Abstract The reorientation of the tetrahedral complex anion ZnCl42- and the self-diffusion of the cation in (CH3NH3)2ZnCl4 were studied by 1H NMR spin-lattice relaxation time (1H T1) experiments. In the second highest-temperature phase, the temperature dependence of 1H T1 observed at 8.5 MHz could be explained by a magnetic dipolar-electric quadrupolar cross relaxation between 1H and chlorine nuclei, and the activation energy of the anion motion was determined to be 105 kJ mol -1 . In the highest-temperature phase, the activation energy of the self-diffusion of the cation was determined to be 58 kJ mol -1 from the temperature and frequency dependence of 1H T1