<p>I want to focus on East Asian Studies in college and I want to learn one of these languages, but I don’t know which one. I want my language to be marketable to employers but also I want it rewarding. I will only have the last 2.5 years of my undergrad years to do this, so which do you guys recommend? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>do chinese, in actuality they are all very interesting but if u want it to be marketable chinese is the best choice</p>
<p>Chinese all the way!</p>
<p>Which country do you find most interesting to focus on? You won’t be happy if you want to study the Korean economy or organized crime in Japan or whatever and choose Chinese because it was most marketable. (I happen to think hang’ul, Korea’s writing system, is a lot of fun, and it’s not nearly so much work as Chinese or Japanese characters, but don’t have much experience with the languages otherwise.)</p>
<p>It’s up to you to pick. Korean is somewhat easier than Chinese and Japanese, but it’s not as useful as the other two (for most people, at least). I’ve heard some people say Japanese is harder still than Chinese, but I don’t think it’s a significant difference.</p>
<p>Really, which one are you interested in? That’s by far the most important factor.</p>
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<p>That statement rubbed off as extremely ignorant. </p>
<p>Learning any of the three languages will already make you highly marketable to employers, because of the fact you are bilingual (something other than English and Spanish.) </p>
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<p>If you have 2.5 years to learn another language, then (imo), learn Korean–it’s the easiest of the three (has only one set of characters.)</p>
<p>Whatever second language you learn, that language will become an invaluable asset to your life.</p>
<p>^^ What country currently has the highest growth rate (economically and politically) out of the 3? True that any foreign language would be an asset, but you cannot ignore the fact that China will be a powerful economic force in the future.</p>
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<p>That makes sense! I think that everyone should start learning Latin and Xhosa!</p>
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<p>Please re-read my statement:</p>
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<p>which obviously refers back to OP’s thread question: </p>
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<p>to answer the question, while korean is the easiest of the three, it is also the least useful (generalization, it could end up being the most useful for you). of the remaining two, mandarin is more useful but japanese is easier. in 2.5 years, it is unlikely that you will make substantial progress in chinese, unless you spend those years in china. I say take japanese.</p>
<p>@iceqube, I wish Xhosa was the world lingua franca. how fun would it be if we all went around clicking at each other all the time?? lol</p>
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<p>Some fairly valid points there. </p>
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<p>If you’re having trouble deciding which language to choose, then question yourself: which of the three countries (China, Korea, Japan) would you be most interested in studying? </p>
<p>All language courses also come with some cultural readings, no?</p>
<p>Japanese or korean…if you know of j-pop or k-pop it might help</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-M910 using CC App</p>
<p>All three sound very interesting to me so it’s not like I have any real linguistic bias. I only slightly lean with Korean because my best friend from college is Korean and I have learned so much about Korea and it seems like a place relatively untouched by Westerners in comparison to Japan and China.</p>
<p>Mandarin sounds absolutely daunting, I must admit, but I know it is very marketable. Decisions, decisions…</p>
<p>chinese b/c someday china will take over the world :D</p>
<p>^“Mandarin sounds absolutely daunting”</p>
<p>As someone who has studied both Japanese and Chinese, please don’t pick between the two based on the idea that one might be easier than the other. Both are as hard as languages come (for English speakers, that is).</p>
<p>You’ll have to learn more characters in Chinese than Japanese, since Chinese doesn’t have phonetic scripts, BUT almost all characters in Japanese have multiple readings whereas only certain Chinese characters have different readings. Also, Chinese grammar is simpler, and you won’t have to worry nearly as much about politeness levels in Chinese compared to Japanese. Don’t pick either one if you’re not willing to spend large amounts of time memorizing.</p>
<p>politeness levels aren’t such a big deal. they’re confusing at first, but they’re not that big of a hurdle. another consideration should be actually speaking the language. the four tones of chinese are definitely not easy to grasp and use correctly, and the whole meaning of a sentence can be misconstrued if you don’t use the right tones. I still say japanese would be your best option.</p>
<p>In terms of difficulty, I think because it is a different language all three will be equally difficult, especially since they are not latin-based like English, Spanish, French are. Just don’t take 2 of them at once, then its super confusing. But if you just take one, it will not be hard.</p>
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<p>Solution [url=<a href=“http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spin-decision/id306468435?mt=8]here.[/url”>http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spin-decision/id306468435?mt=8]here.[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Proceed.</p>
<p>I would say that learning Chinese would be the “best” (whatever that means). However, it will take awhile to really get good. I’ve been studying Chinese (language, culture, and I’ve spent some time in China) for the past 6 years and I still have so much to learn and am not even close to fluent. </p>
<p>I’m also learning Japanese and while the grammar is more difficult than that of Chinese, overall I would say it’s easier.</p>