· 8 min read
Chinese vs Japanese: Which Should You Learn?
By Language Lab editorial team
Chinese vs Japanese compared with official figures: both take 88 weeks by US State Department measures. See writing, sounds, tests and free courses.
Chinese and Japanese are equally demanding for an English speaker by the best official measure: the US State Department puts both in Category IV, its hardest group, at 88 weeks or 2,200 class hours. They are hard in different ways. Mandarin Chinese is tonal, with four tones plus a neutral one, and is written entirely in characters, roughly 3,000 of which are used for everyday purposes. Japanese uses three types of characters together, two phonetic sets and kanji, and its official list of kanji for general use has 2,136. Each has a well-defined official test, the HSK for Chinese and the JLPT for Japanese, and free beginner courses from public institutions. Choose by where you want to live, study or work.
Side by side
| Chinese (Mandarin) | Japanese | |
|---|---|---|
| State Department category | Category IV | Category IV |
| Class time | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) |
| Sound system | Tonal: four tones, five with the neutral tone | Taught through two phonetic scripts, one symbol per syllable |
| Writing | Characters only; no spaces between them | Three types of characters: hiragana, katakana and kanji |
| Characters to learn | Roughly 3,000 used for everyday purposes | 2,136 kanji on the official list for general use |
| Official test | HSK: levels 1 to 6, plus 7 to 9 | JLPT: five levels, N5 to N1 |
| Test sessions in 2026 | 11 dates for levels 1 to 6 | 2 dates: 5 July and 6 December |
Which is harder?
Neither, on the official figures. The State Department lists Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic together as Category IV, languages it calls exceptionally difficult for native English speakers, each at 88 weeks to a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. Spanish and French, for comparison, are listed at 30 weeks. The difference between Chinese and Japanese is in where the difficulty sits.
Where Chinese is hard
- Tones. The Open University's beginner course explains that each syllable has a definite tone and that syllables with different tones mean different things: wáng in the second tone means king, wàng in the fourth means to forget.
- Sound and writing are separate. There is no obvious correlation between how a character is written and how it is pronounced.
- Everything is in characters. Each character represents a syllable, and Chinese text has no spacing between characters.
Where Japanese is hard
- Three scripts at once. NHK's beginner course explains that Japanese uses hiragana, katakana and kanji; the first two are phonetic and each kanji stands for a meaning.
- Kanji. Japan's Jōyō Kanji Table, the government's guide to kanji in general use, lists 2,136 characters with their readings.
- Honorific language. NHK treats keigo as a topic of its own, with lessons on speaking to and about a superior.
- Listening speed. The top level of the JLPT expects you to follow news reports and lectures at natural speed.
Where each is easier to start
Japanese gives a beginner a quick win: hiragana and katakana are phonetic, so once you know them you can read them aloud, and NHK publishes both as downloadable charts. Chinese gives a different one: pinyin, the official system for writing Chinese sounds in the Roman alphabet since 1958, lets you start speaking before you can read a single character, and the number system is regular, with 11 formed as ten one and 20 as two ten.
The tests
| HSK (Chinese) | JLPT (Japanese) | |
|---|---|---|
| Levels | 1 to 6, with an advanced test for 7 to 9 | N5, the easiest, to N1, the most difficult |
| Skills tested | Listening and reading at levels 1 and 2; writing from level 3; five skills at levels 7 to 9 | Language knowledge, reading and listening; no speaking or writing section |
| Passing | 120 of 200 at levels 1 and 2; 180 of 300 at levels 3 and 4 | An overall pass mark out of 180 plus a minimum in every section |
| Scale | About 800,000 test takers served a year in 169 countries | About 1.9 million applicants in 2025 |
| What is changing | HSK 3.0, with nine levels, launches worldwide on 13 December 2026 | Score reports show a CEFR level for reference since December 2025 |
What each certificate is used for
- HSK: the organisers say scores have become a requirement for international students applying for admission, graduation and scholarships in China, and can help demonstrate proficiency to employers.
- JLPT: the organisers list uses in Japan's immigration procedures. Passing N1 earns 15 points and N2 earns 10 points in the points-based system for highly skilled professionals, N2 is considered a benchmark for higher education, and N4 meets the language requirement for the Specified Skilled Worker (i) status.
Free ways to try both
- Chinese: The Open University's OpenLearn has a 4-hour taster course on pinyin, tones and characters, followed by Getting started with Chinese 1, 2 and 3.
- Japanese: NHK WORLD-JAPAN's Easy Japanese has 48 conversation lessons for beginners, and the Japan Foundation's Irodori coursebooks run from A1 to B1.
- A fair trial: spend a week on each. Do the tone section of the Chinese taster and the hiragana chart for Japanese, then keep the one you look forward to.
How to choose
- Choose Chinese if your study or career plans point to China. The HSK is built into admission there.
- Choose Japanese if you plan to live or work in Japan. JLPT levels are written into several immigration routes.
- Choose by ear and eye if you have no outside reason: tones and a single script, or three scripts used together.
- Do not choose by difficulty. Officially there is none to choose between them.
Language Lab offers both. Its Chinese and Japanese courses are built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor.
Frequently asked
Is Chinese or Japanese harder to learn?
The US State Department rates them the same: both are Category IV languages at 88 weeks, or 2,200 class hours, for English speakers.
Which has more characters to learn, Chinese or Japanese?
For Chinese, roughly 3,000 characters are used for everyday purposes, according to The Open University. Japan's official list of kanji for general use has 2,136, and Japanese also uses two phonetic scripts.
Does Japanese have tones like Chinese?
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language with four tones plus a neutral tone, and tone marks are part of pinyin. NHK's beginner Japanese course introduces the language through hiragana and katakana, phonetic symbols that each represent one syllable.
Which test is held more often, HSK or JLPT?
The HSK. In 2026 it was scheduled on 11 dates for levels 1 to 6. The JLPT is held twice, on 5 July and 6 December 2026.
Should I learn Chinese or Japanese for work?
Follow the country. HSK scores are used for study and work in China; JLPT levels count in Japan's immigration procedures and for some residence statuses.
Can I learn both at once?
Each is a 2,200-hour project by State Department figures. Most learners will progress faster by taking one to a solid level first.
Sources: US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; The Open University, OpenLearn, Beginners' Chinese: a taster course; Chinese Tests Service Website (CTI), HSK pages, Chinese Test Dates in 2026 and HSK 3.0 notice; NHK WORLD-JAPAN, Easy Japanese and Learn Japanese; Agency for Cultural Affairs, Jōyō Kanji Table; Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, level summary, test sections, scoring, CEFR reference, advantages and statistics pages; The Japan Foundation, Irodori. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou, Jakub Hałun / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
