Chinese vs Japanese

Is Chinese easier than Japanese?

Chinese and Japanese are unrelated languages that share a writing tradition: Japanese borrowed Chinese characters (kanji) and a huge layer of Sino-Japanese vocabulary. Grammar, sound systems and politeness are completely different, and neither is intelligible to speakers of the other.

The short answer

Japanese usually feels easier at first for speaking because it has no lexical tones and a small sound inventory. Chinese grammar is simpler and most characters have one reading, while Japanese kanji often have several. The FSI puts both in its hardest category, at about 2,200 class hours.

The verdict

Both sit in FSI's hardest category (about 2,200 class hours). Japanese is flagged as harder within it; Chinese speaking basics come faster, reading takes similar effort.

0 / 5Family

3 / 5Script

3 / 5Vocabulary

1 / 5Grammar

1 / 5Pronunciation

0 / 5Intelligibility

Closeness score

8 / 30

Mutually intelligible?

Shared vocabulary

About half of Japanese dictionary entries are Sino-Japanese (kango), many shared with Chinese in meaning

Which first?

Chinese first if you want both: kanji readings come easier.

Kungfucius says: Same characters, different language, and a toilet-paper misunderstanding waiting to happen.

Side by side

shared word · telephone電話 / 电话
diànhuà電話
denwaA Meiji-era Japanese coinage that Chinese adopted; the characters match, the readings do not.

shared word · university大學 (大学)
dàxué大学
daigakuJapanese writes the shinjitai form 大学, which matches Simplified Chinese here.

false friend · 手紙手紙 (手纸) = toilet paper
shǒuzhǐ手紙 = letter
tegamiLiterally "hand paper". In Japanese it means a letter; in Chinese it means toilet paper. Ask a Chinese friend to send you a 手紙 at your peril.

false friend · 勉強勉強 (勉强) = reluctantly, barely, forced
miǎnqiǎng勉強 = study
benkyōChinese 勉強 means doing something unwillingly or only just managing; Japanese 勉強 means studying (and, in shops, giving a discount).

giveaway · possessive particle的
deの
noBoth mark possession (我的書, 私の本), so they appear constantly and make a reliable giveaway.

false friend · 愛人愛人 (爱人) = spouse (mainland usage)
àirén愛人 = lover, mistress
aijinIn mainland Mandarin 愛人 traditionally means spouse; in Japanese it means an extramarital lover. Taiwan Mandarin uses it as "lover" more broadly.

false friend · 大丈夫大丈夫 = a real man, a man of character
dàzhàngfu大丈夫 = all right, OK
daijōbuA Japanese learner's most-used word means "manly hero" to a Chinese reader.

false friend · 汽車汽車 (汽车) = car
qìchē汽車 = steam train
kishaSame compound, different vehicle: Chinese means a motor car, Japanese a steam locomotive train.

Kungfucius's verdict: Chinese, by a small margin

The short answer above is balanced, as it should be. Asked to choose, Kungfucius would argue that Chinese is maybe slightly easier. This is his judgement from experience, not a measurement, and the linguistic side is close enough that the reasons are mostly outside the grammar book.

There are more resources. Mandarin has an enormous supply of courses, graded readers, podcasts, tutors and apps at every level and price, including a dictionary app as good as Pleco. Japanese is very well served too, especially for kanji and grammar drilling, so this point is a matter of degree.

You find more Chinese speakers around the world. Mandarin is spoken across mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, and Chinese-speaking communities exist in most large cities elsewhere. Japanese is spoken almost entirely in Japan. If you do not live there, practice in person is hard to come by.

The society is more open, at least in Taiwan. In Kungfucius's experience Taiwanese society is more open to migration and to people learning the language. Strangers answer in Mandarin, are patient with wrong tones and are quick to start a real conversation. In Japan people are polite and kind, but friendships form slowly inside established circles, and long unguarded conversations are harder to come by. That pattern, and ways around it, are described in how hard is Japanese. Individual experiences differ in both places.

The language itself adds one argument. A Chinese character usually has one reading, where a Japanese kanji often has several, so reading progress in Chinese is more predictable once the tones are in place.

When Japanese will be the easier one for you

Tones defeat you. Some learners take a long time to hear them, and Japanese pitch accent is far more forgiving of mistakes.
You already watch or read Japanese media every week. Motivation outweighs every other factor on this page.
You will live in Japan. The language around you is always the easiest one to keep going.

If you plan to learn both, the order is discussed at learning Chinese and Japanese at the same time.

Keep reading

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