Which language is easier to learn for an 8 year old, Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese?

14 Comments

1. RK says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   Let her choose. The easiest for her will be the one she is most interested in and maybe the one her friends are interested in, so she can practice with them. An eight year old can learn any language more easily than an adult. Maybe it will correspond to music she likes. There are more children’s library books available in Spanish, French is more like English, and Chinese might appeal to her for being a bit more exotic. Don’t let us decide for her.
2. Bob b says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   Out of the three Spanish is the easiest language to learn(closest to English) then French then Mandarin…but she should pick the one she wants to learn because at her age she could pick it up fairly quickly.
3. Megan says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   Spanish is easier and more used in the US but Chinese is also a very important language. I wouldn’t go with French since it is not as spoken as Spanish and Chinese and it is a bit hard to pronounce at times.

   Chinese, although it seems hard, its is not as hard as some people may think. An 8 year old would learn any language rather well since they are young and have plenty of time to learn.
4. Raymanguy says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   Spanish and French are pretty easy for young children to learn, as it not unlike English and they are at an age where languages are quite easy. Mandarin Chinese is a very difficult language to learn, full stop as it requires learning Kanji characters and it is considered difficult by people of an Asian background.
5. ~Minty♥ says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   i would say spanish. not chinese because she would hve to learn new letters. i think spanish is easier and will be more useful. wow! i cant believe theyre making an 8 yr old learn a new language!
6. Lynduh M says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   mandarin is rly very hard to grasp if you are not constantly speaking to your child in the language, spanish is similar to english, and its estimated that spanish will be spoken by about 50% of people in the next decade or so, i’m currently learning french, and it is difficult in the memorization in the gender of words, and the pronunciation may be confusing, depending on what you child is ready for, spanish is easiest, then french and the hardest is mandarin, i know cuz i tried mandarin, and forgot everything the next day, you need to be persistant.
7. Janski C & kato spencer,M.D. says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   Spanish. I’ve heard there’s a high rate of success using The Rosetta Stone Method.
   Been wanting to take Spanish myself. Thank you for letting me know that this method is being offered on line. Good luck.
8. sirzerty says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   at that age it can learn anything
   teach it Chinese it’s much more useful in the business world
9. walkin_taco says:

   November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

   I would choose Spanish or French.

   Spanish is definitely the easiest. It has the simplest grammar, the fewest exceptions to that grammar, and is also a romance language, meaning it has the same roots as english. French is only a little harder because of the grammar and the conjugations, though.

   I would choose the one of those that is most likely to come in handy later on in life. Depending on where you live…
10. sam.lauren says:

    November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    when i was in elementary school we had to learn japanese. i still remember a lot of phrases. if that is not an option, then i would choose french.
11. Jen R says:

    November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Spanish will most likely be the easiest. I learned it fairly quickly when I was in second grade but I stopped and.. now I suck :p
    Chinese is easy to learn because the grammar is fairly simple, you seriously don’t really need to think much. The only hard part is learning characters. I’d think learning Chinese is more unique though.
    French grammar is a little difficult…

    Basically I think Spanish is easiest. Children learn fairly quickly though. Depends on how interested your kid is and how well they study..so I don’t think you should care about which is harder or not. just choose whatever language interests her/you.
12. azninvasion says:

    November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Spanish and French are both very easy to learn while mandarin is quite challenging. Although Spanish is the most useful of three for living in America, French is also very helpful in many other countries. Both will help her understand other European languages better. However, it is best that she chooses something that really interests her because learning any language is not easy when you do not enjoy it.
13. Peter Bro says:

    November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Spanish is the less difficult because its grammatical construction is nearer to the English
    However, I would recommend learning Mandarin for an eight year old.
    The growth of China to super power status, its vast population and buying power potential makes it the market of today and tomorrow for companies throughout the world to Target for their sales. Therefore, anyone who speaks Mandarin has a head start when looking for a career.
14. 天国 says:

    November 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    children are brilliant at learning languages – any of them would be easy. except the writing system for chinese will take time. Won’t necessarily be difficult just time consuming.