What Asian Language Should You Learn? Mandarin? Korean? Japanese? ༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ

Can't decide between Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese...which one?

As Huang_Fudou stated, Korean is the easiest with writing. If you watch a majority of Korean dramas and have picked up some words as well, you might find it's overall easier for you than the other two. I've tried all three and picked up Korean the quickest since the grammar is logical, the writing is easy, and the pronunciation I've heard so much that it didn't pose a problem.

Both Korean and Japanese use essentially the same grammar structures, even with their formality levels, so you won't see too much of a difference there. But Japanese's writing system is definitely a rough one, while their pronunciation is the easiest.

Chinese is all-around difficult is you ask me, since if you want to truly learn it, you'll have to learn a lot of characters and their pronunciation. If you're good with tonal languages, you might not have too much of a problem with speaking though, since the grammar is pretty straightforward unlike Korean and Japanese grammar.

I agree with the previous comments. If I will rank them it's 1. Korean, 2. Japanese 3. Chinese

Once you know Korean, it will be an advantage for learning Japanese as they have similar grammar structure and once you know Japanese, it will be easier to learn Chinese as you already know Kanji (chinese characters)

So start with Korean! It's the easiest! For me, I learned the alphabet in just a day! I learned the grammar pretty fast too, thanks to talktomeinkorean. I highly suggest them! The grammar is easy.. what took me long was the collection of vocabulary haha but reading korean articles and translating each word by word helped! I'm currently learning Japanese and I'm so glad I learned korean first!

I hope you have decided by now ^^ Good luck!

I learned all three of them in the following order: Japanese (4 years), Korean (4 years), Chinese (1 year). I would agree with most of the things the other commenters said before me, but with some slight variations. 

I don't find the Korean alphabet as easy as everyone claims it to be. Of course, it's an alphabet (an abugida actually), so it is easier to learn than Hanzi for example but the Korean orthography has some tricky rules that remind me a bit of French with their silent letters and end sounds that are pronounced completely different. To this day I have problems writing words correctly as I am always wondering if there is a silent h or s at the end of the syllable (reading is fine though).

Japanese still comes easiest to me, maybe because it was the first I learned out of these three. The pronunciation is definitely the easiest one though. And you can work your way around any Kanji you don't know how to write by using Hiragana. ^^ No luck with that when writing Chinese...

Both Korean and Japanese have very complex grammar systems, which are very similar to each other. So no matter which you learn first, the other one is way simpler after that.

I found Chinese to be the easiest to learn out of these three as the grammar is ridiculously simple in comparison and I have a good ear for repeating words as they are said to me so I never struggled with the tones. But that very much depends on the type of learner you are. I am an acoustic type, that is why watching dramas helps me a lot to practice.

But the Hanzi are my crucifix. I have massive problems remembering these, but the same goes for Japanese Kanji, so there is that.

Basically which language is the best for you depends on three factors:

1. your native language (and which other languages you have learned before): As your location are the US I would assume English as your native language. That means there is no advantage to any of the languages. If your native language would be a tonal language, Chinese would probably come easier to you for example.

2. your learning type: Do you like studying the grammar first before you construct a sentence or do you find it easier to model it after an example sentence? Is reading and writing your thing or are you happier talking to people and picking up new things from there?

3. your interest: I would argue that this is the most important point as it keeps your motivation up. Why do you want to learn a language? To understand dramas? Then pick the language most of the dramas you watch are in. You see yourself travelling to one of these countries in the near future? Pick that language first. 

I hope you can choose one language with the help from all the tips found in this thread. Let us know which one you pick...

I haven't read through all of the answers so I don't know if someone has already answered this exact same thing. 

It may sound very basic but my advice is that you choose the language you would use the most. If you listen to that country's music, watch its dramas and movies, have any interest in travelling for a long time or living there for a while, or want to make any friends of that nationality, then that's the language you should choose. 

You need to have a reason to learn it because the initial motivation will disappear eventually, it happens every time one tries to learn a language.

Personally, I'm learning Korean, because I lived there for a year but also because it aligns more with my interests. I would love to eventually learn Japanese but I don't think I will cause there's not real motivation behind it besides thinking the language, culture and country are cool, I don't watch animes, barely watch Jdramas or Jmovies, don't listen to J-Music, don't have Japanese friends and don't have any plans of moving there as of now. 

I haven't tried to learn Chinese (Mandarin) or Japanese except for picking up a few basic words from dramas. However, I'm trying to learn Korean through kdramas. 

I am finding it easier that way to pick up words since they keep repeating them. Often times they will repeat one key word from a sentence as a reaction so you can pick up that word easily out from a sentence with the translation as subtitles. Make a notes section in your phone or start a notebook and divide words in different categories. Keep repeating them. 

Korean consonants are fairly easy to learn. I struggle with the vowels as they sound too similar.

My plan is that once I build my base of 500 words and possibly even phrases, I can start focusing on the grammar and sentence structure. I'm close to 100 at the moment. 

I can't say if this is the right way to learn a language since in the past I've learnt in order - alphabets, numbers, words, phrases, grammar. However, this method is more interesting to me. 

The most important aspect to learning anything new including a language is what keeps you motivated or interested to learn. Then even something difficult becomes easy. So go for whichever language you feel drawn to the most.