[SandwicheGuy]

I heard the Chinese languages, to speak, read, and write are extremely difficult.

Nah, you heard wrong, there is only ONE Chinese language, although there are at least five major dialects. And they are easy to learn, only a few grammatical rules and you are in business, learn ten of the official Mandarin words a day and you will be ordering in Chinese at the local Chinese takeout in a surprisingly short time.

Maybe you meant the written languages, each Asian country has their own. Again, easy to learn except Chinese and Japanese which used pictographs, and you have to learn 2,000 of the little buggers before you are literate. Fortunately, a hundred or so will get you bed, bred and fed, so I hear.

[Cronos]

"there is only ONE..." -- are you sure about that? I have no clue about Chinese besides what I read about it and all linguists point out that the different "dialects" like Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible if you talk (writing using the same pictographs). Hence I would call them as separate languages

In contrast Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian are pretty much mutually intelligible while even Polish, Czech and Slovak are somewhat (SOMEwhat) mutually intelligible. But all 6 of these are separate languages

[Cronos]

"the written languages, each Asian country has their own"... except for India which has 20

[beaversmom]

Maybe you meant the written languages, each Asian country has their own. Again, easy to learn except Chinese and Japanese which used pictographs, and you have to learn 2,000 of the little buggers before you are literate. Fortunately, a hundred or so will get you bed, bred and fed, so I hear.

:)

[Albion Wilde]

Chinese and Japanese ... used pictographs, and you have to learn 2,000 of the little buggers before you are literate. Fortunately, a hundred or so will get you bed, bred and fed, so I hear.

That's interesting to hear. It aligns with my experience of teaching language to my cats and dogs. I do not expect them to speak, and I'm not just talking about commands, but rather for them to be able to understand and respond to my simple communications with them, and so that they can indicate their wants a little more clearly as well. I've had amazing results. My point being, they need about 65 to 100 words or word combinations to master their repertoire of typical experiences.