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What is the Japanese language?

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Japanese, language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and Brazil. Japanese appears to be unrelated to any other language; however, some scholars see a kinship with the Korean tongue because the grammars of the two are very similar. Some linguists also link both Japanese and Korean to the Altaic languages.

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Similar questions: Where do Japanese speakers live? What languages is Japanese related to? Is Japanese an Altaic language? [ Hide these questions ]

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