"Japanese pronouns consist primarily of personal pronouns, which includes words like “me,” “you,” and “she.” The good news is that Japanese only has a few types of pronouns for you to remember, making Japanese not as hard to learn as you may have thought! Instead, Japanese has a wide variety of options for each type of pronoun that have the same meaning, but have slightly different nuances."

"Learning any language, including Japanese, means understanding how to put a sentence together. This is where parts of speech come in. Native English speakers will be familiar with nouns (people, places, things, or ideas) and verbs (action words). Japanese parts of speech are much the same, making a new learner’s job easier."

"There are dozens of punctuation marks in Japanese ranging from the simple period to obscure symbols only used in a few highly specific situations. In a language without spaces, such as Japanese, punctuation is a helpful tool."

“Unlike English, Spanish, and other Germanic or Romance languages, Japanese verb conjugations are not tied to the subject of the sentence. For example, “to read” in English can turn into “I read” or “She reads.” In Japanese, “to read” becomes yomu (読む) or yomimasu (読みます) regardless of who the sentence is about. Whether one person or an entire classroom of students is reading, the conjugation of “to read” is the same in Japanese. “

“To start any conversation on the right foot, you need the right greeting for the situation. Saying “Hey! What’s up?” to friends and family is normal, but maybe less than ideal for your boss. Likewise, a formal handshake with your mother may not be the most natural gesture. When speaking Japanese, having an understanding of etiquette and appropriate Japanese greetings is essential. “

“The alphabet is divided into vowels first, then combined consonants and vowels that make a single kana. Conveniently, a vowel’s pronunciation carries to each of these consonants, meaning you do not need to worry about remembering multiple pronunciations for a single vowel. Compared to English’s five (or more!) ways to pronounce the vowel “a,” Japanese is easy.”

“Eating local food is a highlight of any trip abroad. Before you can satisfy your taste buds, you have to tell the waiter what you want! And you’ll likely have to order in Japanese because most people in Japan don’t speak English. With a little preparation, adding key vocabulary and phrases to your language toolkit will take any stress away and allow you to enjoy your meal. “

“When learning a new language, verbs and conjugations go hand in hand. But in Japanese, that’s not the only part of speech that’s conjugated! Japanese adjectives get the past, present, and future treatment, too. To describe people, weather, food, and more, understanding Japanese adjective conjugation is important for clear communication. “

“Japanese famously has three writing systems: hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and kanji (漢字). All are essential for reading and writing Japanese, but only the first two could be defined as alphabets. What’s more, while the English alphabet has 26 letters, the two Japanese alphabets have 46 characters each. With over three times the number of characters to learn, it can seem overwhelming at first, but that’s why we’re here to make it easy.”

"When learning Japanese, you will be introduced to the concept of Japanese particles almost immediately. These short words—often only one or two characters long—hold entire sentences together despite their length. Particles do not always have a meaning on their own, but understanding their individual functions will help you build sentences while identifying the role every word plays."

"When researching how hard it is to learn Japanese, these similarities offer some peace of mind:
- Japanese uses a wide range of foreign loanwords, so words such as kamera (カメラ, camera) and piza (ピザ, pizza) will already be familiar.
- While not always in the same order as English, Japanese parts of speech (such as adjectives and verbs) are easily recognizable by function.
- The Japanese language did not include punctuation prior to the nineteenth century but has now adopted Western punctuation marks."

"There is no other language quite like Japanese in the world. Every language is unique in its own way, but Japanese is considered a language isolate. That means Japanese is its own language family—the Japonic language family—which includes Japanese dialects and the native language of the southernmost region of the Japanese archipelago."

"Nouns tell you “who” or “what ” and adverbs tell you “how,” but it’s the verb that tells you what’s happening. Japanese verbs are the key to creating complete sentences. Having a wealth of options at your disposal will broaden both your vocabulary and the topics you can comfortably discuss. "

"The Japanese sentence pattern essentially begins with the subject and is then followed by the object and its associated verb. Other information is commonly tied to the component it’s most related to (such as adjectives describing the subject or object), but the most important thing to remember is that the verb goes at the end of the sentence in the majority of cases."

“Japanese prepositions are actually known as postpositions, but for convenience, we’ll usually refer to them as prepositions. They perform the same function as prepositions (as they are both adpositions), and the only major difference between them is where the word is placed in relation to the related words it’s connecting.”

“Japanese adverbs are the key to fully expressing yourself. Adjectives describe nouns, but adverbs are much more diverse, adding context and flavor to verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. When you learn Japanese, keep an eye out: You’re sure to see adverbs in unexpected places.”

“Japan is the only country claiming Japanese as its official language, with over 123 million native speakers. However, they don’t all exclusively speak standard Japanese—several Japanese dialects give a glimpse into local culture and history. You may know how to say “hi” in standard Japanese, but do you know how to say it in Osaka?”

“There are thousands of Japanese onomatopoeia compared to the hundreds of English onomatopoeia. Translating the Japanese precisely can be difficult, and onomatopoeia may appear as anything from sound effects to adverbs to adjectives in English. While there’s room for confusion, this also means that Japanese can boil an entire scene down to one word. “

“Modern Japan follows the Gregorian calendar used by the majority of the world. However, the names of the months in Japanese did not copy the Roman-based names of the months we use in English. Instead, the months are simply numbered. January is “Month 1,” February is “Month 2,” and so on. How convenient!”

“Punctuality is highly valued in Japanese culture. Japanese trains and subways are known for being exceptionally good at adhering to their schedules, and being on time is a show of respect for the other party. That means learning how to tell time in Japanese is essential for language and social purposes.”

“Like the Western calendar, Japan uses a seven-day week, which includes five workdays and two weekend days. Each day in Japanese ends in -youbi (曜日), which means the only difference you have to remember with the days of the week in Japanese is the first kanji and its pronunciation.”

“Being polite in Japanese is as easy as understanding basic verb conjugations and knowing when to use honorifics, but did you know there’s another tier of formality beyond “polite?” Japanese keigo is an additional style of speech within the Japanese language reserved for formal situations when you want to leave a great impression. However, it’s not enough to know the words themselves—you’ll need to understand what you can say to whom and why.”

“The Japanese te-form conjugation functions as a connection between words, clauses, and sentences. In many cases, it becomes a part of the conjugated word and is simply translated as “and,” becoming a conjunction without a separate word. It also lacks any indication of past, future, or present tense, so it depends on the rest of the sentence to put the time into context.”

“The Japanese language is well known for the sheer vastness of its writing system. Each of the thousands of characters have their own meaning and pronunciations. However, you’ll be relieved to know that the Japanese hiragana (ひらがな) alphabet is no more complex than the English alphabet—just a little larger. “

“Katakana is one of the two Japanese syllabaries that function as alphabets. Unlike hiragana, which is primarily used for native Japanese words, katakana is the writing system meant for foreign words. Don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s rare, though—it’s an extremely common writing system that you’ll see on the street in Japan everywhere you look.”