Right now I want to learn a third language, Mandarin or Japanese,

>>17892026
Jap is probably easier, but less useful

Mandarin is a shit show because it's a tonal language
"Shin shin shin shin shin shin" is perfectly understandable sentence because each "shin" is said in a slightly different way

I'm sure you know that already

But whatever
What are you doing that you need to learn another language?
Learning just for fun?

File: germany.jpg (37KB, 750x724px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 750x724px

Well, if you're in Europe, might as well learn Arabic.

Why do you want to learn this new language?

Employment opportunities? Mandarin is probably a better choice.

Just as a hobby? You'll have lots of opportunities to practice Japanese through video games and weebshit.

I have studied Japanese for a few years, and here's what I have to say so far:

Good:
>easy pronunciation
>fascinating language
>lots of interesting music/films/games/whatever
>aesthetically and sonically pleasing
>the fundamentals are super simple and you should be able to grasp the basics in no time
>no matter what people say, I think that learning hiragana/katakana is easy

Bad:
>kanji have so many different ways to be read (one character can have as many as five pronunciations depending on how it is used)
>pretty useless unless you want to be a translator or teach in Japan, and AFAIK both of these markets are oversaturated
>the different conjugations based on levels of formality can be a pain in the ass
>grammar rules become absolutely fucking obtuse once you get into intermediate/advanced learning (passive-causative sentences can be a nightmare)

>>17892026
Polish. Don't pussy foot; you obviously at least somewhat enjoy learning languages. Learn Polish and then move on to the other Slavic languages. Dummkopf

If you're in yurop

French
German
Russian
Spanish

If you're in Asia

Mandarin
Japanese
Korean

If you are SJW

Arabic

>>17892026
Mandarin
If you can speak English, Spanish, German and Mandarin, you can communicate with 99.1 % of the global population.

>>17892150
Isn't French far more spread than German, even rivaling Spanish? All of Africa is basically French as the second language off of the native stuff as the primaries.

>>17892174
Not even close to Spanish. And yeah, there are 3 or 4 countries in Africa where some people speak French, but it's like, a couple hundred million nigs living in the jungle, you are far less likely to interact with them than with German speakers as a civilized westerner, although granted most Germans speak some English.

>>17892174
French is more spread, but it's less economically viable than Mandarin
France is the most successful French speaking country

Also, as someone who speaks French, it's a shit language. It's 99% exceptions and the rest is pretentious tenses and dick grabbing pronunciation

It's not a tonal language but if you speak one vowel incorrectly, you're labelled as a retard

Mandarin is pretty viable as a second language, otherwise try arabic or spanish

Don't learn a language because it's "useful", unless you become a translator there will be very few situations where it will be actually useful. Learn whichever one you like better. If you still can't decide, here's my input:

Mandarin
>grammar is not too bad to learn
>characters are a challenge for people coming from Latin-alphabet language backgrounds, but once you start getting used to the radicals it becomes easier
>vocabulary is not too bad either, a lot of compound words
>your accent will be dog shit for a very, very long time

Japanese
>grammar is difficult, many nuances that don't make sense
>hiragana and katakana can be learned in a few days, but you will FOREVER be memorising kanji. FOREVER.
>kanji becomes easier once you learn radicals also
>vocabulary is a pain in the ass, the readings for kanji change depending on what they're next to

>>17892026
Good for you. Why have you chosen to share that ambition with us?

>>17892026
Do you want to work with these? If you want to learn a language for multinational jobs, Chinese is always a nice bet, but you have a specific company in mind, learn the language of its main global office, or of the branch you wish to work at.

>>17892490
Just don't mention it in a curriculum.

>>17892026
watch anime without subtitles