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I’ve learned both and found Chinese harder just because if you lose context then it’s hard to understand anything else being spoken. Japanese has more semantic

I’ve learned both and found Chinese harder just because if you lose context then it’s hard to understand anything else being spoken. Japanese has more semantic repetition in the sentence structures. Both are equally logical grammatically though, and Chinese does have a much easier time learning character pronunciations.

999900000999 4y ago
Is English your native language, I find Chinese grammar to be dead simple, at least at an HSK1 level.
LZ_Khan 4y ago
Chinese has easier character pronunciations? I find it hard to believe that. The tones are what makes Chinese the hardest language to learn. Most people who learn Chinese will never be able to sound Chinese. To Chinese people they will look like some fool who has learning deficits (I know this is not true, but the lack of empathy in mono-cultural nations is quite high). I don't think there's any language in the top 20 most popular that punishes you as hard for incorrect pronunciation. While in English having an accent is quite common and charming, in Chinese bad pronunciation will make things incomprehensible. For Japanese on the other hand I have multiple friends who after a couple years are indistinguishable from natives. The pronunciation system in Japanese is super easy in my opinion. It's almost a subset of the English language.
- vertexmachina 4y ago
  In my experience, Chinese people are thrilled when non-Chinese people speak their language (even poorly), probably because it's pretty rare. But yes, the tones are the hard part. The grammar is straight forward and similar to English, and characters are (almost always) pronounced only one way.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- presentation 4y ago
  Because each kanji can have 2-unbounded numbers of pronunciations whereas Chinese is mostly 1:1. That said yes, producing the sounds are easier. Also you might think they’re indistinguishable from natives but 99.9% of foreigners can’t get the pitch accent right and sound like foreigners forever
- kyorochan 4y ago
  As @presentation already mentioned, Japanese pronunciation has more layers to it than you think. Additionally, I think a foreigner who actually puts time into practicing Chinese pronunciation can sound very close to native. Most people learning most languages seem to only aim for good enough pronunciation and then focus on acquiring vocabulary instead. I don't know what languages you speak, but I speak a good amount of Japanese and will occasionally have a hard time being understood in Japan, probably when the person I'm talking to is not used to talking to foreigners. On the other hand, I've had Chinese people compliment me on my Chinese, and I would not even pass HSK 1. From what I've heard from the Chinese people I've talked to you can get away with a lot of tonal mistakes and still be understood, although you will of course sound like a foreigner.
  - LZ_Khan 4y ago
    I'm fluent in Chinese and intermediate in Japanese. I'm aware of pitch accent but it's nowhere near as hard as tones. And one thing to be aware of is a compliment is quite relative if you're a foreigner speaking their language. "Nihongo jozu" is a pretty well-known meme and applies to Chinese as well.
godot 4y ago
Isn't the context thing true for anyone learning a second language? I was an immigrant in the US as a teenager and it felt like that in English for me my first few years here. Eventually I got to a point where I can understand stuff without actively paying attention, and it got a lot easier to understand anything with or without context. As an interesting aside, I speak Cantonese natively, and I barely speak Mandarin. Mandarin to me is like that as well. I have to pay 100% attention to keep up, and as soon as I lose context, all hope is lost in understanding anything in the conversation forward.
- presentation 4y ago
  I find Chinese much harder for context because the lack of things like conjugations, genders, plurals, tenses, etc plus every word basically being 1-2 syllables means that there’s a lot more meaning packed in fewer sounds. In English and often in Japanese too, if you hear those auxiliary grammatical markers you can kind of piece together the parts you missed. To be fair people then compensate by slurring their speech more than your typical Chinese speaker would so maybe it balances out.

999900000999 4y ago

Is English your native language, I find Chinese grammar to be dead simple, at least at an HSK1 level.

LZ_Khan 4y ago

Chinese has easier character pronunciations? I find it hard to believe that. The tones are what makes Chinese the hardest language to learn. Most people who learn Chinese will never be able to sound Chinese. To Chinese people they will look like some fool who has learning deficits (I know this is not true, but the lack of empathy in mono-cultural nations is quite high). I don't think there's any language in the top 20 most popular that punishes you as hard for incorrect pronunciation. While in English having an accent is quite common and charming, in Chinese bad pronunciation will make things incomprehensible. For Japanese on the other hand I have multiple friends who after a couple years are indistinguishable from natives. The pronunciation system in Japanese is super easy in my opinion. It's almost a subset of the English language.

vertexmachina 4y ago
In my experience, Chinese people are thrilled when non-Chinese people speak their language (even poorly), probably because it's pretty rare. But yes, the tones are the hard part. The grammar is straight forward and similar to English, and characters are (almost always) pronounced only one way.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
presentation 4y ago
Because each kanji can have 2-unbounded numbers of pronunciations whereas Chinese is mostly 1:1. That said yes, producing the sounds are easier. Also you might think they’re indistinguishable from natives but 99.9% of foreigners can’t get the pitch accent right and sound like foreigners forever
kyorochan 4y ago
As @presentation already mentioned, Japanese pronunciation has more layers to it than you think. Additionally, I think a foreigner who actually puts time into practicing Chinese pronunciation can sound very close to native. Most people learning most languages seem to only aim for good enough pronunciation and then focus on acquiring vocabulary instead. I don't know what languages you speak, but I speak a good amount of Japanese and will occasionally have a hard time being understood in Japan, probably when the person I'm talking to is not used to talking to foreigners. On the other hand, I've had Chinese people compliment me on my Chinese, and I would not even pass HSK 1. From what I've heard from the Chinese people I've talked to you can get away with a lot of tonal mistakes and still be understood, although you will of course sound like a foreigner.
- LZ_Khan 4y ago
  I'm fluent in Chinese and intermediate in Japanese. I'm aware of pitch accent but it's nowhere near as hard as tones. And one thing to be aware of is a compliment is quite relative if you're a foreigner speaking their language. "Nihongo jozu" is a pretty well-known meme and applies to Chinese as well.

godot 4y ago

Isn't the context thing true for anyone learning a second language? I was an immigrant in the US as a teenager and it felt like that in English for me my first few years here. Eventually I got to a point where I can understand stuff without actively paying attention, and it got a lot easier to understand anything with or without context. As an interesting aside, I speak Cantonese natively, and I barely speak Mandarin. Mandarin to me is like that as well. I have to pay 100% attention to keep up, and as soon as I lose context, all hope is lost in understanding anything in the conversation forward.

presentation 4y ago
I find Chinese much harder for context because the lack of things like conjugations, genders, plurals, tenses, etc plus every word basically being 1-2 syllables means that there’s a lot more meaning packed in fewer sounds. In English and often in Japanese too, if you hear those auxiliary grammatical markers you can kind of piece together the parts you missed. To be fair people then compensate by slurring their speech more than your typical Chinese speaker would so maybe it balances out.