Nihon VS Nippon | What's the difference ? | Japanese Word Choice

[@MatsubaAgeha]

NIHON & NIPPON [I am a Japanese fluent in Japanese and English.] There is a sound-change called "ren-daku". For example, when counting long and skinny things like pens and sticks, the word ("counter word") HON 本 (The same HON as in Ni-hon) gets added to the number and then ren-daku occurs. 1. ichi + hon = ippon ("ho" to "po") 2. ni + hon = nihon 3. san + hon = sanbon ("ho" to "bo") 4. yon + hon = yonhon (Never "shihon"; it's a long story.) 5. go + hon = gohon 6. roku + hon = roppon ("ho" to "po") 日 (nichi) + 本 (hon) = Nippon Now on "NIHON". "Nichihon" is a little hard to say, so they dropped the "chi" and became "Nihon" (A weird exception). And at the same time, some people did the same thing as "ippon" above. That is why there are two names for the country in Japanese. The official one is "Nippon" and is used on paper money, etc. For "Nippon", "ippon", and "roppon", a different type of Japanese sound-change called "onbin" (specifically sokuonbin) is taking place as well. Examples: 日 nichi + 産 san = Nissan (The car company)(Not "Nisan") 殺 setsu + 生 shō (long O) + 丸 maru = Sesshōmaru (From the anime INUYASHA) NIHON and NIPPON are not necessarily interchangeable. When combined with other words, oftentimes only one of the two is used. For example, the names of animals and plants native to Japan are called "Nihon-XX". Examples: Nihon + saru (monkey) = Nihonzaru (Never "Nipponzaru") ("sa" becomes "za" due to rendaku) Nippon + ginkō (long O) = Nippon Ginkō (The Bank of Japan) NHK = Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) BUT Japanese person = Nihon-jin OR Nippon-jin (日本人) As this video says, NIHON does sound softer. When referring to the country, I use both NIHON and NIPPON based on whatever I FEEL like saying at that moment (No logical reasons). But I guess I use NIHON more often. REFERENCE From the WIKIPEDIA Rendaku en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku Japanese counter word en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word Sokuon en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokuon

[@RichardHeiney]

Hey thanks for sharing such detailed info Paul - I appreciate it!

[@MatsubaAgeha]

[The following is based on the Japanese Wikipedia on the country's name 日本] The term 日本 came about from the international relations during the second half of the 7th century. Scholars think it was read as "NIPPON" (go-on reading) and/or "JIPPON" (kan-on reading). NOTE GO-ON 呉音 and KAN-ON 漢音 (KAN as in KANJI 漢字) (ON 音 means "sound") are the Chinese-based sound (on-yomi) that came into Japan during different time periods. (This fact makes reading of kanjis goddamn complicated!) 日 1) nichi (go-on); nichi + hon → nippon 2) jitsu (kan-on); jitsu + hon → jippon (Sound change from rendaku & soku-onbin.) Scholars do not know exactly when 日本 started to be read as NIHON. People wrote NIHON in hiragana (にほん). (I assume NICHI+HON's CHI got dropped and became NIHON.) During the Heian period (around 9th - 12th centuries), people started to read 日本 as "HINOMOTO" (hi-no-moto) as well which is the Japanese-word-based "KUN 訓" way of reading. 日 HI = Sun の NO = postpositional particle, equivalent of the English "apostrophe S". 本 MOTO = source, origin (Sun's Source, The Origin of the Sun) During the Muromachi period (around mid 14th - mid 16th centuries), in songs and theaters, the Chinese people in Japan read 日本 as NIPPON and the Japanese people as NIHON. Then after the Japanese had "first contact" with aliens, I mean, Westerns during the mid 16th century (who brought Christianity, STDs, and rabies that spread all over Japan), during the Azuchi-Momoyama periond (second half of the 16th century), the Portuguese in Japan made dictionaries which transliterated/ Romanized 日本 as all three: NIPPON, NIHON, JIPPON. Scholars think that, at the time, NIPPON was used in formal occasions and NIHON in daily situations. One scholar thinks JIPPON was used in international diplomatic situations when talking to Chinese & Westerners (since JIPPON had a very "Chinesey" feeling), and NIPPON & NIHON was used among the Japanese in daily life. Then at the beginning of the 17th century, the Tokugawa shogunage began and the Shogun closed the country (SAKOKU 鎖国). After that, JIPPON became obsolete and both NIPPON & NIHON got used.

[@dykam]

Thanks, that was very informational.

[@NikhileshSurve]

Paul Shimura info in both of your comments is very interesting. You should may be make a video & put it on youtube so many can know when they're looking for videos on the difference between _Nippon & Nihon._

[@Dondepuedoencontrar]

Sorry for a stupid question. Why does the kanji 本 have the meaning "book" nowadays? It's a coincidence or what? When I saw it at first, I was like: WTF, it's a book in the name of Japan?! I understand that this means "origin", but it is written equally with "book", isn't it? Not only equal sounding (hon), but also writing. I checked it in GoogleTranslate.

[@武道館-e6h]

So as a Japanese speaker I should clarify this. The deviation between Nihon and Nippon as you mentioned, largely depends on how you want to sound. But when saying complex concepts such as nippon keizai (Japanese Economy) or nippon seifu (Japanese Government) most people will use nippon instead of nihon. Because while it isn't wrong, "Nihon Keizai" or "Nihon Seifu" is just kind of weird and unnatural sounding for a Japanese speaker. If you want to say Japanese government without nippon, most people say "Nihon no seifu". Also, you probably know Japan has multiple dialects. But officially, Japan's biggest dialects are split into Kanto Dialect and Kansai Dialect. As a person from Kansai Region, we tend to use "Nippon" over "Nihon" but people who speaks standard Japanese will prefer "Nihon" rather than "Nippon".

[@RichardHeiney]

Thank you so much for contributing new information! Great stuff

[@barrettokarate]

If you look at the chest flag patch for competitive Japanese judoka it says "Nippon". However, if you look at the chest flag patches of competitive (WKF) Japanese karateka it says "Japan" on theirs. I'd never noticed it before last years Olympics.

[@Disappointed739]

As a Japanese speaker and an old Japanese hand, my reaction is that most foreigners should always use 'nihon' to avoid taking sides in the politically very sensitive debate about Japan's political and militzry ascendancy. And in my opinion, it can be either nihonkeizai or nipponkeizai, and never is it required to be nippon except when refering to the WWII and prior expansionist imperial government. Other than historical references, using nippon appears to the listener to be a political statement by the speaker. On monkeys and other animals native to Japan: The misstating of nihonzaru as nipponzaru is of course quite inappropriate, since there is no particular need to assert the cute little redbottomed monkeys of Hakone as 'the great Imperial Japanese monkeys', which, unfortunately is the strong implication if nippon is used.

[@barrettokarate]

I didn't notice this until last year's Olympics, but on their chest flag patches for Japanese judoka it says "Nippon" on it. While on competitive karateka it says "Japan". Found it kind of interesting. I'd never noticed it before.

[@romeladon1904]

This video was awesome and so enlightening, please start making videos again🙏🙏🙏

[@RichardHeiney]

Hey thanks! That's really sweet :D I will go back to making videos at some point, though I can't promise they will be about Japanese.

[@Slave-of-the-most-merciful]

That happy birthday at the end was rly wholesome

[@Maki-00]

Thanks for the clarification!

[@RichardHeiney]

You're most welcome :)

[@TheMadisonHang]

I am Hmong my mother was born in Laos in the 1950s 60s our word for Japanese is, 'Nippon'

[@AlvinBalvin321]

What if we use niphon or nihpon...

[@RichardHeiney]

What do you think...

[@PSx1991]

I am glad no one came here to comment that it was a Mandela effect 😂

[@barbouille5754]

So is someone's birthday among the viewers ?

[@lokvank4539]

4:18 should have waited two days before watching this video

[@Randomgolfguy]

Let me share something, same thing happens to the Philippines. Because the Filipino word for the country is "Pilipinas" but it could also be "Filipinas" the gov't also said that either one is correct.

[@RichardHeiney]

Thanks for sharing! I did not know that.

[@ArkDiabLord]

old Chinese pronunciation for japan is jabbon

[@RichardHeiney]

Really? That doesn't sound very Chinese. Can you give me the 漢字 for it?

[@alchemistjeff]

Jab 日 bon 本

[@ricks5756]

Japanese written language in a nutshell: over 15,000 unique characters still in use, 5 different "alphabets", and 3 major "reading styles" . It's incredibly difficult for me to interpret more than just the basics :(

[@graemep7729]

What? 3 writing systems + romaji 2,000 to 3000 kanji used for overwhelming majority of all texts and literature

[@nazninsultana9248]

5 alphabets? Do you mean hiragana, katakana, romaji, furigana, and hentaigana

[@vioooarora]

All NIPPON Airways Oh! It means All Japan Airways!

[@RichardHeiney]

You got it ;)

[@lomg1740]

I can't take "Nippon" seriously the way it sounds

[@RichardHeiney]

Hahahaha

[@anthonywilson8366]

great vid

[@RichardHeiney]

Thank you kindly!

[@nippononna]

Even most Japanese don't know the defference...

[@RichardHeiney]

Haha, true that

[@ghettootaku6387]

Ok so Japan in Japanese is Nihon but the kanji is "sun origin" well why is it Ni for the first kanji I've learned that that kanji is Hi which means sun so why is it Ni instead of Hi

[@RichardHeiney]

Japanese Kanji have often 2-3 readings. Rarely they have only 1, sometimes they have even 4-5. Not sure what was the highest I've seen. So yes 日 can be read as Hi, but also (as is the case with 日本) as Ni. More readings are as follows: Nichi (day), Ka (in combination with another Kanji, such as 三日 "mikka" which means three days), and Jitsu (翌日 "yokujitsu" next day). So you could read this Kanji (depending on the context!) in one of 5 ways.

[@ghettootaku6387]

@@RichardHeiney thanks a lot, and that was a pretty quick response

[@RichardHeiney]

My pleasure

[@imkow]

Nippon is more closer to it's original Chinese pronunciation ..Nihon is a late corrupted sound..

[@HashbrownMashup]

Something tells me this person did not watch the video

[@jamesgordley5000]

2:19 - You say, "After World War 2" when you clearly meant "before".

[@RichardHeiney]

Looking back I agree that it's imprecise. It should say "until after". I guess I thought the dates are self explanatory. If you look up any information about WW2 you'll find that the war ended in 1945. The Empire of Japan existed until 1947, as such "after WW2" is not incorrect, though I'll freely admit that "until after" is much better.

[@Stray0]

put the kanji 日本 on the money and do both にほん and にっぽん at the same time

[@coolchannel44]

ok

[@hikariemuji9144]

here in philippines なっぱんご is famous than nihongo:) same with nihon and nippon

[@RichardHeiney]

Thanks for sharing! First time I'm hearing that one

[@selfactualizer2099]

hey, hi, hello there, are you a language teacher? why would you use a voice over for a word?

[@ProTexHD]

JAPAN

[@heroclix0rz]

Nihon? 多分 Nippon? 多分

[@V0r4xiz]

I grew up in a country where "nippon" were a brand of chocolate rice wafers and I cannot seriously say it without thinking of sweets. So I'll always default to Nihon.

[@RichardHeiney]

Interesting! Don't worry though, you'll seldom ever have to or should use nippon. Nihon is where it's at.

[@KyrstOak]

0:43 So I'll skip to the end of the video. :3

[@RichardHeiney]

hey I need to place the ads somewhere :P

[@KyrstOak]

Richard Heiney - lol 😁

[@jarrodyuki7081]

h p.

[@ThePhead128]

it's like the difference between America vs. United States. Both are correct to refer to sovereign nation. Or why there is United Kingdom vs. Great Britain, both are correct names to refer to sovereign nation.

[@RichardHeiney]

Good thinking. It's a decent comparison, I guess the main difference (in terms of grammar at least) is that "America" is a continent and the US is a country. The UK probably includes both Scotland and Ireland. While Great Britain, might just be England. Could be wrong though! Probably am :D Or it could be that UK emphasizes equality while Great Britain emphasizes England's dominance over the "sub"-nations that compose UK, and over time people just forgot about the distinction. Happens a lot with languages. Whereas Nihon and Nippon really are the same thing, both mean Japan. The only difference are the small nuances (discussed in the video), while the above has actual grammatical differences. It's just an educated guess though.

[@zachmartin1948]

Also it's not sovereign it's a constitutional republic. Your US pledge even backs that up. Not sovereign not a democracy but a constitutional republic

[@909Bela]

America is not the official name of the USA and is rather ideological. In fact, the term "America" is rather historically ambiguous. This is not a correct comparison to the Nihon/Nippon discussion.

[@seantheguy1391]

WWII wasn't in the 1800s!

[@RichardHeiney]

Hi! Thanks for making double check the correctness in the video! You see the date doesn't refer to WWII but to the name of Japan as a country at the time - Dai Nippon Teikoku. I agree that if you focus too much on the slide and not on my voice it can seem like it's referring to WWII.

[@seantheguy1391]

Richard Heiney wait are you the same Richard Heiney as the father of "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heiney?

[@RichardHeiney]

Nope, I'm not.