Al
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Is there any similarity between Chinese and Japanese languages?

Is there any similarity between Chinese and Japanese languages?


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shiina
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The Japanese alphabets are based upon the Chinese alphabet.  The Kanji characters are taken straight from Chinese, and the Katakana and Hiragana alphabets are simplified versions of the Kanji characters. 

Kanji have two types of pronunciation, one which is based on the original Chinese pronunciation of the character.  The meanings of the Kanji in Japanese and Chinese are usually similar, but because the Japanese alphabet was created so long ago, the meanings have changed a lot and often the nuances are very different.  

 

Other aspects of the languages are mostly dissimilar: the grammar, pronunciation, etc.   
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hulio
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I'm pretty sure that Japanese is based on Chinese. I have a friend who speaks Chinese, I'll ask him when I see him tonight.

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MackTheKnife
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I was late for work this morning, because I got stuck in Zeno's paradox

There is a certain degree of influence of the Chinese culture on the japanese culture. As a result of this the Japanese language has many words that are the same as (or very similar to) words in Chinese. But to the best of my knowledge that is the extent of the similarity
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madgoe
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Japanese send students to Tang in batch, they created Japanese based on Chinese after they back to Japan.

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Keizou
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check out my new blog called The Keizou Journal
keizou.blogspot.com

The Keizou Journal is a blog about Japanese entertainment. Topics covered inclue: Japanese TV dramas, Japanese music, Japanese movies, and anime!!!(^_^') 

Japan actually uses three different scripts for writing. Two of which are based on syllables and are only used in Japan. The third one is exactly the same as Chinese writing and its called Kanji. Kanji is usually used by the Japanese to write thier names.
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