Japanese and Chinese are in different leagues because they come from a completely different language root than european languages and require one to <i>think</i> differently.<p>For example instead of common sound based words in writing, they use kanji, which effectively are either small, simple and time-corrupted little pictures, or combinations of less complex pictures.<p>For example 新 consists of 7 &quot;prime&quot; pictures, of which three are easily recognizable, and as such can be remembered as &quot;axe | standing-up, tree&quot; =&gt; &quot;new&quot;. ( <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jisho.org&#x2F;search&#x2F;%E6%96%B0%20%23kanji" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jisho.org&#x2F;search&#x2F;%E6%96%B0%20%23kanji</a> )<p>This is easly memorized but cannot re-use latin-based language patterns and requires creation of entirely new language circuitry in the brain.