Japanese or Mandarin Chinese?

Go for the one that interests you the most, definitely.
(Sorry for what seems to be a very useless post, but honestly, don't let people's opinions matter, you don't want your degree to be rubbish because it sounded cooler than another one)

I was thinking of doing Japanese or Mandarin Chinese with economics. I was wondering which do you think would be better? Also are they both reeeeally hard or is one slightly easier? I assume you have to learn the simplified characters?
-B

Try and learn a little bit yourself and see which one you find easier/more interesting.

Neither one is better than the other.

So up to you.

I know, I have always gone more towards Japanese mainly due to anime But thinking of the future as I will possibly be doing economics I thought Chinese would be more useful..

Mandarin.

It will be more useful in the future...

Don't just learn a language for the anime lol.

I tried learning Japanese when I was like 11. Must say it was quite hard and most Japanese people would say that you sounds like a 5 year old when you think you are quite good. (I've been told this by one of my japanese friend).

I find Mandarin a bit easier personally because I'm quite used to hearing it.

I'd say Japanese because:
1. You seem enjoy it more.
2. I learned both (about 3 months for each) and found Japanese much easier (pronunciation and writing). Chinese, on the other hand, was nearly impossible for me

And don't worry much about the 'future Chinese economy', because I'm quite sure that Chinese speaks English much better than English people speak their language

Both would be pretty good, any language is to be honest.

Mandarin is a more widely-spoken language - but purely because there are more people in China than any other country in the world

Go with what you think you'd enjoy more

Thats what I was thinking..
Hahahaa but the anime is so good! :P
Thanks I'll do some research

(Sorry, I'm not picking on you, promise! )

That's the most rubbish argument you will hear about Mandarin. Take French and Spanish, for example. Because Spanish is more widely spoken than French doesn't mean it's more important. If you take a closer look, you'll see that French is more widely use than Spanish to communicate in a language that isn't English. It's the official language of the UN and tons of NGOs that sometimes have nothing related to France or French. You will find a lot more resources in French than in Spanish for research, because French has been a cultural and political language for a lot longer than Spanish. People don't publish in Spanish, unless they want to restrict themselves to Spanish-speaking countries, and before Americans decided they were too lazy to speak French, it used to be the number one diplomatic language (it's only the 2nd, now).

So yeah, Madarin may be the most-widely spoken language in the world, but currently, it has very little impact on anything. You will rarely find research published only in Mandarin, in terms of business, it may be very useful to learn it, but if you get a job in the UK, chances are the employers will only look at the skills you will have gained from learning a language rather than your linguist abilities, because - let's be honest - Chinese people learn English a lot quicker than we learn Mandarin, and even if you have basics in this language, that will probably be the only thing you need for they will certainly hire natives to do any jobs that require you to be fluent in Mandarin (that's how they work with Arabic at the UN).

Now I've been dissing Mandarin and I apologise, I believe Russian would be more useful with Economics but let's forget about it . If you think you would enjoy it, don't forget to bear in mind how different a language it is, I recommend following lessons in both languages to see which one you prefer, and if you actually would enjoy studying them for 4 years. Also, OP, what previous experience do you have in terms of language learning? Not that it will really matter if you have the motivation, just pure curiosity :P

Lol, you just diss both of the languages that I'm going to take

Sorry sorry sorry sorry!!!
My point is just pick a language because you will enjoy it, not because it'll be useful, 'cause really, it won't matter much, if you're really passionate about it, you will always find something to do with it

(Sorry, I'm not picking on you, promise! )

That's the most rubbish argument you will hear about Mandarin. Take French and Spanish, for example. Because Spanish is more widely spoken than French doesn't mean it's more important. If you take a closer look, you'll see that French is more widely use than Spanish to communicate in a language that isn't English. It's the official language of the UN and tons of NGOs that sometimes have nothing related to France or French. You will find a lot more resources in French than in Spanish for research, because French has been a cultural and political language for a lot longer than Spanish. People don't publish in Spanish, unless they want to restrict themselves to Spanish-speaking countries, and before Americans decided they were too lazy to speak French, it used to be the number one diplomatic language (it's only the 2nd, now).

So yeah, Madarin may be the most-widely spoken language in the world, but currently, it has very little impact on anything. You will rarely find research published only in Mandarin, in terms of business, it may be very useful to learn it, but if you get a job in the UK, chances are the employers will only look at the skills you will have gained from learning a language rather than your linguist abilities, because - let's be honest - Chinese people learn English a lot quicker than we learn Mandarin, and even if you have basics in this language, that will probably be the only thing you need for they will certainly hire natives to do any jobs that require you to be fluent in Mandarin (that's how they work with Arabic at the UN).

Now I've been dissing Mandarin and I apologise, I believe Russian would be more useful with Economics but let's forget about it . If you think you would enjoy it, don't forget to bear in mind how different a language it is, I recommend following lessons in both languages to see which one you prefer, and if you actually would enjoy studying them for 4 years. Also, OP, what previous experience do you have in terms of language learning? Not that it will really matter if you have the motivation, just pure curiosity :P

(Sorry, I'm not picking on you, promise! )

That's the most rubbish argument you will hear about Mandarin. Take French and Spanish, for example. Because Spanish is more widely spoken than French doesn't mean it's more important. If you take a closer look, you'll see that French is more widely use than Spanish to communicate in a language that isn't English. It's the official language of the UN and tons of NGOs that sometimes have nothing related to France or French. You will find a lot more resources in French than in Spanish for research, because French has been a cultural and political language for a lot longer than Spanish. People don't publish in Spanish, unless they want to restrict themselves to Spanish-speaking countries, and before Americans decided they were too lazy to speak French, it used to be the number one diplomatic language (it's only the 2nd, now).

So yeah, Madarin may be the most-widely spoken language in the world, but currently, it has very little impact on anything. You will rarely find research published only in Mandarin, in terms of business, it may be very useful to learn it, but if you get a job in the UK, chances are the employers will only look at the skills you will have gained from learning a language rather than your linguist abilities, because - let's be honest - Chinese people learn English a lot quicker than we learn Mandarin, and even if you have basics in this language, that will probably be the only thing you need for they will certainly hire natives to do any jobs that require you to be fluent in Mandarin (that's how they work with Arabic at the UN).

Now I've been dissing Mandarin and I apologise, I believe Russian would be more useful with Economics but let's forget about it . If you think you would enjoy it, don't forget to bear in mind how different a language it is, I recommend following lessons in both languages to see which one you prefer, and if you actually would enjoy studying them for 4 years. Also, OP, what previous experience do you have in terms of language learning? Not that it will really matter if you have the motivation, just pure curiosity :P