| Overall, I think English is harder to learn to speak & hear, but Chinese is harder to read & write. The Chinese students I know who are learning English have to work incredibly hard at it. I don't think it's any easier for them to learn to speak English than for me to learn to speak Chinese. Reading is definitely harder in Chinese. * The set of sounds in Chinese is actually quite limited both in variety and in word structure. Yes, there are some sounds that don't appear in English and of course tones, but there are more sounds in English that don't appear in Chinese and far more pronunciation patterns. Words that don't end in vowels or n/ng, for example. Chinese doesn't have them. * English grammar is far more complex than Chinese. Articles and verb tense stand out to me, but a proper English teacher would be better able to list the challenges. On the other hand, both languages have mitigating factors that make it easier: * International English / Business English is a pretty well-established subset of the language. * Chinese has a common subset of about 1000-2000 characters that you can use to read newspapers and signs. * Both languages are lingua francas, so in everyday use people are relatively forgiving of second language learners. (Mandarin Chinese is the lingua franca of the Chinese empire, which includes tens of minority languages.) |