{"id":854,"date":"2026-05-18T19:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/?p=854"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:46:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:46:40","slug":"the-difficulty-of-language-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/?p=854","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0The Difficulty of language acquisition\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 1, The Difficulty of English Grammar (The Hurdle Faced by Japanese Learners)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For native Japanese speakers, the main reason English grammar feels difficult is the existence of \u201cstrict rules\u201d regarding word order and tense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2460 Word Order (SVO) Is Everything<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because Japanese uses particles (wa, ga, wo<\/em>), the meaning remains clear even if the word order is reversed. For example, sentences like “Watashi wa ringo wo taberu”<\/em> (I eat an apple) and “Ringo wo watashi wa taberu”<\/em> (An apple, I eat) mean the exact same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, English is a \u201clanguage of arrangement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Tom loves Mary.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mary loves Tom.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Simply changing the order of the words (S+V+O) flips the meaning completely. Until they get used to this \u201crigidity of word order,\u201d Japanese learners feel as if they\u2019re solving a massive puzzle in their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2461 The \u201cPrecision\u201d of Tenses and Nuances<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In Japanese, the past tense is basically covered by the suffix \u201c~shita,\u201d but English is a language that\u2019s surprisingly precise in how it divides time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With forms like the \u201cpast tense,\u201d \u201cpresent perfect,\u201d \u201cpast perfect,\u201d and \u201cpresent perfect progressive,\u201d you must clearly distinguish \u201cwhen the action began and what the current state is\u201d and adjust the verb form accordingly. Furthermore, the difficulty of English lies in the constant need to pay attention to details that Japanese speakers don\u2019t have to consciously consider, such as articles (a\/the<\/em>) and singular\/plural distinctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. The Difficulty of Japanese Grammar (Barriers Faced by Foreigners)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, from the perspective of English speakers, Japanese grammar is considered one of the \u201cmost difficult in the world.\u201d The reason lies in the fact that, unlike English, \u201cthe rules are ambiguous and context-dependent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2460 Subjects and Objects \u201cDisappear\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In English, the subject (I<\/em>) and object (you<\/em>) are mandatory, as in \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/em> However, in Japanese, a single word like \u201cAishiteru\u201d<\/strong> (Love) is sufficient to convey the entire meaning. This characteristic\u2014where the \u201cwho\u201d and \u201cwhom\u201d are implied without being explicitly stated (meaning you must read between the lines)\u2014is extremely difficult for English speakers, who prefer a logical, explicit word order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2461 The Complex and Baffling \u201cHonorifics\u201d and \u201cParticles\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The greatest stumbling block in Japanese grammar is \u201chonorifics\u201d (keigo<\/em>: respectful, humble, and polite forms). Depending on the social status and relationship between the speaker and the listener, verb forms change drastically (e.g., the basic verb \u201ciku\u201d<\/em> [to go] becomes \u201cirassharu\u201d<\/em> for respectful or \u201cmairu\u201d<\/em> for humble).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Furthermore, the distinction between \u201cwatashi wa,\u201d \u201cwatashi ni,\u201d<\/em> and \u201cwatashi ga\u201d<\/em>\u2014specifically, the differentiated use of particles\u2014is extremely difficult to master because the concept itself does not exist in English<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Which Grammar Is \u201cMore Difficult\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To put it simply, the linguistic answer is: \u201cWhich is more difficult depends entirely on the learner\u2019s native language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When viewed through metrics that measure linguistic distance, Japanese and English possess \u201copposite characteristics\u201d as shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Feature<\/strong><\/td>English Grammar<\/strong><\/td>Japanese Grammar<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    Sentence Structure<\/strong><\/td>SVO (Subject-Verb-Object)<\/td>SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)<\/td><\/tr>
    Core Information<\/strong><\/td>Conclusion (verb) comes first<\/td>Conclusion (verb or negation) comes last<\/td><\/tr>
    Grammatical Rules<\/strong><\/td>Emphasis on logic and rules (explicit subject and tense)<\/td>Emphasis on context and relationships (subject omission and honorifics)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The reason Japanese people find English difficult is not because English is an inherently flawed or difficult language, but because \u201cthe linguistic distance between Japanese and English is too great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The reverse is also true: for English speakers, Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn (designated as a “Category 4” language<\/strong>\u2014the highest difficulty level\u2014by the U.S. State Department\u2019s Foreign Service Institute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Summary: How to Overcome the Difficulty of Grammar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • When Japanese people learn English:<\/strong> They need to set aside their Japanese way of thinking (reading between the lines, leaving things ambiguous) and switch to a \u201cdigital\u201d way of thinking where they clearly state \u201cwho does what to whom\u201d right from the start.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • When foreigners learn Japanese:<\/strong> They must not only memorize grammatical rules but also internalize Japanese culture and the high-context sensibility of \u201creading the room.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Precisely because the \u201cvectors of difficulty\u201d in each other\u2019s grammars are so different, the most fascinating aspect of language learning is that when you grasp the grammar of another language, you gain a deep, intuitive understanding of how its people think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

       1, The Difficulty of English Grammar (The Hurdle Faced by Japanese Learners) For native Japanese speaker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperwork.iseglobaloffice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}