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The Japanese Language
This is a book about the structure, history and evolution of the Japanese language.The Japanese Language is a classic study of one of the world's most widely used but least understood languages. Emphasizing the richness and complexity of Japanese as well as its limitations, this fine book provides a lively discussion about the uniqueness of the Japanese language.The relationship of Japanese to other languages is not well understood even by native speakers, and Professor Kindaichi sets out to define it. He concludes that Japanese is indeed only remotely related to other world languages although it shares many features in common with the languages of mainland Asia. Japanese shares with those languages a rich and detailed vocabulary for natural phenomena and an unusually complex and accurate way of expressing social relationships. Moreover, its capability to absorb innovations from abroad easily matches or exceeds that of English or German. The author, after briefly discussing the unique isolation of the Japanese language, moves on to consider the varieties of ordinary speech--dialects, jargon, sex--and role-based distinctions, and the difference between informal, formal, and literary language. He then examines the structure of Japanese pronunciations, its rhythm, and accent. The longest section of the book is devoted to the variety of the vocabulary, what can and cannot be said in Japanese.Readers who are just beginning their own study of Japanese will find this section especially fascinating, for each point is backed by examples from literature and everyday speech. Kindaichi also investigates the so-called vagueness of Japanese and traces it to its source-the unusual sentence order. This book highly debated origins of the Japanese language.Dialects, jargon, sex and role-based distinctions.Differences between informal, formal, and literary language.Structure, rhythm, and accent of pronunciation.What can and cannot be said in Japanese.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
40 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
Haruhiko Kindaichi
64 books1 followerHaruhiko Kindaichi, one of Japan's most famous linguists, was a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. He was also a well-known radio and television personality, having won the Cultural Broadcasting Award. A graduate of Tokyo University, Professor Kindaichi has published numerous books on Japanese linguistics, of which this is the best known and first to be translated into English. His father, Kyosuke Kindaichi, also a linguist, was noted for his pioneering studies of the Ainu language.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 4, 2023
Even though a lot of this is very outdated I still found it quite interesting.
3.25/5
3.25/5
April 23, 2019
First, a disclaimer: I know very little (“nothing” might be closer to accurate) about how to speak, read, or write the Japanese language. A fair amount of “The Japanese Language” goes into intricate details about pronunciation and sentence structure. I skimmed (“skipped” might be closer to accurate) those sections.
That being said, I still feel like I learned a lot. “The Japanese Language” is a critique and a defense of Japanese, written not too long after World War II and not too long after the idea of replacing the national language with English had been bandied about. It was a period of self-examination, and that reflection turned towards Japanese makes for fascination reading. The author uses frequent comparisons with other languages such as English to point out unique characteristics of Japanese, and in doing so not only creates insight as to the nature of language, but to the nature of culture and society.
A reader more invested in understand Japanese might gain additional knowledge from this book. For my part, I finished it with the joyful feeling that my eyes had been opened just a little bit more.
That being said, I still feel like I learned a lot. “The Japanese Language” is a critique and a defense of Japanese, written not too long after World War II and not too long after the idea of replacing the national language with English had been bandied about. It was a period of self-examination, and that reflection turned towards Japanese makes for fascination reading. The author uses frequent comparisons with other languages such as English to point out unique characteristics of Japanese, and in doing so not only creates insight as to the nature of language, but to the nature of culture and society.
A reader more invested in understand Japanese might gain additional knowledge from this book. For my part, I finished it with the joyful feeling that my eyes had been opened just a little bit more.
February 2, 2013
Not a book for language learning, this book talks about the construction and elements of the language itself. Though it is filled with a number of interesting and amusing observations about the makeup of Japanese, I feel a couple of issues arise from the nature of the book itself. First and foremost, this is a book written by a Japanese scholar and then translated into English. This results in a somewhat clunky read as most of the body is written in English and specific examples are given first in the original Japanese, then in a romanized reading, and finally in an English translation. I understand the need for this concession to make the book accessible to as many people as possible, but I HATE reading romanized Japanese and feel that the better part of the audience for this book would have a basic knowledge of the language. I would have greatly preferred the original Japanese text with accompanying furigana. The author's bias for his own language crops up a few times within the text, but overall he seems familiar enough with other languages and maintains an even hand when discussing the positive and negative aspects of Japanese. I'm also a bit wary of how far he stretches some conclusions and am seriously confused about his section regarding "untranslatable" words (which he provides translations for). Finally, with my interaction with the Japanese language, I can tell that some assertions made in this book are no longer true, or at least are no longer as serious as they seem to have been at the time of its writing. Originally published in Japan in 1978, this seems to be merely the result of the passage of time. Still, there is enough interesting info here that anyone curious about the format, development, or important aspects of Japanese should pick it up.
March 27, 2008
This book is a book written in a scholarly format for linguists and others who study languages, but if you are able to look beyond that dry style, features many interesting insights to the Japanese people as inferred by the language. I found it to be quite interesting and gained a greater understanding of the culture and people from reading this little book. Also have to give great praise to the translator/annotator Umeyo Hirano, who is able to successfully convey in English even the most subtle points that the author tries to get across.
January 4, 2026
No es un mal libro pero al haber sido publicado originalmente en 1957, quedó desactualizado.
Me parece que sirve sólo si tenés una noción previa del lenguaje para evitar perderte en las explicaciones superficiales.
Aún teniendo base, algunos ejemplos no funcionan bien, en parte por la traducción y en parte por la decisión de priorizar el uso de romaji, que vuelve confusos los ejemplos y empobrece la comprensión del funcionamiento real del idioma.
Por lo demás, me sacó algunas curiosidades que tenía sobre su historia. Sin embargo, esperaba más profundidad ya que la historia y evolución del japonés se presentan como ejes centrales del libro.
Justamente su escaso desarrollo lo vuelve una lectura ligera: está dividido en capítulos cortos y secciones temáticas así que, antes de agobiar con un tema ya está pasando a otro.
Es un texto plenamente divulgativo que hoy en día se volvió reemplazable por herramientas contemporáneas más claras y precisas.
Me parece que sirve sólo si tenés una noción previa del lenguaje para evitar perderte en las explicaciones superficiales.
Aún teniendo base, algunos ejemplos no funcionan bien, en parte por la traducción y en parte por la decisión de priorizar el uso de romaji, que vuelve confusos los ejemplos y empobrece la comprensión del funcionamiento real del idioma.
Por lo demás, me sacó algunas curiosidades que tenía sobre su historia. Sin embargo, esperaba más profundidad ya que la historia y evolución del japonés se presentan como ejes centrales del libro.
Justamente su escaso desarrollo lo vuelve una lectura ligera: está dividido en capítulos cortos y secciones temáticas así que, antes de agobiar con un tema ya está pasando a otro.
Es un texto plenamente divulgativo que hoy en día se volvió reemplazable por herramientas contemporáneas más claras y precisas.
April 9, 2017
After reading the comments below, I must say that I profoundly hate this book. I just keep it for a personal projects because I have so few books on Japanese for now.
I hate the way the author compares his native language with other languages, using, in my opinion, a very snobby tone. The material for the book could have been better chosen. The author could have written more about the sociolinguistic situation of Japanese at the time he was writing the book; its diachronic and synchronic history; he could have used another style to describe its phonology, its grammar and syntax, and so forth.
I admit there are a few, albeit scarce, interesting material in it, and that's why "The Japanese Language" gets a star from me, yet it is definitively not worth buying, in my opinion.
That's being said, I truly love books, but, as I read it, I hated the tone of the author so much that I wanted to throw it by my window.
I hate the way the author compares his native language with other languages, using, in my opinion, a very snobby tone. The material for the book could have been better chosen. The author could have written more about the sociolinguistic situation of Japanese at the time he was writing the book; its diachronic and synchronic history; he could have used another style to describe its phonology, its grammar and syntax, and so forth.
I admit there are a few, albeit scarce, interesting material in it, and that's why "The Japanese Language" gets a star from me, yet it is definitively not worth buying, in my opinion.
That's being said, I truly love books, but, as I read it, I hated the tone of the author so much that I wanted to throw it by my window.
June 23, 2019
Murakami once said, "Learning another language is like becoming another person," echoing a number of others who also pointed out how languages give souls. This is something I find completely true. I did not begin my journey into the language because I was interested in the country or culture. Despite J-Pop, Anime and Manga being a feature in the Asian youth setting, Japan and Japanese never reached me. It was in my having to live in Japan, hence picking up the language for daily use that I started learning it. And together with the full immersion of living in Japan, I felt the full force of becoming another person. It was a short stay but even as I am no longer in Japan, my learning of the language continues to influence me in many ways. Japanese is not my first foreign language. I took classes in French and Chinese but never quite felt swept up as I do now. It is something I find exhilarating and intriguing. The more I discovered about the language, the more I needed to know. And a conversation on diversity in dialects just before I chanced upon this book I suppose was the final push to reading about its history, evolution and characteristics.
I shan't pretend that I was able to grasp all the ideas in this commentary of the Japanese Language. And yes, the word I have chosen is 'commentary'. Kindaichi San wrote this book in the setting of post WWII defeat when there was a call for the rejection on the language, founded upon the theory that the nature of the language itself promoted beliefs that spurred Japan into war. Hence the book is not just a presentation of facts but also an argument for its preservation and its capacity for progress. One might find, without understanding this, peculiar that Kindaichi San so often seems to praise the language even after fairly presenting its difficulties and to a certain extent, its disorderliness.
In order to illustrate many of the ideas, prose and poetry, daily conversations and literary works, have been selected. It is difficult to really appreciate these without a solid command of the Japanese language. Translations do not effectively showcase these ideas especially when they are related to the sounds and nuances that cannot be expressed in English with the same flavour. This was especially the case in the last part on Sentence Construction which I definitely must re-read when I am more fluent in the language.
For readers new to the Japanese language, the earlier chapters are an interesting insight into the flavours of the language. I think the chapter on Vocabulary would be most revealing of Japanese culture. For readers who enjoy comparative linguistics, the book is peppered with many examples. I was glad to be able to see comparisons with not just English but French, Chinese and Malay examples that I could relate to. One of the things that struck me most was how I used to think that much of Japanese originated from Chinese but in fact, Japanese has much more ancient roots than that and while the writing system was used, the adoption of it was largely mechanical and influence between the languages went both ways.
I enjoyed this read, perhaps biased by the author's use of Soseki's writing (thrice!) as illustrations. As a learner of the language, it was a lot of "そうですか！"、"なるほど！" and "さすがな！日本語はチョー面白い！" 読んでください！
I shan't pretend that I was able to grasp all the ideas in this commentary of the Japanese Language. And yes, the word I have chosen is 'commentary'. Kindaichi San wrote this book in the setting of post WWII defeat when there was a call for the rejection on the language, founded upon the theory that the nature of the language itself promoted beliefs that spurred Japan into war. Hence the book is not just a presentation of facts but also an argument for its preservation and its capacity for progress. One might find, without understanding this, peculiar that Kindaichi San so often seems to praise the language even after fairly presenting its difficulties and to a certain extent, its disorderliness.
In order to illustrate many of the ideas, prose and poetry, daily conversations and literary works, have been selected. It is difficult to really appreciate these without a solid command of the Japanese language. Translations do not effectively showcase these ideas especially when they are related to the sounds and nuances that cannot be expressed in English with the same flavour. This was especially the case in the last part on Sentence Construction which I definitely must re-read when I am more fluent in the language.
For readers new to the Japanese language, the earlier chapters are an interesting insight into the flavours of the language. I think the chapter on Vocabulary would be most revealing of Japanese culture. For readers who enjoy comparative linguistics, the book is peppered with many examples. I was glad to be able to see comparisons with not just English but French, Chinese and Malay examples that I could relate to. One of the things that struck me most was how I used to think that much of Japanese originated from Chinese but in fact, Japanese has much more ancient roots than that and while the writing system was used, the adoption of it was largely mechanical and influence between the languages went both ways.
I enjoyed this read, perhaps biased by the author's use of Soseki's writing (thrice!) as illustrations. As a learner of the language, it was a lot of "そうですか！"、"なるほど！" and "さすがな！日本語はチョー面白い！" 読んでください！
September 7, 2025
This is a time-capsule study of the Japanese language, written shortly after WWII. One of his aims is, I think, to show the language’s value. Kindaichi takes a strongly comparative approach, often talking about how Japanese structure and vocab differs from other languages (Chinese, Korean, English, German, etc.). There’s a strong drive in this book to illustrate why Japanese is a modern, not a primitive, language. He also brings in scholarly insights into his work, highlighting linguistic discoveries of his colleagues (keep in mind he wrote this in 1957 so it’s dated).
It’s definitely not a “learn Japanese” guide — I think you’d get the most out of this if you know some Japanese already and are also interested in historical discussions about the “place” of Japanese among world languages.
A lot of the perspectives he shares — Japanese is more spatially oriented, less “clear” or “direct” due to the fact that the subject is often dropped, and often “untranslatable — I have heard while living in Japan for years. I think he had a great impact in Japan and some of his conclusions are taken as common knowledge nowadays.
I think many of his conclusions are out of date, and sort of funny. For example he gives an anecdote about two buses, one labeled “to Tokyo Station” and the other “to the front of Tokyo Station,” in Japanese, and he and a colleague remark that the latter is more accurate and sensical. Their conclusion: Japanese is more spatially accurate (page 154). It’s weird because the other bus in Japanese is going to Tokyo station—I wondered, is he suggesting that people would think somehow they’ll be in the middle of the station?? I’m not a a native speaker but my experience is that both will get you to expected bus stops outside of the station. He also talks about “untranslatable words” from Japanese… providing translations. Finally, I was taken by his assertion (I think he was half joking though) that if only Aristotle had spoken Japanese, then “European logic might not have traversed so many roundabout paths”(p 179) — this statement concluded his section on the distinctions between wa and ga, which do trip up Japanese language learners. I’d love to see a time travel story in which someone goes back to Aristotle, teaches him Japanese, and then the course of human history is ever changed.
Despite the dated quality of this book and his findings, it still was quite fun to read. It is illuminating historically to see how scholars positioned Japanese in the “hierarchy” of languages at the time. And I did learn some tips to help me navigate the distinctions between “wa” and “ga,” so maybe I can become a modern day Aristotle!!
It’s definitely not a “learn Japanese” guide — I think you’d get the most out of this if you know some Japanese already and are also interested in historical discussions about the “place” of Japanese among world languages.
A lot of the perspectives he shares — Japanese is more spatially oriented, less “clear” or “direct” due to the fact that the subject is often dropped, and often “untranslatable — I have heard while living in Japan for years. I think he had a great impact in Japan and some of his conclusions are taken as common knowledge nowadays.
I think many of his conclusions are out of date, and sort of funny. For example he gives an anecdote about two buses, one labeled “to Tokyo Station” and the other “to the front of Tokyo Station,” in Japanese, and he and a colleague remark that the latter is more accurate and sensical. Their conclusion: Japanese is more spatially accurate (page 154). It’s weird because the other bus in Japanese is going to Tokyo station—I wondered, is he suggesting that people would think somehow they’ll be in the middle of the station?? I’m not a a native speaker but my experience is that both will get you to expected bus stops outside of the station. He also talks about “untranslatable words” from Japanese… providing translations. Finally, I was taken by his assertion (I think he was half joking though) that if only Aristotle had spoken Japanese, then “European logic might not have traversed so many roundabout paths”(p 179) — this statement concluded his section on the distinctions between wa and ga, which do trip up Japanese language learners. I’d love to see a time travel story in which someone goes back to Aristotle, teaches him Japanese, and then the course of human history is ever changed.
Despite the dated quality of this book and his findings, it still was quite fun to read. It is illuminating historically to see how scholars positioned Japanese in the “hierarchy” of languages at the time. And I did learn some tips to help me navigate the distinctions between “wa” and “ga,” so maybe I can become a modern day Aristotle!!
January 22, 2023
I bought this book in the hope that knowing more about the Japanese language would help me learn it. At first I worried my plan had backfired massively, as the book introduced me to nuances and difficulties I hadn't come across or thought of yet, which was quite demoralizing. I persevered though, and I do think what I've learned from the book about sentence structure will help me progress with the language (even if it's made me realise I have an even longer way to go than I thought).
The book also had a lot that was interesting in terms of Japanese culture and history, and linguistics in general. I think I'd have benefited from reading it even if I wasn't trying to learn the language.
Lastly, I think I'd have gotten more out of the book if I had more of a background knowledge of linguistics (or even basic grammar). I never learned much about sentence structures/the names of parts of sentences at school (other than subject/object), and so far I've managed to get through a literature (and philosophy) degree without ever needing to educate myself further on that. My lack of knowledge finally came to bit me in the butt.
The book also had a lot that was interesting in terms of Japanese culture and history, and linguistics in general. I think I'd have benefited from reading it even if I wasn't trying to learn the language.
Lastly, I think I'd have gotten more out of the book if I had more of a background knowledge of linguistics (or even basic grammar). I never learned much about sentence structures/the names of parts of sentences at school (other than subject/object), and so far I've managed to get through a literature (and philosophy) degree without ever needing to educate myself further on that. My lack of knowledge finally came to bit me in the butt.
January 21, 2025
Every book is written for the era in which it finds itself. This one, particularly, reflect a certain mentality and perspective on the Japanese language that, I hope, has since passed. Written in a distinctive style, full of humility and precision, the book is an insightful overview of how the Japanese language is composed, and how people, at least when it was written, used it. It is hard to find books that address a language from the aspect of its characteristics, and this one was a very well researched and footnoted example of such.
June 14, 2022
日本語はまだ上手ですか？
December 19, 2024
Fascinating - answered every question I had while starting to learn the language - and it was often very funny.
December 16, 2024
It was alright, despite how outdated the contents were. It has some interesting points, but definitely need some new research, etc.
March 10, 2024
A good book for someone at N4+ level in Japanese, or a keen linguist. It can be dry at times, but a generally it has a number of interesting opinions and facts contained within it. It is a well written book, and I found it an easy read for the tube.
December 22, 2021
I'm a bit meh on this. It was written in Japanese for a Japanese audience (70 years ago!) and I suspect a lot has changed, actually. The author seems like a bit of a crank, and the text is a grab-bag of truths, half-truths, and rants about Japanese should be better.
I'm reminded of those similar books in English for an English audience where the author will point out something amazing like how Beauty -> beautiful and Plenty -> plentiful, but someone who's pitiful doesn't have heaps of pity, and piety doesn't fit the pattern at all, as if it's surprising that languages which have endured and changed for a thousand years or more might be slightly irregular.
(I'm studying Japanese now. It's astonishngly consistent, really).
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
I'm reminded of those similar books in English for an English audience where the author will point out something amazing like how Beauty -> beautiful and Plenty -> plentiful, but someone who's pitiful doesn't have heaps of pity, and piety doesn't fit the pattern at all, as if it's surprising that languages which have endured and changed for a thousand years or more might be slightly irregular.
(I'm studying Japanese now. It's astonishngly consistent, really).
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
May 13, 2016
I have a huge love for the Japanese language, so much so that I wrote my dissertation on it for my linguistics degree. It has been a few years so when I saw a book on the intricacies of the Japanese language I thought I would love it. Sadly, this book does not portray the Japanese language in a fun and engaging way. It is extremely dry and very hard to get through. It is not a new book, I believe it was written a few decades ago, so some of the views are outdated but even so, little of the quotes are Modern Japanese sentences. Many are literary sentences which only the most advanced of Japanese learners would ever hope of coming across and therefore are little use to other learners or even the casual reader.
April 15, 2012
Having read this book for my Structure of Japanese class, I have to admit that for majority of the time that I was reading this, I was like a deer in headlights.
There were a lot of concepts that Kindaichi points out that connects the meanings behind certain words in the Japanese language, and differences in word usages between Japanese and other languages.
It was great that Kindaichi provided many examples, but I personally felt that in some parts, there were too much and the organization was a little messy.
However, if one were to need a book source for a paper about the meanings of Japanese words, this book would be helpful and a good source to use.
There were a lot of concepts that Kindaichi points out that connects the meanings behind certain words in the Japanese language, and differences in word usages between Japanese and other languages.
It was great that Kindaichi provided many examples, but I personally felt that in some parts, there were too much and the organization was a little messy.
However, if one were to need a book source for a paper about the meanings of Japanese words, this book would be helpful and a good source to use.
July 19, 2012
I'm no linguist and my Japanese is still elementary, so I can't comment on how dated Kindaichi's scholarship is, but I can say that this was a thoroughly enjoyable and accessible read. While some knowledge of linguistics and the Japanese language help, I don't think either are really necessary to get something out of this book. A curious mind will suffice, and I believe that after having finished this one--which probably won't take you long, if you consume it as voraciously as I did--you'll probably be left looking for the next book on Japanese linguistics!
February 19, 2013
This is a book about Japanese liguistics and language. It will not help you learn Japanese necessarily. One of the first books, written not long after the end of WWII, that examined Japanese language as a language worthy to be a language of the modern age; for your information, not long before this was written an article had appeared in "Kaizo" saying that Japan might reject Japanese because it was not a language worthy and had been casual to Japan's problem; additionally, the article's author advocated Japan adopt French. Not done with this review.
December 7, 2012
It may be that it's because my own Japanese proficiency is so minimal but, while this was very interesting in parts I found a lot of it to be very dry and difficult reading. Maybe it's because a lot of the Japanese examples used were from poems and other literary sources and my reading skill is so bad. I'll probably go back and read this again, especially to the pages I dog-eared, if and when I become more fluent but this first go at it was pretty tough.
March 25, 2020
I found the old edition in a charity shop and it was fantasic. I then saw that it had been re-released with the addition of passages in Kanji, so bought very soon after publication. It has helped me so much with my language classes, to understand the nature of the language and how it has developed. Recommended for both the improver and more advanced learner.
July 19, 2007
This is not a 'teach-yourself' book, it's an analysis of Japanese linguistic components. Very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews