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In みんなの日本語初級I book, the word 「ことば」 is used to mean "language" (English,
Japanese, Russian, etc.)

> [![ことば used for
> "Languages"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BmqRt.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BmqRt.png)

However, I found 「言語」 as the most proper word for this type of language. The
first variant (which is used in the book) is more for some abstract language.

Why is 「ことば」 used here instead?
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2019-03-24T18:44:53.170
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2019-03-25T10:24:12.580
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word-choice usage word-usage
Why is "language" represented by 言葉【ことば】 instead of 言語【げんご】 in this book for learning Japanese?
I think the word ことば is used here simply because it is an easier word. In the
Japanese education system, the word 言語 is introduced in second grade according
to
[this](https://ja.wikibooks.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1%E5%9B%BD%E8%AA%9E/%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97/2%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%9F%E3%81%A7%E7%BF%92%E3%81%86%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97).
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2019-03-24T21:30:43.893
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言語 is more of an academic term, while ことば is more colloquial and accessible.
言語 is normally used with longer compound words. Functionally, though, they
mean the same thing.

Although the example that you posted is technically academic, the use of
furigana does indicate that it is designed either for younger Japanese or for
non-native speakers. Hence, ことば is more accessible (as @tarkma has pointed
out).
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2019-03-25T00:59:20.267
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In addition to tarkma's and BJCUAI's answers, I'd like to draw your attention
to the header:

> 国【くに】・人【ひと】・ことば

All three of these are so-called 大和【やまと】言葉【ことば】, or native-Japanese terms,
which are read with the 訓読【くんよ】み. The word 言語【げんご】, meanwhile, is read with
the 音読【おんよ】み, and originates as a borrowing from Chinese. For a consistently
音読【おんよ】み header of the same meaning, we could say instead:

> 国家【こっか】・国民【こくみん】・言語【げんご】

However, this comes across very differently.

The terms native to the language have a more informal, familiar, and
comfortable sense, while the terms borrowed from Chinese tend to be more
formal, academic, and sometimes stilted. This is similar in some ways to
English vocabulary, where words native to English are more informal, familiar,
and comfortable, while the terms borrowed from Latin tend to be more formal,
academic, and sometimes stilted.
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