Languages

Spoken Language
Japanese is the only official language in Japan. Being treated as the first language by many locals, Japanese is the main mode of communication. However, in Tokyo, there are several mode of communication. Besides Japanese, English is widely spoken by the residents of Tokyo. Some other languages that are used include Chinese and Korean etc which are most probably due to the presence of their population in Tokyo.

There are mainly two forms of Japanese language- standard Japanese (Hyojungo) and common language (Kyotsugo). Hyojungo is used widely in schools and on television. Standard Japanese (Hyojungo) is the language spoken in Tokyo.

Japanese language has many different dialects found in the various regions of Japan. Each region has different sound system, grammar and vocabularies.

In order to show politeness and formality in spoken Japanese, Japan has an extensive grammatical system which is divided into three main levels. The level of speech used depends on who you talk to. The first level is the plain form (Kudaketa) which is casual Japanese language, normally used among friends and with people whom you are close with. The second level is the simple polite form (Teineigo) which is neutral Japanese language. The third level is the honorific form (Keigo) which is a very polite form of Japanese language, normally used in service industries.

Written Language
Written Japanese is a mixture of three writing systems. The three scripts include Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.

Kanji is Chinese characters that are imported from China which is use for to write nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs. The other two sets are Japanese syllabaries systems (Kana).
Hiragana is derived from the Chinese cursive script which is used only for grammatical endings of verbs, nouns, and adjectives and other words that are not used in Kanji.

Katakana is developed from a part of Chinese characters which are more angular and is used for writing loan words, persons’ names and geographical places that cannot be written in Kanji.


Roma-ji is Romanized Japanese that is used to help foreign learners read Japanese without learning the Japanese characters and for inputting text into the computer.