Korean or Japanese, which is harder to learn ?
- Thread starter EmoBorg
- Start date
There are about 125 million Japanese speakers, and about 77 million Korean speakers. So it stands to reason that Korean is harder to learn.
But what about the esperanto speakers. I think this proves you malprava.
La esperanto lingvo estas la plej malfacila lingvo el ĉiuj. Aspektas kiel la itala, sed ne estas. Ke konfuzo! 
Everything I know I learned from Incubus.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW7AuyIwN2A[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW7AuyIwN2A[/yt]
lol
Well, since Japan has 127 million people within its borders (as of 2012) and South Korea has 50 million, and those who claim such nationalities abroad are probably of a similar ratio, I would surmise that it's more a function of population than difficulty.
I suspect both languages are probably of equal difficulty to learn by Western standards, anyway.
Ah...missed that...
Heh...actually, no. I embarassingly took it literally. Humor...it is a difficult concept...especially without smilies.
No biggies. I just could not resist. 
I am American but work at a Korean company and I can speak basic Korean and can type / write it, sound out words, etc.
I think Korean is one of the most organized and structured languages on the planet. Like Japanese though, it has characteristics unseen in most languages, but that are prevalent in East Asian languages that you might not be accustomed to at all. But once you "get it", it's not as hard as you might think.
I would be happy to go over basics like the alphabet, general structure, etc. if you ever wanted.
I don't know any Japanese though to compare!
I think Korean is one of the most organized and structured languages on the planet. Like Japanese though, it has characteristics unseen in most languages, but that are prevalent in East Asian languages that you might not be accustomed to at all. But once you "get it", it's not as hard as you might think.
I would be happy to go over basics like the alphabet, general structure, etc. if you ever wanted.
I don't know any Japanese though to compare!
I am learning Japanese, but I don't know any Korean.
Japanese writing is extremely complicated, having as it does 2 completely separate sets of characters, that are often combined into one sentence. Also it has some stuff that completely throws you at first and forces you to completely relearn sentence construction, such as conjugating adjectives, and tenseless verbs, that are not resolved until you reach the end of the sentence and find out the tense of the last verb.
Japanese writing is extremely complicated, having as it does 2 completely separate sets of characters, that are often combined into one sentence. Also it has some stuff that completely throws you at first and forces you to completely relearn sentence construction, such as conjugating adjectives, and tenseless verbs, that are not resolved until you reach the end of the sentence and find out the tense of the last verb.
Korean is much easier because the characters are basically just another type of alphabet. Not hard to learn for Westerners at all. Once you know the alphabet it's not much harder than any Western language.
Japanese on the other hand includes 3 different types of character sets. Hiragana and Katakana are relatively easy to learn (syllabic scripts) but Kenji is a bloody pain in the ass and requires years of training. It's the old Chinese characters (before they were simplified) and to read a high-brow newspaper you'll basically have to learn thousands of them by heart. They could easily just switch to one of the syllabic scripts but I think they don't do it for elitist reasons. Knowing or not knowing Kenji characters can determine your social position in society. It's not pretty.
I've learned Japanese for a few years because I used to have a very weird idea of what "fun" is.
Go Korean, seriously.
Japanese on the other hand includes 3 different types of character sets. Hiragana and Katakana are relatively easy to learn (syllabic scripts) but Kenji is a bloody pain in the ass and requires years of training. It's the old Chinese characters (before they were simplified) and to read a high-brow newspaper you'll basically have to learn thousands of them by heart. They could easily just switch to one of the syllabic scripts but I think they don't do it for elitist reasons. Knowing or not knowing Kenji characters can determine your social position in society. It's not pretty.
I've learned Japanese for a few years because I used to have a very weird idea of what "fun" is.
Go Korean, seriously.
Agreed!
Well, if the OP just wants to learn to speak the language, that doesn't matter as much. Japanese is probably easier to learn to speak than English. However if you won't be in a position to practice it regularly, you'll forget it again, so I would go with whichever you will be able to use most.
Korean for me is much easier to type / write than to speak. But then again I have never been very good at speaking other languages. I took French for 6 years and still am better at writing.
My listening skills though for Korean are far, far better than my French listening skills. Probably because I am surrounded by Korean speakers all day long.
My listening skills though for Korean are far, far better than my French listening skills. Probably because I am surrounded by Korean speakers all day long.
For me, personally, I would say Korean is the hardest.
With Japanese, you have anime, movies, dramas (i.e. it's more accessible) and I would say the accent is easier to pick up on.
Korean doesn't seem to have a hard accent, but it seems to be difficult to get used to. (Note: The only word I really know is 'Anyeonghaseyo' for 'hello'...and I've probably spelled it wrong).
I took Japanese back in high school, and I still maintain bits and pieces of it.
Boku wa Joeru Kaku desu...
Boku no tomodachi....
With Japanese, you have anime, movies, dramas (i.e. it's more accessible) and I would say the accent is easier to pick up on.
Korean doesn't seem to have a hard accent, but it seems to be difficult to get used to. (Note: The only word I really know is 'Anyeonghaseyo' for 'hello'...and I've probably spelled it wrong).
I took Japanese back in high school, and I still maintain bits and pieces of it.
Boku wa Joeru Kaku desu...
Boku no tomodachi....
But Korean's alphabet is way easier to learn.
I think learning a language properly isn't just learning how to speak slang from TV and movies! Learning the basics and learning is properly is more important for the long term.
Then again, being immersed in a language is the best way to learn.
I think learning a language properly isn't just learning how to speak slang from TV and movies! Learning the basics and learning is properly is more important for the long term.
Then again, being immersed in a language is the best way to learn.
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