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For this initial post, I want to give a brief introduction to the Japanese language, because its system and logic are very different from Indo-European languages. I will go over grammar topics in future posts, but first I would like to list few examples of differences between English and Japanese. I believe it is essential to understand that Japanese and English languages are completely different in terms of sensitivity and how they work, we have to think in two separate frames.
Perhaps one of the most important difference between English and Japanese languages is the emotions (感情- kanjou) of the narrator that are expressed within the grammar. The language contains many nuances that are subjective and are interpreted differently according to contexts, far more than in English and French. We have many layers of grammar that express emotions, which add spice, depth and color to the language. I often say to my students that in Western cultures we often more hand and body gestures during conversations, whereas in Japan we express these more in the language itself. That’s why Japanese people may seem sometimes less expressive: we just express emotions differently!
For example, a simple phrase like “I lost my wallet” can be said in many different ways in Japanese, depending on what nuance or feeling you would like to emphasize. Technically, all the phrases I’ll list here are saying “I’ve lost my wallet,” and all use the same verb in the past tense. Except that they add a helping verb or particles, and so they each have a different nuance.
They also may be interpreted differently by context, so I will just say one possible translation for each phrase, but please note that they could be translated differently by contexts.
財布を失くしました。(saifu wo nakushimashita) (I lost my wallet. *This is the most neutral way to say it.)
財布を失くしてしまいました。(saifu wo nakushite shimaimashita) (What a bummer, I’ve lost my wallet. *The ending “teshimau” expresses here the speaker’s disappointed feeling.)
財布を失くしたんです。(saifu wo nakushitandesu) (Hey you know, I’ve lost my wallet. *The ending “ndesu” expresses that the speaker wants to bring attention to the topic he is going to talk about, or that he wants to give an explanation for example to the question “what happened, you look depressed?”)
財布を失くしちゃった。(saifu wo nakushichatta) (Oops, I’ve my lost my wallet. *The ending “chatta” expresses the speaker made a mistake, it is a variation of the form “teshimau,” that is used with close friends. Can also be translated by “oh no!” for example. )
財布を失くしてしまったんですよ。(saifu wo nakushiteshimattandesuyo) (Argh, you know what, I’ve my lost my wallet. *This ending particle “yo” is tricky to translate out of context, because it really gets a specific meaning by context. I will talk more specifically about it later in a future post. Here it emphasizes what happened to the speaker, and tries to bring attention to it, as well as the “ndesu.”)
And so on, I could easily add few more options.
I’ll go over some of the helping verbs or particles more thoroughly later, but for now you can already see how many ways we can say the exact same thing. These verbs endings are fluid in meanings and nuances, so they can differ from context to context. That’s also why students who learn Japanese outside of Japan, often feel that the language that is spoken feels very different from the language they learn in textbooks. And that is true. There are many different conditional usages of grammar that can vary by the scene, who we talk to, where, when, etc.
In future posts, I’ll talk more about the challenging topics, interesting questions, common mistakes I often see as an instructor, while touching upon the cultural backgrounds that influence the language. These types of insights help Japanese language students better understand the subtleties of the language, and can be incredibly fascinating to look into how language functions differ even for non-Japanese students. よろしくお願いいたします!