Mandarin vs Japanese (1 Viewer)

[darkcounty]

Oh god... *runs*

Mandarin then..? lol

I reckon I will decide by mid march and start learning..so I have til then to decide. And really it's for no particular reason other than pure interest, and maybe practicality with careers in future.

China's history and culture is something I have always wanted to explore..really interesting stuff! Knowing the language would be of help, and fun..

Also how about learning practicalities? I'm guessing both self-learn packages would be available..but what about availability of teachers/courses?

Mandarin has grammar/sentence structure similar to english. If you use Bing translator to translate a passage from English to Mandarin, you would almost be able to fool someone into thinking you're a native speaker. Except you'd sound a bit too formal.

Idk about learning practicalities but both languages should have quite a lot of resources around. When I was learning Dutch, I managed to find many courses for it so there should be no problem finding courses. There's plenty of courses at Tafe and open universities around AUS.

 

[Malfoy-Sama]

neither is more "useful" -- depends who you want to mix with

in terms of culture eg. dramas, anime, music, jap is better, more fun

in terms of culture, all decent TV, pop culture, music in chinese language comes from either Taiwan or Hong Kong, so dont even bother with the simplified characters which were created by communists 50 yrs ago and are looked down upon by chinese everywhere outside of mainland china as extremely unsophisticated.

so depends, chinese is also easier. but if you learn it, stick to traditional characters.

 

[katykiddx]

I am currently learning japanese.
And its quite frustrating.

But i deffo prefer learning japanese over mandarin

 

[William kamel]

I am currently learning japanese.
And its quite frustrating.

But i deffo prefer learning japanese over mandarin

oh please, Japanese is outa fashion now, no body even speaks it now or uses it, unless you watch alot of anime, it's not really that much good of a use.

 

[mangadrawer]

Depends what you want to use the language for. If you want better career prospects, Mandarin would be the way to go.
Both languages overlap with Kanji, same/similar +meanings.

But considering you put this thread in the 'Hobbies' section, would you be more interested in Japanese or Chinese entertainment(music,tv etc)? Because you aren't simply going to be learning from textbooks and native speakers. And you want to enjoy while you learn.

 

[simonloo]

learn korean.

 

[iris1989]

Hi guys,

I know a few European languages, but I'd like to learn an Asian language. I already speak a South Asian language.

I want to learn either Mandarin or Japanese, to challenge myself, explore one of the cultures through their literature, and learn the language at a conversational and written level too. And I suppose from a business perspective one of the above may become useful also.

Which would you suggest? Mandarin or Japanese?

I know we can't answer this question in totality or even adequately but I have to ask also: which is a bit easier to learn?

Thanks

If you have some questions about Mandarin, you can ask me.

everyone, if you are interesed in this language, I can teach you mandarin....FREE

 

[Creed]

I'd say Japanese as I find it easier to learn than Mandarine as it doesn't have 4 ways of prenounshing a word which each way means something different and it has some English words.

It's best if you already have a background in an Asian language as it's much harder to pick up on (speaking from experiance), but best to learn Mandarine then Japanese as a background in Chinese and english makes learning Japanese so much easiers.

But if you're going for one then I say Japanese as it's the easiest to learn out of the two (also has some englich word e.g: 'right' in Japanese is 'righto')

 

[4025808]

I suggest learning Mandarin since Mandarin is a language that would be vital for business opportunities. Furthermore, China is a magnificent country with a rich culture (not saying that Japan isn't) and it's good to learn the language itself so you could talk to the locals there in China...

Japanese is pretty fun if you're thinking things such as anime, pop culture and that stuff

But either way its ur choice... I'd love to learn Japanese as well as Mandarin Chinese but it seems like I can't :/

 

[bear1234]

Okay, I've made a decision. Mandarin. I think it's going to be fucking hard, but I'm up for the challenge!

Hmm...I think I'm going to have to find a community college or language school for it..or a private tutor perhaps?

gumtree.com.au here I come!

My work colleague has been studying Mandarin in syd TAFE for half a year now. She has a big improvement compared with her Mandarin half year ago. And because I am a native mandarin speaker so I've helped her a lot with her studies. I think it's good that u enroll a course in colleague or tafe and find a Mandarin tutor. There r heaps of Chinese in australia just make friends with Chinese and will be more than happy to help with your studies for free. These chargeable tutors r good but it's not worth for it.