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Japanese or Korean?

I am very interested in learning Korean and Japanese but I feel as though learning two languages at the same time would be too much for me. I was thinking that I would take on one of the languages at University and the other in my spare time later. But I'm not sure which one to do when? pls help;
- Any advice on which you'd think would be easier to study independently,
- The pros and cons of learning the language
- and Any websites that would help me learn both of the languages.
Thank you
I'm learning Korean whilst studying A-levels. Korean is fairly simple to learn and doesn't really confuse me too much. I just do it in my spare time. However Japanese is very, very difficult. Also take note that there's hardly any Korean degree courses, but there's loads of Japanese degree courses.
Original post by kharaa
I am very interested in learning Korean and Japanese but I feel as though learning two languages at the same time would be too much for me. I was thinking that I would take on one of the languages at University and the other in my spare time later. But I'm not sure which one to do when? pls help;
- Any advice on which you'd think would be easier to study independently,
- The pros and cons of learning the language
- and Any websites that would help me learn both of the languages.
Thank you
Are we talking about studying one of these as your degree or on the side?
Reply 3
Original post by 04MR17
Are we talking about studying one of these as your degree or on the side?


Studying one of them as a degree for a combined course.
Original post by kharaa
Studying one of them as a degree for a combined course.
I've moved your thread into this sub-forum so that you'll hopefully get the replies you're after.:wink:

I know very little about learning language because I'm so bad at it.:redface:

If you need anything about combined honours stuff, I am more knowledgeable on that though.:colondollar:
Reply 5
Original post by 04MR17
I've moved your thread into this sub-forum so that you'll hopefully get the replies you're after.:wink:

I know very little about learning language because I'm so bad at it.:redface:

If you need anything about combined honours stuff, I am more knowledgeable on that though.:colondollar:


thank you very much,
theoretically speaking if i were to do a combined honours with a language and economics or eng lit would i be able to do a conversion course to law? idk if i would actually do it but im curious whether its possible.
Original post by kharaa
thank you very much,
theoretically speaking if i were to do a combined honours with a language and economics or eng lit would i be able to do a conversion course to law? idk if i would actually do it but im curious whether its possible.
It's certainly unusual but I can't see why it's not impossible.:smile:

I'd question what your career goals actually are though.:tongue:
Reply 7
well, i self learn Korean at the moment and reading the words honestly isn't that hard! i learnt the entire alphabet in a day and you can do so, too! personally, i tried both languages and i honestly found Korean easier. i use sitea like Talk to Me in Korean where you can listen to a podcast a day that literally TEACHES you Korean. Tey their textbooks, too! they're not expensive and are REALLY good! also sites like "How To Learn Korean" - that'show i learnt the alphabet and how to read and pronounce words fluently. what ever you choose, listen to music in that language - preferably slow, so you understand it when you're starting out - and watch several TV shows. i suggest reality shows over dramas just because their manner of speaking is a lot more realistic and pronounce things a lot more clearer if I'm honest. please let me know what you decide. if you'dlike help with Korean. I'd be honoured to help you!
Reply 8
Original post by MariaMay
well, i self learn Korean at the moment and reading the words honestly isn't that hard! i learnt the entire alphabet in a day and you can do so, too! personally, i tried both languages and i honestly found Korean easier. i use sitea like Talk to Me in Korean where you can listen to a podcast a day that literally TEACHES you Korean. Tey their textbooks, too! they're not expensive and are REALLY good! also sites like "How To Learn Korean" - that'show i learnt the alphabet and how to read and pronounce words fluently. what ever you choose, listen to music in that language - preferably slow, so you understand it when you're starting out - and watch several TV shows. i suggest reality shows over dramas just because their manner of speaking is a lot more realistic and pronounce things a lot more clearer if I'm honest. please let me know what you decide. if you'dlike help with Korean. I'd be honoured to help you!


thank you for the responce :smile: i'll take you up on that offer on a later date
also, consider the cultures and the countries because you'll probably want to go there after learning the language or may even live there :smile:
This is a very late response but I also wanted to give you input - I'm a South Korean who's been learning Japanese for 3 years.
I've lived in South Korea since I was 11 and I've been to Japan 3 times, and I speak native Korean and fairly fluent Japanese.

I personally think that learning Korean will probably be easier. Both languages have a fair share of words that root from the English language, so you'll start out knowing a lot more words than if you were to, say, learn Mandarin (which I also speak, and is definitely much more difficult). But here are the objective advantages that I think Korean will provide when learning for the first time as a foreign language:

1. The simple alphabet. Both languages have their own alphabets (which you probably already know), and with the exception of a few rules they are written exactly as they should be read and you should have not problem aside from the memorisation. However, Japanese has not one but two sets of useable alphabets - Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used much more widely, with katakana mostly utilised for emphasis or for words that are taken from other languages such as English. In addition, Japanese uses kanji, the Japanese form of Chinese characters, which is an extra burden - not to mention the fact that a certain character can be read completely differently depending on the situation!

2. Honourifics. Both languages have honourific forms that are different from the casual / colloquial forms, as both countries have a sort of Confuscian culture that encourages respect for elders or those in high positions. Which means that whichever one you learn, you'll have to end up learning two rather different versions of the language. However, in this aspect Korean is definitely much easier to learn. Korean basically has two types: ban-mal (반말: non-honourific) and jondaemal (존댓말: honourific). Japanese does too, but their system of honourifics is much more complicated depending on the relationship between you and the listener or whatever other third party is involved. It's something that Korean used to have as well but shed a little over time, while it seems to have remained much more preserved in its Japanese counterpart.

Korean and Japanese have similar grammatical structures, but it's wildly different from English so it may take a while to get used to it.
Whichever one you choose to study, I'm confident you'll enjoy it. I recommended Korean to you because I felt it may be easier for someone to learn it as a second language, but studying Japanese is something I truly enjoy and I find myself making excuses to go back to Japan each holiday. What a beautiful country.

For either language, I think it would be effective if you used Korean or Japanese TV entertainment to help you get a grasp of the language. K-drama has become popular in recent days, which makes it easily accessible, and anime has already been around for ages. I've observed that my friends (who also learn Japanese) find it much more comfortable to start speaking the language when they've heard it being said so many times through anime.

Anyway, both languages and the cultures behind them are historical and beautiful and I'm sure you'd enjoy either one equally. I'd be happy to answer any other questions or to help you out in the process. (Or recommendations for stuff to watch. Haha)

Happy Language-ing!
Reply 11
Original post by pearlygrey
This is a very late response but I also wanted to give you input - I'm a South Korean who's been learning Japanese for 3 years.
I've lived in South Korea since I was 11 and I've been to Japan 3 times, and I speak native Korean and fairly fluent Japanese.

I personally think that learning Korean will probably be easier. Both languages have a fair share of words that root from the English language, so you'll start out knowing a lot more words than if you were to, say, learn Mandarin (which I also speak, and is definitely much more difficult). But here are the objective advantages that I think Korean will provide when learning for the first time as a foreign language:

1. The simple alphabet. Both languages have their own alphabets (which you probably already know), and with the exception of a few rules they are written exactly as they should be read and you should have not problem aside from the memorisation. However, Japanese has not one but two sets of useable alphabets - Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used much more widely, with katakana mostly utilised for emphasis or for words that are taken from other languages such as English. In addition, Japanese uses kanji, the Japanese form of Chinese characters, which is an extra burden - not to mention the fact that a certain character can be read completely differently depending on the situation!

2. Honourifics. Both languages have honourific forms that are different from the casual / colloquial forms, as both countries have a sort of Confuscian culture that encourages respect for elders or those in high positions. Which means that whichever one you learn, you'll have to end up learning two rather different versions of the language. However, in this aspect Korean is definitely much easier to learn. Korean basically has two types: ban-mal (반말: non-honourific) and jondaemal (존댓말: honourific). Japanese does too, but their system of honourifics is much more complicated depending on the relationship between you and the listener or whatever other third party is involved. It's something that Korean used to have as well but shed a little over time, while it seems to have remained much more preserved in its Japanese counterpart.

Korean and Japanese have similar grammatical structures, but it's wildly different from English so it may take a while to get used to it.
Whichever one you choose to study, I'm confident you'll enjoy it. I recommended Korean to you because I felt it may be easier for someone to learn it as a second language, but studying Japanese is something I truly enjoy and I find myself making excuses to go back to Japan each holiday. What a beautiful country.

For either language, I think it would be effective if you used Korean or Japanese TV entertainment to help you get a grasp of the language. K-drama has become popular in recent days, which makes it easily accessible, and anime has already been around for ages. I've observed that my friends (who also learn Japanese) find it much more comfortable to start speaking the language when they've heard it being said so many times through anime.

Anyway, both languages and the cultures behind them are historical and beautiful and I'm sure you'd enjoy either one equally. I'd be happy to answer any other questions or to help you out in the process. (Or recommendations for stuff to watch. Haha)

Happy Language-ing!


hey, i was wondering if you could recomend me some korean and japanese shows to watch. For example, any dramas, animation, variety shows, manga's/manhwa's etc...

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