Learn Japanese for a better future
Japan, the land of rising sun that is known for its rich culture, technology, art, traditions, architecture, crafts, manga, and anime. Japan boasts a huge, affluent population and a well-educated, hardworking workforce, making it one of the world's leading economies. One of the admirable aspects of Japan is that the country honours its history while continuing to embrace modern-day advances that make the country competitive with other leading global economies.
Japanese Language (Nihongo)is spoken by over 130 million people making it the ninth most widely spoken language in the world. As the world's third largest economy with rapidly expanding industries, the Japanese language plays an important role in social and business interactions. However, the major impediment for learning Japanese language is that there is a misconception among people that it is hard and is one of the most difficult languages. On the contrary, Japanese in many ways is easier to learn than many other languages.
Even though Japanese language has a complex grammatical system for expressing politeness and formality, those who have studied it claim that the grammar is the easiest part. We would not see many foreigners living in Japan knowing the language fluently and readily chatting with natives and assimilating into the culture if it were difficult to learn. Additionally, grammar of Japanese language is strikingly similar to most Asian languages, particularly Indian languages, making it simple for Indians to learn, speak, and pursue as a vocation.
Why learn Japanese language?
Japan is the third largest economy in the world and is a leader in numerous sectors like automobiles, consumer electronics, computers, semiconductors, textiles, aerospace, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals and many more. Currently there is a tremendous demand for Japanese language specialists across the world due to growing business with Japan. Like French, German, and Spanish, Japanese is a language that is not widely taught or studied although learning Japanese language can considerably increase one’s professional value Learning Japanese can help you grasp the Japanese work ethic and business etiquette, which will assist you to build your business ties with Japan. Both India and Japan have steadily developed their relations as friendly nations over the previous few decades, resulting in the expansion of their bilateral relationship. As a result, many Indian multinational corporations are attempting to extend their client base, resulting in a significant surge in job opportunities in Japan. Hence, to take advantage of this positive situation, learning Japanese language becomes essential.
In addition, aging population of Japan is a factor that is forcing the country to look for younger workers around the world to sustain the growth trajectory of the country. English is not widely used in Japan. Moreover, less than 30 percent of Japanese people speak English, and only around 5 percent can speak English fluently. The majority of Japanese population prefer to communicate in their native tongue. This has resulted in a huge demand for Japanese translators and interpreters and has turned the language into one of the highest paying languages in translation and interpretation world. Thus, a non- Japanese who knows the language will be in an advantageous position, will have better career prospects, and will get a seamless access to Japanese industries compared to one who does not know language.
As the saying goes ‘Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom (言語を知る ことが賢者への道)’ rightly points out, if one speaks the language of the land, it gets easy to experience the culture, get to know new people, and communicate better and thereby integrate into the society well.