Current Events > Mandarin Chinese is reportedly the hardest language to learn for english

(+) Yeah! (+)

TetsuoS2 posted...

tbf children's books usually have pictures.

Yeah, with enough effort you could probably do it, the Koreans definitely prove that.

I will say that I started enjoying kanji at some point though, so I'm biased, also love the puns.

Korean has more phonetic variation (and thus, less homophones) than Japanese, so it's less of an issue there. On top of that, they write with spaces between words, which helps again.

Trumble posted...

Korean has more phonetic variation (and thus, less homophones) than Japanese, so it's less of an issue there. On top of that, they write with spaces between words, which helps again.

Korean is like the opposite of Japanese. Reading it is much easier but trying to actually pronounce some of these words makes my head spin.

Meanwhile Japanese is intuitive to speak but I can't read kanji / kana worth a damn. Still struggling with basic numbers and shit.

Not exactly. B.Ling checkin in. The grammar is much simpler, most struggle is with tones and reading. For example, run, running, ran? Don't need to worry, has a specific word before the verb to denote it, no irregularity, no conjugations, etc.

If you see Chinese with grammatical markers highlighted you'll see how the grammar is much simpler.

Ultimately it's an individual thing tho. No one language is more complex than another (unless you count Pidgins as a language proper) and it's all relative.

Old English is much more difficult from a grammatical perspective for both modern English speakers and Sino speakers, but not for an Icelander, German or ancient Roman

Tyranthraxus posted...

Korean is like the opposite of Japanese. Reading it is much easier but trying to actually pronounce some of these words makes my head spin.

Meanwhile Japanese is intuitive to speak but I can't read kanji / kana worth a damn. Still struggling with basic numbers and shit.

Korean pronunciation is definitely harder than Japanese, but still a lot easier than any dialect of Chinese that I have any familiarity with (which in fairness is just some very basic Mandarin, and some general concepts of Cantonese).

Japanese and Korean also have very similar grammar so if you learn one, it's relatively easy to learn the other too.

Trumble posted...

Korean has more phonetic variation (and thus, less homophones) than Japanese, so it's less of an issue there. On top of that, they write with spaces between words, which helps again.

Children's books in all kana also use spaces. The lack of phonetic variation is an issue, but could probably be resolved by indicating pitch accent in some way (which might not go well with people not using the standard Tokyo accent). The kanji aren't going anywhere though, they're too ingrained in Japanese culture.

Trumble posted...

Korean pronunciation is definitely harder than Japanese, but still a lot easier than any dialect of Chinese that I have any familiarity with (which in fairness is just some very basic Mandarin, and some general concepts of Cantonese).

Japanese and Korean also have very similar grammar so if you learn one, it's relatively easy to learn the other too.

I have not really looked Japanese that much, but Korean is tricky because of the reverse clauses, and I cannot think that fast yet.

I've heard the toughest language for a non-native speaker to learn is English because our grammar is completely insane.

I kinda understand that criticism as I've been improving my Italian.

coolcono posted...

I have not really looked Japanese that much, but Korean is tricky because of the reverse clauses, and I cannot think that fast yet.

Korean and Japanese grammar is close to indentical and even share a particle with the same meaning and pronunciation "ga". If not for nationalists in both countries it would probably be widely accepted that they derive from a common ancestor language.

Enclave posted...

I've heard the toughest language for a non-native speaker to learn is English because our grammar is completely insane.

I kinda understand that criticism as I've been improving my Italian.

The thing that makes English hard are phrasal verbs. We don't look at them that much in speak. I will look into it. I'll look it over. Look top to bottom....

Enclave posted...

I've heard the toughest language for a non-native speaker to learn is English because our grammar is completely insane.

I kinda understand that criticism as I've been improving my Italian.

English is actually considered relatively easy to learn.

Enclave posted...

I've heard the toughest language for a non-native speaker to learn is English because our grammar is completely insane.

I kinda understand that criticism as I've been improving my Italian.

Italian grammar and pronunciation is the most consistent of any language I've ever looked at. I guess Spanish is probably equivalent but I've never checked it out.

There's some weird irregular verb conjugations like essere and avere but they're also super commonly used words and so you can pick them up easily.

ssjevot posted...

Korean and Japanese grammar is close to indentical and even share a particle with the same meaning and pronunciation "ga". If not for nationalists in both countries it would probably be widely accepted that they derive from a common ancestor language.

Kind of, although the Korean one is only "ga" when the word before it ends with a vowel. Otherwise it's "i" instead. Pronunciation isn't quite identical either, even without taking into account how some dialects of Japanese pronounce it... Actually I'm not going to write it because some mod is going to assume I'm just trying to bypass the censor.

Also "eun"/"neun" and "eul"/"reul" are more or less identical in meaning to Japanese "wa" and "o" respectively; same vowel vs consonant difference as "ga"/"i".

Also "e" as a particle has the same meaning in both (and this one is the same whether it's after a vowel or not), though Japanese can (and often does) use "ni" instead for this.

The ease of learning a language is a function of a few variables:

1. Your motivation
2. Similarities to other languages you already know
3. How many languages you know in general, even dead ones (languages get easier)
4. How much you know about linguistics
5. Your free time
6. Your ability to chat in that language (like if u have a buddy to practice with)

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Use Lingodeer for japanese and other east asian languages.

Lobinde posted...

Use Lingodeer for japanese and other east asian languages.

I use Papago

YugiNoob posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/0/AAPV5JAAEtlG.jpg

Naoto is gay?