# Japanese



## MonsieurAquilone

Hello.

I do appreciate the help.


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## Flaminius

Okay, tell me what you want to know.


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## Jana337

Flaminius said:
			
		

> Okay, tell me what you want to know.


'Japanese: 'Japanese' in Japanese' - the original thread title.


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## Flaminius

Jana, I am not teasing.

M. Aquilone, do you want to know what we call Japanese language in Japanese?  Or is it Japanese people that you want?  Either case, the following is my answer.

Japanese language: 日本語 (nihongo)
Japanese people: 日本人 (nihonjin)

best,
Flam


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## Jana337

Flaminius said:
			
		

> Jana, I am not teasing.


I know. I believe he wants to know how you write it in Japanese because he has opened several similar threads in other subforums.

MonsieurAquilone, the importance of well-formulated and explicit questions cannot be underscored. The titles are often edited by moderators. It is important that the request be fully contained in the body of the text.

Jana


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## MonsieurAquilone

I am extremely sorry.  I must take heed of this.  My apologies for the confusion that has been caused.  I must thank you for the answer, anyway.  Thank you.


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## MonsieurAquilone

Might you suggest that I ask a similar question in the 'All Languages' style, so I do not waste threads?


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## erick

Aquilone what is your question???  We'll be happy to spend a moment of our time in answering if only you would spend a few moments of your time to explain what it is you want to have translated.


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## Jana337

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> Might you suggest that I ask a similar question in the 'All Languages' style, so I do not waste threads?


I can rename this thread if you want me to, but you might as well consult this thread. 

Jana


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## MonsieurAquilone

That is a very useful thread.  Woops, I just started a new thread.  Would you br able to delete it.


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## erick

Flaminius said:
			
		

> Japanese language: 日本語 (nihongo)
> Japanese people: 日本人 (nihonjin)


Flaminius is correct, but I'll add something just because I think it may be interesting to students of Japanese.  When we say "Japanese food/cuisine" we say "wa" is in 和食.  Or for example ... 和風サラダ - Japanese style salad.  So 和 also means "Japanese."


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## Flaminius

和 (wa) can be used to modify a lot of words including the one referring to the language; 和語 (wago), which means Japanese vocabulary as opposed to Chinese vocabulary (漢語 kango).

It, however, rarely modifies the word 人 (jin), person/ethnic/folks.  和人 (wajin) is limited to Japanese ethnic as opposed to Ainu people.  It is almost impossible for the word *和民族 (waminzoku; Wa ethnic) to replace 大和民族 (yamato minzoku).  The latter is increasingly used in katakana notation, ヤマト民族, in scholarly literature.

In the third century CE the Chinese first came into contact with the Japanese, whom they called 倭人, and their country 倭国.  The kanji 倭 (wa) means midget, being derived from human and shrinking.  One caveat.  Here I am simplifying the argument for the sake of 倭/和 etymology.  China at that time was divided into several belligerent kingdoms and there was no unified Japan even in the consciousness of the people.

Since then on, Japanese Isles underwent unification, leading up to the establishment of the centralised dynasty around Kinki area in the 7th century.  I don't know how exactly it happened but during the process they preferred 和 to 倭 and started using a new term 日本.

Vocabulary created with 倭 has been largely replaced by terms with 和 or 日本.  Although I cannot think of anything but 倭寇, I suspect there are several other words thriving to this day.

Flam


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## Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

There's one thing I've been wondering about which seems somewhat appropriate in this thread. When is the reading "Nippon" used in place of "Nihon"? It's known even to some people here, but I get the impression the Japanese mostly use "Nihon" themselves.


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## Flaminius

The name of the country 日本 can be read as Nihon and Nippon.  日本人 can be read both as Nihonjin and Nipponjin, yet 日本語 is invariably Nihongo.  Switching between Nihon and Nippon seems to me dependent on phonotactics.

Japanese phoneme /h/ was, in all or most occasions, /p/ in Classical or Old Japanese.


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