Finnish Vs. Chinese I have studied Finnish since Dec 10 and Chinese since Sept 11 and I have drawn the following conclusions thus far: Finnish Pros: Up front Finnish proves to be an easier language with much of its alphabet relating closely to English. In fact, many English-origin words have carried over into Finnish so they are nearly identical. With the small curve of learning new vowels and holding double letters, pronunciation is relatively easy for native English speakers. Finnish Cons: The biggest problems with Finnish is the grammar, which is extensive. Finnish words morph constantly, so if you are not aware of the change, a word (or phrase) can be hard to decipher or produce. Basic sentence building can be frustrating. Combine this with the lack of native speakers outside of Finland, and a serious lack of good educational resources (even online without taking a day off of work to find it), it can feel impossible at times. Chinese Pros: Chinese may seem very imposing at first, being a language comprised of symbols that mean words, but it really isn't as hard one may think. First of all, Chinese grammar and English grammar are more closely related than Finnish and English. Chinese requires less "finesse words" than English, so sentences seem to contain less words (or symbol characters). Chinese is also becoming more and more available in the U.S. in universities and high schools, so native speakers are becoming more common. Chinese Cons: Chinese has two different written languages: Symbol Characters, which most people think of, and pinyin, which is the phonetic spelling/pronunciation of the words. Words in Chinese can be quite hard to memorize. Some people can memorize pinyin, while others are excellent at symbols. I tend to be the latter. Pronunciation can be tough as well, as Chinese has 4 tones. The word "bu" can mean different things depending on how it is said (i.e. bu with tone going down and bu with tone going up are different). It is no doubt that every language has its ups and downs, but what I have drawn from my time learning both languages is where my strengths are. I hope you consider these things when picking either language to learn!