Interdependence

Languages are spoken in many different parts of the world. Interdependence between the Chinese and Japanese language includes similaries and differences that influence each other in many ways. If there was no Chinese language, the Japanese langugae would be very different.

Japanese                                          Chinese

  • The sentence order is like German
  • They have Chinese Characters but with different meanings and pronunciations
  • A consonant cluster + a vowel= mora- If you have enough mora, you can create words.
  • Kanji are Chinese characters in Japan
  • Has an Alphabet
  • 3 scripts; Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana
  • Has a past tense but not a future tense.
  • Only has characters
  • Uses tones and dialects
  • Pronunciation is hard
  • Has traditional characters and simplified characters
  • Simplified characters are used most often
  • No tenses
  • The order of the sentence is like English
  • The meanings and pronunciations are different from the Japanese
  • Influenced Japanese language
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An Influence on the Written Language

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One major influence that impacted the Japanese written langauge occured when Japan first made contact with China. Japan had no written language. When the Japanese started spending time in China, their Chinese improved. The Japanese had enhanced their Chinese and wanted something similar in their country. The Chinese proved to the emperor of Japan that the written language had a huge purpose. He agreed and the Japanese created a new written language based off the Chinese characters, even though the meanings and pronunciations were not the same.