History and Present of the Japanese Language

[@gengotaku]

Just a small correction: Standard Japanese is not THE SAME as Tokyo dialect.Rather, it is based upon the dialect spoken in Tokyo. Actually it is difficult to distinguish between Standard Japanese （標準語） and Standard language （共通語）because people from different regions might speak with a ¨local flavor¨. Standard Japanese refers to the accent of words used by announcers on NHK. Actually there are some communication barriers if one comes to the Kansai region, since most people here are proud of their ¨kansai-ben¨. Tōhoku dialect might present difficulties to understand due to lack of clarity with I and E vowels, voicing of consonants and nasalization between words.Kyūshū dialects can be difficult to hear because of the negation in -n, adjectives ending in -ka, verbal aspect and some interesting final particles. From all dialects, Kagoshima and Aomori pose a challenge even for well trained ears, because they sound like a foreign language. In that aspect, Okinawan shouldn't even be considered a dialect, because it's a totally different language and can even vary from island to island. Thanks for the awesome presentation.

[@addietoner8392]

僕は、日本語でネーティブですけれども、カナダにずうっと住んでて、英語のほうが好きかな。 このビデオを作ってくれてありがとう、すごいインフォがあります

[@Mattropolis97]

Just saying, under most circumstances, the "u" in "desu" isn't pronounced. It's called a "whispered vowel". I know you know that because you pronounced よろしくお願いします correctly at the end, I'm just saying this so other people know. I'm guessing you only pronounced the full "su" in order to avoid confused people asking "why are there two characters for one sound?!" Still, great video! I learned a lot of year-date approximations in history, which is ultimately what I came here for!

[@sylveonpk]

It isn't incorrect either, as other dialects still pronounce the ''u'' at the end, however the standard Tokyo dialect almost omits the sound, as some people in Osaka still use an older dialect, some people in Tokyo and younger people find it weird that the U is pronounced at the end.

[@noonnonono]

My general observation is that when people are trying to speak more gently and politely, they will pronounce the “u” at the end with a sort of flattering tone. But this is just from what I’ve heard inside an elementary school, I’ve never heard it from non-workplace speech before

[@marcia_ln]

( Brazil) Vim por indicação da faculdade do curso Letras Português - Japonês. Gratidão pelo vídeo.

[@4740424]

this is exactly the kinda background presentation I was looking for, in order to get the bigger picture :) so Dumo Arigato Gozaimasu!!!! :D

[@chaden9498]

"dumo" lol

[@エルフェンリート-l3i]

アイ・ファインド・イット・ファシネーティング・ザット・ユー・キャン・ライト・エンタイアー・イングリッシュ・センテーンシズ・イン・ジャパニーズ・ユージング・カタカナ

[@user-ng1fs7ll7u]

11:41 Conversely, these are also the points that confuse Japanese people like me when learning English. From the point of view of English speakers, Japanese is often said to be difficult, but similarly, from the point of view of Japanese speakers, English is difficult. Personally, I find it easier to learn Chinese, which uses the same ideographic Chinese characters and can often be understood by looking at them even if you cannot speak them. On the other hand, we have developed a habit of learning languages from writing due to the sense that we can understand the meaning of these characters when we look at them, and I think this is a factor of failure in learning English in Japan.

[@LowIQsocietymember]

In Ukraine we have a system of education where teachers, who were raised during soviet period, tried to teach us english without almost any practice of speaking it. Thus, on their lessons we basically were forced to cramming vocabulary and doing grammar exercises, which didn't really help

[@ThatBernie]

kore wa... pen desu

[@CrimsonR0se]

Bernie O'Connor はい、それはペンです。 よくやった. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[@michaelong2420]

Bernie O'Connor 7

[@tabthecabbit3354]

I think he said, "Yes, that is a pen. Well done?"

[@congratulationslol2826]

ナイスジョブ ! 🥳🤩✌️

[@littlefishbigmountain]

This comment hits a little different in 2020 Lookin’ at you, NHK.

[@FerKzrs]

Very informative video. Well done!

[@RR_DM]

Hello, my name is Arlo~~ Koreans are separated by political ideology similarly to how India and Pakistan are seperated by religion, hindu and muslim, respectively. The people are are same but the political ideology differs. Korea is on a peninsula.

[@ell4092]

私は 日本語を べんきょうします。 ありがとう ございます。

[@ilaydas.1815]

regionalatbest 私も。

[@FalseNoizia]

My name is 세르지오 頑張って下さい、日本語の文法と文化はめっちゃ面白くて素晴らしいじゃね。

[@arewe8357]

やあ日本人だよ

[@arewe8357]

分からないことがあったら教えるよ

[@FalseNoizia]

are We 日本人じゃないです。

[@daklina]

Thanks a lot for this introduction to the japanese language and the history of it, also you didn't speak english so fast so it was easy to understand every single word and its meaning for non native english speakers like me haha, congratulations from spain :)

[@BlueverseProject]

Yo también hablo español xD

[@Beveyboygames]

@@BlueverseProject I don't, but I'm learning it.

[@KAZAK-TATAR-MONGOL-TURK-8346]

I'm so suprized now. It is very similar to Old Turkish.😯

[@gjongamingchannel1005]

Japanese are really smart, they formed their own language which is Hiragana and Katakana from Chinese characters. It's like Japanese is an evolution of the Chinese writing system but it became the Japanese language which was divided to Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji

[@Liliquan]

Not surprised such nonsense comes from a gaming channel.

[@MaoRatto]

I think the best way to figure out Japan's history would be via genetics.

[@matzekatze7500]

They developed the script not the language

[@Majeed.]

Thanx for the upload

[@jimshaw2]

I am not sure if I can reach you through here but I try. I have a question. My question is about the period from the 5th to 8th century when Japan was becoming familiar with the use of kanji or the ancient Chinese language. Do you think there was the condition of diglossia in Japan, where people mixed Japanese with the languages(s) of immigrants? I am trying to understand why the Japanese added Japanese sounds to the ancient Chinese writing symbols.

[@Liliquan]

Because they adapted to their language. So obviously they are going to use the sound system of the language they already know.

[@tropicalgrenade3772]

Before Japan adapted Chinese Symbols they already had pronunciations for words but not writings.

[@jimshaw2]

@@tropicalgrenade3772 I am aware of it. The Japanese applied Japanese pronunciations to Chinese characters. Since then, the Japanese language have two pronunciations: Japanese way and Chinese way.

[@いぶき-s9m]

Japanese people have spoken Japanese language for a long time, so when we adapted Kanji we also kept the Japanese pronunciation. However we also kept Chinese pronunciation because they could be used to create more words using kanji, because each character has only one syllable in Chinese

[@jesussanchezherrero5659]

There exists perfective aspect in Japanese?

[@apotheosis1660]

I thought that Chinese characters were brought to Japan Far earlier than the 6th Century, I thought they came at like the 100s or 200s but wasn't Utilized until then.

[@Xirnatts]

The tale of Genji was written in old Japanese? Not middle Japanese??

[@deeplikson374]

oiroke no jutsu

[@シリコンバレー-u9p]

琉球って完全に日本になる前はどんな言語を話してたんだろう？九州からの移民が多いと聞くから言語もほぼ同じだったのかな？訛りはあっただろうけど

[@いぶき-s9m]

琉球って本土から離れてるから、アイヌたちみたいに縄文時代の言葉の子孫の言語をしゃべていた｡ 日本語とはけっこちがうけど、アイヌ語よりは日本語に似てる｡ 日本語と琉球の言葉も同じjaponicと言う語族の一部

[@ryoand]

13:36 これは(This is) 私の(my) ペンです(pen-desu) "です" is polite way of speaking. Without "です" is also OK but brusque way and childish way of speaking.

[@ryoand]

There are many ways to say "です" to express a person's personality and relationship. For example, "だ" (da) indicates a pompous personality. "だよ" (dayo) means a close relationship (common to both sexes). "よ"(yo) is a female expression (close relationship). "だぜ"(daze) is a male expression (close relationship).

[@moormonkey]

I never liked translating 「は」 (as in 「これは」) into English as “is.” Even though it works well in most cases, and gives more of (the illusion of) a 1 to 1 translation, in reality 「です」 means “is” and 「は」 just marks what comes before it as the subject of the sentence.

[@wintry636]

any Thai?

[@LittleImpaler]

2

[@dara_1989]

これ　は　　私　の　　ペン　です。 so that makes it 3 languages into 1 😘

[@Defnotwatchingu]

Ka ni chi wa. Ez af

[@tropicalgrenade3772]

こんにちは you mean? Ko n ni chi wa. Ez af

[@cds327131]

This professor cant even pronounce これ....