Name: 您應該學習中文還是日語？ (Should You Learn Chinese OR Japanese?)
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T18:14:15.000Z
Duration: 8 min 13 s

to 不定詞

So, if you clicked on this video, chances are you want to learn an East Asian language.

是以，如果您點擊了這段視頻，您很可能想學習一門東亞語言。

Both Chinese and Japanese are completely fascinating languages to the eyes of a westerner.

在西方人眼中，漢語和日語都是令人著迷的語言。

I mean, they both sound and especially look completely different.

我的意思是，它們的聲音和外觀都完全不同。

But yet, we're still seeing more examples of them reaching into our pop culture, like Chinese being used in memes more and more and Chinese songs becoming popular.

但是，我們仍然看到越來越多的例子表明，他們已經深入到我們的流行文化中，比如中文被越來越多地用於備忘錄中，中文歌曲也開始流行起來。

I don't think I even need to talk about anime, where the appeal isn't just cool-looking cartoons, you know, but even more so, I would say how the language sounds, how, you know, elegant it is.

我想我甚至不需要談動漫，動漫的魅力不僅僅在於卡通片的酷炫外觀，更重要的是，我想說的是語言的發音，你知道的，它是多麼優雅。

罪を受けて当然な悪人が心臓麻痺で死んでいく裏で、そうすれば、確実に世界は良い方向に進んでいく。そして僕は、新世界の神となれ。

罪を受けて當然な悪人が心臓麻痺で死んでいく裡で、そうすれば、確実に世界は良い方向に進んでいく。そして僕は、新世界の神となれ。

Now, if you ever thought about studying an East Asian language, you know, you might have also wondered, which one of these should I choose?

現在，如果你想過學習一門東亞語言，你可能也會想，我應該選擇其中的哪一門呢？

Now, I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna try to give you a fair comparison that might help you choose between them.

現在，我要坐下來，試著給你們做一個公平的比較，也許能幫你們在它們之間做出選擇。

So, first of all, the writing systems, which is something that immediately catches the eye of anyone who's ever come to contact with either Chinese or Japanese.

是以，首先是書寫系統，這是任何接觸過中文或日文的人都會立刻注意到的東西。

The writing system in both of these languages requires you to know between 1,500 and 2,500 characters to understand, for example, 95% of what you read on the internet, 90% of what you read in the newspapers, provided that it's not a highly specialized topic, which, I mean, 1,500 and 2,500 both can sound like a lot, but I can assure you, though, the characters aren't random.

這兩種語言的書寫系統要求你認識 1500 到 2500 個字符，例如，你在互聯網上讀到的 95% 的內容，你在報紙上讀到的 90% 的內容，只要不是專業性很強的話題，你都能看懂。

The more characters you memorize, the easier it becomes to learn new ones and recognize patterns between them.

記住的字元越多，學習新字元和識別它們之間的規律就越容易。

Like, for example, the Japanese character for sea, 海, and the Japanese character for pond, 池, both have these three dots, which symbolizes water, that it has something to do with water.

例如，日語中的 "海 "字和 "池 "字都有三個點，這三個點象徵著水，與水有關。

Or that the Chinese characters, 海 and 江, both sound similar because of this part of the character.

或者說，"海 "和 "江 "這兩個漢字的讀音相似，就是因為這一部分。

My point is, though, you will need to learn roughly the same amount of characters in both languages if you want to become fluent, so don't think that you need to learn less in one and more in the other, it's roughly the same amount of daily use characters.

不過，我想說的是，如果你想流利地使用兩種語言，你需要學習的漢字數量大致相同，所以不要認為你需要少學一種語言，多學另一種語言，因為日常使用的漢字數量是大致相同的。

However, rest your mind, and I feel like this is one of the things that a lot of people don't realize, is that you don't actually need to learn how to write them, because usually, you know, even native speakers, they type out the characters, you know?

不過，請放心，我覺得這也是很多人沒有意識到的一點，那就是你其實並不需要學習如何書寫，因為通常情況下，你知道，即使是母語使用者，他們也會把字元打出來，你知道嗎？

You can just download a Chinese or Japanese keyboard and type it out in Roman letters, and then the keyboard will automatically, like, let you choose.

您只需下載一箇中文或日文鍵盤，然後用羅馬字母輸入，鍵盤就會自動讓您選擇。

You don't need to remember the strokes, you know, like, when's the last time you wrote somebody a letter?

你不需要記住筆畫，你知道，你上次給別人寫信是什麼時候？

The one difference, though, between Japanese and Chinese writing systems is that Japanese also has hiragana and katakana, which are syllabaries, you know?

不過，日語和漢語書寫系統的一個區別是，日語也有平假名和片假名，它們都是音節文字，你知道嗎？

It's basically a writing system in which you can sound out the words without having to use Chinese characters, because, you know, both Japanese and Chinese use Chinese characters, but you can't actually read any coherent text unless it's something specifically written in a simplified way for children.

它基本上是一種書寫系統，在這種系統中，你可以讀出單詞的讀音，而不必使用漢字，因為你知道，日語和漢語都使用漢字，但實際上你無法閱讀任何連貫的文字，除非是專門為兒童寫的簡體文字。

For Chinese, Taiwan has something similar, which is called bo pu mo fu, which is also, like, roughly, like, 40 symbols representing each letter, but that is only used in Taiwan and not in mainland China or Hong Kong or Singapore, okay?

對於中文，臺灣也有類似的東西，叫做 "拗步拗符"，也是一樣，大概是 40 個符號代表每個字母，但這隻在臺灣使用，而不是在中國大陸、香港或新加坡，好嗎？

Moving on to something that actually does make a big difference, which is Chinese tones and Japanese pitch accent.

接下來要談的是中文音調和日語音調的區別。

The pronunciation in Chinese for beginners is oftentimes difficult to grasp because of each word having a tone.

由於每個字都有聲調，初學者往往很難掌握中文的發音。

Now, change the tone, and you also change the meaning of the word.

現在，改變語氣，也就改變了這個詞的意思。

For example, shì with a flat tone means poem, but shì with a falling and rising tone means shit.

例如，shì 用平聲表示詩，shì 用升降聲表示屎。

As you can see, the meaning can change quite drastically.

正如您所看到的，意思可能會發生很大的變化。

Some people would argue that when you're a foreigner speaking to Chinese people, your tones don't matter as much, because the Chinese people, they'll just take your words with a grain of salt and try to, you know, guess what you mean based on context, but I feel like that is the case only when talking about simple topics, because when you start talking about more difficult topics, that's when you really need to start using and listening for tones to avoid miscomprehension, you know?

有些人會說，當你是外國人和中國人說話時，你的語調並不那麼重要，因為中國人只會把你的話當成鹽，並試著根據上下文猜測你的意思，但我覺得只有在談論簡單的話題時才會這樣，因為當你開始談論更難的話題時，你才真正需要開始使用和傾聽語調，以避免誤解，你明白嗎？

With Japanese, there is something similar but far less important than in Chinese, and it's called pitch accent.

日語中也有類似的東西，但遠不如漢語重要，這就是 "音調重音"。

That can also sometimes change the meaning of the word.

Like, for example, amē with a low-high pitch accent means rain, but amē with a high-low pitch accent means candy.

例如，amē 用低高音重音表示雨，而 amē 用高低音重音表示糖果。

However, distinguishing the meaning of individual words based on what pitch accent you put on them is far less common in Japanese than it is in Chinese.

不過，根據單個詞語的音調來區分其含義，在日語中遠沒有在漢語中那麼常見。

Every word still has its own proper way to be pronounced with pitch accent, so if you want to be fluent and sound like a Japanese speaker, you will need to pay attention to it.

每個單詞仍有其正確的發音方法，是以，如果您想說得流利，聽起來像日語使用者，就必須注意它。

However, you can go in your Japanese learning journey past N1, which is the highest level, without ever learning pitch accent.

不過，在日語學習的道路上，你可以超過 N1（最高級別），而無需學習音調口音。

During my years of studying both languages, and I would say most learners would agree with me, I have concluded that

在我多年學習這兩種語言的過程中（我想大多數學習者都會同意我的觀點），我得出的結論是

Japanese is easier to get into because of, let's say, easier pronunciation, but gets harder as you study on an intermediate or more advanced level because of grammar.

日語比較容易入門，因為發音比較簡單，但在學習中級或高級日語時，文法會變得比較難。

On the other hand, Chinese is a lot tougher to get into because of, you know, the intricate pronunciation, not only the tones but also the consonants, but once you get a hang of the pronunciation, it actually gets easier because the grammar is not that hard and it's pretty intuitive.

另一方面，中文比較難學，因為發音複雜，不僅有聲調，還有輔音，但一旦掌握了發音，實際上就會變得簡單，因為文法並不難，而且很直觀。

On top of that, Chinese doesn't use honorifics, so the sentences don't change based on what kind of politeness level you want to express to the listener, it's just always the same, very similar to English, whereas in Japanese, you know, honorifics, the level of how much polite you want to be affect the word choice, affect the sentence endings, affect the way you start talking to someone, you know, it has all of these different nuances based on your age, your position in the company, your position in school,

此外，中文不使用敬語，所以句子不會根據你想向聽眾表達的禮貌程度而改變，句子總是一樣的，與英語非常相似，而在日語中，你知道，敬語、你想表達的禮貌程度會影響選詞、影響句子結尾、影響你開始與人交談的方式，你知道，它會根據你的年齡、你在公司中的地位、你在學校中的地位而產生所有這些不同的細微差別、

I mean, like, if you're a junior or a senior, you know, if you're a boy or a girl, you know, those are all things that affect in which way you should speak Japanese, so people don't look at you weird like, what the hell did he just say?

我的意思是，比如，你是大三還是大四，你是男生還是女生，你知道，這些都會影響你說日語的方式，這樣別人就不會奇怪地看著你，就像，他剛才到底說了什麼？

Now that I've given you three aspects of these languages, I want to get down to brass tacks, okay?

現在，我已經向你們介紹了這些語言的三個方面，我想說說具體的內容，好嗎？

I want to emphasize that what really matters when choosing a language is how interested you are in the particular language.

我想強調的是，在選擇語言時，真正重要的是你對特定語言的興趣有多大。

It's a very personal choice, and it also depends on what you want to use the language for.

這是一個非常個人化的選擇，同時也取決於您想用這種語言來做什麼。

If you are naturally more interested in Japanese, you want to, for example, travel to Japan multiple times throughout your life, or you want to read manga, you know, in the original print, or whatever it may be, don't choose Chinese simply because, for example, it has easier grammar.

如果你天生對日語更感興趣，比如你想在一生中多次去日本旅行，或者你想看漫畫，你知道，原版漫畫，或者其他任何東西，不要僅僅因為比如中文文法更簡單而選擇中文。

On the other hand, because of how limited Japanese is, you know, it's only spoken in one country, and the population is declining, let's be real, don't learn it just because it's popular right now.

另一方面，由於日語的侷限性，你知道，它只在一個國家使用，而且人口在不斷減少，我們還是實事求是地說，不要因為它現在很流行就學它。

Like, if you're not inherently interested in Japanese, don't learn it just because it's the popular language.

比如，如果你天生對日語不感興趣，就不要因為它是流行語言而去學它。

You know, it really depends on what you want to use the language for.

要知道，這真的取決於你想用這種語言來做什麼。

So, for example, if you're just interested in learning another East Asian language, you know, China is becoming a global economic superpower, so it could, you know, help you in many ways in your career.

是以，舉例來說，如果你只是對學習另一門東亞語言感興趣，你知道，中國正在成為全球經濟超級大國，是以，你知道，它可以在很多方面幫助你的職業生涯。

It's like, at the end of the day, it is your interests that are going to be the thing that motivates you to persist in learning the language, because, to be honest, both of these languages are a pain in the ass to learn.

說到底，你的興趣才是你堅持學習語言的動力，因為說實話，這兩種語言都很難學。