What's difficult in Japanese ?

[Upasaka]

It seems quite incredible to me that you'd even want to differentiate between counting thin objects, flat objects, fat objects, people, votes ..... you even have to think, sometimes, about which category covers the subject you have in mind !

. . . .

Are there parallells in any other languages ?

Yep, it's quite common in Asian languages. Chinese, Korean and Thai, all have different measure words for different types of things. Actually, we have some in English too, although to a much lesser degree (five head of cattle,
three pairs of shoes).

[Kirisame]

I was really tempted to choose all the options in the poll. The thing is, if you hardly use the language in daily life, you kinda find yourself struggling to review those you've learned in the beginning.

For me, keigo is tough. My experience so far is that you can easily find books on grammar, kanji etc, but how about keigo? At least that's how it is with the japanese bookstore in my country. Keigo related books are available but published in limited scope and quantity.

So if there's anyone learning japanese who feels that he's good at keigo, well what to say..感心する。

[Tsuyoiko]

"I'm still very early in my study of Japanese. For me the hardest part is studying for a week, feeling really good about what I've learned, then renting a Japanese movie... and not being able to understand a freaking thing!"

I can relate to that EnzoHonda, although I get a kick out of the bits I do understand!

[Rgchrono]

everything is easy, chances are that with practice I will get better, that and going to japan for a year, "that's like learning japanese with steroids!!" as one of the members pointed out.

For now, writing is the hard part for me.

[Jadrien24]

For me it is definitely grammar and verb endings. I think the verb endings are very useful, but there are so many and even though I've found multiple websites with lists of them, I still can't find some forms on them. Regular grammar like having the verb at the end of the sentence doesn't bother me so much, but when it doesn't follow that order, it bugs the crap out of me! Example: Watashi wa rokuji ni deru kyuukoo ni norimasu (I will take an express train that leaves at 6 o' clock), after getting so nicely used to the verb always at the end, this just screws with my brain!

[Inuyasha-the-kid]

I dont like the kanji

[EnzoHonda]

I'm still very early in my study of Japanese. For me the hardest part is studying for a week, feeling really good about what I've learned, then renting a Japanese movie... and not being able to understand a freaking thing!

[mizer]

Hi,
I'm still a beginner at learning Japanese, but, my opinion for what it's worth...
I haven't started learning the kanji (yet - may do one day), because, as someone said in an earlier post, I think it's more useful to be able to speak/understand quite well before getting too hung up about writing. I find the pronunciation fairly easy (I've got a Japanese friend who tells me that my pronunciation is fine - I've begged him to be honest with me, hehe!). I am one of those (probably irrititating!) people who learns vocab really quickly. I just absorb it like a sponge, so even though I can appreciate there's quite a lot of vocab (especially verbs) compared with English and French (my other 2 languages), I'm not having trouble learning it. Obviously, as I get to a more advanced level, there will be more and more, but that sort of thing is honestly not a big problem for me.

I'm also pleasantly surprised by the grammer, which although 'backwards' to French and English obeys it's own rules - at least at basic/intermediate level! I think it's much easier than many European languages, although of course there are quirks and unexpected differences (the kind of thing that makes life interesting, y'know!). And there aren't any sounds that you need surgery on your vocal cords to produce (unlike Arabic!).

Having said all that, I totally agree about the 'counters'! OMG they bug me sooo much!!!

As regards kanji - I'd like to learn sometime. I'm a visual artist by trade, so I think I could cope with writing them, but the sheer number and complexity is incredibly offputting for a beginner. I think I'll save the kanji for some other time...

If I had to choose one most difficult thing about learning Japanese, I'd say: it's no more difficult that any other language *except for the kanji*!!!! Need I say more!!!!

[treeves]

Can't compare to English since it's my native tongue. German is similar enough to English that it was easy to learn - at least I thought so. That was way back in high school. 20 years later trying to learn a language with almost nothing in common with English is tough.
The S-O-V structure is no problem, having dealt with German.
When I listen to a Japanese co-worker speak Japanese, I'm lost, except for a word here or there. Of course they're not saying things like "Hajime mashite. Watashi wa Fujimura desu."
But I'm just starting.

[sakura_thenchi]

hi! i am from a caribean island with 2 languages spanish and french and french was so hard but no so much somebody said that to spanish people jappanesse was easy to learn but i dont agree for spanish people mostly everybody the easiest language is italian. dont' you think so I do Fullmetal alchemist fan

[crunch]

Verb conjugation and counters.

[Takaryo]

Hm...grammar is a pain, but I can learn it easily. @_@

My problem is kanji. Writing it? That I can't

[KrazyKat]

So I was wondering, are place names often given in furigana, on say maps or signposts?

While I was complaining about how hard names are in Japanese I know they must be just as hard in English. We have crazy place names like edinburgh, names with different spellings Thomas, Tomas etc. Different names with same abbreviation like Sam and abbreviations with alomst nothing to do with the original names william-bill richard-dick and of course crazy English pronounciations.

Of course, that doesn't make Japanese names any less hard

[epigene]

So I was wondering, are place names often given in furigana, on say maps or signposts?

You just have to LEARN them.

You get help very often with romaji readings of place names in signs posted at railway stations, shopping districts, etc. Otherwise, you have to ask the locals. (Even TV news announcers misread names of people and places now and then.)

Having lived in the Kanto (Tokyo and surroundings) region all my life, there are place names in far-off Kyushu and Tohoku regions I cannot read correctly to this day...

Places in Hokkaido are tricky to read because they originate from Ainu language (kanji used are "ate-ji" applied for convenience, based on phonetic similarity rather than from kanji character meanings). Okinawan place & family names are also difficult because they derive from Ryukyu names.

[Lunabenz]

I started learning Japanese a few months ago in my spare time. So far the most difficult part has been the sentence structure. Every time I think I've got it down, I find myself getting too confident and making the same mistakes I did in the beginning. Of course, I haven't gotten up to kanji yet...

[studyonline]

I thought the particules or the politeness levels would be the hardest for non-Japanese speaking people. My guess was not totally wrong but...

Kanjis are not so hard to learn really. Kanji's may intimidate you at the moment you see them, but it is not too hard to memorize them once you find certain patterns. (I guess the way we were taught at school is different from the way you are learning them) Well, sooner or later, you will know that this is true.

Even to me, (native Japanese) it is very difficult to explain Keigo. I can even say that Keigo is another language that you need to learn. But don't worry. Almost all Japanese do not expect foreigners to know Keigo. (because they don't even know or speak properly!)

Those who do well in Keigo are very trained ones through experiences in the real life, usually through business meetings or a private school to become a telephone operator or something. I don't believe 80% of today's high school students know Keigo well. One of the major reasons for this is that young generations in Japan now do not respect others much. It is sad, but I assume this phenomenon is happening in all other languages, too. No one can stop it either.

[SharkLover]

the pronuciation

the ponuciation is kinda hard...

[studyonline]

We have tons of similar words; thus tons of ways to express.

This leads to the differences in:

The way women say, the way guys say, the way old people say, the way kids say, the way people in a boonie say... and on and on.

Just make sure not to learn Japanese by 時代劇　（じだいげき）

[kagebunshin]

Personnally,i found the kanji scripts very difficult especially when you pass the first 80 one ,i wonder if kana can't replace them,bcuz they're 100% japanese & reduced,bof ..guess it's the "patrimoine",n perhaps japanese learning won't be funny without kanji.
what i did enjoy the most in japanese grammar is the modifier-modifee rule,i found a certain logic in it not like in ours .

[MeAndroo]

I voted for keigo, just because it's the kind of thing that would NEVER stick in my head. As my friend related to me, there's nothing worse than having someone say "gozonji desu ka?" and replying with "hai gozonji desu."

On a side note, I fond those "untranslatable sayings" to be pretty simple...things like "ojamashimasu" is derived from "jama suru" (to impose), "okamainaku" is from the verb "kamau" (to worry/be troubled). Itadakimasu, ittekimasu, irrasshaimase...they're all conjugations of verbs.

[Neon Heart]

Too bad "Everything" isn't an option in this poll... I don't know why, but I just can't seem to grasp the concept of learning this language. It can't stick in my head, probably because I'm not used to learning a language of symbols and not letters like we have.

I just need very, very, very basic help. O_o

[Kintaro]

To add to the #1 factor of not having an active partner (aand not your buddy at the anime club)

#2 = Kansai-ben. Learning a dialect almost seems a natural thing to do when you realize that there are many flavo(u)rs of English, or French, or any other language.

"Gomen, nihongo wo wakarahen."

[GoldCoinLover]

To add to the #1 factor of not having an active partner (aand not your buddy at the anime club)
#2 = Kansai-ben. Learning a dialect almost seems a natural thing to do when you realize that there are many flavo(u)rs of English, or French, or any other language.
"Gomen, nihongo wo wakarahen."

"Gomen, nihongo wo wakarahen."

Gah, that is terrible. Kansai I guess.. I'm guessing it means, "Sorry, I don't know japanese.."

[henpai]

What's difficult about Japanese -- I've found that this keeps on changing for me as the studies advance. I study Japanese purely for translating purposes and do provisional (poor quality) translations as a hobby.

Currently the hardest things for me are definitely the untranslatable, culture-dependant expressions, plus Japanese idioms that never seem to appear on any dictionary, and finally how to translate keigo. Sometimes these things are just way over impossible to convey in any reasonable way into English or any other target language. Even if there's a roughly "equivalent phrase" available, it's still not the same thing. It feels like the more I learn, the more inaccurate my translating becomes.

Up until recently, kanji was what gave me easily the most troubles. I noticed that the usual way of hammering meanings and writings into my head from the most common to the least common just doesn't agree with me in the least, and was deemed an unavoidable migraine-incentive - until I found the free downloadable first part of this neat little book: Remembering the Kanji I (http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/...he_Kanji_1.htm)

I think the link was from somewhere on these forums. I read it for one evening and the next day counted bit under 100 previously unknown kanji I could still reproduce and remember the meaning for. Truly a personal revolution in kanji studies.

[トラちゃん]

I have learnt most of my Japanese from living with Japanese people in Japan...
So I guess I have learnt how to speak, but I sometimes don't understand how the sentances work. Kanji is a killer for me.