Learning Japanese
- Japanese pronunciation is not hard: nearly all the sounds occur in English as well. You just need to acquire the distinctive staccato intonation!
- Contrary to what people imagine, it is not difficult to pick up some basic words, phrases and structures in Japanese.
- Most of the Japanese words you need are quite short and not hard to learn.
- Japanese has borrowed a lot of words from English. Can you recognise “kompyūta”, “bōifurendo” and “tēpu rekōdā”? “Sarariman” comes from the English “salaryman”. (It’s just a pity that “salaryman” doesn’t exist in English!)
- Japanese writing is very complex, but learners normally use a script called “romaji” – basically, our alphabet (as used in the Japanese words above). Romaji is very straightforward. Don’t let fear of the writing put you off! You can learn a lot of useful spoken Japanese without worrying about the writing.
- Even a limited study of Japanese gives you a feel of the way the language works. You also understand much more about the culture, and the way, for example, that levels of politeness are expressed throughout the language.
- Japanese grammar certainly becomes quite challenging at a higher level. However, even though it requires a new way of looking at language, it is largely regular and has its own logic.
Click here for more information about the Japanese language and Japanese classes. For more information about our approach to teaching, please check Euroasia style. Or check Japanese timetable to find out about the next Japanese courses with Euroasia!
