I firmly believe that Japanese is very easy to learn to speak and understand compared to many languages, yet it is also likely the most difficult language to learn to read and write well.

The grammar is easy for any brain, western or otherwise, to wrap their head around so long as they are good at pattern recognition; compared to something like English, Japanese is incredibly consistent. Anyone who did well at math in school should be able to easily comprehend Japanese grammar. Yeah, they have a couple more conjugations for verbs based on respect/politeness, but the rules have few exceptions, so it isn't too difficult.

Vocabulary, while lacking Greek and Latin roots that simplify transferring word knowledge from one western language to another, is also very limited for non-academic Japanese. There simply aren't many synonyms in conversational (and anime) Japanese, context is typically in how the limited set of vocabulary is spoken. For instance, there really is only one word used for "big," "ooki." How many synonyms for big are there in common, everyday English? Likely over a dozen.

The written side is a bear, and I just have come to accept that, unless I move to Japan, I will never be motivated to learn to read and write Kanji past a basic level. Even in very common usage there just are too many characters, and it is often a 50/50 guess at pronunciation of Kanji.

Summary: learning any language is difficult, but for speaking and understanding Japanese, I believe it is one of the easier ones. Isolation has kept their grammar and vocabulary more fundamentally sound and simple compared to most other languages. Unfortunately, the reading and writing is incredibly difficult.

I firmly believe that Japanese is very easy to learn to speak and understand compared to many languages, yet it is also likely the most difficult language to learn to read and write well.

The grammar is easy for any brain, western or otherwise, to wrap their head around so long as they are good at pattern recognition; compared to something like English, Japanese is incredibly consistent. Anyone who did well at math in school should be able to easily comprehend Japanese grammar. Yeah, they have a couple more conjunctions for verbs based on respect/politeness, but the rules have few exceptions, so it isn't too difficult.

Vocabulary, while lacking Greek and Latin roots that simplify transferring word knowledge from one western language to another, is also very limited for non-academic Japanese. There simply aren't many synonyms in conversational (and anime) Japanese, context is typically in how the limited set of vocabulary is spoken. For instance, there really is only one word used for "big," "ooki." How many synonyms for big are there in common, everyday English? Likely over a dozen.

The written side is a bear, and I just have come to accept that, unless I move to Japan, I will never be motivated to learn to read and write Kanji past a basic level. Even in very common usage there just are too many characters, and it is often a 50/50 guess at pronunciation of Kanji.

Summary: learning any language is difficult, but for speaking and understanding Japanese, I believe it is one of the easier ones. Isolation has kept their grammar and vocabulary more fundamentally sound and simple compared to most other languages. Unfortunately, the reading and writing is incredibly difficult.

I firmly believe that Japanese is very easy to learn to speak and understand compared to many languages, yet it is also likely the most difficult language to learn to read and write well.

The grammar is easy for any brain, western or otherwise, to wrap their head around so long as they are good at pattern recognition; compared to something like English, Japanese is incredibly consistent. Anyone who did well at math in school should be able to easily comprehend Japanese grammar. Yeah, they have a couple more conjunctions for verbs based on respect/politeness, but the rules have few exceptions, so it isn't too difficult.

Vocabulary, while lacking Greek and Latin roots that simplify transferring word knowledge from one western language to another, is also very limited for non-academic Japanese. There simply aren't many synonyms in conversational (and anime) Japanese, context is typically in how the limited set of vocabulary is spoken. For instance, there really is only one word used for "big," "ooki." How many synonyms for big are there in common, everyday English? Likely over a dozen.

The written side is a bear, and I just have come to accept that, unless I move to Japan, I will never be motivated to learn to read and write Kanji past a basic level. Even in very common usage there just are too many characters, and it is often a 50/50 guess at pronunciation of Kanji.

Summary: learning any language is difficult, but for speaking and understanding Japanese, I believe it is one of the easier ones. Isolation has kept their grammar and vocabulary more fundamentally sound and simple compared to most other languages. Unfortunately, the written is a real bear.

I firmly believe that Japanese is very easy to learn to speak and understand compared to many languages, yet it is also likely the most difficult language to learn to read and write well.

The grammar is easy for any brain, western or otherwise, to wrap their head around so long as they are good at pattern recognition; compared to something like English, Japanese is incredibly consistent. Anyone who did well at math in school should be able to easily comprehend Japanese grammar. Yeah, they have a couple more conjunctions for verbs based on respect/politeness, but the rules have few exceptions, so it isn't too difficult.

Vocabulary, while lacking Greek and Latin roots that simplify transferring word knowledge from one western language to another, is also very limited for non-academic Japanese. There simply aren't many synonyms in conversational (and anime) Japanese, context is typically in how the limited set of vocabulary is spoken. For instance, there really is only one word used for "big," "ooki." How many synonyms for big are there in common, everyday English? Likely over a dozen.

The written side is a bear, and I just have come to accept that, unless I move to Japan, I will never be motivated to learn to read and write Kanji past a basic level. Even in very common usage there just are too many characters, and it is often a 50/50 guess at pronunciation of Kanji.

Summary: learning any language is difficult, but for speaking and understanding Japanese, I believe it is one of the easier ones. Isolation has kept their grammar and vocabulary more fundamentally sound and simple compared to most other languages. Unfortunately, the written

I firmly believe that Japanese is very easy to learn to speak and understand compared to many languages, yet it is also likely the most difficult language to learn to read and write well.

The grammar is easy for any brain, western or otherwise, to wrap their head around so long as they are good at pattern recognition; compared to something like English, Japanese is incredibly consistent. Anyone who did well at math in school should be able to easily comprehend Japanese grammar.

Vocabulary, while lacking Greek and Latin roots that simplify transferring word knowledge from one western language to another, is also very limited for non-academic Japanese. There simply aren't many synonyms in conversational (and anime) Japanese, context is typically in how the limited set of vocabulary is spoken. For instance, there really is only one word used for "big," "ooki." How many synonyms for big are there in common, everyday English? Likely over a dozen. Yeah, they have a couple more conjunctions for verbs based on respect/politeness, but the rules have few exceptions, so it isn't too difficult.