Which language is harder, Chinese or Japanese: an honest comparison

Short answer: the difficulties are different

Both languages are considered difficult for English speakers, but each has its own difficulty. In Chinese, the hardest part is sound: the same word with a different tone means something different. In Japanese, sounds are simple, but writing and grammar take more time.

Are Chinese and Japanese similar or not

As languages they are not related: they have different grammar and word roots. What they share is the characters that Japan borrowed from China, and part of the vocabulary that came with them. So they are not close relatives like Spanish and Italian, but familiar signs sometimes read and mean different things. For more on these differences, see the article on the difference between Chinese and Japanese characters.

Chinese and Japanese along three axes: writing, sound, grammar

It is more honest to compare "difficulty" not as a whole, but by individual areas: in each of them Chinese and Japanese have different obstacles.

Writing: characters in both, but differently

You will have to learn characters in both languages. In China, simplified characters have been officially in use since 1956, while Japan has its own set: according to Kotobank, the list of 常用漢字, that is, standard characters for documents and newspapers, includes 2136 characters. The difference is that Japanese adds two syllabaries and many readings: a character has an on'yomi reading that came from China and a kun'yomi reading that is native Japanese. In Chinese, a character usually has one reading, but you have to remember its tone.

Sound: tones versus pitch accent

Modern Chinese distinguishes four tones: level, rising, low, and falling, and Kotobank emphasizes that a word with a different tone means something different. For those who have never lived with tones, this is the toughest barrier. Japanese has no tones, few sounds, and pronunciation is mastered faster, although pitch accent also needs to be heard.

Grammar: without conjugations or with politeness

Chinese grammar looks simpler: words do not change, time is conveyed by particles and context, and word order is close to English. Japanese is stricter: the verb is placed at the end of the phrase, it has many forms, and politeness changes both the verb and the words around it. For a beginner, Chinese grammar is usually easier, while Japanese requires a lot of practice from the very start.

Which language is harder, Japanese or Korean

Korean is usually mentioned alongside because it shares a lot with Japanese in sentence structure. The difference is in writing, where Korean is noticeably simpler.

Hangul: a writing system that is learned quickly

According to Kotobank, hangul was created under King Sejong in 1443 and published in 1446. Today it has 24 letters — 14 consonants and 10 vowels, which combine into syllables. The alphabet can be learned very quickly: you do not need to memorize thousands of characters. Japanese writing, by contrast, includes characters, which stretches writing study over years.

Korean grammar is close to Japanese

In both languages, the verb stands at the end of the sentence, particles define the relationships between words, and politeness is expressed by endings. Someone who has mastered Japanese sentence logic enters Korean more easily, and vice versa. Scholars have not proven these languages are related, but in structure they are similar. So in grammar, Japanese and Korean are roughly equal, while in writing, Korean is simpler.

The word "difficult" in Japanese: 難

難 — значение: difficult, misfortune — онъёми: ナン — кунъёми: かた.い、-がた.い、むずか.しい、むづか.しい、むつか.しい、-にく.い — 18 штрих(ов). 難 — "difficult, hard", and in other words also "misfortune, disaster". This is the character in the word 難しい "difficult", which you will need when talking about difficulties.

Readings of 難: むずか・しい and ナン

In the word 難しい (muzukashii), the character is read with kun'yomi — むずか, and the ending しい is written in syllabary. The on'yomi reading ナン sounds in compound words: 困難 (konnan) "difficulty", 災難 (sainan) "disaster", 難民 (nanmin) "refugees". The opposite word 易しい (yasashii) "easy" is written with a different character, and in speech it is easy to confuse with 優しい "kind" — they have the same pronunciation.

Write 難 along the guides: the character is complex in the number of strokes, and a good trainer for accuracy.

FAQ

Which language is harder, Chinese or Japanese?

There is no single answer. Chinese is harder because of four tones and many characters, Japanese because of two syllabaries, multiple readings of a character, and polite forms. For a beginner, Chinese grammar is usually easier, while pronunciation is harder.

Are Chinese and Japanese similar or not?

They are not related to each other: grammar and word roots are different. What they share is the characters that Japan borrowed from China, and part of the vocabulary. Because of this, a familiar character sometimes means different things in the two languages.

Which language is easier for an English speaker, Chinese or Japanese?

If tones are hard for you, start with Japanese: the sounds there are simpler. If grammar with polite forms scares you, Chinese will seem gentler. Both languages require years of regular practice, so choose by interest, not by hearsay.

Which language is harder, Japanese or Korean?

In grammar they are roughly equal: verb at the end, particles, politeness in endings. In writing, Korean is simpler: its hangul is 24 letters, not thousands of characters. Therefore Japanese usually takes longer to master.

Where to start if you want to learn both Chinese and Japanese?

Take one language and bring it at least to N5 level or its Chinese equivalent, then add the second. The characters of the two languages are similar and will interfere with each other if you learn both from scratch at the same time.

Sources

• Kotobank: 四声 — the four tones of modern Chinese
• Kotobank: 常用漢字 — the standard list of 2136 characters
• Kotobank: ハングル — hangul, its creation and the composition of the alphabet
• Kotobank: 簡体字 — simplified characters of the PRC