Chinese and Spanish are difficult and impossible to learn

4/3/2010

Many of my Spanish friends think that Chinese is the hardest language in the world and impossible to learn, or vice versa. What is your opinion? Is Chinese or Spanish hard? How would you help your friends to learn your native language? (please click the comments button above)

19 Comments

ozlem

4/6/2010 06:29:29 am

Hi,
I liked your new website, too.
Your question is very important for me as a lanuage teacher. But I want to answer it personally. For me to learn a foreign language that has a different alphabet from latin alphabet, like Chinese, Arabic or Japanese, is so difficult and almost impossible:) I can't get the symbols. On the other hand for Spanish it is easier to learn for me. It has got the latin alphabet but on the other hand, there are so many details when I compare it to English. I have been living with English for a long time, more than 25 years. So at the beginning it was hard to adapt it, especially its grammar. Fortunately, a long time ago I studied Italian and it helped me a lot. Anyway now it time to practise and make it a part of my life. I strongly belive that children can learn Chinese more easily because they have afresh memory about symbols:)
I am sorry my answer is a bit long, but I just wanted to share my language learnig experience,especially in Spanish,with you:)
Take care and love from Turkey!

Anonymous

4/10/2010 11:16:55 am

Hi Brandon, I find your topic very interesting. As a native spanish speaker, mi first impression is that Chinese is, by far, more difficult than spanish. But after studying chinese, I realized that spanish has a more complex grammar than most of the languages. Chinese has a simple grammar, it is very logic and a chinese speaker doesn't have to worry about conjugating the verbs depending on the person and on the time. Personally, I have studied italian and chinese, and with less time of studying italian than chinese, I can speak and understand more that with my 2 years learning chinese. It all depends of the people who are studying the language. For a latin-based language speaker, like italian, french or portuguese, it shall be way easier to learn spanish. Also for germanic-based language speakers, like german and english, because of the alphabet. On the other hand, for an asiatic, learning spanish must be like hell, with all the complex grammar and the spanish "r" that is so hard to pronunciate. Although, I would really like to hear the opinion of a russian or arabic speaker.

Ida

4/20/2010 09:09:14 pm

Hi Brandon!
I have never learnt Spanish. But my major is German, in which there are also different genders for nouns and complex endings for adjectives and articles. It was very difficult for me at the beginning, but now it is easier. Because there are just not that many exceptions, we can follow the rules.
But for most foreigners, the reading and writing of Chinese charactors can be even harder. I have a German friend who has taken a Chinese course for almost two years(two courses every week). But he still can not read much. So sometimes I help him translate his text book. What's more, I offer him a "Chinese Corner", in which I write some Chinese proverbs. He is quite interested in it.

BrandonZin

4/20/2010 11:13:57 pm

Hi Ida, thanks for your comments. Personally, I think Spanish is more difficult than any other languages as there are so many rules and there are so many exceptions to the rules. Besides, the Spanish Spanish is different from South American Spanish and within the latter, they differ from one country to another.
As for Chinese, or more particularly Mandarin, I think it is easy. Look at the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, he speaks almost perfect Mandarin. In Hong Kong, there are quite a few foreigners who speak perfect Mandarin and they are in high positions too. Please tell your German friend don't be discouraged. It is great that you help him to learn Chinese. Proverbs are an important part of the Chinese, probably more so than any other languages. There is why I have from time to time in my blog write about Chinese proverbs. May be you could tell your friend about it.

Angela

5/3/2010 04:19:35 pm

Personally,I would say Arabic is the hardest language to learn, which is like the random draw.Haha

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Chinese and Spanish are difficult and impossible to learn

Brandon, may I ask you a question?

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