The Western people sometimes say the Japanese language is ‘Devil’s language.’
The reason why it's ‘Devil’s language’ is mainly because there’re so many first-person pronouns. The first-person pronouns (singular) are as follows for example:
私(わたくし)、私(わたし)、僕(ぼく)、俺(おれ)、あたし、うち、わし、われ, わが、自分(じぶん)、小生(しょうせい)、当方(とうほう)、弊方(へいほう)、小職(しょうしょく)、etc.
The second-person pronouns (singular) are also numerous:
あなた、貴方(あなた)様(さま)、お宅(おたく)、お宅(おたく)様(さま)、君(きみ)、僕(ぼく) (for calling a small boy)、あんた、貴様(きさま)、お前(おまえ)、てめえ、貴方(きほう)、etc.
More interestingly, the Japanese tend to omit the first and second persons when the context is clear, despite there’re so many pronouns.
When you want to say, ‘We'd like you to attend,’ in Japanese, the sentence 「わたくしはあなたの出席(しゅっせき)を希望(きぼう)します。」 is a grammatically correct Japanese.
However, it’s weird and does not sound like a Japanese. It smells a translation from a foreign language very much and by an inexperienced person.
A natural Japanese should be like this:
「何卒(なにとぞ)ご臨席(ごりんせき)下さいます(くださいます)ようお願い(おねがい)申し上げます(もうしあげます)。」
The first and second persons are not stated at all.
Or simply,
「是非(ぜひ)ご出席(ごしゅっせき)下さい(ください)。」
is quite normal.
What do you say, ‘I’m really looking forward to seeing you again’ in Japanese?
It should be
「再び(ふたたび)お目に(おめに)かかれるのを心(こころ)よりお待ち(おまち)しております。」
Or just
「またお会い(あい)するのが楽しみ(たのしみ)です。」
should be a natural one.
Once you say 「ご臨席」「ご出席」「お目にかかれる」「お会いする」, who’s speaking to whom is so clear that we usually omit the persons.
Even English omits the subject when it’s clear:
“Thank you.”
“Sit down.”
“How about a break?”
Some European languages don’t necessarily write or say the subject person because you’ll know it from the verb conjugation.
“Soy japonesa.”
“Estamos en el tren ahora.”
If you introduce yourself, what do you have to say?
If you are 佐藤(さとう), you’ll say, “I’m Sato” or “My name is Sato.”
The Japanese has the following variations:
佐藤(さとう)です、佐藤(さとう)と申します(もうします)、佐藤(さとう)と言います(いいます)、佐藤でーす、佐藤ですが、佐藤だ、佐藤である、佐藤だよ、佐藤よ、佐藤でございます、佐藤ざます、佐藤じゃ、佐藤っす、佐藤なの、etc.
From the ending of the speech, we can roughly imagine what kind of person it is, male, female, young, old, bossy, polite, vulgar, or modest.
In a restaurant, you’ll hear Japanese say when they order their dishes.
「ぼくはラーメン。」
「わたしはカレー。」
「おれはそば。」
You may feel the sentences are illogical because it seems they’re saying:
“I’m ramen.”
“I’m curry.”
“I’m soba.”
However,
ぼくは、わたしは、おれは do not show the subject, but they all show ‘for me.’
In the examples, は works as a marker of contrast.
ぼくは of 「ぼくはラーメン。」shows a contrast with other people.
If he’s alone in the restaurant or nobody’s around him for an order, he won’t say ぼくは but just say 「ラーメン」 or 「ラーメン下さい(ください)」.
We often say 「（わたしは）…と思い(おもい)ます」. It is usually translated to English as ‘I think…’
「これがいいと思います(おもいます)。」
「明日(あす)買い物(かいもの)に行こう(いこう)と思います(おもいます)。」
「この本(ほん)は読んだ(よんだ)方(ほう)がいいと思う(おもう)。」
These three sentences are very natural.
However, the following translations would be weird:
I think I like this one. / I think this is nice.
I think I’ll go shopping tomorrow.
I think you should read this book.
If you took ‘I think’ away, the English sentences would be natural.
The Japanese use と思う so often that non-Japanese wonder if the Japanese THINK much or are philosophers.
On the contrary, however, 思う does not have such a power as ‘I think.’
思う does not actually mean ‘I think’ but it weakens your statements. It avoids assertions.
「これがいい」 is too strong and conclusive.
The Japanese prefer
「これがいいと思います(おもいます)」
in order to avoid saying directly.
「明日(あす)買い物(かいもの)に行こう(いこう)と思います(おもいます)」
is preferred to 「明日(あす)買い物(かいもの)に行こう(いこう)」 or 「明日(あす)買い物(かいもの)に行きます(いきます)」.
Likewise,
「この本(ほん)は読んだ(よんだ)方(ほう)がいいと思う(おもう)。」
is liked better than 「この本(ほん)は読んだ(よんだ)方(ほう)がいい」.
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