Collection: Japanese

Japanese is the language of Japan, an island nation in East Asia. Its roots are ancient, but its exact origins are unclear. It's spoken by about 125 million people, mostly in Japan. The writing system combines Chinese characters, called "kanji", with two syllabaries, "hiragana" and "katakana". While Japanese is unique, the Ryukyuan languages, spoken on the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, are its closest relatives. However, they are distinct enough to be considered separate languages. Japanese has absorbed words from other languages, especially Chinese and English, but it remains distinct in grammar and pronunciation.