SimonGao
English vs Chinese: which is an easier language? Well, I admit this is a controversial topic. Needless to say, native language is always much easier to its native speakers. However, suppose you know neither English nor Chinese, which language would be easier for you to master? Or which language is simpler in form when expressing the same meaning? Despite the mystery often associated with oriental cultures, Chinese is essentially an easier language than English. Here are some justifications for such claim. Firstly, let's examine vocabulary. Vocabulary is the first barrier for any learners who try to master a new language. In Chinese, 3000 characters are all you need to cope with daily use. While in English, you will need to imprint at least 10000 words to your mind before you can gracefully handle daily reading, writing and conversations. Vocabulary is building block for a language. Chinese only has one-third building blocks of English. Secondly, compared to Chinese, English has relatively more complex grammar. For example, in Chinese you can simply say "I go to shopping yesterday/tomorrow.". While in English, you have to say "I went to shopping yesterday." and "I am going to go to shopping tomorrow.". The distinction between past tense and future tense in English does not help convey any additional meaning. It only introduces some headaches for learners. Remembering the irregular verbs is a formidable task to many English learners. Thirdly, Chinese is more concise when express the same meaning. In most cases, when one-page Chinese article gets translated into English, it often grows to one-and-a-half page. If sheer size can be any guidance, Chinese is an easier language than English.
Jul 19, 2011 4:03 PM
Corrections · 5

Your English is great, far more superior than any I had seen so far from your compatriots.  You have mastered the mechanics of the language well.  Great work.

English vs Chinese: Which Is an Easier language?

Well, I admit this is a controversial topic. Needless to say, any native language is always much easier to for its native speakers. However, suppose you know neither English nor Chinese1, which language would be easier for you to master? Or Which language is simpler in form when expressing the same meaning? This depends on how good the writer is.

Despite the mystery often associated with oriental cultures, Chinese is essentially an easier language than English in terms of grammar, tenses, verbial conjucation etc. Some examples, Here are some justifications for such claim.

Firstly, let's us examine vocabulary2. Vocabulary is the first barrier for any learners who trying to master a new language. In Chinese, about 3000 characters are all you 3 needed to cope with daily use. While in English, you will need to imprint at least 10000 words are needed to imprint in to your mind before you can gracefully handle handling any daily reading, writing and conversations gracefully. Vocabulary is the building block for any language. Chinese only has  uses one-third as much building blocks of as English.


Secondly, 2 Compared to Chinese, English has a relatively 4more complex grammar. For example, in Chinese you one 3 can simply say "I go to shopping yesterday/tomorrow.". While in English, you have to say 3 it is "I went to shopping yesterday." and "I am going to go to shopping tomorrow.". The distinction between past tense and future continuous tenses in English does not help convey in conveying any additional meaning. It only introduces some headaches for learnersbeginners. Remembering the irregular verbs is a formidable task to many English learners students as there are so many exceptions.

Thirdly, Chinese is more concise when expressing the same conceptmeaning. In most cases, when one-page Chinese article gets translated into English, it often grows lengths to one-and-a-half page. If sheer size can be  length is a any indication then  guidance, Chinese is would be an the easier language than English. Are you talking about classical Chinese or Mandarin? 

You have not touched on the oral aspects of the language and its scripts.  You need to talk about those to make your writing more believable.  If not, it would be like 賣花讚花香 and your arguments won't have weight at all. 

On a side note, you need to expand your arguments because on reading it, it seems that you are comparing oranges and apples.  So if by your arguments, learning French or Italian would have the same level of difficulty since both are Romance languages; learning Cantonese and Mandarin would be the same too?  It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on this very interesting topic.  I hope you have the time to do write a critical essay on it. :)

1.   I would write simply as "... don't know English or Chinese..."  since it sounds too poetic for this kind of setting.

2.  You are writing a persuasion piece, not a manual.  So this sort of phrases are redundant and gives no added value.

3.  Since you are writing an argument, refrain from personalizing the piece.  Need to be in an objective tone.  This way your writing sounds more sincere.  Personalization is an argument trick to sway people over to your side.  Therefore will not give credence in your persuasion when encountering those with logical minds.

4.  This is redundant since you had used "compared" in the beginning.

July 19, 2011
@Beavisx Alphabets are not equivalent to Chinese characters. Each Chinese character is a meaningful word or multiple words. For example, "夜" means "night", "喝" means "drink". Radicals in Chinese are close equivalents to alphabets. Radicals are the basic components making up Chinese characters. There are around 200 radicals in simplified Chinese characters.
July 20, 2011
The grammar in Mandarin is indeed refreshingly simple, when compared to English and other European languages. It is great not to have to remember how to conjugate verbs! English is sort of a mishmash of various languages duct-taped together over a long period of time, which perhaps is the reason there are many ways of saying the same thing. I can see why this might make it difficult to learn though. I don't agree that conciseness makes Chinese easier, at least not for verbal communication anyway. In Chinese there are many different words which sound exactly the same (or just have a different tone), so the listener has to figure out from the context which word the speaker meant. This can be a bit confusing (it is to me anyway!). I guess this is why using a phonetic alphabet like Pinyin isn't precise enough for written communication.
July 19, 2011
How about the alphabet? English has like 20-something letters Chinese hasn't like 10'000 ?
July 19, 2011
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