Which language should I learn? Jap or Chi?

[spheal 000]

Hey guys! I've been wanting to learn a language- either Japanese or chinese (mandarin) - and I've been tied between the two. sweatdrop
I want all of your opinions on which one I should learn!

Details you may need to know to help me:
1) I have a lot of Chinese friends
2) Learning Chinese would help me in kung fu
3) I would prefer to live in Japan then China
4) I know more people in Japan then China
5) A few of my friends are learning Japanese
6) Chinese may help me in the future

Feel free to ask me more questions if you need, but right now It's 50/50 gonk

[Rose Milk Tea]

You should take Chinese first, and then Japanese. Chinese is much more useful, and since Japanese kanji is basically Chinese hanzi, you'll get a much better grasp at kanji if you learn Chinese first. I know a lot of Chinese people at my high school who could understand and read Japanese easily because the kanji is exactly like the hanzi.

I'm taking Japanese first because I've already been exposed to the Japanese language more than Chinese, and I want to take a class in a language I'm already familiar with a bit.

And you don't need to know Chinese to know kung-fu. I take Tai Chi, and I don't need to know Chinese in order to take it. I already know that the teacher is supposed to be referred to as "lao shi".

[Euphonious Cantabile]

Chinese will NOT help you in kung-fu. In kung-fu, you just know how to execute the moves correctly, and understand what your instructor is teaching you. He may yell a few Chinese words, but they are irrelevant.

[Euphonious Cantabile]

Maiko Lin

You should take Chinese first, and then Japanese. Chinese is much more useful, and since Japanese kanji is basically Chinese hanzi, you'll get a much better grasp at kanji if you learn Chinese first. I know a lot of Chinese people at my high school who could understand and read Japanese easily because the kanji is exactly like the hanzi.

I'm taking Japanese first because I've already been exposed to the Japanese language more than Chinese, and I want to take a class in a language I'm already familiar with a bit.

And you don't need to know Chinese to know kung-fu. I take Tai Chi, and I don't need to know Chinese in order to take it. I already know that the teacher is supposed to be referred to as "lao shi".

Except a Japanese kanji can stand for something entirely different in Chinese hanzi (with the exception of some kanji, like 'ai')

[CodeSpy]

Like other people said, take Chinese first because some it is basically the same.

I took this test thing on what lang. should you learn. Apparently, I should learn Jap. And that's exactly what I'm doing.
Though, sorry, I can't give you the link because I lost it xD

[SakuraBlossom411]

deff chinese
im learning it rite now and tho its sorta hard
i tink that its worth it

[eririna]

CodeSpy

Like other people said, take Chinese first because some it is basically the same.

I took this test thing on what lang. should you learn. Apparently, I should learn Jap. And that's exactly what I'm doing.
Though, sorry, I can't give you the link because I lost it xD

I don't know, because Japanese also has the katakana and hiragana, and the speaking is completely different.
It depends; for speaking, do you tend to fluctuate your voice a lot when you speak? then probably Chinese will be easier for you to speak. not being racist or anything, people i know who have learned Chinese said that that was one hard factor for them.
If you tend to keep your voice even and not big fluctuations, then try japanese first smile

They're both awesome languages, so it really doesn't matter; i wouldn't take them both at the same time though, because like mentioned, the kanji and the hanzi are similar, but not all of them actually have a shared meaning.

[Fizzy Dizzy Bubbles]

Chinese is much harder to learn, so if you have the discipline to pick up Chinese, then learning Japanese afterward will be much easier. A friend of mine learned Mandarin first and he breezed through Japanese class since he already knew most of the kanji being taught in Japanese class. Picking up Japanese and then learning Chinese is a bit more difficult since there is no real "alphabet" to speak of in the Chinese language. As for which will be more helpful to you in the long-run, either will be fine, as being multi-lingual always makes you look good to potential employers. You should keep in mind however that because China is still growing, the potential for employment there is far greater there than when compared to an already developed nation like Japan. Just my two-cents.

[AshleySaechao]

YOu hsould learn chinese

[Isogii]

Maiko Lin

You should take Chinese first, and then Japanese. Chinese is much more useful, and since Japanese kanji is basically Chinese hanzi, you'll get a much better grasp at kanji if you learn Chinese first. I know a lot of Chinese people at my high school who could understand and read Japanese easily because the kanji is exactly like the hanzi.

I'm taking Japanese first because I've already been exposed to the Japanese language more than Chinese, and I want to take a class in a language I'm already familiar with a bit.

And you don't need to know Chinese to know kung-fu. I take Tai Chi, and I don't need to know Chinese in order to take it. I already know that the teacher is supposed to be referred to as "lao shi".

It works both ways.
Knowing Japanese kanji makes written Chinese partially decipherable.

[Melovelies]

Chinese first, but learn traditional chinese.
Learning traditional chinese will help you when you're learning Japanese.
Plus, unlike Japanese families today, most chinese families use the same form of speaking when talking to people of different ages.

[Oobersezzy]

I found it easier to pronounce Japanese than Chinese. But if Chinese is going to help you out in the future, then perhaps you should first learn it, then later take on Japanese once you have become proficient.

[CodeSpy]

eririna

CodeSpy

Like other people said, take Chinese first because some it is basically the same.

I took this test thing on what lang. should you learn. Apparently, I should learn Jap. And that's exactly what I'm doing.
Though, sorry, I can't give you the link because I lost it xD

I don't know, because Japanese also has the katakana and hiragana, and the speaking is completely different.
It depends; for speaking, do you tend to fluctuate your voice a lot when you speak? then probably Chinese will be easier for you to speak. not being racist or anything, people i know who have learned Chinese said that that was one hard factor for them.
If you tend to keep your voice even and not big fluctuations, then try japanese first smile

They're both awesome languages, so it really doesn't matter; i wouldn't take them both at the same time though, because like mentioned, the kanji and the hanzi are similar, but not all of them actually have a shared meaning.

Yeah, I know about the Hiragana and Katakana.
The only hard part for me will be memorization ^.^;;
What does fluctuate mean?

[ivayima]

What do you want most? It is both hard languages and i think you should learn it out from what you realy wants.. not your friends or kungfu. and if you want to live in japan, then you should learn japanese.

I would have taking japanese, cause it is easyer to learn than japanese. I know that cause i talk both language's little. But chose out from what you realy want yourself and not anyonelse.

japanese heart

[spheal 000]

A few things which were unclear:
1) In Kung Fu, my sifu can hardly speak english so she gets one of the others to translate about 95% of the time. Learning Chinese may not help me in it, it's just an asset to have.
2) I will only be learning one language.