Japanese, or 日本語 (nihongo) is the national language of Japan. The use of the language is becoming more widespread however, due to the penetration of popular Japanese culture. Japanese is spoken by 130 million people. Japan is the only country where Japanese is the sole official language. Japan has steadily developed for many centuries and, unlike many other cultures, has not been seriously affected by any major invasions until recent times. A substantial part of the vocabulary, though, has been borrowed over the years from Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, and most recently English.