What makes more sense to learn... Japanese, or Chinese?

Question

What's easier, more practical... what are your experiences... etc?

Answer 1

Okay, both are very useful in business.

Here is a comparison of each to English:

GRAMMAR: Chinese is gramatically similar to English. It is a SVO (subject, verb, object) language. Japanese, on the other hand, has a very different grammatical structure. Japanese is a SOV (subject object verb) language. This means that in Japanese, the verb is at the end of the sentence.

PRONUNCIATION: Japanese is very easy to pronounce, especially for English-speakers, because the English language has many more sounds than the Japanese. Chinese, on the other hand, is a tonal language. This means that the WAY you say a word will determine its meaning. This is often difficult for English-speakers to get used to.

WRITING: Japanese has three writing systems: katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana and hiragana are phonetic, so it's very easy to learn them. Kanji are the Chinese characters, and there are about 1,945 commonly used kanji to learn. This is difficult, but Chinese ONLY uses Chinese characters, and there are about 3,000 that you need to learn in order to be able to read most things.

So, to summarize:
Japanese is easier to pronounce.
Chinese grammar is easier to understand.
Both writing systems will take a lot of time.


It's up to you which you take, but hopefully this will help with the linguistic aspects of each!

Answer 2

Japanese

Answer 3

Both languages are difficult :
- Mandarin : everytime when I am ask to I say Mandarin is difficult: writting is difficult, listening is difficult,reading is difficult,speaking is difficult. And it is true. It needs a lot of practice.
- Japanese : learned it after Mandarin thanks to anime. Although I can't write or read here is what I can tell you. Japanese has a more complex writting system and uses some old Chinese caracters.

Overall for me Mandarin is more difficult because of all the similars words or sounds. It sometimes takes a few seconds to understand what someone tells you.

In China if you don't speak Mandarin, you will be kind of lost because not a lot of Chinese speak English or a foreign language, whereas in Japan with English you can be understood.

Answer 4

More practical? These days, probably chinese but it depends on what you are looking to do.

Easier? Hmmm. I think both are easy enough to learn to speak but hell to learn to write. Japanese might be easier because it has no tones while chinese does not have some of japanese forms of politeness.

Answer 5

Chinese is more difficult but practical.
Japanese is more fun.

I'm a Chinese who knows traditional Chinese (vs. Simplified Chinese). I love the traditional Chinese words which I think are the most beautiful words in the world. Learning Chinese is difficult but frankly more practical if you want to take your career to the next level.

I'm learning Japanese which is fun. I learn it because I like Japanese stuff. I'd like to know what people on TV are talking about and what's written in their magazines, manga (comics) and stuff like that. Learning Japanese is for 'entertainment'.

Answer 6

Chinese of course. There are more Chinese than Japanese and now even the Japanese are learning Chinese because they want to invest in China. They cannot compete with China in price war, and also in the number of people who are studying Chinese in the world compared to Japanese. Before China opened its doors, Japanese was the most popular Asian language to be studied because people who are working in the tourist industry realized there are a lot of Japanese tourists who travel around the world. But now, it is the Chinese tourists who travel everywhere as incentive from their government so that they can work faithfully.

Answer 7

I've studied Japanese, and it's a very fascinating language to study. It's the polar opposite of English in many respects. You can get lost in studying the meanings of kanji-- very intriguing. Of course, anime and manga (cartoons) are popular in America, which gives you a fun method of studying and a huge audience who will be immediately impressed by your Japanese skills.

Chinese is not so exciting, except for its beautiful tonality. Chinese is "tonal," which means that the word "ma" can mean six completely different things depending on how you inflect it. Also, China is emerging as one of the world's greatest super nations, and there's a good chance they'll be the dominant nation when/if USA rolls over due to war or economic crisis. So, Chinese is much more practical to learn.

Answer 8

for a Business transfer I could most likely be taught Chinese. China is just like the top of the financial system. So many banks, corporations, and organizations to get into. You would make such a lot and be so efficient.

Answer 9

of course Chinese would be better choice,
1. Chinese Economy is growing up,,
2. big population
3. powerful nation in Future
4. caputring the mkt
5. new experiance
6. good way to understand one new Culture which is mysterious

Answer 10

Japanese for sure is easier (less "letters" than Chinese ), Chinese is more useful ( 1000 000 000 ppl ? ).