Japanese or Korean?

Hi, sorry for the late reply, but as Hanis said, if you do a dual honors language program at Sheffield (eg Korean Studies with Japanese), you can unfortunately only do one year abroad program. I've just returned from my year abroad in Korea (an amazing experience) and I spent a week in Japan on my own time.

If anyone has any questions about Korean Studies with Japanese (eg pros and cons of the language, the degree, what other modules you can take) I'll be happy to answer.

Izzy

perhaps you or anyone in your year have done a blog about your year abroad? i've only found one "my experience on a semester abroad in koera" blog so far and i'd love to read more .o.

I did do a blog, but it was very badly updated! I hope it'll be helpful for you http://irish-korean-hijinks.tumblr.com/

Hi, sorry for the late reply, but as Hanis said, if you do a dual honors language program at Sheffield (eg Korean Studies with Japanese), you can unfortunately only do one year abroad program. I've just returned from my year abroad in Korea (an amazing experience) and I spent a week in Japan on my own time.

If anyone has any questions about Korean Studies with Japanese (eg pros and cons of the language, the degree, what other modules you can take) I'll be happy to answer.

Izzy

Hi there!

It's been over a year since this post but if you are still offering advice on this degree, or if any of the other SEAS students are taking the same one/are in a similar situation to myself I'd much appreciate hearing from anyone!

My dream degree is Korean and Japanese or vice versa. However the most practical choice would be Chinese and Japanese, or even Japanese and French as I studied the latter for 6 years in primary. My boyfriend is Korean, and every single person I have spoken to so far are advising me to choose Chinese over Korean.

I know most people who do South East Asian language degrees go through this, so I would be so grateful to hear from others going through this... Also since my Japanese level is pre-intermediate I'm not sure which combo makes the most sense. Especially in regards to the year abroad. Being awesome at Japanese, or boosting my Korean level to level both.. Gah. Halp...

Warm wishes,

Hana

well i chose to do japanese in the end. the university i'm at offers "unrestricted modules" so me and a friend are planning on taking korean language for non specialists next year (what you would study if you were doing "Japanese with Korean", for example). we also have a language school nearby that offers evening classes and we will sign up to do chinese mandarin there. so i'm killing three birds with one stone here. just because you choose to do one language at degree level doesn't mean you can't boost your other ones/learn new ones.

in the end it's up to you. what would you actually enjoying learning the most? we're talking 3 years of study here, plus a year abroad in that country if you choose that kind of course. it's not really a decision anyone else can make for you, but i'd definitely go with your gut feeling. if you don't enjoy/are interested in chinese or its culture, don't do it. if you are, and can stay dedicated to it for the next few years, go ahead.

Thanks for the solid advice! It makes sense but it's still funny how everyone doing languages are advising me to go the Korean/Japanese route and follow one's passions (my inclination now) but eeeeveryone else are saying to do Chinese/Japanese. It would be a shame to not have such a great skill in the future when I do have an interest in Mandarin, but somehow I just picture myself carrying on as I have until now - immersing myself in Japanese and Korean culture for the rest of my life. Japanese is what I would enjoy the most, and I have good pronunciation. My second best is Mandarin, and Korean is currently my worst as I haven't practised the pronunciation as much as the other two due to finding it difficult to differentiate the sounds. It's ironic as Korean culture is what I have researched the most since taking an interest in it.

Love the fact that you're doing all three to some level! This is what I want to do. What is the reason you decided not to do one of the other ones as a minor or joint degree? Oh, and which uni are you at and what made you decide to go with it? Most people seem to keep advising joint, but the really top unis like Cambridge advise to only focus on one language. I feel quite certain that I want both, but I feel conflicted in regards to the year abroad. Such a shame SOAS doesn't have the Korean year abroad as an option when doing Japanese with it. Cheers for taking the time!

i actually got asked by people who didn't study languages, "why did you choose japanese? you should've applied for chinese!". people say that a lot because they think chinese has the biggest business for jobs, but that's hardly true. in fact quite the opposite; the sheer amount of people studying it means there's less demand for chinese and english speakers, whereas "rarer" languages like korean will probably land you better jobs in the right places. if you're not feeling chinese, i wouldn't advise you study it, there's no point if you won't like it. you really need to like east asian languages to study them; they're a pain in the butt sometimes and it's tough, so it's only worth it in the end if you actually want to attain the skills to speak them!

i am at sheffield university. they offer a "korean with japanese" course which includes a year abroad in korea if that's what you're interested in. i originally chose this degree actually, but i realised i wouldn't have the credit left for studying culture modules so decided to switch to single honours, learn about the cultural aspects of japan that interest me, and pick korean next year instead. i also didn't want a year abroad in korea personally so i thought i'd better switch. i'm glad i did because boy are things fast-paced here! i'm enjoying it a lot though, so that's a plus. if you think you can handle it, go apply for both, and if things get too much, i think you're given a month or so long window to switch from a course.

Hi!
After how long was it since the course started that you switched to single honours? I applied for both Korean with Japanese and Japanese studies, but i'm halving a difficult time in deciding which one i'd like to go with. I love both languages, but i think i'm a little more interested in Japanese culture in general. So if i decided to switch to just Japanese, how early would i have to decide by?
Thanks!

i actually got asked by people who didn't study languages, "why did you choose japanese? you should've applied for chinese!". people say that a lot because they think chinese has the biggest business for jobs, but that's hardly true. in fact quite the opposite (...)

i am at sheffield university. they offer a "korean with japanese" course which includes a year abroad in korea if that's what you're interested in. i originally chose this degree actually, but i realised i wouldn't have the credit left for studying culture modules so decided to switch to single honours, learn about the cultural aspects of japan that interest me, and pick korean next year instead. i also didn't want a year abroad in korea personally so i thought i'd better switch. i'm glad i did because boy are things fast-paced here! i'm enjoying it a lot though, so that's a plus. if you think you can handle it, go apply for both, and if things get too much, i think you're given a month or so long window to switch from a course.

I'm just about to graduate from a degree in Japanese (and Spanish) - I've been learning Korean for about a year now, after taking a course on my year abroad. It's so much easier to learn Korean through Japanese rather than English! Many of the words are based off chinese, which means that the pronunciation is almost the same as in Japanese (ie 家族 kazoku and 가족 kajok --> family)
So if you go for Japanese, it'll help your Korean self study

But is it true that the pronounciation of Japanese words and letters hark back to the Sanskrit, the original language of (Indian?!) buddhist monks? just to make the pronounciation simple?

By the way, are the Japanese using Romanji letters in their everyday life? as they are used to use Kanji, why they have Romanji letters anyway?

I've never heard of that, so can't confirm or deny!

And romaji is literally just used for foreign people who are learning Japanese and can't read it properly yet. Maybe occasionally to make stuff 'look cool', but very rarely.

I see. In other words: Romanji is just for beginners who want to learn Japanese from the roots and to get used to Japanese letters step by step.

I have read in a magazine that a Japanese went to a buddhist monastery for a while, learnt the sanskrit language and realized that it would make the pronounciation simple for Japanese. This Japanese monk has a well known name, but I just can't remember. Are you interest in it? would name his name, if you are curious,

My teachers encouraged us to stop using Romaji within the first two weeks of learning Japanese - if we couldn't read hiragana by that point we were out. It can (sadly) become a crutch and not be helpful if you rely on it for too long.

Hiragana and katakana came from kanji, which in turn came from China, so I'm not really sure how the whole sanskrit thing would play into that.

Very interesting. And how long it lasted for you to get used to Kanji? how long you learnt to be fluent in Japanese in total? so speaking, pronounciation, using the Kanji letters, etc.

I will give you some informations about the sanskrit thing when I found them.

x

But is it true that the pronounciation of Japanese words and letters hark back to the Sanskrit, the original language of (Indian?!) buddhist monks? just to make the pronounciation simple?

By the way, are the Japanese using Romanji letters in their everyday life? as they are used to use Kanji, why they have Romanji letters anyway?

Very interesting. And how long it lasted for you to get used to Kanji? how long you learnt to be fluent in Japanese in total? so speaking, pronounciation, using the Kanji letters, etc.

I will give you some informations about the sanskrit thing when I found them.