The document provides an overview of the Japanese language including: - A brief history spanning over 2000 years from Old Japanese to Modern Japanese. - Key linguistic features such as the use of kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romaji characters as well as subject-object-verb word order. - Japanese is one of the ten most spoken languages worldwide with over 128 million speakers, most located in Japan but also in countries like Brazil, the US, and the Philippines. - The benefits of learning Japanese include cultural understanding, personal growth, career opportunities, travel, and expanding relationships.

1. Unit 1:
World
Language
Group members: Ngoc, Thuan, Anh, Quan, Mai

2. Contents
of Japanese
History of
Japanese
02
01 03
04
Linguistic
features
The popularity of
Japanese
Benefits of
learning
Japanese
05 Conclusion

3. HISTORY
of
Japanese
0
1

4. Where is
Japanese
most
spoken?

5. Japan

6. 01. A bit of
JAPAN
• Island country located
in East Asia, situated in
the Pacific Ocean.
• “The Land Of The Rising
Sun”
• The population is
around 125 million
people as of 2023.
• A cultural superpower

12. 01. History of Japanese
- The Japanese language has a long
history spanning over 2000 years.
- 4 main stages:
• Old Japanese (approximately the 8th
century)
• Early Middle Japanese (from the
8th century to the 12th century)
• Late Middle Japanese (from the
12th century to the 16th century)
• Modern Japanese (from the 16th
century onwards to present)

13. Old
Japanese
Chinese characters
(kanji) were
adopted in Japan
in the 5th century.
Old Japanese is
written using
Chinese characters
and a syllabic
called
man'yōgana.

14. Early Middle
Japanese
Japanese invented the kana
syllabic scripts called hiragana
and katakana.

17. Late Middle
Japanese
Japanese language
experienced the first
appearance of
European loanwords

18. pan - パン - bread

19. tabako - たばこ - tobacco

20. Modern Japanese
• In the 16th century, romaji - a system
of writing Japanese using the Latin
alphabet.
• Following the end in 1853, the flow of
loanwords from European languages
increased significantly.
• Since 1945: has seen many loanwords
and borrowed words from other
languages.

21. 02.
Linguistic
features

22. 02. Linguistic
features
Japanese language
uses a combination of
kanji, hiragana,
katakana, and romaji.

23. Used to write
nouns, verbs and
adjectives (about
2000 characters).
Linguistic
features
kanji
Used to write
native Japanese
words (46 basic
characters plus +
combinations).
hiragana

24. Used to write
loanwords and foreign
words (46 basic
characters plus +
combinations).
Linguistic
features
katakana
Used to write
Japanese phonetic
sounds. (It’s rarely used
in native writing).
romaji

25. “Watashi wa ringo o tabemasu” means “I apple eat” or “I eat
an apple”
Linguistic
features
The word order (is): subject-object-verb (which is)
- different from English SVO (subject-verb-object)
structure.

26. • No grammatical gender for
nouns, articles or plurals in
Japanese.
• Pitch accent system: two levels –
high and low. The pitch pattern
of a word can change its
meaning.
• Polite and formal expressions:
has complex systems of
honorifics to reflect social
relationships and hierarchies.
Speech levels: polite, formal,
02. Linguistic
features

27. • Unique counting system:
with different words used for
different types of objects.
• Distinctive sounds: Japanese
has only 5 vowel sounds (a, i,
u, e, o) and a limited number
of consonant sounds.
0 2 .Linguis t ic
f eat ur es

28. The
popularity
of Japanese
0
3

29. 03. The popularity
of Japanese
• Approximately 128 million people
speak Japanese worldwide as of
2021.
• The majority of Japanese speakers
are located in Japan
• There are also significant populations
of Japanese speakers in other
• One of the ten most
spoken languages in
the world.

30. Brazil – 1.5 million

31. The United States – 1.2 million

32. The Philippines – 1 million

33. Peru – 800,000

36. 0 4 . Benef it s o f
lear ning
Japanes e
Business and career
opportunities.

37. 04. Benefits of
learning Japanese
• Cultural
understanding
• Personal growth.

38. • Travel
• Relationshi
p
expansion
04. Benefits of
learning
Japanese

39. 05.
Conclusion

40. Set clear goals Learn the basics first

41. Practice
regularly

43. Use a variety of resources

44. • HelloTalk: a language exchange
app that connects you with native
Japanese speakers.
• Duolingo: provide quick and
immersive Japanese lessons
based on pictures and intuitive
learning.
• italki: an app that connects
learners to Japanese tutors for
one-on-one lessons.