40-Minute Japanese

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none of them have gained unanimous acceptance.Shibatani, Masayoshi. (1990). The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 94. Japanese is an agglutinative language and is distinguished by a complex system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned in conversation. The language has a relatively small sound inventory, and a lexically significant pitch-accent system. Japanese is a mora-timed language.

The Japanese language is written with a combination of three scripts: modified Chinese characters called kanji (??), and two syllabic scripts made up of modified Chinese characters, hiragana (???? or ???) and katakana (???? or ???). The Latin alphabet, r?maji (????), is also often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos, advertising, and when entering Japanese text into a computer. Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese numerals are also commonplace (see Japanese numerals).

Japanese vocabulary has been heavily influenced by loanwords from other languages. A vast number of words were borrowed from Chinese, or created from Chinese models, over a period of at least 1,500 years. Since the late 19th century, Japanese has borrowed a considerable number of words from Indo-European languages, primarily English. Because of the special trade relationship between Japan and first Portugal in the 16th century, and then mainly the Netherlands in the 17th century, Portuguese and Dutch have also been influential.

Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer.

Astrologers believe that the movements and positions of celestial bodies either directly influence life on Earth or correspond to events experienced on a human scale. Modern astrologers define astrology as a symbolic language, an art form, or a form of divination. Despite differences in definitions, a common assumption of astrologers is that celestial placements can aid in the interpretation of past and present events, and in the prediction of the future. Scientists consider astrology a pseudoscience or superstition.Eysenck, H.J., Nias, D.K.B., Astrology: Science or Superstition? (Penguin Books, 1982)"The case for and against astrology: end of a shouting match." Retrieved 2009-9-12.Jennifer Viegas. "Scientists dump cold water on astrology." Retrieved 2009-9-12.

Numerous traditions and applications employing astrological concepts have arisen since its earliest recorded beginnings in the 3rd millennium BC. Astrology has played an important role in the shaping of culture, early astronomy, the Vedas, and various disciplines throughout history. In fact, astrology and astronomy were often indistinguishable before the modern era, with the desire for predictive and divinatory knowledge one of the motivating factors for astronomical observation. Astronomy began to diverge from astrology after a period of gradual separation from the Renaissance up until the 18th century. Eventually, astronomy distinguished itself as the empirical study of astronomical objects and phenomena, without regard to the terrestrial implications of astrology.

The word "Category: wiktionary - :astrology|astrology" comes from the Latin term Category: wiktionary - :astrologia|astrologia ("astronomy"),Astrology. Online Etymology Dictionary. 2001. Retrieved 24 Nov. 2009. which in turn derives from the Greek noun : , astron ("constellation" or "star") and , -logia ("the study of").