Evolution of the Japanese Language

Since time immemorial, humankind has tried to communicate with each other using different types of languages. If one delves into the extreme past, when mankind had just evolved, they will find that there was no written communication. Though there are no concrete proofs of this, the dates of the first written text, or hieroglyphics, have appeared far after the evolution of mankind. By this one can assume that our ancients primarily used the sign language, conveyed by movement of the limbs, to convey their thoughts. It was far later that mankind found out way to scribble their thoughts into stone using sharp and pointed objects.

This was the origin of script as we now call it and it differed a lot from what we see today and whet we also call written text. When different countries were formed, each had their own culture and this played a large part in forming their language. Japan is no different and the Japanese language reflects the Japanese culture to a great extent. The Japanese language is similar to the Ryukyuan language and is spoken by more than 130 million people all over the world. The Japanese language is agglutitative in nature and it represents a complex system that uses hornorifics that reflect Japanese society’s hierarchical nature. Many people find it tough to pronounce the Japanese language properly and first time writers find translation from one language to Japanese difficult.

This is because of the structure of the language. There are different types of verbs and vocabularies that are indicative of the speaker’s relative status with context to the person hearing the speech and the person being referred to in the speech. You will be amazed to know that the Japanese language has a small inventory and has a definitive pitch. This language is also a more-timed one. While translating from any language to Japanese you should be aware that the main Japanese language is made up of three different Chinese characters that have been modified. These three different types of characters are Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana. Modern Japanese language also uses the Latin alphabet and this is used basically for advertising and for designing logos of companies.

The Latin alphabet is also used when entering Japanese language into a computer. Persons new to this language are recommended to seek the assistance of experts when trying their hands at Japanese translation. A difference of a simple graphic in the complex characters might well change the meaning of the word and the entire sentence. It is well known that Japanese language is not independent and has borrowed quite a lot from the Chinese language. In fact many words of the Japanese language have been borrowed from the Chinese language. Quite a number of Indo-European languages too contribute to the Japanese vocabulary. People believe that Japan is the only country where Japanese language is spoken and they can only get Japanese translation done in Japan only. This is not correct since Japanese is spoken in most major cities of the world.