Is Japanese considered a difficult language to learn? How does it compare to English?

Is Japanese difficult to learn? It really depends on the individual. Compared to English, for Chinese speakers, each has its own challenges.

Let's talk about English first. We start learning it in elementary school, so we have a lot of exposure. Although the grammar can sometimes be tricky, with things like tenses and clauses, at least the alphabet is similar to Pinyin, making reading and writing relatively easy to get into. Plus, we often watch American TV shows, listen to English songs, and set our phone interfaces to English, providing a rich environment and many opportunities to use it, which makes it easier to stick with.

As for Japanese, it might seem easy at first. For example, there are fewer sounds, just a few dozen, so pronunciation isn't difficult. But! It has three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. You have to memorize the kana from scratch. While we recognize some Kanji, their meanings and pronunciations are often different. For instance, "手纸" (shǒuzhǐ) in Japanese means "letter," not "toilet paper" 😂. What's even more headache-inducing is the grammatical structure, which is the opposite of both Chinese and English. Verbs come at the end, and sentences rely on particles to connect words, which can be confusing for beginners.

Then there's honorifics. How you speak depends on the situation; you speak differently to elders, friends, and clients. A single word can have several forms, which is particularly difficult to master.

In summary, English has a lower barrier to entry and is easier to get started with. Japanese starts simple but gets progressively harder in the later stages. However, if you love anime, Japanese dramas, games, or want to work or travel in Japan, your interest will drive you, and you'll be able to tackle even the most difficult parts eventually.

So, whether it's difficult or not depends half on the language itself and half on whether you have the motivation and interest to learn it.