<p>Which language seems to be more useful? as in were you in more situations where you wished you spoke Japanese or where you wished you spoke Chinese? China has a larger population but a large portion of it is limited in rural areas where I dont think I'll ever be going. My first language is Korean, then English, then Spanish. i plan to go into econ if that matters</p>
<p>If you plan on going into Economics, probably Chinese. Chinese is giving the business world a run for its’ money, and will continue to do so for who knows how long, as its’ wealth and trade go up…</p>
<p>You will probably meet many more Chinese students/adults than Japanese anywhere you go, as well.</p>
<p>I tried and failed @ learning Chinese…
It is NOT easy as learning Spanish…</p>
<p>If your first language is korean, japanese is definitely gonna be easier for you… chinese is soo hard and koreans have harder time pronouncing the words compared to japanese words (I’m korean studying japanese myself). But which one are you really interested in? Being interested in a language and the culture plays a huge part too.</p>
<p>@yjc123chris: Wow, that’s interesting. I was the exact opposite. I started out with Spanish and just couldn’t get the hang of it. I’m doing fine now with Chinese. So I guess it depends on the person.</p>
<p>I agree with others that you have to be interested in the language, like the way it sounds, and like the culture.</p>
<p>Chinese is definitely harder than Spanish. I took Spanish for two years, and then my parents forced me to switch to Mandarin. I’ve been taking Mandarin for four years now, and I’m still confused.</p>
<p>I’m ethnic Chinese, so of course I’m biased toward suggesting that you learn Mandarin Chinese. I agree with uyulove, though, that it is easier for people who can speak Korean to learn Japanese. Two of my friends are taking Japanese with a bunch of Korean internationals, and they’ve told me that they often hear their Korean classmates go, “Oh…I get it now, this is just like [insert Korean grammar rule here]!”</p>
<p>Chinese has a huge civilization, and I think it is interested to learn. Also, the population in China is huge.</p>
<p>I prefer Japanese culture since I have more Japanese friends than Chinese…</p>