Help between two languages?

Question

Okay, heres the thing. I want to learn a third language, because I am fluent in both English and Spanish. I was thinking about Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. I'm torn between the two... My Dad says Chinese is better because of China's growning economy, but I've always kind of wanted to learn Japanese since I was a small child. I cant pick... Which one do you think is harder? any viewpoints?

Btw, I am going to be a freshman in Highschool, I was thinking about how long would it take to learn one, or both? Is 6-8 years too little of time?

Also, would it be useless to learn Japanese?

Answer 1

I guess your motivation should come from a need.
Th

Answer 2

Both languages are difficult. Mandarin has 4 tones whereas Japanese is very flat compared to English. Even though Mandarin has many thousands of characters, each character has only one meaning & one reading i.e. spoken word.

Japanese writing initially appears easier with the 2 Kana syllabries of 50 syllables each, plus approximately 2000 Chinese characters known as Kanji. The problem with Kanji is that 99% have two different pronunciations & some have as many as six or seven different prononciations, and you have to know when & how to combine the 3 systems.
Mandarin grammar, to me, is not as complicated as Japanese, which has so many 'levels of politeness', especially on the verbs, that it can be very easy to be very rude just by using the wrong politeness level. And this can happen often, as you cannot reply to a person's question by using the same verb or copying the question. e.g. Is your family well? Yes, my family is well. Here, besides having to figure out the social status difference between the enquirer and responder, you then have to decide which form of the words for 'yes' 'family' and 'is' to use.

Mandarin has many more speakers than Japanese, an easier writing system even though it has more characters, and much more forgiving in it's grammar.
Mandarin is 'easier'.

Answer 3

Well learning Japanese is easier and it's also what you've wanted since you were a child. But your dad does have a point about the growing economy. But Chinese people also learn English so there's no real reason to learn that. Learn the language you want to. If Japanese, go with Japanese.

Answer 4

I don't think you should limit yourself to learning only one language if you want to learn both. After all, you already know two, so why stop at three?

I do not think that 6 to 8 years is an unreasonable amount of time to learn a language. I think that both languages will have easy and hard points, so I do not think that you should choose based on difficulty.

I see your dad's point about the economic power of Chinese, but if you personally don't plan to do any type of business in Chinese-speaking countries, that reason isn't practical for you. If you feel that you have to choose only one, choose the one that you think will be the most useful to you, based on what you plan to do with your life.

Have a great time learning a new language!

Answer 5

Well chinese is more difficult because it's an acoustic language, there too many pronuntiations for a simple word that have very different meanings, and japanese is much easier even in writing it's more simple. I think if u like to learn a language maybe without any beneficit for now is japanese if u are expecting that chinese economy grows up and take and advantage of that well break your mind with chinese. Good luck

Answer 6

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by 1 billion people. That's incomparable to any other language. I'd go for it, but the writing is difficult... Especially between Japanese and Chinese, one Japanese character can represent an entire word that's more than one syllable, but Chinese characters are strictly one syllable each... So you end up having to learn a LOT more characters.

Answer 7

My dad advised me to take Spanish and he was right...this was 40 years ago. Spanish IS needed in the U.S. Glad I listened to Dad. The situation back then spelled out the future need for North America to know Spanish as well as English. English & Spanish have, more or less, the same alphabet. But, Japanese and all the many Chinese languages don't have the same alphabet as English & Spanish, all those languages have different alphabets from eachother, and, so they are more difficult from the start. The Japanese, for the most part, speak English and they trade with us. Learning their language may not be neccessary. Regarding China, we don't know how the international situation with China will materialize. Maybe favorable, maybe not. I'd say, Japan and its language are covered by English, but check out China completely. Check out all you can and see if you feel learning Chinese...Mandarin...would be worthwhile and in keeping with your goals. If it isn't, I would have suggested Russian because of the immigrants to the U.S., but frankly, they learn English, so they don't need us to speak Russian. If Mandarin Chinese doesn't suit you, best advise is, find a language need and fill it.

Answer 8

Yup, Japanese is easier than Chinese in writing if nothing else...Japanese has an alphabet whereas there is none in Chinese. How long it would take you to learn any one of them really depends on how good you are at learning languages...I learned French in about a year and was fluent after that...and it also matters a lot if you are constantly practicing.

Answer 9

Chinese is EXTREMELY difficult to learn, I started chinese since I was like 3 or 4 and up to now, I'm 13 I still have much to learn. And in Chinese you have to learn everything in detail. It's as if you have to memorize every single character in the dictionary, literally. but Japanese... I think I prefer Chinese. WARNING: It's difficult.

Answer 10

Follow your heart and learn Japanese.

My parents speak English and Tagalog, but I took my own path and learned French (through a high school exchange program and majoring in it at college). I do not use French in my daily life or business, but I do not regret learning it. I love the French culture, literature, and language. It will be hard to learn a language when you don't have a passion for the culture behind the literature you are required to read. Those three things are intertwined.

Answer 11

You are doing good already by knowing two. However, you will be doing even better with a third. It is always easier to learn a language that you want to learn. I would suggest Japanese sense you want to learn it so badly. it would be hard to learn either one because of the lack of people to use it with.

I know 5 languages. I went with the ones i wanted to learn first. made it easier for me. and i grew up speaking 4 of them with my family so that helped too. the last one (sign language) was hard because i did not want to learn it i was kinda forced into it, my brother went deaf a few years ago. i ended up wanting to learn it so that i could talk to my brother.

You should deffinatly go with japanese first sense that is the one you want to know the most. then go with the chinese later.

good luck