Japanese or Chinese

>>77148577
Well, Chinese is easier to learn. I was taught Chinese a bit in school and it's easy to learn how to write it, though it's a pretty phonetical language meaning that you have to be pretty careful when speaking.

>concerning language choice in general
Just go with your gut feeling

In general if you try to learn a language for no reason apart from usefulness instead of the one that really draws you, then there is a very high chance that will end up learning neither language. Exterior motivations like economical considerations or an utilitarian perspective are very weak in motivating a person to learn a language compared to those that come from within, like an intellectual interest, cultural affinity or linguistic curiousity.

I'd advise you to just dabble into the two languages that you are considering. There is nothing wrong with just testing the waters and learning a bit for a few weeks if you consider that you have to commit to a language for a long time in order to really master it.

If you have an interest like this in both languages then that's great. Though be aware many things that you might find attractive in Chinese culture are not necessarily reflected in contemporary mainland Chinese society today due to obvious historical developments.

Btw, what's wrong with maintaining your French while studying another language? It requires less effort than relearning it from scratch later. It's not recommended studying two languages from scratch, especially if they are really similar but if you truly are intermediate in a completely unrelated language then you can add another one.

>>77148577
As for usefulness, I'd say Chinese>French = Japanese. Probably biased since i'm Australian though.

The most important thing though is to pick one that you like. Persistence is the most important factor.

>>77148577
Chinese is much more interesting to learn especially if you don't like anime, you'll have access to much more famous classics and better business opportunities too

>>77148577
Not even a question. JAPANESE

>>77148954
Chances are you can probably find Chinese people in real life to practice with too, probably as many Japs where you live

>>77148843
You raised a good point. Although I find traditional Chinese culture interesting, it seems like it has been mostly wiped out. The laws of China are also not particularly friendly towards foreigners.

I find modern Japan to be a more stable place to live and to work with, but my interest in Japanese history is not as great, and the writing system is honestly insane. Japanese people also seem far more xenophobic than Chinese people, and I am not interested in being an eternal outcast.

>>77148918
I do intend to maintain it, regardless. It is just a matter of whether I start focusing on an Asian language or continue to devote my time to French.

>>77148843
>>77148945
I understand that economic reasons are a bad motivator alone, and I plan to only learn based on my interest in the languages and cultures themselves. However, the difficulty is that such interests can be fickle, and I don't want to find myself a year into Chinese and realising I am not as interested in it as I thought I was.

>>77148954
The one problem with that is that I hear that classical literature is written in Classical Chinese, which is essentially an entirely different language. Even though they used related scripts, it seems like you can't just read it without learning it as its own language.

>>77148958
Why?

>>77148994
>The one problem with that is that I hear that classical literature is written in Classical Chinese, which is essentially an entirely different language. Even though they used related scripts, it seems like you can't just read it without learning it as its own language.
Spoken it's different, you can still read it fine though. You can understand most of a japanese newspaper if you know chinese.

http://ctext.org/ read them here

Learn Japanese. Chinese people will just speak to you in English.

>>77148994
>I find modern Japan to be a more stable place to live and to work with, but my interest in Japanese history is not as great, and the writing system is honestly insane. Japanese people also seem far more xenophobic than Chinese people, and I am not interested in being an eternal outcast.

Well, I don't know man. I've never heard of people coming back from Japan regretting that they've studied Japanese but numerous stories of people being completely turned off by mainland Chinese culture but maybe some first hand experiences can corroborate or disprove this.

>>77149141
Opposite for me, everyone I know who has lived in China and Japan say Chinese people are much easier to make friends with and talk to.

>>77149177
Well, then it seems that you've already decided. So, go ahead.

>>77149187
I'm not OP

>>77149187
That's not me.

>>77149141
I have heard other similar accounts. In some ways though, Mandarin is more reliable because it is official in Taiwan (and to some extent Hong Kong as well), and it is also prevalent around the world in diaspora communities. Japanese is just Japan. What holds me back is that Japan is a much nicer country to live in modern times, but I have less of an interest in their history or language.

I lack the means or the time to visit either country right now, so I only have anecdotes to rely on.

>>77149225
>Mandarin is more reliable because it is official in Taiwan

Well, I've also heard stories of people having a great time in Taiwan, so you could always fall back to that then.

>>77149266
That is true. I am really on the fence right now, do you have any things I should read or any advice that would help me make my decision? You seem to know a good deal about the subject.

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>absolutely zero interest in anime

>>77148994
>Why?
It's the best sounding language.

>>77149399
With that I agree. It sounds better, and is significantly easier to pronounce. Besides that though, I have little intrinsic interest in the language as it is. Additionally, how a language sounds stops mattering entirely after you understand it. Once you understand it, it is just information. That is why the sound of a language is never a major factor for me.

>>77149334
I don't have much competence on this matter.

I just talked to close friends that are minoring/majoring in East Asia Studies/languages.

I ultimately decided to study Japanese since I'm also into Japanese popular culture and don't really follow any Chinese stuff but you lack this interest. So your situtation is different.

That's why I think it's a good idea to dabble into both for a while and ultimately choose the one that appeals to you more.

>>77149437
Thanks, that is good advice. As for majoring in East Asian Studies, as cool as that sounds, I can't imagine it can land you a job doing really anything.

>>77148577
You need to be some sinoboo or weeb to have the motive of learning kanji or hanzi
If you still feel like you should learn a new language, not like average american that's proud to be monolingual, learn french or whatever that doesn't require kanji or hanzi.

>>77149121
I would've thought Japanese would speak to you in English or know more English since they're more exposed to tourists and American culture than someone in China except maybe Hong Kong

>>77149461
Well, I'm not doing that either but the major difference here is that there is no college tuition, so there is no risk in being indebted thanks to a useless degree.

You just spent some time studying a language and getting a university degree. You haven't already fucked over your life.

>>77149477
I already speak two languages fluently, and another one at an intermediate level. Hanzi is not that hard, because each character usually has one meaning, and two at most (typically). Plus, you do not even have to learn to write them by hand. With Chinese keyboards, you just type the character phonetically with pinyin, then it displays the appropriate characters. So all you really need to be able to do is recognise them, which is very easy. If it were 50 years ago when being able to write things by hand was a requirement to be functional in a language, I would agree with you.

As for kanji, it is all over the place. You have 5+ readings for some characters. I haven't begun learning either language in earnest, but I know a good deal about how they work.

>>77149522
Such is life in the first world. I might major in an Asian language as an undergrad before studying a "real" subject.

Stop attentionwhoring on /int/ and try both

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>>77148814
>Chinese is easier to learn.

>>77149562
The sad but harsh truth is that languages alone(except for English maybe) have a very low return of invest for the time spent that could've been used for the acquisition of another skill with greater monetary return if not for special circumstances or a good combination with another skill.

So you should honestly, really consider whether you want your career to depend on languages only.

As a hobby, it's great. It's challenging, interesting and can be very rewarding in the end, strangely people automatically expect implied usefulness from this hobby. People won't question people that spend their time knitting or playing an instrument but this question always arises in the context of language learning.

Though don't forget that a language is also only as useful as you decide it to be. It sounds a bit paradoxical but it's the truth. If you don't decide for yourself to encouter people that speak it, travel to the country, engage with its cultural heritage etc. then there is nothing to complain about.

Fuck you affiliate

>>77149724
I understand most of that. I have learned a language on my own before (excluding French, in which I am only intermediate). I understand how little the returns are, and monetary advantages are only a secondary advantage to me.

>>77149842
you're wrong

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>>77148577

>>77150418
Yes do not go to china, go to japan and fuck their thots

>>77149562
>hanzi is not that hard
But yes i get the point with hanzi input
However, i don't think it's easier than learning french or german though, you have like most stuff that looks similar.
If you're into some ancient chinese stuff, sure but why choose to suffer

>>77148577
Arabic or Yoruban

>>77150418
Is this the famous Shin Okubo mental patient who runs All Nationz?

>>77148577
Japanese flag on hand looks pretty dumb subjectively

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>>77151275
We need real flag

Chinese are 100% useful (business,tour industry, etc)
Japanese also good but not much useful without watching anime

>>77148577
Learn both, your heart will tell

According to Forbes, ... French.

>https://www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2014/03/21/want-to-know-the-language-of-the-future-the-data-suggests-it-could-be-french/#61af71e96d58

>>77151275
Your imperial/navy unironically looks better than your normal one.

please learn japanese only niggers speak french and chinks are cancer.