“Which is the Best Language to Learn?”

21 Apr, 2012 by Craig Newmark

Print this article Font size -16+

Not Chinese.

This factor is the Chinese writing system (which Japan borrowed and adapted centuries ago). The learner needs to know at least 3,000-4,000 characters to make sense of written Chinese, and thousands more to have a real feel for it. Chinese, with all its tones, is hard enough to speak. But:  the mammoth feat of memory required to be literate in Mandarin is harder still. It deters most foreigners from ever mastering the system–and increasingly trips up Chinese natives.