Japanese is the official language of Japan and is one of the most difficult languages for people to learn to speak as well as write. The language itself features a relatively small number of sounds but a very large number of accents and pitches which are significant. Spelling in Japanese is just as difficult to learn, and you may start your education by learning just how to spell Japan in Japanese, and it is spelled as such: にほ.
The Japanese language is written with a combination of three Far Eastern scripts, a mix of Chinese characters that are called kanji, another Chinese script that is called hiragana, and a third Chinese script called katakana. Today, the Latin alphabet is sometimes used in writing modern Japanese, in particular for names for companies and for entering Japanese texts into a computer or word processor. Arabic numbers have recently found a place in the Japanese culture, but traditional Sino-Japanese numbers are still popular in many places in the country.
Japanese is for the most part only spoken in the country with a few exceptions such as Taiwan and parts of China where residents were forced to learn the language during the Japanese occupation of World War II. Another difficulty in learning the Japanese language is the large number of dialects that are spoken in different parts of the country. This is due to the long held traditions of Japanese isolation that was practiced both internally and externally. Still, due to better education, the mass media, and vast increase in mobility over the past 50 years, standard Japanese has become much more prevalent nationwide.
If you want to learn to speak and write in the Japanese language, your very best bet is to immerse yourself in it by attending a language school in Japan so you can learn from a native speaker of the language.
The Japanese language is written with a combination of three Far Eastern scripts, a mix of Chinese characters that are called kanji, another Chinese script that is called hiragana, and a third Chinese script called katakana. Today, the Latin alphabet is sometimes used in writing modern Japanese, in particular for names for companies and for entering Japanese texts into a computer or word processor. Arabic numbers have recently found a place in the Japanese culture, but traditional Sino-Japanese numbers are still popular in many places in the country.
Japanese is for the most part only spoken in the country with a few exceptions such as Taiwan and parts of China where residents were forced to learn the language during the Japanese occupation of World War II. Another difficulty in learning the Japanese language is the large number of dialects that are spoken in different parts of the country. This is due to the long held traditions of Japanese isolation that was practiced both internally and externally. Still, due to better education, the mass media, and vast increase in mobility over the past 50 years, standard Japanese has become much more prevalent nationwide.
If you want to learn to speak and write in the Japanese language, your very best bet is to immerse yourself in it by attending a language school in Japan so you can learn from a native speaker of the language.