Turning Japanese
By Alex Prior
February 10th 2010, 4:16pm
Mushi Mushi and Konnichiwa!
Japanese is a language spoken by over 130 million people in the far East and Japanese emigrant communities.
Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been and sometimes still is spoken elsewhere. When Japan occupied Korea, Taiwan, parts of China and various Pacific islands before and during World War II, locals in those countries were forced to learn Japanese in empire-building programs.
The Japanese language is written with a combination of three scripts. The first is Chinese characters called KANJI, and this is followed by two syllabic scripts called HIRAGANA and KATAKANA.
Don't be put off though - there are no verb conjunctions and no genfering of nouns (as with French and German). Also, the syntax or word order of a have no rules - they're virtually free. Numbers, single and plural, also aren't important and barely exist
Japanese borrows heavily from other langauges, most notably Chinese, but also Indo-European languages, such as English.
Koreans and Mongolians find learning this langauge very easy as their grammar is related to Japanese
Top tips to learn Japanese include speaking the language in your head while you think - and if you make a mistake, no one will ever hear you!
London has some of the finest institutions for learning Japanese. Here's LCC's top spots in the capital - Just click on the link for more details.
Langauge Upon Thames, UIC - Languages for Living, Embassy of Japan
LCC reporter Alex Prior tried his hand at learning Japanese in 24 hours and was tested on some key phrases by international student and Tokyo resident Eugie Takanara. Listen to Alex's preparation by clicking PLAY on the right! Alex scored an impressive four out of five on the key words and phrases he was tested on live on air - not bad for 24 hours work!
Sianara!
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