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When should I start learning Japanese?

 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
Oheao
Diglot
Newbie
Canada
Joined 4159 days ago

31 posts - 33 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Mandarin, Greek

 
 Message 1 of 15
11 October 2013 at 5:08am | IP Logged 
I only know around 300 Chinese words (I'm progressing much slower than I thought I would,
and much slower than I would like), and I'm wondering how much Mandarin Chinese I should
know before I start learning Japanese.
1 person has voted this message useful



lichtrausch
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5951 days ago

525 posts - 1072 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Mandarin

 
 Message 2 of 15
11 October 2013 at 5:52am | IP Logged 
You make it sound as if Mandarin is a prerequisite for Japanese. I don't quite follow...
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Oheao
Diglot
Newbie
Canada
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31 posts - 33 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Mandarin, Greek

 
 Message 3 of 15
11 October 2013 at 6:01am | IP Logged 
What I meant is that I want to have a good enough command in Mandarin Chinese before I
start Japanese.
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Lakeseayesno
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Mexico
thepolyglotist.com
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280 posts - 488 votes 
Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 4 of 15
11 October 2013 at 6:19am | IP Logged 
Oheao wrote:
What I meant is that I want to have a good enough command in Mandarin Chinese before I start Japanese.


That sort of sounds like you answering your own question... :p

I've never studied Mandarin so take this one with a grain of salt, but I'd advice against learning them simultaneously. A good deal can be done with 300 words, but I'm not sure it's close enough to what you want out of Mandarin, so maybe you should keep at it a bit longer.

Then again, why are you asking us? Learning languages should be about having fun and fulfilling one's own goals, so while we can give you advice until we're blue in the face, it's up to you to weigh both languages and decide what to do next.
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mike245
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Senior Member
Hong Kong
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese
Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer

 
 Message 5 of 15
11 October 2013 at 10:24am | IP Logged 
Oheao wrote:
What I meant is that I want to have a good enough command in Mandarin
Chinese before I start Japanese.


What do you mean by "good enough"?
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Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
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Joined 5757 days ago

2256 posts - 4046 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 6 of 15
11 October 2013 at 12:57pm | IP Logged 
Ideally, I would say to learn any language at least to upper intermediate level before starting the next. Especially if you hope to have Mandarin vocabulary help you with Sinojapanese, and not both languages hinder each other.

Of course, if you feel the urge to dabble around, that's completely comprehensible. But serious study? Maybe at a weak B2 in the previous language.

Take it from an eternal dabbler.
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g-bod
Diglot
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5973 days ago

1485 posts - 2002 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 7 of 15
11 October 2013 at 2:03pm | IP Logged 
You will need to devote at least as much time to Japanese every day as you are currently
spending on Mandarin. Given that your progress in Mandarin is already slower than you'd like,
it sounds like you probably don't have enough hours in the day to do both from a beginner
level.

Edit: I meant to say both at the same time from a beginner level.

Edited by g-bod on 12 October 2013 at 2:24pm

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anime
Triglot
Senior Member
Sweden
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161 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: Spanish, Swedish*, English
Studies: German, Portuguese, French, Russian

 
 Message 8 of 15
12 October 2013 at 12:32pm | IP Logged 
You should definitely give up on Japanese. Apparently the grammar, writing and intonation are way too hard
as some people have explained to me


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