Italian & German

TSO   Sun May 25, 2008 2:43 am GMT
Which language would be helpful or easier for a Chinese native speaker to learn well? And I would like to know some suggestion from Chinese friends. Thanks!
sino   Sun May 25, 2008 3:06 am GMT
I would say Italian will be easier for Chinese native. But you should first make clear why you decide to learn a language.

As for me, I am learning German because I find it more useful for me. Therefore I would not learn a language because it is a easy one.
TSO   Sun May 25, 2008 5:02 am GMT
Thanks, Sino, I think that German is usually considered as such a difficult language due to its 4 cases, 3 genders, long spelling, and hyperbatic syntax. But when it comes to the tenses and conjugations, I even found them much easier than Italian or French, in terms of accentual rhythm of speaking, actually Italian has more strict and complicated rules than German.
This is just my personal opinion. Also, Italian sounds better than German.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 8:37 am GMT
You have not to consider what is the easier to learn but why you need to learn it.
If you need to work in fashion, music, tourism or art, probably you have to study Italian. For the other things is better German.
Xie   Sun May 25, 2008 2:34 pm GMT
>>Thanks, Sino, I think that German is usually considered as such a difficult language due to its 4 cases, 3 genders, long spelling, and hyperbatic syntax. But when it comes to the tenses and conjugations, I even found them much easier than Italian or French, in terms of accentual rhythm of speaking,

Chinese is darn boring for having none of them...

>>actually Italian has more strict and complicated rules than German.

I don't know. So, are you learning already? I think Chinese grammar is also fairly difficult for having rules I can't ever figure out, because I always guess them.

I don't really care about grammar. People don't talk about grammar. People use words only. Easier are languages that are more popular and (therefore) I can learn them with more books.