日语同其他语言相比较,最大特点是敬语发达。然而,直到明治中期为止,日本人未曾有人对此进行过系统的研究。最先开始对敬语进行研究的是十六世纪下半叶到日本传基督教的西班牙传教士们。他们从传教活动的需要出发,为了学习日本语,对这种特殊的语言现象进行了实用性的研究,还为后人留下了一部《日本大文典》。由于日本当时实行锁国政策,此书未给日本人的研究产生影响。直到明治三十年代,日本人在接触外国文化、学习外语、翻译外文以后,才注意到敬语的不同,开始了系统的研究,当时,中国学生的第一次留日浪潮 Japanese compared with other languages, the most prominent feature is the honorific. However, until the middle of Meiji, there was no systematic study by Japanese people. The first to start studying the honorifics was the Spanish missionaries who came to Japan in the second half of the sixteenth century. Starting from the need of missionary activities, they studied practicality of this special linguistic phenomenon in order to learn Japanese, and left a “Great Japanese Dictionary” for future generations. Due to Japan’s policy of lock-ups, the book did not affect Japanese research. It was not until the 1930s in the Meiji that Japanese people noticed the difference of honorifics after they came into contact with foreign cultures, learned foreign languages ​​and translated foreign languages, and started a systematic study. At that time, the first wave of Japanese students in Japan