<p><pre><code>    I totally believe that it&#x27;s easier to learn English than
    Mandarin (and maybe easier to learn Spanish than English)
    because the writing system gives you more hints, but that
    doesn&#x27;t have anything to do with the (spoken) language,
    strictly speaking.
</code></pre>
Sorry, I wasn&#x27;t actually trying to bring up the writing system at all!  I put both English and Mandarin in the &quot;harder&quot; category, even though English&#x27;s writing system is simpler (though still not as simple as many).