What are the most difficult things to learn for a westerner? What aspects of the Chinese language are the most difficult to learn for a westerner? In particular I'm interested in thoughts on:


What do you find are the main difficulties?
Are there any aspects of Chinese that you find easier than expected?
Do you find the grammar more or less complex than that of Latin/Romance languages?
I think the difficulties include:


The tones, while almost all western languages don't have such a conception.
Remember how to write a character. There are many characters that you have to learn and remember.


but the grammar is easier. In Chinese, you don't have to take care of gender, inflection,conjugation, number and particles.