The history of the Japanese language is one subject that has been debated by scholars for hundreds of years now. For starters, one can easily assume that the Japanese language has a connection to the Chinese because they use the same writing system. It is okay for anyone to reason that way. But, is that what it is? The answer is no!
This article will be taking a critical look at the Chinese vs Japanese argument through parameters like grammar & pronunciation, writing systems, as well as what people should expect when learning the language.
The similarity (Writing system)
It will amaze you to note that there aren’t too much similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages. The only similarity we know of is their writing style. The Chinese and Japanese employ the same writing system. The Japanese adopted the writing system as far back as the 3rd century. Before then, the Japanese did not have any particular writing system.
The Japanese adopted the Kanji (a set of special Chinese characters), alongside a couple of Chinese loanwords. Most of what the Japanese have today as culture were borrowed from the Chinese.
While it remains a fact that the Japanese employ a writing system that is of Chinese origin, there is a remarkable difference between Chinese and Japanese when it comes to grammar and vocabulary usage.
For instance, the Hanzi characters used by Chinese do not mean the same thing as the Kanji equivalents used by the Japanese. Ever since the Japanese chose to adopt the writing system of the Chinese, both nations have made efforts to simplify their languages.
Grammar
The Chinese and Japanese differ greatly in terms of how they construct their sentences. The Chinese use SVO for sentence construction, whereas the Japanese use SOV for theirs. In case you are not aware, SVO represents subject, verb, and object.
There is a good chance that you may find it easier to grasp the Chinese language than the Japanese. The sentence formation for Chinese is simpler than that of the Japanese. For example, it is not out of place to join adjectives and verbs in Japanese. One other difference between Chinese and Japanese is that Chinese is devoid of conjugations. That said, learners may not struggle with learning Japanese because they use the same conjugation for every subject.
Pronunciation
When it comes to tonal languages, words may have different meanings because they are based on the person’s accent. Mastering the tones in Chinese is one of the hardest tasks for learners. Mandarin has four tones, while the Lukang Township Taiwanese version has as many as eight tones.
And even though Japanese is a tonal language, the tones are not as many as that of Chinese. You can read every Japanese text in two ways – Onyomi and Kunyomi.
Conclusion
Anyone planning to learn the Chinese or Japanese language must have it at the back of their minds that the learning curve will be steep. It is like that because of the complexity of their writing systems.
