Japan Culture and Traditions

Characteristics of Japanese

Characteristics of the Japanese Language

Do you still think Japanese is a difficult language to learn? I would say "No!". Of course, it is a little hard to master all Japanese writing, but for speaking it is not as hard as you think. Here are some facts.

1. Japanese nouns do not have gender, and rarely, number aspects. With most Japanese nouns, number is not an issue. The same word is used for one or more than one. For example, "hon" can mean "a book" or "books" and "kuruma" means "a car" or "cars."

1. Verb conjugation is not affected by the gender or number. The same verb is used no matter what the subject is.
   • 私はビデオをよく見ます。(Watashi wa bideo o yoku mimasu.) - I watch videos often.
   • 彼はテレビをよく見ます。(Kare wa terebi o yoku mimasu.) - He watches TV often.
2. Japanese verbs have only two tenses; the present tense and the past tense. The present tense refers to habitual action or the future. The past tense is used for actions completed in the past. It is also equivalent to the English present perfect or past perfect."