Koren/Japanese/Chinese which is most easy to learn
[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;41844252]Koren/Japanese/Chinese which is most easy to learn[/QUOTE]
Japanese has it's own alphabet [I]and[/I] uses the Chinese alphabet but with different readings of the kanji. Then again Chinese has several readings depending on Mandarin and Cantonese I think? Korean is all crazy bubbles I don't know about that.
I would rate Mandarin as the easiest, followed by Korean and Japanese being the hardest.
You can ask me about Mandarin and Cantonese!
[editline]15th August 2013[/editline]
Japanese and Korean are a lot similar to Chinese but they comes with a weird alphabet system so I would think Chinese would be the most 'vanilla' eastern language to learn?
Then again I don't speak the former two language.
laos
[QUOTE=angelangel;41844441]I would rate Mandarin as the easiest, followed by Korean and Japanese being the hardest.[/QUOTE]
I'd rate it the exact opposite of this.
Stick to Mandarin Chinese, learn that and you learn Japanese Kanji at the same time.
Korean is the easiest to read by far, you'll be able to read it in no time.
I'd say Japanese is the easiest to learn, it's fairly well structured and there's a lot of English words.
I'd say Chinese is the easiest to speak, but the words might give you a lot of time just to understand the meanings.
More people speak Chinese so learn mandarin/cantonese
Mandarin's grammar is surprisingly similar to english, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn once you get past the vocab.
[QUOTE=angelangel;41844441]I would rate Mandarin as the easiest, followed by Korean and Japanese being the hardest.[/QUOTE] any good book/cd's programs that will help or just take a class.?
[QUOTE=Laputa;41845288]More people speak Chinese so learn mandarin/cantonese[/QUOTE]
More interesting people speak Japanese. (ZERO BIAS, I SWEAR)
[QUOTE=ScottyWired;41900316]More interesting people speak Japanese. (ZERO BIAS, I SWEAR)[/QUOTE]
Interesting people? He should learn Mongolian than.
if you don't want to bother learning to write, chinese is the easiest. otherwise, japanese is the easier one.
korean looks like some alien shit to me I don't know about that crap
I am learning Korean, it is easier to learn than Japanese I can tell you. Can't make a comment about Chinese.
With Korean, you just have an alphabet of 40 characters. Japanese you have to deal with Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji which can wear on you if you completely dedicate yourself to it.
[QUOTE=Mr.Brown;41845286]I'd say Chinese is the easiest to speak, but the words might give you a lot of time just to understand the meanings.[/QUOTE]
Aren't there like 4 different ways to pronounce each syllable? If anything Japanese would be more easy to speak beacause it's just Ro, No, Ku, Bo etc which aren't hard.
Being a Japanese learner for 7 months I'd say I have to pitch in my thoughts.
Being able to read effectively (and to some extent, write effectively) is a huge, huge helper when it comes to learning a language, especially Asian ones, with whose writing systems you are completely foreign to, unlike, say, French or German. When it comes to that, I'd rank Chinese as hardest to read, seeing as you just have to flat memorize all the Hanzi and their meanings with (from my understanding) no sounding-out help. One perk of Japanese is, while it still uses the same characters, has two syllabaries that are used a lot in basic sentences, and can help you easier sound out the characters when they're laid out in "furigana". So it's a bit easier to learn than Chinese because you don't need to know 100s of characters to sound out foreign words. For instance, if you read a sign about Paris in China/Japan, the likelihood that a beginning Japanese learner would read and comprehend "パリ"(two "katakana" symbols) is, I think, much greater than a beginning Chinese learner being able to read and comprehend "巴黎"(two distinct hanzi that may or may not be anywhere near beginner level). Korean, on the other hand, uses a system much closer to our "alphabet", and as i understand is very simple and easy to learn.
As for the spoken language, I only have knowledge of Japanese. I find the grammar extremely easy to grasp once you get the hang of it, with learning new vocabulary/slang/particles being the main hitch in "leveling up" so to speak. I'd imagine Chinese and Korean aren't terribly tough to speak, at least not much more than Japanese.
One more advantage of learning Japanese is the sheer mass of english-translated media for it. Even if you're not really into it, I think every Japanese learner should try to supplement their learning with live-action JP TV, newscasts, youtube videos, even anime or manga. A caveat on the last one: they talk a good bit slower and clearer than real speakers, and they tend to be ruder than IRL Japanese people, but imo they're really great for learning vocabulary. I'm sure you can find equivalents in Chinese and Korean, but you can't deny that Japanese culture is far more popular in the western world, hence the mass availability of english-translated media.
All in all, I'm saying that Korean is probably the easiest to learn objectively, seeing as it has the easiest writing system and reading truly is the gateway to a new language. However, it's hard to deny the availability of Japanese learning resources, just because of how popular of a culture it is in the west. All in all, it's your call. Unless you're learning one of these languages for a job or something, and especially if you're doing it for fun or out of boredom;[B]don't listen to people who tell you one language is objectively better because "more people speak it".[/B] If you're learning a language for fun, all that matters is that you're enjoying yourself while learning. Don't learn Chinese just because it's a "useful" language. Don't learn Japanese just so you can watch your favorite animus without subtitles. And don't learn Korean just because it's objectively the easiest. Learn a language because you honestly enjoy it yourself.
[editline]20th August 2013[/editline]
tl;dr read the last paragraph
Well, i used to have a thread called the "Language learning thread". So i do know what i'm talking about.
In terms of Asian languages, i would rate Mandarin as the easiest, Japanese somewhere in the middle and Korean the hardest. Why? Well, let's find out.
Make sure you have a passion for what you want to learn. While learning a language may be easier then what you have learned in school, it still requires dedication and time commitment. Don't skimp on it. In regards to the easiest i'll make a list, because i love lists.
Korean: Surprisingly the most difficult language out there. Most Koreans always try to speak english with you, there can be hundreds of different verb conjugations depending on many factors. Koreans tend to blur their words worse than Australians too. It's another two alphabet system. Hangul, and Hanjas, borrowed Chinese Characters. Room for momentary gain is low. Honorifics are like Japanese but generally worse.
Chinese (Mandarin): Easier then you think. For example, learning to spell a word is kind of like learning a character. Tones aren't that big of an challenge either. If I say. "You speak Chinese." But if i raise my voice at the end of the sentence it becomes; You speak Chinese? It's more complex then that of course, but that's the gist of it. Learning Mandarin is rather chic and it has HUGE momentary gain. Syntax is rather simple, verbs never change form either. No conjugation, no declination, no masculine or feminine, no singular nor plural forms. Speaking is easy, taking about a year. Reading will take you 3 or 4 years though. But by then you would have already mastered the verbal language.
Japanese: Learning Japanese will connect you with a huge, fascinating Japanese culture. While Japanese is only spoken in Japan, many Japanese people do not speak English, this gives you hundreds of opportunity to participate in the tourism industry and work as a translator for Japanese businessmen. The spoken language is mostly simple, but the written language is quite difficult. This may be due to the three separate alphabets. Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji. Hiragana is used for most words. Katakana is used for words that have been taken from other languages, like pizza or pasta. Kanji is, however, a whole other ball game. It's exactly like Hanzi in Mandarin, a character for each word. Although the inclusion of radicals (Kanji within Kanji) makes this easier. With a good amount of study a large amount of essential Kanji can be learned in as little as six months. Grammar is refreshingly simple and the lack of tones is a blessing.
I copied that from my old language learning thread. Some of the places i recommend for learning are:
1.How to learn any language.com: It's the site where i get most my info, it's literally a community for polyglots (People who speak more then two languages non naturally). Everyone is welcome though.
2. Fluent in three months: Benny Lewis tries to learning languages to fluency in three months in high intensity programs (Living in the country and speaking just that language). Benny is extremely dedicated, but has lots of useful info for the common learner. He speaks English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Gaelic, Esperanto, Mandarin, Dutch, and American sign language.
3. Memrise: Excellent tool for drilling vocab.
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