JAPANESE LANGUAGE

The information on this paper is simply to give you some idea of the language you will be hearing all term long in the films. It is not meant to frighten you. It is also a way to give you some clue as to how to pronounce Japanese words, names and so on. The rules for Japanese writing using the letters that are used in English are not very complex, but can cause some problems.

NAMES

Japanese have a family name as well as a given name. These are, in Japanese, given in that order. Kurosawa Akira has a family name "Kurosawa" and as a given name "Akira". In English, of course, the given name precedes the family name and in an "English" writing, one might find Akira Kurosawa, rather than the normal Japanese order.

On the handouts in the class, I am using the Japanese word order, but you can write names either way.

LINGUSTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

Japanese is thought to be related to Korean in its grammatical structure, and in often classified as an Altaic language which relates it to languages which are found across Asia, and ultimately possibly to Finnish and Hungarian. It is grammatically not related to Chinese, although a major part of the writing system is.

One of the reasons for relating Japanese to Korean is the complex system of "politeness" with both languages use. Japanese is extremely subtle in the use of politeness, formality and humility.

Much of this is exhibited in the verb forms. For example one can say "taberu" (eats) or "tabemasu" (eats), but the second is seen as more polite or respectful.

In addition, some verbs reflect status differences in and of themselves. "kuu" (or "kuimasu") and "meshiagaru" (or ("meshiagarimasu") are also words for "eats" but reflect the various social status of the speaker, the hearer and the person eating.

The use of a prefix "o" or "go" also indicates greater respect. One asks "Ogenki desu ka?" "How are you" (literally honorific basic force is question). One responds with "genki desu" ("basic force is") with the honorific "o" deleted. One uses honorifics with others, but not with one's own things. Hence one says "ogenki" about someone else's health, but "genki" when referring to one's own health.

Some words change dramatically. One says "okaasan" (mother) and "otoosan" (father) when talk about another person's parents, but "haha" and "chichi" when talking about one's own parents.

The shifting between different levels of formality and respect are significant in Japanese and hard to catch in English translations.

JAPANESE SOUNDS

Long and short consonants and vowels

Japanese distinguishes between long vowels and consonants. Generally when writing Japanese in Roman (English) letters, long consonants are written by doubling the letter. This is true of vowels as well, although they are often written with a length mark over them.

Tookyoo or Tokyo (Tokyo) (the is 4 syllables in Japanese.

kata "form" or "shoulder" (there is a tone difference as well (see below)

katta "won" or "bought" (there is a tone difference as well (see below)

Japanese also has a "syllabic nasal" often written n' rather than n. It is sometimes pronounced "m" "n" or something like English "ng" depending on what follows it. It is read "m" before "p", "b" and "m" and "ng" before "k", "g" and at the end of words. Otherwise it is read "n".

San'po "walk" is read "sa m po" (3 syllables)

Ban'goo "number" is read "ba ng go u" (4 syllables)

San' "Mr." Or "Miss" or "Mrs." Etc. is read sa n (2 syllables)

This "n'" sound counts as a syllable in Japanese.

Although it is rare, some writing systems write "phonemically", a method which makes understanding the grammar easier, but leads to problems in pronunciation when reading the texts written with the letters we use in English. Basically the differences are as follows:

"ti" is read as "chi"
"tu" is read as "tsu"
"ty" is read as "ch"

"di" is read as "ji"
"du" is read as "ju"
"dy" is read as "j"

"si" is read as "shi"
"sy" is read as "sh" (sya=sha; syo=sho and so on)

"hu" is read as "fu"

Tone

Japanese also has "tone" which is how words like "bridge" (hashi) and "chopsticks" (hashi) are distinguished. Since in the three main Japanese dialects, two of them reverse the tones and the third loses them altogether, no one usually indicates the tones.

WRITING SYSTEMS

Japanese write in four different writing systems:

Kanji (Chinese characters, borrowed from China) When these characters were borrowed from China, the Japanese also borrowed one or more Chinese "readings" of the character. Hence the character for "mountain" may be read either "yama" the Japanese reading (called kun yomi) or "san" the Chinese reading (called "on yomi"). Hence the characters for Mt. Fuji may be read "Fuji san" (Chinese reading) or "Fuji yama" Japanese reading.

Romaji (Roman letters, like those used in the U.S.)

Katakana: a rather angular writing which writes syllables rather than individual sounds. These are derived from the Chinese characters, but are unknown to the Chinese themselves.

Hiragana: A rather cursive writing which writes syllables rather than individual sounds. These are derived from the Chinese characters, but are unknown to the Chinese themselves.

READING

Japanese can be read in several direction: left to right (like English), or top to bottom, starting at the upper right hand corner of the page. This has led some people to speculate that the Japanese eye may read the frame of the film in a different direction than Westerners. Whether this is true or not is open to debate.

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