in Japanese
- List of Most Common Nouns in Japanese
- List of Most Useful Pronouns in Japanese
- List of Most Common Verbs in Japanese
- List of Family Member Terms in Japanese
- List of 100 Places in Japan in Japanese
- List of Directions in Japanese
Language Aids and Dictionaries[edit | edit source]
Dictionaries
- Japanese-English Dictionary (Jisho)
- Japanese-English Dictionary (Tangorin)
- Japanese-English Dictionary (JapanDict)
- History of Japanese Dictionaries - Wikipedia
Language Aids
Additional Resources[edit | edit source]
- Jorden, Eleanor Harz, and Hamako Ito Chaplin. Reading Japanese. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1976. Available at: WorldCat.
- Chaplin, Hamako Ito, and Jorden Eleanor harz. Reading Japanese. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1992. Available at: WorldCat.
- Sakade, Florence. A Guide to reading & writing Japanese. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 2000. Available at: WorldCat.
- Konomi, Emiko. Reading and writing Japanese hiragana. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2020. Available at: WorldCat.
- Konomi, Emiko. Reading and writing Japanese katakana. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2020. Available at: WorldCat.
- Takagaki, Tetsuo, and Kenneth G. Henshall. Learning hiragana and katakana. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing, 1990. Available at: WorldCat.
- Kaneda, Fujihiko, and Rika Samidori. Easy hiragana : first steps to reading and writing basic Japanese. Chicago, Ill: Passport Books, 2004. Available at: WorldCat.
- Sato, Eriko, and Anna Sato. Reading & writing Japanese. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2021. Available at: WorldCat.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Japan,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1986-2001.