[jesselt]

I just wanted to clear some things up... I don't see any reason as to why Japan would need to use English as a second language. Something like 99% of the population is Japanese so that seems a little pointless. I don't think that making English an official language would equal the demise of the Japanese language; that's pretty stupid. Japanese people seem to enjoy their native language and actively incorporate more and more Kanji into their writing system while getting rid of others, a sign that the language is thriving.

Originally Posted by Aniki

MMM, I'm not the one who should be reminding you that Japanese requires to learn 1,900 kanji + hiragana and katakana, while the English alphabet only 26 letters and that's just the writing system. You still think that to the Japanese people Japanese language would be easier to learn then English?

English doesn't have just 26 letters as it's been pointed out in every debate of the topic - "A" and "a" look nothing alike, and the typed version of "a" doesn't look like the written version. Then there's cursive.

Originally Posted by Nyororin

It is pure and total arrogance to toss up some trait of a language you do know as a reason it is "easier". But if you want to play on that sort of field - Japanese children are generally able to learn to read at a very early age. Why? Because hiragana/katakana are ALWAYS pronounced in the same way. There is no need for worries about "spelling", silent letters, dropped consonants, blended sounds, etc etc etc that are oh so very common in English. If I follow your logic, that would make Japanese much easier to learn.

I agree with this for native speakers, but it is important to note that this isn't necessarily true for foreigners. There's things like は which sounds like わwhen used as a particle, and things like elongated vowels and small tsu sounds that can be very tricky for learners (としょうかん or としょかん, etc.)
English spelling is, of course, much more difficult though; I just want to point out that Japanese isn't exactly as simple spelling-wise as it's made out to be.

Originally Posted by noodle

Nyoronin and MMM, thank you for explaining that English isn't an "easier" language. I thought I would do it, but I felt that it would be better if it was explained by someone who actually speaks both languages.

I think the biggest problem is that westerners can't get around the idea of the number of Kanji you have to learn and the ever so famous "you should studying Japanese seriously for about 4 years to be able to read a newspaper". This sentence is ever so annoying because I never see a 9 year old native English speaker (who has been studying English for 4 years or more) read The Times for example, or any serious newspaper for that matter.

To be fair, the general rule for local (American) newspapers is that they should be written so that 5th graders can read them. Things like the New York Times are intended for adult readers, but still use pretty simple language so that anyone could read them. My understanding of Japanese newspapers is that they are much more difficult on the local level than English newspapers. I might be wrong, but I think it would be much more difficult for the average Japanese 5th grader to read a newspaper than the Average American 5th grader, specifically because of Kanji.