How many language families are spoken in Japan?

Japan is an island country located in East Asia, comprising around 6,852 islands, which is one of the reasons why there are several languages spoken in Japan. Ancient inhabitants of the country spoke a language that is not known. Today, most of the 127 million inhabitants of Japan speak Japanese or Nihongo that belongs to the Japonic language family.

Several languages or dialects in Japan include the Ryukyuan languages, Ainu languages, the Orok language and the Nivkh language. These languages belong to two language families spoken in Japan – the Japonic languages and the Ainu languages.

Researchers think what we now call Japanese was brought over by people migrating from continental Asia and/or the Pacific Islands, and that somehow it took over as the dominant form of communication as the Japanese culture developed.

There are many dialects spoken in Japan and some are considered by UNESCO to be endangered due to the introduction of standard Japanese nationwide in schools.