Info on Languages

Today I have to pick a floater course, and by chance I can get on a course either to learn Beginners Japanese or Mandarin.

But I'm not sure which to choose, can anybody give some advice especially for those of you who are leaning them.

I've heard japanese is far easier to learn.

Here are the basic details of each floater (both Beginners courses), which should I choose?

Japanese

Quote:

The course aims to provide an introduction to Japanese with a thorough grounding in the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries and Japanese pronunciation; to cover a basic stock of structures and vocabulary and to develop ability for everyday conversation in the language.

Covers the basics of the grammar and of the writing system (210 Chinese characters)

The course is taught in English and Japanese and includes coverage of the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing and a balance between communicative activities, structure practice and grammar.

Chinese (mandarin)

Quote:

This course will run for two terms, three hours per week. It is a beginner’s course designed to provide a basic introduction to modern written and spoken Chinese. Students will benefit from training in all four language skills, ie. reading, writing, listening and speaking. The 50 most basic grammar patterns and some 400 Chinese characters will be introduced. Students are expected to master a vocabulary of up to 700 words at the end of the course.

I'm at odds end, any help would be appreciated.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The chinese course, is it in mandarin or cantonese?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

mandarin

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Choose japanese, so we could make new thread here for japanese class. Watashi wa Nihongo o benkyoushimasu.

Would be nice if I have friends for practice here. Mandarin is super2 difficult, I dont really recommend you to take it unless you have pure chinese friends to tal k with. They are much harder than japanese.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I did a beginers course in Japanese while I was at college, as an extra curriculum thingy. I found it fairly easy and quite enjoyable. I'd say forme the hardest part of learning Japanese (besides remembering stuff) was the aspect of writing in everything besides romanji Kanji is probly the hardest bit, but it's cool ^_^

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In the end I chose:

EQUITY - INDIGENOUS AND RECEIVED
FAMILY LAW
COMPANY LAW
BASIC JAPANESE I

Hopefully I made the right choice.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yes of course!
Ask me if you have questions. I could answer most of all basic grammar. hope we could advance in this language as the time being (my only problem is the non-existance of another friends learning japanese)

FELIPE NO

I'd say go with Japanese. I've studied it for about 3 years now. If your just looking for a floater class then go with Japanese.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Good choice on the Japanese. I've been wanting to learn it lately, too. (I probably will take it nights when I start at college). But Mandarin sounds really cool too. Not only does the language itself sound really cool, but I'd say there are fewer people around trying to learn it, whereas everyone seems to be trying to learn Japanese.

Not to say you should choose Mandarin just because everyone does Japanese, but it would be an interesting way to set yourself apart. Plus, I want to learn it so I can go back and chat with my high school math teacher, while all the kids in class are like "Huh!?" I think it would be a rewarding experience.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I already speak a few other languages so I'm not too bothered if Japanese is a little common.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Cantonese sounds much better anyway.

Good lcuk tih your japanese class

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

go with japanese my friend...japanese aint that difficult plus kanji is not difficult if you are a visual person.

がんばて！！！日本語はとってもかんたんですよ！

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

In my opinion, Mandarin will become more powerful, especially with US/China relations as it is now. Japanese will continue to be slightly important (like French), though, not as important as Mandarin. Far more people converse in Mandarin, and having that ability will only be a benefit.

As for learning, the easier choice will obviously be Japanese. It's phonetic, and you don't have to remember tones or remember hundreds of characters by sheer will alone. You can probably get by using Hiragana/Katakana in Japanese without Kanji, whereas if you think of Chinese in a Japanese sense, it's all Kanji. Besides, written Japanese is just watered down Chinese, and you can also probably get by using Engrish too.

I was speaking idiomatically.

japanese is a good choice, though i find it harder because of the grammar, whereas chinese it's all straight forward but that might be because i grew up speaking chinese first ^^;

though i agree that written japanese is a lot easier, especially these days when they incorporate so many english words you can get away with quite a lot >.> also the fact that you can communicate purely by hiragana/katakana despite the obvious confusions that can be caused by that. while in chinese you either know or you don't writing-wise.

mandarin is already pretty powerful, considering how many people in south-east asia are either fluent or have some knowledge of it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Japanese is a good one. It's pretty fun, and not as difficult as many people think.

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Try to learn hiragana and katakana as quick as possible so you can jump on Kanji. Kanji is sooo usefull and makes the language much easier!! and its true...from my experience

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?