Ah, but the complainers are the adults who are pretty lazy (& lousy - in relative to children of course) at learning a foreign language. The U.S. especially needs to do a better job of teaching foreign languages. But sadly, most start a second language in schools around high school and are not very good at it either.
As about the european languages argument, the comparison is mostly about vocabulary it seems. That's hardly a justifiable comparison. Sure, words may indeed be simpler in Chinese, but the sad reality is that languages are a cultural heirloom that gets guarded but yet is stolen many times. Part of the gosh-darn specialty of these languages is to strengthen the cultural ties and keep it in. In fact, you might as well compare english with scientific papers written in english...
As about the european languages argument, the comparison is mostly about vocabulary it seems. That's hardly a justifiable comparison. Sure, words may indeed be simpler in Chinese, but the sad reality is that languages are a cultural heirloom that gets guarded but yet is stolen many times. Part of the gosh-darn specialty of these languages is to strengthen the cultural ties and keep it in. In fact, you might as well compare english with scientific papers written in english...