Japanese overview

Contents

Introduction
Japanese facts
Differences between Japanese and English
Japanese to English translation ratios
Japanese alphabets
Hiragana - Native Japanese words
Katakana - Foreign words
Kanji - Over 8000 characters
Some useful Japanese phrases
Famous Japanese

Introduction

While retaining its time-honoured culture, Japan rapidly absorbed Western technology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives. The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth.

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Japanese facts

Location: Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula.

Natural resources: Negligible mineral resources, fish.

Industries: Among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and non-ferrous metals, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods.

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Differences between Japanese and English

There are many. Some of the most striking differences between Japanese and English are listed below.

• There are no words in Japanese equivalent to the English articles "a", "an", and "the". The meaning is taken from the context.
• There are no plural forms in Japanese. Great care must be taken to avoid confusion.
• There are no possessive forms of nouns or pronouns in Japanese. Whose item is being discussed must be deduced from the context.
• Verbs in Japanese come at the end of sentences. This makes simultaneous interpreting particularly difficult as the interpreter often does not know the context of the sentence until the speaker has finished saying it!
• There is no future tense in Japanese. Again, context is all important.
• There is only one English alphabet. The Japanese use three, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.
• The English language consists of 26 letters. An average Japanese adult has to remember at least 2000 Japanese characters of the 8000 or so in regular use.

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Japanese to English translation ratios

The number of Japanese characters which are required to represent the equivalent number of English words can differ significantly. As a general rule, you need more Japanese characters than English words to say the same thing. Exactly how many more depends upon on the type of text being translated. The following ratios apply.

General material, for example, newspaper articles and novels. Around 2.2 times more Japanese characters than English words.

Material containing words with no direct Japanese equivalents, for example, articles on video games and chemical patents. Around 3.0 times more Japanese characters than English words. The ratio is higher due to the need for a high proportion of Katakana.

Material consisting mainly of words with direct Japanese equivalents, for example, classical Japanese literature. Around 1.7 times more Japanese characters than English words. The ratio is lower due to the high proportion of Kanji used.

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Japanese alphabets

The Japanese language consists of not one, but three different alphabets. Each is used in a slightly different way as described below.

Hiragana

Hiragana is a syllabic alphabet. In other words, each character represents a sound. There are 46 different characters each of which represent a different sound. Hiragana is used to represent native Japanese words. You will often see small Hiragana characters above or below Kanji to indicate how the Kanji should be pronounced. When used in this role, Hiragana are known as 'Furigana'.

The English vowels, a,e,i,o & u represented in Hiragana

Katakana

Katakana is also a syllabic alphabet. There are 46 different Katakana. It is no coincidence that there are the same number of characters in both the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets as they both represent exactly the same sounds (some of them even look quite similar).

So why are there two alphabets which sound identical? The answer is simple. Katakana is used to represent foreign words whereas Hiragana is used to represent native Japanese words. If you see a word written in Katakana you know that it is one which has been imported from a foreign language.

The English vowels, a,e,i,o & u represented in Katakana

Kanji

There are over 8000 Kanji. Kanji are not syllabic and are used to represent abstract concepts as well as names and everyday words. An average adult Japanese speaker must know at least 2000 off by heart. Most Kanji are combined with other Kanji to form the equivalent of our 'phrases'. Again, these must be memorised.

One characteristic of Kanji which can make translating Japanese more difficult is that most Kanji have several meanings and pronunciations. It is not always obvious (even to a native Japanese speaker), which meaning or pronunciation the author intended. Sometimes Furigana (see Hiragana above) are used for clarification but in their absence, only the context and the reader's experience can provide clues.

These kanji mean ' Inner Strength' and are pronounced "Kokoro ga tsuyoi."

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Some useful Japanese phrases

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Famous Japanese

Yoshimoto Banana - Author. Won the "New Prize for Literature" for "Kitchen" and the "Izumi Kyoka Prize" for "Moonlight shadow."

Hosokawa Takashi - One of the most prominent enka singers in Japan. Born in Makkari (Hokkaido) on 15 June 1950, Takashi is the youngest son of Hosokawa Matsujiro and Yomi.

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