Is Korean really more difficult than Japanese?

CHINESE   Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:33 am GMT
If so, mainly in what respects? Thanks!
CHINESE   Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:56 am GMT
How many people (those who are bilingual speakers of Japanese & Korean) are there in this forum?
CHINESE   Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:48 am GMT
Brennus *

<I think that they would be equally difficult to learn for anyone who does not speak an agglutinative language. That includes even a Chinese speaker.>

Yes, it's not very easy for Chinese people to learn Japanese and Korean, either. But I still think Japanese is a little easier than Korean for Chinese people to some extent.
Guest   Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:41 am GMT
Japanese is easier to pronounce than Korean I think
CHINESE   Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:57 am GMT
Moreover, Japanese is also much easier to be writen and understood for Chinese learners becuase there're many Kanji in Japanese writing.
The one ...   Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:40 am GMT
Who cares! I don't think anyone will be interested in this question.But i think that if Japanese and Chinese people change their letters, the languages will be much respective...Here, at that time will everyone be interested in that question.
Presley.   Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:32 am GMT
Yeah! Finally a topic just for me!

I am fluent in both Korean and Japanese, and I must say, Korean is a heck of a lot harder to pronounce (I would especially say so for English-speakers).

Korean is so precise. You have to have a very good ear to be able to learn it.

For example, the vowels have very subtle differences compared to Japanese:

Japanese: ?(A) ?(I) ?(U) ?(E) ?(O). (The pronounciation of vowels are identicle to Spanish.)

Korean: ?(A) ?(EO) ?(O) ?(U) ?(EU) ?(I). (Somewhat like French.)

Grammer between Japanese and Korean is pretty much identicle. However, Korean vocabulary is much closer to Chinese.

When written, Japanese uses a combination of two phonetic alphabets and Chinese words (thousands of them). Korean uses one phonetic alphabet.

Speaking Korean is like aerobic excercise. Its pronounciation more angular and dramatic. It's almost like "speaking from the stomach". I find it much more fun to speak.

Japanese speaking is more like the Romance languages. It has a smoother flow and it is more in the mouth.

All in all, I find that Korean would be a more challenging language to learn than Japanese.
Bonnie Zhang   Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:58 am GMT
Both the Japanese and Korean inventory of sounds are shockingly small, haha. They're both very pleasant to listen to though!

On topic, I think Japanese would be easier for a Chinese person to learn but Korean would be easier for a westerner. This opinion derives from my personal aversion to "learn the dialogues and hiragana, and forget about the kanji" approaches. If you're going to learn Japanese, then by god you SHOULD learn the kanji too. Otherwise, opt for Korean.

The one wrote:
"i think that if Japanese and Chinese people change their letters, the languages will be much respective...Here, at that time will everyone be interested in that question."

Well, here in Taiwan there is a lot of Japanese text on Japanese products and books and such. I guess we (Chinese) can generally infer the meaning of kanji-rich Japanese text, but it's definitely not respective.

It's as if an Englishman tried to read French, I guess? Lots of similar words, but grammar and structure and lots of basic constructions are different. So they're not mutually intelligible.

This analogy works because Japanese borrowed lots of words from Chinese, just as English borrowed from French and Latin. But English and French belong to different language groups, and so do Chinese and Japanese. It's not like French and Italian both being Romance Languages.
CHINESE   Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:08 am GMT
If Korean also used Kanji just like Japanese, maybe it would be a little easier for Chinese learner, but not for Western ones. And I feel that Japanese sounds more euphoniously than Korean to some extent.
Bonnie Zhang   Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:33 am GMT
Korean used to be written with kanji. Only in the last fifty years did Korean begin to be written entirely using hangul (the Korean alphabet).

For most of the last six hundred years, Korean writing was a mix of kanji and hangul, just as Japanese is a mix of kanji-hiragana-katakana. Before hangul was invented during King Sejong's reign, the Koreans wrote in Wenyanwen Chinese (not sure what the Koreans called it, but Mr CHINESE knows what I mean, don't you?).
Presley.   Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:54 am GMT
Korean pronounciation would be more difficult for a Westerner than if they were to learn Japanese.

Japanese is much more loose on pronounciation. You can have a pretty bad accent, but if your vocabulary and grammer structures were correct, people will understand you - not so much the case with Korean.

Like I said though, when written, Korean is easier than Japanese.

Also, Korean does occasionaly uses Chinese letters (Hanja). I learned Hanja in Korean school. It's not as widely used in Korean as in Japanese, though.
hydee   Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:31 am GMT
im a westerner and i am trying to learn chinese (mandarin) and korean. to what extent of hardness should this be? (pronounciation wise)
Chinese   Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:49 am GMT
The notable difficulty is writing Chinese characters! Very difficult for Westerners.
writter   Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:50 am GMT
could trying to learn korean or chinese by yourself, on a computer mess up someone's pronounciation of the language?
Chinese   Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:55 am GMT
Traditional Characters: 漢語是一種非常複雜的語言. (Used in Taiwan & HongKong)

Simplified Characters: 汉语是一种非常复杂的语言. (Used in Mainland China)