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๐ฌ๐ง โ ๐ฏ๐ต
How easy is Japanese for English speakers?
Going from English to Japanese (ๆฅๆฌ่ช) has a composite linguistic distance of 87% (curated lexical data). Below is the dimension-by-dimension breakdown.
87% distance
FSI Cat IV (Hardest) โ ~2,200 hours
Lexical similarity
10%
Shared vocabulary, cognates, and loanwords.
Grammatical distance
37%
Morphology, syntax, word order, cases.
Phonological similarity
0%
Shared sounds and phoneme inventory.
Writing-system match
0%
Latin โ Japanese
Genealogical kinship
0%
Indo-European โ Japonic
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Sample sentences side-by-side
How everyday sentences look in both languages:
๐ฌ๐ง English
The computer and internet have transformed global communication and information.
๐ฏ๐ต Japanese
ใณใณใใฅใผใฟใจใคใณใฟใผใใใใฏไธ็ใฎใณใใฅใใฑใผใทใงใณใจๆ
ๅ ฑใๅคใใพใใใ
๐ฌ๐ง English
At the restaurant I had coffee, pizza, and chocolate cake for dessert.
๐ฏ๐ต Japanese
ใฌในใใฉใณใงใใใถใผใใซใณใผใใผใใใถใใใงใณใฌใผใใฑใผใญใ้ฃในใพใใใ
Other easy languages for English speakers
The 5 languages with the lowest linguistic distance from English:
Think you can tell them apart?
A quick 3-question check between English and Japanese. No signup.