For Beginners: What They Don’t Usually Tell You When You are Starting Japanese

I think everyone knows Japanese is hard, but what I think they never tell beginners is just how hard it is (or extra it can be).

Like everyone knows that there are 3 writing systems. I assume most people know that the verb and object switch places. But I think what never gets mentioned is the all the grammar rules that exist.

For example, counters is a huge one

4 (よん/し)

4時 (よじ)

4月 (しがつ)

4人 (よにん)

But I think the biggest thing they don’t mention beginners is KEIGO (honorific) and the whole world of formal language. There is a different word for so many things that they classify as “formal”.

I think this trips up people the most when they come to Japan with a bit of Japanese and they can’t understand servers, shop workers, or PA bc they are all speaking in the formal way.

Japanese can be spoken in multiple ways: formal, causal, ultra-causal
(𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘳𝘢-𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘰/𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 😅).
And it’s definitely confusing at first.

Ex 1. to like

気に入る (きにいる): formal / written 

好む (このむ): formal / written 

好きです: casual / spoken 

好きだ (よ): more causal / spoken

好き: ultra-casual / spoken

They all mean relatively the same thing

Ex 2. to eat

召し上がる (めしあがる): formal / always in ます form

食べます (たべます): casual, but more formal than below

食べる (たべる): casual

食う (く): ultra-casual 

Ex. 3 to drink

召し上がる (めしあがる): formal / same as eat

飲みます (のみます): casual /formal 

飲む (のむ): causal 

I hope that didn’t scare anyone away!

But I think it’s always better to be upfront with how difficult it is rather than sugarcoat it and then you get frustrated later on!

It’s no wonder Japanese takes so many years to learn, so don’t be worried about taking it slow!