Japanese, the official language of Japan, is spoken by 128 million people, making it the ninth most spoken language in the world. The exact origins of Japanese are unknown. Ancient Chinese documents contain a few Japanese words, and some believe it is in the same language family as Korean, but no one is certain. The 1,200-year history of the language is divided into five periods, stretching from before 800 A.D. to today. Since Japan was isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, the country developed a unique culture free from foreign influence. We can better understand Japan’s history, traditions, cuisine, music, and art with a thorough knowledge of its language. The Japanese language also opens up business opportunities; this is important because Japan has the third-largest economy worldwide. And it's a great language for fans of manga, anime, and Japanese video games, as those who know Japanese can access much more material in these genres.

The Japanese writing system consists of three major scripts. There are two types of Japanese characters – called hiragana and katakana – along with kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters. Hiragana was developed from Chinese characters and eventually simplified to 46 basic letters, where each one corresponds to a sound in the Japanese language. This script is used mainly for native Japanese words. Katakana, also with 46 characters, is used for foreign words, foreign names, and words borrowed from other languages. Katakana has been used for more than 1,000 years. It was developed as a simplified way to write manyogana, an ancient Chinese script. Written Japanese also includes thousands of kanji, which are characters adopted from Chinese. For Japanese people, kanji impart a more educated, mature meaning. They also help clarify the exact meaning of similar words, and when used along with hiragana and katakana, make written text easier to read.

Japanese is a complex language, but it can be both easy and fun to learn with the help of online courses. At the beginner level, Udemy has several introductory courses that allow you to practice the language at your own pace and revisit any information. You'll likely find yourself reviewing its intricate writing system, which consists of 92 Japanese characters and thousands of Chinese characters. Mastering the pronunciation, however, should take a lot less time to master, as sounds in Japanese are much smaller than in other languages. It's also nice to know that Japanese doesn't have a plural form, and you won't have to memorize the gender of every noun, as is required with the Romance languages.