Welcome to Japanese!
Japanese Language and Culture
Lionel Babicz
JPNS1611
7,000 Languages
“Each of these languages encompasses a world-view,
encompasses the ideas and predispositions and cognitive tools
developed by thousands of years of people in that culture.
Each one of those languages offers a whole encapsulated
universe. So we have 7,000 parallel universes, some of them
are quite similar to one another, and others are a lot more
different. “
Lera Boroditsky
http://edge.org/conversation/encapsulated-universes
“Language is everything. Language is the culture. Language is
the literature, the people, the country, the trees — everything.
Language represents everything because language is the
deepest thing that there is. Every language is an entire ocean,
an entire world, an entire universe without bounds.“
Jhumpa Lahiri
https://youtu.be/9w_xnNZTpu4
Welcome to Japanese!
• Lectures are delivered as online live stream.
• Week 12: Online test (on material covered in
lectures and readings). Worth 20% of entire UoS
mark. Absent Fail grade if you don’t do the test.
• Readings are available through the Canvas site.
• Lecture slides are available through the Canvas
site.
• All the lectures are recorded.
• Lecture schedule is subject to change.
• Learning Japanese is rewarding
• You will enter a new universe...
• ...which will change your life
Some good news
More good news
• Easy grammar
• Logical and regular
• No genders, no articles
• Easy verbs and adjectives
• Easy pronunciation
• no tones, no stress accent
• (but a pitch accent)
• Easy kana spelling
Some less good news
one of the most
challenging languages
script


vocabulary


expression


Think in Japanese!
頑張ってください !
ganbatte kudasai