I’m learning Chinese

[Achilles 1-1]

Hey, so, I, uh, gave up Japanese to learn Chinese because Japanese was too hard. Does anybody know any sites to help me with the different contours and learning Hanzi?

 

[mdchachi]

Hey, so, I, uh, gave up Japanese to learn Chinese because Japanese was too hard. Does anybody know any sites to help me with the different contours and learning Hanzi?

What about Italian?

 

[Achilles 1-1]

What about Italian?

Taking a small break from that

 

[Kulern]

Go with Gan Chinese. It sounds the best. But i wish you luck!
edit: But... haha. If you think Japanese was too hard. Boy do i got something to tell you. 50 000 Chinese words (Written language) to learn. Best of luck there : D

 

[Achilles 1-1]

Go with Gan Chinese. It sounds the best. But i wish you luck!
edit: But... haha. If you think Japanese was too hard. Boy do i got something to tell you. 50 000 Chinese words (Written language) to learn. Best of luck there : D

Yeah, well, Japanese grammar is weird as hell, at least Chinese grammar is fairly straightforward, and after you master the contours pronunciation isn't as hard.

 

[mdchachi]

According to one random dude on Reddit, Chinese is a lot easier.

• Simple, SVO structure always that is concise and gets to the point
• One character => one pronunciation 99.9% of the time
• Grammar? Minimal. No cases. No agreement. No conjugation! Nothing declines. Nothing inflects. Time is communicated by just... saying the time. "Yesterday me go. Tomorrow me go again. Me like food. You like food? Good, we together eat." A prehistoric hominid waking from a 10,000-year sleep could be functional in Chinese within a week. Adjectives don't agree with nouns, nothing changes.
• Formality? NOPE! One way of speaking to everyone, no matter if you're old, young, or poor or the president. You speak to the emperor and your toddler the same way. There is no keigo.
• Conditionals? One word 如果

I chose Japanese back in the day so it's too late for me to change now. But that simple decision set the path and tone for the rest of my life.

 

[Achilles 1-1]

According to one random dude on Reddit, Chinese is a lot easier.

• Simple, SVO structure always that is concise and gets to the point
• One character => one pronunciation 99.9% of the time
• Grammar? Minimal. No cases. No agreement. No conjugation! Nothing declines. Nothing inflects. Time is communicated by just... saying the time. "Yesterday me go. Tomorrow me go again. Me like food. You like food? Good, we together eat." A prehistoric hominid waking from a 10,000-year sleep could be functional in Chinese within a week. Adjectives don't agree with nouns, nothing changes.
• Formality? NOPE! One way of speaking to everyone, no matter if you're old, young, or poor or the president. You speak to the emperor and your toddler the same way. There is no keigo.
• Conditionals? One word 如果

I chose Japanese back in the day so it's too late for me to change now. But that simple decision set the path and tone for the rest of my life.

There actually is a polite way to speak to people, for example: Nǐhǎo turns into nǐnhǎo.

 

[mdchachi]

There actually is a polite way to speak to people, for example: Nǐhǎo turns into nǐnhǎo.

He was talking about the whole set of grammar rules that Japanese has for differing levels of politeness, not claiming that Chinese doesn't have polite/formal words.

There are many people claiming otherwise (that Japanese is easier than Chinese) but I wanted to post this guy's take on it to help support you. Also Oriental Pearl agrees with you. But she may be biased because she studied Japanese last.

 

[Majestic]

I wonder what the "Japanese is easier" arguments would be.
Super limited scope of phonology, making pronunciation easy.
Ability to write and speak/pronounce any word, and sentence, with one (or two, if you like) alphabet sets.
After you leave those safe harbors though, its all deep water.

 

[mdchachi]

I wonder what the "Japanese is easier" arguments would be.

I think some people just can't get a hang of the tonal thing. And the large amount of homonyms. Plus katakana/外来語 is helpful for English speakers. It also depends if people are focusing on the written language or conversation. But most people seemed to agree that Chinese is easier.

 

[Achilles 1-1]

I think some people just can't get a hang of the tonal thing. And the large amount of homonyms. Plus katakana/外来語 is helpful for English speakers. It also depends if people are focusing on the written language or conversation. But most people seemed to agree that Chinese is easier.

It's mostly for the lack of complex grammar, it lacks conjugations, genders, and plurals. the lack of annoying particles (which I hated in Japanese) the lack of a counter-intuitive sentence structure (depending on whether you speak English or any other SVO language) and that after you master the contours, you could pronounce any word in the language, so long as you know the different sounds that don't count as contours.

 

[mdchachi]

It's mostly for the lack of complex grammar, it lacks conjugations, genders, and plurals. the lack of annoying particles (which I hated in Japanese) the lack of a counter-intuitive sentence structure (depending on whether you speak English or any other SVO language) and that after you master the contours, you could pronounce any word in the language, so long as you know the different sounds that don't count as contours.

The question was why some people think Japanese is easier.

 

[Achilles 1-1]

The question was why some people think Japanese is easier.

Look at your very last sentence.

 

[mdchachi]

Look at your very last sentence.

You should have just quoted the last sentence then.

 

[Achilles 1-1]

You should have just quoted the last sentence then.

Too much work to erase everything else you said. I'm having a lazy day and im upset about stuff.

 

[mdchachi]

Too much work to erase everything else you said.

Actually all you have to do is highlight the portion you want to quote and select Reply and it's automatic. No deleting required. FYI.

 

[harsh]

Hey, so, I, uh, gave up Japanese to learn Chinese because Japanese was too hard. Does anybody know any sites to help me with the different contours and learning Hanzi?

Hey! That's fair — a lot of people find Japanese tough, especially with the mix of kanji, grammar, and different readings. Chinese has its own challenges too, but focusing just on Hanzi (without multiple readings like in Japanese) can feel more straightforward.

For learning Hanzi specifically, you might want to check out apps/sites like Skritter or Pleco — they're pretty popular for stroke order and spaced repetition.

Also, while my platform (Gyanmirai) is mainly focused on Japanese (JLPT prep, kanji, vocab, etc.), it could still be useful if you ever decide to revisit Japanese down the line — especially since kanji and Hanzi overlap quite a bit in meaning and form.

Either way, consistency with writing practice + spaced repetition will help a lot. Good luck with your Chinese learning!

Harsh
Founder – Gyanmirai (Japanese Learning Platform)
www.gyanmirai.com

 

[Achilles 1-1]

Hey! That's fair — a lot of people find Japanese tough, especially with the mix of kanji, grammar, and different readings. Chinese has its own challenges too, but focusing just on Hanzi (without multiple readings like in Japanese) can feel more straightforward.

For learning Hanzi specifically, you might want to check out apps/sites like Skritter or Pleco — they're pretty popular for stroke order and spaced repetition.

Also, while my platform (Gyanmirai) is mainly focused on Japanese (JLPT prep, kanji, vocab, etc.), it could still be useful if you ever decide to revisit Japanese down the line — especially since kanji and Hanzi overlap quite a bit in meaning and form.

Either way, consistency with writing practice + spaced repetition will help a lot. Good luck with your Chinese learning!

Harsh
Founder – Gyanmirai (Japanese Learning Platform)
www.gyanmirai.com

Thanks! I will check it out on a personal computer, your website is blocked on my school iPad. Thanks for the recommendation and encouragement!

 

[salyavin]

Back when I was young there was a lot of talk about Japan being a business leader so even from a work perspectve it made sense for my generation. These days I feel Chinese may be more valuable for business so if you are interested in Chinese I encourage you to continue it may gve you opportunities as Japanese did for me.