Which is harder to learn Japanese or Chinese?

[renard_ruse]

Anyone studied both of these languages? From what I can tell, it sounds like Japanese would be much harder. Chinese grammar sounds pretty simple.

 

[eyer]

Anyone studied both of these languages? From what I can tell, it sounds like Japanese would be much harder. Chinese grammar sounds pretty simple.

Which dialects of either?

 

[patient1]

Which dialects of either?

My impression is that Chinese is more tonal, Japanese more guttural. Do you have an ear for music?

 

[Laurel]

Anyone studied both of these languages? From what I can tell, it sounds like Japanese would be much harder. Chinese grammar sounds pretty simple.

Speaking or reading/writing?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

My impression is that Chinese is more tonal, Japanese more guttural. Do you have an ear for music?

Chinese, beyond a shadow of doubt.

 

[CandiCame]

I'm so shitty at language. I /barely/ speak English. I tried to take a Japanese class in college, and dropped the hell out of that 2 weeks in. It was ridiculously difficult. There are at least two different alphabets. That in and of itself is too hard for me. Then it has not only normal gender conjugations, but different conjugations-not just for pronouns, but for proper nouns, based on social status/location. I couldn't even keep up with simple shit like vocabulary. I, right now, couldn't count to 5 if somebody put a gun to my head.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

ich ni san chi go




I can do it in Korean too.

 

[cowslinger64]

ich ni san chi go




I can do it in Korean too.

try doing that one right first


ichi ni san shi go

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I can do it in Chinese too...

 

[Liar]

Don't spek them myself but from what I've heard, Japanese has a higher learning treshold before you get the basics, while Mandarin is easier to learn, but a bit of a hassle to master. Meaning you can know the language decently on a tourist level, but still won't understand what the hell most people are saying. Too much relies on subtle intonations that it takes experience to learn, apparently.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I'm so shitty at language. I /barely/ speak English. I tried to take a Japanese class in college, and dropped the hell out of that 2 weeks in. It was ridiculously difficult. There are at least two different alphabets. That in and of itself is too hard for me. Then it has not only normal gender conjugations, but different conjugations-not just for pronouns, but for proper nouns, based on social status/location. I couldn't even keep up with simple shit like vocabulary. I, right now, couldn't count to 5 if somebody put a gun to my head.

Don't feel bad, Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman, a true genius of our time, said one of the only things he ever gave up on as too difficult was learning Japanese.

I can do it in Chinese too...

That $10,000 "adoption fee" has paid for itself many times over...

 

[renard_ruse]

ich ni san chi go

Lol, my dad who had been stationed in Japan in the army, would always recite those. I guess he was trying to impress people he could count in more than one language.

 

[lemonbread]

I speak some conversational Japanese, like i can say traditional phrases and greetings, and some basic concepts (i'm leaving now, i'm home, let's eat, are you ok, i'm ok, my name is, etc.). I can ask for tea and count to at least 10. I can write my name and some words/phrases. I learned by immersion though, so I don't really know how all of the grammar goes. I could carry on a basic conversation though. It wasn't difficult to pick up on. Chinese seems harder. I can't say for sure though.

 

[ElasticMermaid]

I took four years of Japanese. I remember like five things.

 

[ElasticMermaid]

I speak some conversational Japanese, like i can say traditional phrases and greetings, and some basic concepts (i'm leaving now, i'm home, let's eat, are you ok, i'm ok, my name is, etc.). I can ask for tea and count to at least 10. I can write my name and some words/phrases. I learned by immersion though, so I don't really know how all of the grammar goes. I could carry on a basic conversation though. It wasn't difficult to pick up on. Chinese seems harder. I can't say for sure though.

If you can count to ten you can count to...infinity. It just goes juu ichi, juu ni, etc..

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Sorry, double post.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

try doing that one right first


ichi ni san shi go

Yes, but the word for four "shi" has implications of death or dying and the Japanese substitute "yon" (sp) for shi.

Example: Yon haku, you ju, yon. = four hundred forty four.

All of the above spelling is suspect as I was too busy trying to learn to speak the language than learning the correct Romanji spelling.

The same apples to the word for numeral 7, it is read and written as shichi, but spoken as nana.

In Japanese there are several words the should be added in a sentence to make it grammatically correct. For example to say, "Horses eat grass" You would actually say. "Horses wa eat grass ga." to make it correct.

It's been a long time since I have even thought about even speaking Japanese other than ordering sushi or the kind of saki I prefer. (G)

 

[CandiCame]

Yes, but the word for four "shi" has implications of death or dying and the Japanese substitute "yon" (sp) for shi.

Example: Yon haku, you ju, yon. = four hundred forty four.

All of the above spelling is suspect as I was too busy trying to learn to speak the language than learning the correct Romanji spelling.

The same apples to the word for numeral 7, it is read and written as shichi, but spoken as nana.

In Japanese there are several words the should be added in a sentence to make it grammatically correct. For example to say, "Horses eat grass" You would actually say. "Horses wa eat grass ga." to make it correct.

It's been a long time since I have even thought about even speaking Japanese other than ordering sushi or the kind of saki I prefer. (G)

That's another thing that threw me off. But if I remember right it's also noun object verb so it's be like "horses grass eat". But I might be wrong.

 

[doowdniw]

My Japanese is limited to basic counting, judo terms, and basic courtesies. Same in Korean, except substitute TKD for judo. My Chinese is limited to being able to say thank you. I think that Chinese would be much more difficult to learn, as I believe it has many more characters, and many more dialects than Japanese.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yes, but the word for four "shi" has implications of death or dying and the Japanese substitute "yon" (sp) for shi.

Example: Yon haku, you ju, yon. = four hundred forty four.

All of the above spelling is suspect as I was too busy trying to learn to speak the language than learning the correct Romanji spelling.

The same apples to the word for numeral 7, it is read and written as shichi, but spoken as nana.

In Japanese there are several words the should be added in a sentence to make it grammatically correct. For example to say, "Horses eat grass" You would actually say. "Horses wa eat grass ga." to make it correct.

It's been a long time since I have even thought about even speaking Japanese other than ordering sushi or the kind of saki I prefer. (G)

Example, I am a Yondan in Kobudo...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

My Japanese is limited to basic counting, judo terms, and basic courtesies. Same in Korean, except substitute TKD for judo. My Chinese is limited to being able to say thank you. I think that Chinese would be much more difficult to learn, as I believe it has many more characters, and many more dialects than Japanese.

Yes, yes and yes, and add the tonal inflections that can give each sound four different meanings.