Japanese pronunciation is easy, Mandarin pronunciation is a bit hard. Japanese syntax needs time to get used to, Mandarin syntax is pretty easy. Mandarin writing system is hard to learn, hard to write, but Japanese writing system is three times harder to read, but a bit easier to write. Verdict.
Although there are intonation differences you have to be aware of, you don't have to tip-toe around sounds to convey the right meaning. This is why Japanese is easier to learn than Chinese. English native speakers can reach fluency faster.
Most learners have suggested that you should learn Chinese first before Japanese. Why is it exactly? Because once you've mastered Chinese, you're already halfway conquering Japanese. As we've talked about earlier, Japanese has three alphabets — Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.
Cantonese – Most Difficult Language Overall
Some people debate whether Cantonese deserves recognition as a language in its own right or a dialect of Chinese. Either way, Cantonese poses plenty of problems for students, even if they already speak Mandarin! But why is Cantonese harder than Mandarin for English speakers?
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Korean vs Chinese: Which one's the easiest to learn? In conclusion, the Mandarin Chinese writing system is far more complex than its Korean counterpart. Hangul is far easier to learn than Hanzi. But, while Chinese grammar is rather predictable and stable, Korean grammar has some extra layers of difficulty.
The SLS ranks languages by the length of time typically required for native English speaking students to reach “Professional Working Proficiency” in a large number of languages. Japanese is ranked as a Category IV language, the hardest category to learn, requiring 2,200 class hours — as compared to the easiest group of ...
A recent French study of the density and speed of 20 languages found Mandarin to be one of the slowest languages examined (in a group including French, English, and Japanese), in terms of syllables spoken per minute.
The Chinese language has a unique structure and pronunciation system that is vastly different from English. Chinese is made up of tens of thousands of characters, each with its own meaning, and often multiple pronunciations. This makes the language extremely difficult to learn, especially for non-native speakers.
1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons.
Meanwhile, Korean grammar is likely the hardest, while tones in Mandarin are notoriously difficult for native English speakers to hear, and Japanese is the fastest spoken language in the world at over 7 syllables per second.
Unlike other East-Asian languages, Korean isn't a tonal language. This means, that the meaning of the word doesn't change, regardless of what your accent is like. This makes learning Korean much easier than Japanese.
If you are able to read Japanese Kanji, you will be able to understand the meaning of many Chinese characters and vice-versa. Although they appear the same, Hanzi and Kanji are read differently. However, this doesn't mean that studying Kanji is the same as studying Chinese characters.
How Long it Takes to Speak Japanese Depends on YOU. There are so many variables when it comes to learning how to speak Japanese. But with the right study habits, effective time management, and consistent commitment, you can learn to speak conversational Japanese in as little 3 months.
As we've already mentioned, Japanese is considered the fastest language in the world. It is always mentioned as the first on the list. So, here are 6 of the fastest spoken languages in the world, based on the average number of syllables spoken per second (SPS): Japanese - 7.84 SPS.
But Chinese does open more doors for you: Mandarin has 1.1+ billion speakers, and Japanese only has 126+ million speakers. Mandarin has almost 200 million non-native speakers, while Japan only has 121 thousand foreign speakers. (Numbers from Wikipedia.) This also goes town into job opportunities.
Though, what many don't realise is that Mandarin isn't as hard as you think. That's not to say it's not a great achievement – like any language, learning Chinese takes hard work and determination. However, contrary to popular belief, it's easier than you might think to master Mandarin.
It takes about 4-7 years (roughly 2200 to 4000 hours) to become fluent in every aspect of the language, if you spend at least an hour and a half to study every day. However, it's quite common for learners to become more fluent in some areas than others depending on how they allotted their study time.
Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
The slowness of Mandarin is due to its four tones, so words should be pronounced more clearly for listeners to recognize the tones, slowing down the pronunciation speed of Mandarin. The reason why Japanese has the lowest information rate and fastest pronunciation speed is the same, which is its low information density.
Mandarin Chinese is widely spoken but is not the official language in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Steve Woodmore could rapidly articulate at a rate of 637 words per minute, four times faster than the average human. Woodmore first realised his skills at rapid speech when he was seven years old.
The Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.
Korean and Japanese are at the top of the “most difficult” level – with Japanese having just a small edge on Korean for it's use of 2 alphabetic structures PLUS the use of Kanji – Chinese characters (in total 3 alphabets essentially) instead of just one alphabet like in Korean.
Yes. Any language is going to take time and effort to learn, and Japanese in particular presents more challenges to a native English speaker than many other languages. However, as you've seen in this article, even the “hardest” aspects of Japanese are much simpler than they might initially seem.