Japanese is a language spoken mainly by the Yamato people in Japanese archipelago, and is also the official and the most common language in Japan. Japanese is heavily influenced by Chinese and has a lot of Chinese characters. The writing system consists of 50% Chinese characters, 30% hiragana and 20% katakana.

Japanese takes various forms, spoken and written, simple and honorific, general and polite, male and female, the aged and the young. Different industry and occupations also have different ways of speaking the language. It reflects the hierarchy and unity of the Japanese society. Japanese has an extensive honorific speech system, and the use of it in formal occasion sees the elegance in the Japanese language. However, the complicated grammar system makes learning honorific speech difficult. Even native Japanese cannot master the use of honorific speech thoroughly.

 

Japanese
Japanese