Japanese voice overs: what you need to know

Japanese is an East Asian language, spoken by more than 127 million people worldwide. It’s estimated that 126 million people are native Japanese speakers, while an additional 1 million people speak Japanese as a second language.

Japanese is a national language only in Japan and Palau. However, there are prominent Japanese speaking communities in Brazil, the US, and the Philippines to name a few.

Language History

Japanese is the only modern language whose specific origins are not fully understood. Historians hypothesize that around 300 BCE the language of Korea was brought into Japan and mixed with the already existing local vernaculars.

The long history of the Japanese language is categorized into four periods: Old, Late Old, Middle, Early Modern, and Modern. The first known Japanese texts date back to the 8th century and mark the transition from Old Japanese to Late Old Japanese.

Modern Japanese retained many features of the older periods. Surprisingly, Old Japanese can be well understood by today’s speakers!

Close Relations

Japanese is rather unique – it’s not closely related to any known language. While its relationship with Korean is debated, the languages do have some similarities in terms of syntax, morphology, and some vocabulary. However, Japanese doesn’t have a close relative.

Despite popular belief, Japanese is not related to Mandarin Chinese. Yet, Japanese adopted the Chinese writing symbols in its written language.

Japanese vocabulary also contains many foreign loanwords. In modern Japanese, around 80% of borrowed words come from English. Loanwords of Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese origins are also common.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

Japan is the land of dozens of Japanese regional dialects. Most commonly, Japanese dialects are categorized into two groups: Western and Eastern.

The most prominent Eastern dialect is the Tokyo dialect – a dialect of the capital that acts as the basis of the Standard Japanese. The second in line is the Western Kyoto dialect, widely spoken in the city of Kyoto and Western Japan.

When recording a Japanese voice over, keep in mind that Japanese has many grammatical features to express formality and politeness. That’s why knowing your target audience and the message you want to convey is crucial.

Words per minute

Japanese is a very fast spoken language. In fact, studies suggest that Japanese might be the fastest spoken language in the world. The average speed of spoken Japanese is about 7.84 syllables per second. It’s much faster than English – 6 syllables per second on average.

Naturally, the tempo of spoken Japanese will depend on the situation and specificities of the text.