History

Japanese Language, official language of Japan, spoken by virtually all of the country's approximately 125 million inhabitants, and by Japanese living in Hawaii, the Americas, and elsewhere. Chinese and Korean people who lived under Japanese occupation during the first half of the 20th century also spoke it as a second language.

For most of its history, the Japanese language developed in isolation. As a result, linguists have found it difficult to establish any links between the components of the Japanese language-its vocabulary, sound system, and grammar-and those of other languages, although in its more recent history the Japanese language has been influenced by the Chinese language and by some Western languages. Courtesy Encarta

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