What is "easier" to learn?

[cami71213]

Okay. So I want to learn different languages. And I'm really interested in Japanese, Chinese, and the Korean langueage. Which is the "easier" to learn? I know it isn't easy so which is better to learn first?

[xtine]

i know a little of those but for me korean is the most easiest since i know some koreans... i find it hard to read chinese i only know the numbers ^^ japanese is not that easy to learn i also find it hard to read their characters especially the mixed ones...

[MMM]

Korean and Japanese are similar grammatically. Korean uses less kanji, so it might be easier to learn the writing systems than Japanese.

I have friends who studied Korean and they say it is difficult to get Korean people to talk to them in Korean, where Japanese love speaking in Japanese to foriegners.

[Harold]

I think Chinese would be the easiest to learn how to speak.

[swords]

Chinese,it is indeed a little hard to learn.
But if you like challenge,why not try it?

[Amnell]

I've heard a lot of people say that learning any variant of Chinese first helps grealty with the other two that you mentioned. The universal reason is: you learn how to read Hanzi straight away, so learning Kanji and Hanja are very easy. Also, because Korean and Japanese have a lot of Sino-inspired vocabulary, you get a lot of cognates that make it easier to "decode" the other two languages.

It's sort of like learning Latin before learning Spanish and French. Sort of...

If you want easy... I can only guess, really, but I'd say Korean because if you go into N. Korea, you won't need to know any hanja at all and in S. Korea their usage of it is limited. Hangeul is all you need to survive . For speaking, I couldn't say.

[XasukaX]

I'm a Chinese and used to learn Jap language.. I realized knowing Chinese beforehand is really useful when learning Jap language cos Jap language does involve some Chinese characters... Since i didn't learn Korean language before, so i am not able to compare the 2 with Korean language.

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Harold

I think Chinese would be the easiest to learn how to speak.

For an english speaker, I don't think that could be any further away from the truth... Japanese would be the easiest to speak, then Korean and Chinese are pretty difficult.

I don't think there is a real answer to this question... MMM said that Japanese and Korean, grammatically are similar, where as Chinese (Mandarin), doesn't have much grammar, but you can't take that as Chinese being easier. The best way to find out which is easier, is take a course in all of them... The one you get a hold of quickly is most likely the easiest for you.

[MrDrEsq]

Originally Posted by Amnell

I've heard a lot of people say that learning any variant of Chinese first helps grealty with the other two that you mentioned. The universal reason is: you learn how to read Hanzi straight away, so learning Kanji and Hanja are very easy. Also, because Korean and Japanese have a lot of Sino-inspired vocabulary, you get a lot of cognates that make it easier to "decode" the other two languages.

It's sort of like learning Latin before learning Spanish and French. Sort of...

.

it's more like learning latin before you learn english. Even though english received most of her vocabulary from latin, she didn't spawn from latin. whats more, is the grammars are completely different. the same can be said about japanese and chinese (i guess korean too). Anyway, it might help you on the SAT, but it other than that...
i think each language has it's own difficult points. for example, as an english speaker, the grammar of chinese is more intuitive, but at the same time, the pronunciation is a nightmare- where as, the opposite seems to be true for japanese.

[emiluvsjmusic]

Originally Posted by noodle

For an english speaker, I don't think that could be any further away from the truth... Japanese would be the easiest to speak, then Korean and Chinese are pretty difficult.

I don't think there is a real answer to this question... MMM said that Japanese and Korean, grammatically are similar, where as Chinese (Mandarin), doesn't have much grammar, but you can't take that as Chinese being easier. The best way to find out which is easier, is take a course in all of them... The one you get a hold of quickly is most likely the easiest for you.

i agree, for an english speaker japanese is probably easiest..