Introductory Japanese Lessons (6)
Characteristics of Japanese
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 is easy to pronounce. It has only five
vowels.
(2) 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.
hon = a book or books
kuruma = a car or cars
(3) Verb conjugation is not affected by the gender or number. The same
verb is used no matter what the subject is.
| Watashi wa bideo o yoku mimasu. 私はビデオをよく見ます。 |
I watch videos often. |
| Kare wa terebi o yoku mimasu. 彼はテレビをよく見ます。 |
He watches TV often. |
(4) 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.
Click here to check out the Language Poll, "Do you think Japanese is easier to learn compared to other languages?"
