Japanese language
The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech that show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank.
The system of honorifics in Japan is very extensive, including various levels of respectful, humble, and polite speech, and it closely resembles the honorific systems of the Korean language, and in some elements, Chinese.
Types of honorific
Honorifics in Japanese, or keigo (敬語), fall under three main categories: sonkeigo (尊敬語), respectful language; kenjōgo (謙譲語), humble language (or "modest language"); and teineigo (丁寧語), polite language. Linguistically, the former two are referent honorifics, used for someone being talked about, and the last is an addressee honorific, used for someone being talked to. Sometimes two more categories are also used, for a total of five categories: teichōgo (丁重語) "courteous language" and bikago (美化語), "word beautification", but more often these are included in the above three: teichōgo as a kind of kenjōgo (humble), bikago as a kind of teineigo (polite)—these two other categories use the same forms as the general categories, but are used in different contexts, hence differentiated by some linguists. Each type of speech has its own vocabulary and verb endings.
For example, the standard form of the verb "to do" is suru (する). This form is appropriate for family members and close friends. The polite form of suru, the addressee honorific, is shimasu. This form is appropriate in most daily interactions. When showing respect, such as when talking about a customer or a superior, however, the respectful word nasaru and its polite form nasaimasu are used. When referring to one's own actions or the actions of a group member, the humble word itasu and its polite form itashimasu are used. These respectful and humble words are referent honorifics and thus can coexist with addressee honorific -masu.
Sentence structure
(By Robin Roberts) One of the things I most enjoy about the Japanese language is the sentence structure. Most Romanesque-based languages have no structure. Conjunctions (and, or, but, etc) allows sentences to ramble and run on forever. Japanese sentence structure is "subject, object, verb," with many syllables that indicate possessive, subjective, objective, ownership, and punctuation.
Kanji, the written Japanese language, is a series of ideographs, meaning that the glyph is a graphic symbol or thought. "安" is the symbol for tranquil or without worry. The top part of the glyph indicates something that is "the best" or "number one". The bottom indicates "woman". Together, they indicate that if you are "the number one woman," you are tranquil or without worries.
Being a programmer myself, I enjoy this sentence structure - It is the same as programming languages.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Japanese_language ]
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