Okay
Steve, long time no see
Same to you, can I call you Yanchan? Don't know whether you are Chinese or Japanese?
Haha, just call me Yanchan. Yeah, I'm Chinese.
What we are going to talk about today is that
even though the Chinese and the Japanese are different culturally and geographically, is it easy for them to learn each other's language
Yeah, that's the topic.
I think it's very interesting
I'm interested because we're neither Chinese nor Japanese
We have certain problems when learning those languages
So the topic is, how easy it is for the Japanese and the Chinese to learn each other's language
But first, can you please do a self introduction please?
Oh yeah, no problem. My name is Yang Xiaoxi and I come from Sichuan, China
I lived in Sichuan until I was 18 years old and majored in Japanese for my university in China
Then I came to Japan for studying at my third year of university, now I have been living in Japan for ten years
So I've been in Japan for a long time and I've spent about 1/3 of my life in Japan now
I have no problem communicating in Japanese, and that's my level of the language now
But my mother tongue is still Chinese
Now in Japan, how much is everyone interested in learning Chinese
what is the interest level
Well, I remember when I first came to Japan ten years ago
Almost no one can speak Chinese or very few Japanese are interested in China or Chinese
But after spending years in Japan especially since about two or three years ago
I noticed that many Japanese people around me began to learn Chinese
Whether they are employees learning for work or students choosing Chinese as their second language in college
Recently even many Japanese celebrities, singers, actors and entertainers are learning Chinese.
I really feel that there are a lot of Japanese people learning Chinese now
Yep, that's how it feels like to me now.
Okay, so can you say that now in Japan, Chinese has become a second language?
that is in addition to English, Chinese is the second language that people are willing to learn
Sorry, it's a little hard to hear right now, maybe the network isn't working well, can you repeat?
Oh, okay. Can you hear well now?
Ah, now it's good. It stopped suddenly just now.
Well, in Japan, English is the main foreign language
when people learn a foreign language, they learn English
Right
and the book store is full of English learning material for TOEFL
now that they have more interests in Chinese
Does it mean that Chinese is now the second most popular foreign language in Japan?
Well, I think Chinese is probably the second most popular foreign language after English these days
but about 5 or 6 years ago, Korean was the second most popular foreign language
Because Korean seems to be easier for Japanese to learn in terms of similar grammar
So more Japanese people learn Korean in the past
Also Korean TV series and
Korean celebrities are very popular in Japan, so more Japanese people chose to learn Korean
but now Chinese is more likely to be used so there's a lot more Japanese people choosing Chinese than before so what's the main winter for people who are learning Chinese
so what's their main motivation of learning Chinese?
Well, it depends. Since I've been teaching Japanese Chinese since I was a college student
their reasons of learning Chinese vary
for example, a student would think that learning Chinese may be useful in a career sense
Of course, English is a compulsory subject, but learning Chinese can also be useful for finding a job
And then there are the Japanese who are already working,
their companies have business associations with those in China, in which case,
they have to be able to speak Chinese a little bit for the job
and then there are housewives who love Chinese TV dramas and Chinese celebrities, so they began to learn Chinese
So there are cultural reasons as well
It's not just about career and
making money, some people learn because they are interested about
the modern and ancient culture of China
correct?
Yes, it's really interesting because these days, you know, a lot of Japanese celebrities are trying very hard to learn Chinese
and their fans would want to learn Chinese as well because of their idols
A lot of people actually learn Chinese because of this
Is it the same as the Korean BTS?
The famous....
Yeah yeah
I don't know anything about the BTS, I just know it's very popular all over the world
And they also speak English, Chinese and Thai
I like their spirit of learning foreign languages
So for learning Chinese, the Japanese
for sure has a lot of advantages over us, that is, people from European and American countries
they know most Chinese characters
but do you think Chinese is easier to learn for the Japanese?
as a Chinese who has learned Japanese, and now teaching the Japanese Chinese
I would think that Chinese should be easy Japanese to learn, because first of all, like what you just said
there are 2,000 Chinese characters regularly used in Japanese and we have a saying in Chinese
that is if you know 3000 Chinese characters, you can read any book or newspaper
so basically you can understand the content of all books and newspapers with 3000 Chinese characters
and now the Japanese people already know 2000 characters, so it's about 70 percent of that
they should be able to understand more
so they should be able to read the characters very fast
But one interesting thing that I've noticed recently
I think perhaps it's easier for Chinese to learn Japanese than the Japanese to learn Chinese in terms of characters
Why?
Because an ordinary person from China, such as me from Sichuan
Although I've only learned simplified Chinese since childhood, but I can read all traditional Chinese characters
You know that there are simplified and traditional Chinese
and Japanese has more traditional Chinese characters than simplified ones
but normally Chinese people know both, but recently when I was teaching the Japanese Chinese
I found out that a lot of Japanese have never seen simplified characters before. so it was difficult for them to
match the simplified Chinese characters with the traditional ones, which means they can't read simplified Chinese
So regarding this, I think for the Japanese
Chinese characters are a little bit unfamiliar and difficult to understand in the beginning
In addition to Chinese characters, it may be difficult for Japanese people to pronounce Chinese
Because you know that Chinese has four tones and even some
pronunciations that are not found in Japanese such as retro-flex and back nasal sound
these pronunciations may be a little difficult for Japanese people in the beginning
But in terms of grammar I think Chinese is relatively simple, it's my personal opinion
Yeah, I agree.
Because when I started learning Chinese, I started with traditional Chinese for a few months
and then simplified Chinese, it was actually not a problem
because learning a foreign language is not a matter of weeks, not months, it takes a lot of time
So at the beginning, the Japanese may not be able to read some Chinese characters
it's not a big problem because
they might lack a little bit of something, but I don't think that's a big problem
I think pronunciation is a problem, and for us westerners
The biggest problem is the four tones and characters
the Japanese basically don't have a problem with the characters
But learning the four tones is an issue
This pronunciation can be a problem and I think except for the four tones
the pronunciation of Mandarin is close to that of English, the vowels
Ah yeah, right
so in that case, it's easier for the Japanese to learn Spanish and they might have some problems with the pronunciation of Chinese
But it's also a matter of habit, not a big problem
Yeah, but I also think that the pronunciation of Chinese
whether or not you pronounce it right, it won't normally affect your understanding of the entire sentence
unless it's just one word
So I always think that in order to learn the four tones
don't just memorize it
you need to get used to how they are being used in a sentence
Practice with words
master the intonation, otherwise you won't be able to remember
but I I think that learning any language is just about your attitude
when a Japanese person learns Chinese
they need to think of themselves as Chinese
to imitate
Be willing to integrate in anther culture
that is the most important thing I think, of course you have to like it first
be interested and like to think of yourself as one of them
with this attitude, your pronunciation will get better over time
Exactly. As you said before, whether a language is difficult or not
has a lot to do with the language learner's native language
So I think whether it's Chinese learning Japanese or Japanese learning Chinese
since the two cultures are so close
There are many Chinese characters that are very similar
I don't think it's too difficult for either side to speak each other's language
I really still think English is more difficult than Japanese
I've started learning English since childhood but I am still not good at it
But the thing is
For example, if you're a Spanish speaker, it would be easy for you to learn Portuguese because the vocabulary would be pretty much the same
same with grammar, but that's also why it's not easy
Because it's hard to leave
the Spanish environment to be a Portuguese
but it's fine with Turkey, Japanese or whatever
I think there might be situations when a Japanese
looks at a Chinese character but pronounces it in the Japanese way
Maybe, but I'm not sure
yeah, Chinese and Japanese have some characters that are the same but with totally different meanings
yeah but not many
but it's a lot for beginners
and they often get confused, there are some interesting words
for example, (Japanese words)
(Japanese words) is when you are asked to do something that you don't really want to do
what do you think is the biggest problem for Chinese to learn Japanese?
I think it's the grammar
it's what I can't get used to the most
Because in Chinese and English, we have subject, predicate, and then object
but in Japanese it's completely the other way around
they put the result at the end, yes or no comes out last
So I found it really hard to speak at first because it's very difficult for you to speak naturally and fluently
you have to translate it in your head first, I was very uncomfortable with the grammar order
because it is a completely different kind of thinking, which makes grammar the most difficult part for us
Right, I think all languages have their own forms that we have to get used to
you need to speak more and listen more
slowly your brain will get used to it, don't overcomplicate it
At first I thought it must be wrong
It's impossible. How can they be in that way, but slowly I get used to it
all languages are like that
Yeah
No matter Japanese, Korean or Chinese
the SEA countries
within their cultures
China has the longest history and has influenced its neighboring countries
I think its culture is very valuable and of course in the west
we mainly learn western history
know very little about the East
Now I'm studying Arabic, Turkish and Persian
I began to discover the central Asia has very interesting history that influenced the world
so I think there's a lot of things that we can discover through languages
Very interesting
Oh, that's interesting, and as a Chinese
by mastering the Japanese language, I think I really have a deeper understanding in the
Japanese culture and their way of thinking