Japanese Writing System
First off, there are the three writing systems: katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Hiragana and katakana are phonetic alphabets. Unlike English, which treats vowels and consonants separately (and has multiple pronunciations for many of the letters), phonetic alphabets are always written and pronounced in one specific way.
Hiragana and Katakana
Hiragana is the first Japanese writing system that children learn—it’s the most basic writing system in Japan. In the table above, it’s easy to identify hiragana because of the alphabet’s more rounded shapes (presented on the left side of each square). Katakana, on the other hand, is sharper in appearance (presented on the right side of each square).
Kanji
Unlike hiragana and katakana, kanji is pictographic. Each symbol, or moji, stands for a concept rather than a sound. For example, in the table above, you can see the kanji 一、二、三 (1, 2, 3). There can be several pronunciations or readings for these symbols. The kanji 一 can be pronounced ichi or hito, but the meaning (one) stays the same.
Japanese Grammar
Japanese grammar, as a whole, is one of the most difficult things for English speakers to get their heads around. In Japanese, the verb goes at the end of the sentence, something that feels instinctually wrong for English speakers.
English uses a Subject-Verb-Object word order.
The Japanese form is actually much easier to conjugate, and there are also no pluralizers. However, changing forms between animate and inanimate objects takes some getting used to.
Japanese only has a past and a present tense. While there are multiple forms of each tense, it’s much quicker and more efficient than English. Japanese also relies heavily on context, so many things are considered obvious that must be spelled out in English.
Gender Differences
While Japan used to have very marked differences between genders in speech, much of that has been on the decline. Nowadays, many linguists refer to the differences as gentle “female” and rough “male”. These differences in speech are categorized by endings and politeness: for example, the rough form might end in ~っぜ (ze), a crude ending, rather than ~わ (wa), a more refined sound.
In truth, gender-neutral Japanese is what’s taught in most language schools (and is essential to keigo discussed below), so this is far less relevant, but it’s important to understand when dealing with day-to-day communication.
Politeness
In Japan, politeness rules supreme—to be impolite is to transgress not only personally but culturally. While most foreigners and ex-pats are forgiven for the exactness of keigo, being intentional with your honorifics can go a long way in impressing your coworkers and managers as well as building bridges within your community.
Integrated in this politeness is a system that values humility over directness, purposefully elevating the listener while putting yourself in a lower rank. Endings become longer, from ~です (desu) to ~でございます (degozaimasu). Still not quite sure what that means?
If you live in Japan, take a moment to listen to department store clerks, and their Japanese might sound quite confusing. That’s because the ultimate example of everyday keigo is the relationship between customer and employee, where the customer is highly honored. While difficult to learn at first, there are a few stock phrases that will become second nature in time with practice.
Business Japanese
With complicated rules of hierarchy in keigo, it’s no wonder that business Japanese takes a lot of getting used to. In this area, we can break down keigo as it pertains to other adults in business settings.
