How difficult is Japanese?

The Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.
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Is Japanese the hardest language to learn?

Japanese is ranked by the U.S. Foreign Services Institute as the most difficult language for native English speakers to learn. The institute uses the time it takes to learn a language to determine its difficulty 23-24 weeks for the easiest and 88 weeks for the hardest.
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Is Japanese easier to learn?

Now here's the thing. Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn. It has a different writing system than English, a completely different grammar structure, and relies heavily on cultural context and understanding.
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What is the hardest thing about Japanese?

Here are five of the most difficult things about learning Japanese.
  1. The Writing System. The Japanese writing system is incredibly complex. ...
  2. Context. ...
  3. Counting Words. ...
  4. Speed. ...
  5. Fewer Possible Sound Combinations.
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Is Japanese harder or Chinese harder?

Learning to read and write Japanese is probably harder than Chinese because most Japanese characters (kanji) have two or more pronunciations, whereas the vast majority of Chinese characters (hanzi) only have one. In Japanese you also have to contend with two syllabic scripts (hiragana and katakana).
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Is Japanese easy or difficult to learn? | How hard is Japanese?



Can I learn Japanese in 3 months?

With consistent studying and speaking, for about 30 minutes to an hour a day, you could speak at a conversational level in Japanese in about 3 months. It's all about using the right method, and I'll say it again: speak from day one! You could start speaking Japanese right now. In fact, I encourage you to do so.
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Is Korean or Japanese easier?

Some parts are harder for Korean while other parts are harder for Japanese. However, considering the larger number of sounds and the different particles in Korean, Japanese is definitely the easier language to start in.
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Why is Japanese grammar so hard?

Japanese makes extremely heavy use of particles to form the grammar. In some respects these are similar to prepositions in English, but far more widely used. For example, the logical structure for the sentence, “I will read a book in the library” is: I [particle] library [particle] book [particle] read.
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Why is Japanese so complicated?

Almost all written Japanese sentences contain a mixture of kanji and kana. Because of this mixture of scripts, in addition to a large inventory of kanji characters, the Japanese writing system is considered to be one of the most complicated in current use.
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Why is Japanese so hard for English speakers?

The Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.
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What's the easiest language?

15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked
  • Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
  • Dutch. ...
  • Norwegian. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Italian. ...
  • French. ...
  • Swedish.
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Is learning Japanese worth it?

Understanding the Japanese language will open your eyes to Japanese history, martial arts, entertainment, culture and fashion. Learning Japanese will help you to appreciate your own culture as well as your own language because it improves your communication and cognitive skills.
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What is the hardest language to learn?

1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons.
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Can Japanese be self taught?

Learning Japanese by yourself? Yes, it's possible to do that – millions of people are doing it all over the world. It takes a bit of work but you can truly make Japanese progress alone.
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Which is harder Chinese Japanese or Korean?

Korean and Japanese are at the top of the “most difficult” level – with Japanese having just a small edge on Korean for it's use of 2 alphabetic structures and use of kanji – Chinese characters (in total 3 alphabets essentially) instead of just one alphabet like in Korean.
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Is duolingo good for Japanese?

Duolingo Japanese is not perfect. But it is a fun and effective way to learn some basic Japanese. If you really only have five minutes in a day to study, Duolingo is probably one of the most effective ways to spend your time.
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Do Japanese forget kanji?

Yes and no. In terms of writing ability, you could argue that Japanese people have somewhat forgotten kanji. As most people don't write things by hand anymore it has gotten easier to forget. It's the same as how English speakers say they've forgotten how to spell sometimes.
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Are Japanese loyal?

Company loyalty is highly valued in Japan, and as a result, many businesses once offered lifetime employment to their employees. However, this trend has decreased in popularity, and now only 8% of Japanese businesses continue to implement the policy.
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Why does Japan have 3 alphabets?

But why keep all three? Today, these three writing systems are used together, sometimes even in the same sentence. Part of the reason is for readability. Kanji creates natural breaks in a sentence that make it easier for the reader to separate nouns and verbs.
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Is Japanese pronunciation hard?

That's because there are four consonant sounds in a row: “n”, “g”, “th”, and “s”. Japanese phonology is much gentler on the tongue than that of English. Japanese syllables feature virtually no consonant clusters, and thus are generally easy to pronounce.
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What is the hardest Japanese alphabet?

たいと(taito) is the most difficult Japanese Kanji on the record with a total of 84 strokes. It is formed by combining 3 雲 (くもkumo) with 3 龍 (りゅうRyuu).
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Is hiragana difficult to learn?

Re: is hiragana hard to learn? Hiragana and Katakana are pretty easy, and most people can usually memorize both in a few focused study sessions. To give some context, beginner college level courses often cover them both the first week or so of classes and you're expected to know them from there.
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Is Chinese or Japanese more useful?

Since there is so much competition with English speaking Chinese natives, it's hard to find a job that will hire you for language skills alone. Japanese, on the other hand, has less supply and more demand—thus making it a potentially more useful language.
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Who are more beautiful Korean or Japanese?

A recent survey of over 70,000 members of BeautifulPeople.com found that Korean men and women are considered more beautiful than their Japanese neighbors. Korean inhabitants were also highly ranked, among the world's most beautiful people globally.
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What is the most useful language to learn?

8 Useful Languages to Learn
  • English. You might be surprised that English isn't the most commonly spoken language in the world. ...
  • Chinese. With more than 1 billion native speakers, Chinese dominates Asia and the world as the most frequently spoken language. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Arabic. ...
  • French. ...
  • German. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Russian.
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