Generally, what is harder for an American to learn: Japanese or Mandarin (Chinese)?
Sunday, December 12th, 2010 at
3:09 pm
I know japanese contains a lot of chinese features, but would that make it easier?
Filed under: Learn to Speak Mandarin
Mandarin Chinese is harder, imo, but more worth it to learn.
Pronunciation:
Japanese pronunciation is very simple for an English speaker. Chinese, on the other hand, makes frequent use of tones and similar sounds like "ch" "q" "zh" and "c". Words are often much harder to pronounce and differentiate in Chinese as compared to Japanese.
Grammar:
Both Japanese and Chinese grammar is relatively simple, especially compared to Romance or Slavic languages. Japanese syntax is very different from English though, making it more confusing than Chinese in this aspect.
Writing System:
Japanese has about 3 writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji (Chinese characters), while Chinese only has its characters. Japanese only uses a small percentage of Chinese characters though, but having to memorize 2 other writing systems makes up for that. I still think that Japanese would be easier, because aside from the kanji, pronunciation can (usually) be read, unlike Chinese wherein you either know it, or you don`t.
Usefulness:
Japan is an Asian economic superpower, but is also one of the countries in Asia with the lowest English literacy (aside from Korea). China has also been experiencing a steady rise in the global market, making it an ideal business language to learn. Mandarin is also one of the top 3 languages with the highest number of speakers, connecting you with over 1.205 billion people, compared to the 122 million who speak Japanese. Mandarin is also spoken in many countries (while Japanese is mostly limited to Japan) and is a UN official language.
rosettastone is pretty sweet.
I think Chinese is easier , its grammar is simple .Here are my tips that you do as , you will find Chinese is easy to learn and useful .
a. Live for at least a year in a place where people always speak Chinese, if you get the chance. This is the best way to learn Chinese.
b. Participate in one-on-one online Chinese learning courses: http://www.echineselearning.com, for example. Learn pure and standard Chinese pronunciation under the guidance of local Chinese teachers.
c. Make lots of Chinese friends and frequently communicate with them in Chinese.
d. Make your own language learning plan and stick to it. Watch Chinese films or TV shows and learn to sing Chinese songs. All of the above can help cultivate your familiarity with Chinese, thereby stimulating Chinese learning.
As far as i am concerned, Japanese is more difficult than Mandarin! Of course the difficulty of learning a language and the time spent on it varies from person to person. And it depends on many factors, such as the frequency of classes attended, how much practice you did, and the environment you use the language etc. But only if you have a passion for learning Chinese and can participate in Chinese training courses in a Chinese speaking environment, will you master Chinese effectively, because Chinese is just like English.
Moreover, the most important is that japanese contains a lot of chinese features, you can first learn Chinese well and then start to learn Japanese! A good command of Chinese will make your Japanese learning easier!
However, ultimately, it depends on what your final goal is.
More Chinese questions, please contact me!
jennifer.zhu@echineselearning.com
Jennifer Zhu, Professional Chinese Teacher from http://www.eChineseLearning.com
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