Due to the influence of globalization,mastering a second even third language is regarded by more and more people as a way to enhance their competitiveness.Having realized it,many are worried about the difficulty of learning a new language.In the following paragraphs,we’ll share some basic information about the differences of study German,Japanese and Chinese.Want to be a skilled user of these languages?See what we can offer you.
1-Alphabet
Like many other European languages which are in the same Indo-European family,German is a language consist of almost the same alphabet as English,except for the ä, ö and ü as well as ß.That means, for most westerners,learning German is definitely not as hard as those languages that are in a totally different family,like the ones used in East Asia.For the same reason,Asian people who speak the language in the Sino-Tibetan languages may benefit from the similarity between their mother language and Chinese,so that they can study with more ease compared to those students who are not familiar with this language family at all. Similarly ,the Hiragana and Katakana system in Japanese could also be seen as another type of alphabet.Though there are many Chinese characters in Japanese(known as kanji),mastering Hiragana and Katakana could enable one to speak Japanese or read some books designed for children. On the contrary,Chinese is the only one among these three languages which doesn’t contain a alphabet system.To study it to the degree that you can read or write without any difficulty,learning every Chinese character and word by heart is necessary.However,there is no need for a foreigner to consider study Chinese as a impossible task.Pinyin,which is a alphabet-like system for Chinese children to study the pronunciation of the language,could be used as a substitution for alphabet.By that,one can compose any sentence with only occasional misunderstanding.
2-Words
First let’s look at German.Sharing a common root with English and some other European languages,German words are sometimes quite familiar to a Western student.However,unlike English,every German noun has a specific gender which sometimes may make you confused.Even for ones who can speak German fluently for years,it’s possible for him to forget the correct gender of a word. Compared to German,Japanese word’s structure is relatively simple and easy to handle.In addition,as Japanese people have borrowed a lot words from other languages(for example,computer is コンピュータ in Japanese,just pronounced like its English version),it will be much easier for a student who has already mastered English or Chinese. There’s no doubt that word is another barrier for a foreign student to overcome in the process of study Chinese.But just as i mentioned,handling some basic knowledge of Pinyin could make you know how to speak Chinese.On the other hand,to read Chinese as a local is not as simple.After all,only in children’s books do words show up with Pinyin.
3-Grammar
Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ and Genitiv are four cases in German which a major of learners complain about. Adjective ending is another aspect of this language exhaust many.Despite the fact that words should change by gender,number and case,there are even two or three ways for doing so.It’s no exaggeration to say that sometimes even a native speaker can not use it correctly. As for Japanese,its SOV(subjective-objective-verb)system is quite different from many languages,which may take more time for one to speak conversational Japanese.Meanwhile,the order of Chinese is just like it is in English.So it’s understandable that many Westerners may find learning Chinese grammar quite easier than Japanese.As a matter of fact,some Chinese learners even consider its grammar ‘dead simple’. Overall,different language has its own difficult parts.Few people would enjoy the complexity of German structure,nor the humble form of Japanese.Speaking of standard Chinese,the four tones and countless characters seem to be able to drain all energy of its learner.Still,we don’t stop because it’s hard,but move on because it’s better for us,right?
