Chinese vs Japanese: Which Is Easier To Learn?

This guide compares Chinese and Japanese head-to-head. These two languages share a long history and can look similar at first glance. In short: Chinese grammar is simpler, while Japanese pronunciation is easier. Here’s how they compare.

The Japanese and Chinese Languages

At first glance, Japanese and Chinese (specifically Mandarin, which we'll focus on here) might seem quite similar, especially if you're unfamiliar with either language. After all, they both use character-based writing systems and share centuries of historical contact. 

However, despite these surface similarities, Chinese and Japanese are two distinct languages that are quite unique in their own ways.

While they do share some commonalities and influences – primarily Chinese influence on Japanese – they actually belong to completely different language families. 

As we mentioned in our Korean vs Chinese article, Mandarin Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, which encompasses roughly 400 languages in total. 

Japanese, on the other hand, is part of the Japonic language family, which is considered by linguists to be an independent family whose relations to other languages are unclear.

Chinese and Japanese may look similar at first glance, but they come from entirely different language families with unique histories and structures.

Grammar Differences

One of the major differences between the Chinese and Japanese languages is the grammar. 

Chinese grammar is straightforward and is often described as having “little to no grammar.” There are no verb conjugations based on nouns, pronouns, or tenses. There is no gender, and no singular or plural noun or adjective agreement. 

Japanese grammar, on the other hand, is quite complex, with verb conjugations determined by several factors including tense, politeness level, and whether the verb is regular or irregular.

The Politeness Levels of Japanese

In Japanese, the use of respectful language (keigo 敬語) is incredibly important and heavily influential in daily interactions. 

This respectful language system is typically divided into three main categories: teineigo (丁寧語; polite language), sonkeigo (尊敬語; respectful language), and kenjougo (謙譲語; humble language).

Japanese also makes heavy use of honorific titles, as they're closely tied to Japanese social structure and hierarchy. These politeness levels can be tricky for learners. Using overly formal language with friends can create distance, while using casual language with strangers, coworkers, or elders can cause offense.

Because of its political history, Chinese developed a more relaxed approach to politeness levels. Hierarchies are still present, and respect toward elders and authority figures is expected. 

Yet the language itself doesn’t mark these distinctions as sharply, especially in spoken form. Over time, many traditional honorifics have been simplified, and today they rarely appear in everyday conversation.

Writing Systems Compared

At a glance, the Chinese and Japanese writing systems can come across as very similar and even identical when reading more formal documentation or “advanced” content such as a newspaper article. 

This is because the Japanese language has adopted the Chinese character writing system, or 汉字 (hànzì), as one of its writing methods. 

Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana

Japanese consists of three different writing systems: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana.

Kanji is the Japanese word for Chinese characters, which are believed to have been imported and adopted into the Japanese language in the 4th century CE.

At that time, Japanese had no writing system of its own, so Chinese characters were adopted to represent the written form of the Japanese language. However, due to their complexity, Japanese Kanji were mainly used among the nobles and elites.

Chinese language learners practice identifying Chinese characters (汉字 hànzì) during an outdoor immersion class with a native speaker.

Hiragana is a phonetic writing system also used in Japan, with its earliest documented use generally believed to date to around 900 CE. Initially, Hiragana wasn't universally accepted and it was primarily used by women, who didn't have the same access to education as men. 

This led to Hiragana being used for more informal and private communication. As its popularity grew, it eventually became more widely adopted, even among elite and noble men.

Katakana is another phonetic writing system that originally served as a simplified or shorthand version of Kanji characters. It acted as a companion system, integrated into formal documents alongside Chinese characters. Over time, Katakana evolved to be used primarily for writing words of foreign origin.

This is extremely useful for foreigners encountering unfamiliar words—if a word is written in Katakana, you'll most likely recognize it, especially if you speak English. Here are some examples of loanwords that would be written in Katakana:

Why Japanese Keeps All Three

Today, these three writing systems are used together, sometimes even within the same sentence. Part of the reason is readability. Kanji creates natural breaks in sentences that make it easier for readers to distinguish between nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech. 

A sentence written entirely in Hiragana would be difficult to parse (similar to an English sentence written without any spaces between words). Additionally, Kanji helps resolve the many homophones in Japanese—words that sound identical but have different meanings can be instantly distinguished in writing. Katakana, meanwhile, remains useful for foreign loanwords and for adding emphasis to text.

Example of modern Japanese writing: combining Katakana (コンピューター for 'computer'), Hiragana (を, て, を grammatical particles), and Kanji (使, 日本語, 勉強) meaning 'I study Japanese using a computer'

Onyomi and Kunyomi

As mentioned earlier, Chinese characters were imported and adopted into the Japanese language around the 4th century CE (though some sources suggest as late as the 8th century).

Since Chinese and Japanese have completely different sound systems, the Japanese developed a dual approach: they kept approximations of the original Chinese pronunciations while also creating native Japanese readings based on their own spoken language. 

This meant that most characters ended up with at least two different pronunciations. These readings are categorized as onyomi (音読み) – pronunciations derived from the original Chinese – and kunyomi (訓読み) – the indigenous Japanese readings.

In modern Japanese, the situation has become more complex. Some characters only have onyomi pronunciations, typically because the concept was new to Japan when the character was adopted, or because there was already a unified term that worked for both languages.

Other characters only have kunyomi pronunciations. These characters are often Japanese-invented characters (kokuji 国字) that never existed in Chinese, so only native Japanese readings were applied.

Some characters can even have multiple onyomi and kunyomi pronunciations, making the system quite intricate!

Generally speaking, onyomi pronunciations are used when a Kanji appears as part of a compound (two or more Kanji combined), while kunyomi pronunciations are used when the Kanji stands alone.

Unfortunately, there’s no simple rule for when to use onyomi or kunyomi. Learning each word in context is your best bet.

Sino-Japanese Vocabulary

Although Chinese and Japanese come from very different language groups, Chinese vocabulary has exerted an enormous influence on the Japanese language.

Chinese loanwords in Japanese are referred to as kango (漢語), and they're believed to make up about 60% of all Japanese vocabulary, with approximately 20% used in modern everyday speech.

While the usage and meaning of these shared words may sometimes differ significantly between the two languages, it's clear that knowledge of one can provide shortcuts for understanding the other, particularly in written form and especially as you become more advanced.

This overlap can be a double-edged sword for learners. On one hand, recognizing familiar characters can help with vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. On the other hand, assuming identical meanings can lead to mistakes, as the same characters might have evolved different nuances or uses in each language over centuries of separate development.

Pronunciation and Reading Systems

In most cases, Japanese pronunciation is very straightforward and easy to pick up for non-native speakers. This is mainly because each syllable in Japanese has the same length and stress, making it a non-stressed language with a very regular rhythm.

Japanese also has fewer vowels and consonants compared to languages like English, which simplifies the sound system considerably.

However, Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the pitch of your voice can change the meaning of any given word.

For this reason, it can be very hard for non-native speakers to correctly pronounce Chinese, simply because the different tones and combinations can make a huge difference in the meaning of the word, causing major misunderstandings or making speech unintelligible.

Practicing tonal languages with a native speaker is critical in the learning process. A student practices speaking material with her teacher during a one-on-one Chinese class at CLI.

Pinyin for Beginners

Luckily, beginners can depend on romanization systems that make these languages more accessible. For Chinese, there's the Pinyin system, the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China.

Developed in the 1950s, Pinyin uses the Latin alphabet to represent Chinese sounds phonetically.

Once you've learned all the sounds and tone markers, you'll be able to read the pronunciation of any character in a dictionary or digital text. Chinese children also learn Pinyin first in elementary school before transitioning to characters, making it an essential stepping stone for literacy.

Pinyin helps learners connect Chinese characters with accurate pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. Check out CLI’s interactive pinyin chart to hear the sounds.

Romaji for Beginners

Japanese has its own romanization system called Romaji (literally "Roman letters"), which converts Japanese sounds into Latin characters.

Unlike Pinyin, which serves as the primary input method for typing Chinese and is taught to all Chinese students, Romaji plays a much smaller role in Japanese education.

Japanese children typically start with Hiragana and Katakana rather than romaji. You'll mainly encounter romaji in contexts aimed at foreigners—street signs in tourist areas, business cards for international use, or when Japanese people communicate with non-Japanese speakers online.

Both systems serve as crucial bridges for beginners, allowing learners to focus on pronunciation and meaning before tackling the complexities of character recognition and writing.

Japanese is one of the world’s most popular languages to learn for travel, culture, and business.

Number of Speakers and Global Reach

Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore, and is widely spoken by Chinese communities in Malaysia and many other countries around the world.

It's the most spoken language globally by native speakers, with over 900 million native speakers, and ranks as the second most spoken language worldwide when including both native and non-native speakers (after English).

Japanese, on the other hand, is spoken by approximately 128 million people, primarily in Japan. While there are Japanese-speaking communities in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Hawaii due to historical migration, the language remains much more geographically concentrated.

In practical terms, you're far more likely to encounter Mandarin speakers around the world, so unless you plan to live in Japan or work with Japanese companies, finding opportunities to practice with native speakers can be more challenging.

Cultural Influence

Thanks to its ever-growing economic power, China's global influence has become impossible to ignore. With Chinese being the most spoken language in the world by native speakers, it's no surprise that the language has been implemented into academic curricula worldwide.

Chinese is rapidly becoming more important in international political and economic spheres, making it an excellent language to learn for anyone looking to use it both within China and in global business contexts.

While Japanese may not have the same widespread adoption, its cultural influence remains powerful across the globe. Following Japan's economic boom after World War II, the country became synonymous with cutting-edge technology and innovation.

By the late 1990s, Japanese anime had achieved global popularity, quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing entertainment genres worldwide. Many of us have at least heard of, if not grown up watching, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Captain Tsubasa, to name just a few iconic series.

This cultural impact means that both languages offer an abundance of engaging learning materials. Whether you're interested in Chinese business practices, news, and literature, or Japanese anime, manga, video games, and pop culture, you'll never be short on content to fuel your language learning journey.

China’s scenic beauty draws global visitors—and with Mandarin on the rise, many come to learn the language too.x

Should I learn Japanese or Chinese?

In general, Chinese has a steeper learning curve at the beginning due to its exclusive use of characters and its tonal nature.

However, the more you progress, the easier it becomes, and the grammar is refreshingly straightforward, especially if you're tired of wrestling with languages that have complex tenses and conjugations.

Chinese grammar follows relatively simple patterns without the verb conjugations, gender agreements, or irregular plurals that make many other languages challenging for English speakers.

Learning a new language can be very rewarding. With CLI’s online classes, you can learn Chinese from anywhere in the world.

Japanese, on the other hand, is much more forgiving in the beginning. The pronunciation is far more straightforward, and if you're already an anime or manga fan, you might already know a few words or phrases.

Although the writing system can feel quite overwhelming, it does include syllabary alphabets that you can learn within a couple of days.

This means you can at least read and write Japanese using Katakana and Hiragana, which can be quite satisfying and give you a sense of progress early on.

Ultimately, both languages offer real advantages, so you can’t go wrong with either choice. Ready to take the next step? Explore CLI’s immersive Study Abroad in China or our Online Chinese Lessons to start learning today.

Japanese vs Chinese Vocabulary

Tania Yeromiyan

Tania holds a BA in Arabic and Chinese from the University of Leeds, which led her to spend two years studying in Taiwan and Egypt as part of her degree. Her interests include Chinese traditional theater, international education, and programming. Tania travels to China annually and is fluent in Chinese.