Between these two languages: Japanese and Chinese, what's the hardest to learn?

Question

Between these two languages: Japanese and Chinese, what's the hardest to learn?

Answer 1

Chinese.  

Answer 2

Chinese is way harder to learn than Japanese.

Answer 3

In terms of pronunciation, Chinese is harder.

Though both languages have tones, the Japanese pitch accent system is much easier to master than the Chinese contour tone system.  There are also fewer new consonant and vowel sounds to get used to in Japanese than in Chinese as an English speaker.

In terms of grammar however, Japanese is a little more difficult.

There a lot more rules and structures to learn in order to start forming sentences in Japanese, while Chinese has a grammatical structure more similar to English and very relaxed.

In terms of writing, both are pretty difficult.

While both systems have Chinese characters, Japanese has the additional challenge of Hiragana and Katakana, two syllabic alphabets.  In actuality though, hiragana and katakana do not make Japanese that much more difficult, and are just another set of rules to memorize.

Finally, since both languages are completely unrelated to English, they contain little vocabulary that may already sound familiar to you.  Though Japanese does use a sizable bunch of foreign-borrowed words (mostly from English), as Chinese does (though much less), it doesn't really make either language much easier.

So in conclusion, both have their respective difficulties and challenges.  As East Asian languages, they're difficult for English-speakers to master, but if you're up to it, go ahead!  Now your choice is down to which one you think you'll be able to use better or more often.

EDIT:  All of these differences apply to all dialects of Chinese, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese and all the rest.

Answer 4

There is no such language as Chinese. you probably mean mandarin, they dont just speak one language in China.

Answer 5

chinese ;

pronunciation is really difficult. you need to understand 4 tones (but same sound!). writing is also difficult. but chinese uses easier characters than japanese characters and use only one character system like english. so writing system is easier than japanese one.

japanese :

writing system is really difficult. you need to understand 3 different writing systems. japanese use 3 writing systems in one sentence. which means you need to memorize all systems. characters (adapted from china, there're lots of different meaning and reading from chinese one) are complicated than chinese one.

pronunciation is really really really easy than chinese.  

Answer 6

Chinese.

Answer 7

Japanese is harder than Chinese

Answer 8

chinese is way harder because of the tones