Is Japanese or Chinese (Mandarin) easier to learn?
Japanese can be complex when forming sentences and grammar is tough to nail. However, pronunciation is a breeze (for most people). Mandarin has traditional and simple characters and writing it is a cinch as well. However, there are 5 tones and if you say a word in the wrong tone, then you’ve changed to a completely different word. (Example: Wo1= lettuce, Wo2 isn’t a word, Wo3= I/me, Wo4= grasp, Wo5 isn’t a word; so if you want to say I love you= Wo3 Ai4 Ni3, if you say Wo1 Ai4 Ni3= Lettuce loves you.) *Numbers mark the tone used. Another way Japanese is more simplex than Mandarin is its use of kana characters. But, when forming kanji, if you put two next to eachother the sound of the word changes and you have a few choices to pick from, which if you don’t know you’d be wrong. EG lunch= bentou 弁当 弁= ben, araso, wakima (these are pronunciations) 当= tou, masa. If you are unaware of how to form a compound kanji, then you wouldn’t know the correct pronunciation, which is to go by the onyomi
Mandarin is easier than Japanese! japanese has many similarities with Mandarin! Japanese and Chinese have same characters but different pronunciation! So my advice is that you should learn Mandarin firstly and then transform to Japanese! You will find that your Language learning become easier! This is Lily’s advice!
