日本語

nihongo

the Japanese language

私は日本語を勉強しています。

I am studying Japanese.

general

The language spoken in Japan, written using a combination of kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana, and katakana scripts.

日本語は世界で話されている言語の一つです。

Japanese is one of the languages spoken around the world.

Japanese is the official language of Japan and is also spoken in some neighboring regions.

Collocations

日本語を話すto speak Japanese日本語の勉強studying Japanese日本語の本a Japanese book

Synonyms

日本の言葉日本の言語

Related Phrases

日本語が話せますか？phrase

Can you speak Japanese?

日本語で書いてくださいphrase

Please write in Japanese

Pro Tip

Learning Japanese

Start with hiragana and katakana before moving on to kanji, as they form the foundation of the writing system.

Gold Rule

Politeness in Japanese

Japanese has multiple levels of politeness, so understanding honorifics (keigo) is important for formal communication.

Word Origin

Derived from '日本' (Japan) + '語' (language), literally meaning 'the language of Japan'.

Usage Notes

Japanese is written using a combination of three scripts: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana (for native Japanese words and grammatical elements), and katakana (for foreign loanwords).

Word Breakdown

日本

Japan

root

語

language

suffix

和英辞典

Browse more Japanese→English words →