Which language is more difficult: Chinese or Arabic?

Which language is more difficult: Chinese or Arabic?
Well, as a Taiwanese-Egyptian, I’ve lived in both Arabic and Chinese speaking environments throughout my life. Hence, I can tell you right away that both languages are definitely some of the hardest in the world.

In terms of speaking, I believe that Chinese is easier than Arabic, since it’s much harder to pronounce so many Arabic words and phrases. For example, say you want to say hello. In Arabic, that would be “سلام عليكم” (Salam Alaykum), while its Chinese translation is “你好” (Ni Hao). Notice how the Arabic translation takes longer to pronounce and sort of “runs on” compared to the short and sweet Chinese translation.

However, reading and writing is a complet

Well, as a Taiwanese-Egyptian, I’ve lived in both Arabic and Chinese speaking environments throughout my life. Hence, I can tell you right away that both languages are definitely some of the hardest in the world.

In terms of speaking, I believe that Chinese is easier than Arabic, since it’s much harder to pronounce so many Arabic words and phrases. For example, say you want to say hello. In Arabic, that would be “سلام عليكم” (Salam Alaykum), while its Chinese translation is “你好” (Ni Hao). Notice how the Arabic translation takes longer to pronounce and sort of “runs on” compared to the short and sweet Chinese translation.

However, reading and writing is a completely different story. You see, Arabic consists of only 28 “letters” each with certain pronunciations (sounds) that could be combined like English letters to form a word. Hence, one simply has to combine the letter sounds to form or read a word.

ely different story. You see, Arabic consists of only 28 “letters” each with certain pronunciations (sounds) that could be combined like English letters to form a word. Hence, one simply has to combine the letter sounds to form or read a word.


The same can’t be said for Chinese. First off, there are over 50,000 Chinese characters out there. As the BBC (linked below) notes “An educated Chinese person will know about 8,000 characters, but you will only need about 2-3,000 to be able to read a newspaper.” Heck, many of my Taiwanese friends sometimes even fail to recognize certain Chinese characters when we’re out in the street. Compared to the 28 Arabic characters, I think you get my point.

Now, to make matters even more confusing, different meaning (looking) characters in Chinese can sound the same and same characters could mean different things (and sound differently).

For example, 夠 (go) means enough, yet 購 (go) means purchase. As for the latter, 長 (chang) means long, while a similar pronunciation of the same character (zhang) means grow/elder.

Hopefully this answer gives you a deeper

How hard is learning Chinese?
As an exchange insight into both Arabic and Chinese, and I really encourage everyone to try checking out these two beautiful languages!As an exchange student in Beijing, I’m currently preparing for HSK 4 of Chinese proficiency test. I was writing my practice exam when came across this question. What I want to say is LEARNING CHINESE is not HARD, but EXTREMELY HARD.

Which language is more difficult: Chinese or Arabic?
Well, as a Taiwanese-EgyptianChinese is actually so easy. HAHA 哈哈

I think, the difficulty in Chinese comes from the easiness. It doesn’t construct a complete vocabulary of expressing abstract conceptsChinese is actually so easy. HAHA 哈哈
Chinese is actually so easy. HAHA 哈哈

I think, the difficulty in Chinese comes from the easiness. It doesn’t construct a complete vocabulary of expressing abstract conceptsLike learning other languages, you need to practice making sentences and telling stories in the end. As it shows in the exam, HSK requires you to use certain word to complete sentences. One example it gives is 买卖（mai mai）which means “business”. “Even peddlers accept Alipay to do business”. Tricky thing is you may not even understand this example if you are not living in China. Cuz Alipay, or mobile payment is almost everywhere here.

I got stuck when I saw the word 黄牛，literally it meas cattle, but obviously not in this case. For me most difficult part in learning Chinese is understanding its culture.

How hard is learning Chinese?
As an exchangeWhich language is more difficult: Chinese or Arabic?
Well, as a Taiwanese-Egyptian
I think, the difficulty in Chinese comes from the easiness. It doesn’t construct a complete vocabulary of expressing abstract conceptsChinese is actually so easy. HAHA 哈哈

I think, the difficulty in Chinese comes from the easiness. It doesn’t construct a complete vocabulary of expressing abstract concepts