> I wonder if it's easier to go from Chinese to English, they certainly have more sounds/tones an English speaker will have never spoken.
Tones, yes. Sounds, not as much. English has a staggering inventory of distinct sounds, including more distinct vowels than most languages and a fairly impressive array of consonants. Furthermore, aside from having many consonant sounds, it has many consonant clusters, both at the start and end of syllables, that are quite difficult for speakers of many languages (including Chinese) to learn.
Not impossible, obviously. But the sound system of English is definitely nontrivial for speakers of Mandarin to master.
Tones, yes. Sounds, not as much. English has a staggering inventory of distinct sounds, including more distinct vowels than most languages and a fairly impressive array of consonants. Furthermore, aside from having many consonant sounds, it has many consonant clusters, both at the start and end of syllables, that are quite difficult for speakers of many languages (including Chinese) to learn.
Not impossible, obviously. But the sound system of English is definitely nontrivial for speakers of Mandarin to master.