Japanese counts 126 million speakers. While the vast majority are in Japan, there are Japanese speakers also in Hawaii and in the North and South American mainlands. Also, in China and Korea Japanese is sometimes spoken as a second language. The Japanese language is the ninth most spoken language is the world.
Japan’s economy has been growing since the 20th century. The Japanese economy is larger than those of Germany and the United Kingdom, which are ranked fourth and fifth largest. For this reason, it is an appetible country to target when it comes to expanding a business. Japanese presence and culture are growing all over the world as well online.
There are several reasons why you should consider investing in translation and localisation services targeting Japanese.
Japanese linguist Haruhiko Kindaichi believes that a country’s national character is reflected in the language. For the Japanese, they try to avoid speaking directly. It’s because they care for and are sensitive to other people’s feelings.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Japanese is part of the Altaic languages
INTERESTING FACTS
The Japanese do know bad words and can use them although they are too polite to use such words in public.
The ”spirit of words” or Kotodama in Japanese, makes the language important to the people. Kindaichi believes that the local accents are important in shaping the language, making it richer, since the accents and dialects fill up the gaps that the standard language cannot fill.
If you have been thinking about starting a translation project, get in touch!