Is Japanese similar to Chinese?

This is a question that you are most frequently asked when you are a student of Japanese Language. People would randomly ask you to translate anything from their Chinese product user manual to the Menu Card in the Chinese Restaurant.

But the truth is, in terms of modern Japanese, the similarities between Japanese and Chinese is only in appearance and is analogous to English and Latin. Just as English have root words from latin and utilizes the roman alphabet, the Japanese borrow the Chinese writing system but kept both the Japanese and the Chinese pronunciation.

You may have heard that there are at least two ways to pronounce a Japanese word; for example mount Fuji in Japanese is refer to as Fuji-yama, but also Fuji-san. This is because ,-yama and -san are the same written character 山, but yama is the Japanese pronunciation, and san is the Chinese.

But while the Japanese borrowed the writing system from the Chinese, they did not borrow the grammar. In other words, they did not translate but transliterate. Up till around the 14th, being able to read Chinese was a requirement for an educated Japanese aristocrat, just as French was the language of the European aristocracy.

It's good to note that: A Japanese person may have a slight advantage with reading Chinese. But in terms of speaking, both would find it very difficult because of the differences in phoneme and grammar.

I would say Korean and Japanese are more similar because of the grammar structure.

So, now you can snap with a solid answer to the age old question: Isn't Japanese same as Chinese? 😉

My knowledge might be limited. But this is all I know.