Is Korean harder than Japanese? (2023)

Is Korean harder or Japanese?

Unlike other East-Asian languages, Korean isn't a tonal language. This means, that the meaning of the word doesn't change, regardless of what your accent is like. This makes learning Korean much easier than Japanese.

Some parts are harder for Korean while other parts are harder for Japanese. However, considering the larger number of sounds and the different particles in Korean, Japanese is definitely the easier language to start in.

Korean is really easy to pick up after knowing Japanese. The grammar is the same, and the alphabet is phonetic which is much easier than having to continuously learn kanji. The vocab is analogous too, since Japanese and Korean both take the main body of their vocab from Chinese.

If your goal of learning a certain language is related with Japanese culture, then Japanese is the best choice. If your goal is Korean culture such as K-pop, K-drama, or some others, then Korean might be the best choice.

Korean language has a lot of connectors and sometimes the sentences can get really lengthy with so many connectors. Your poor brain will be busy figuring out the connectors in the first half of the sentence while your Korean friend would already have spoken 5 more sentences.

The TZ Verdict on Seoul vs Tokyo

If you'd ask travellers who have been to both, some would say Seoul is better for first-time visitors. It's generally cheaper, after all, especially if you'll be travelling solo or with friends.

Further, the Koreans are more closely related to the Japanese and quite distant from the Chinese. The above evidence of the origin of Koreans fits well with the ethnohistoric account of the origin of Koreans and the Korean language.

The Japanese call their Chinese characters kanji, and these are still used (in modified form, and alongside two alphabets) to this day). In Korea, this writing system is known as Hanja.

Which language has the easiest grammar out of Japanese vs Korean vs Chinese? The grammar of Chinese is certainly much easier than it's Korean and Japanese counterparts!

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. FSI puts all three of those languages in their most difficult category, and they note that Japanese is slightly harder than the others in the group.

Is Korean worth learning?

Learning the Korean language is certainly a good hedge. It could help make your career or business more relevant in the future. Korea is already one of the strongest economies in Asia, and if trends continue, learning Korean could be just as important as learning Mandarin for business and career prospects.

Generally speaking, we might assert that Korean is easier for an English speaker to learn than Mandarin Chinese. But this is very relative. In fact, the US Foreign Service Institute assigns Mandarin Chinese and Korean the same level of difficulty. Both languages are in “Category Four”.

The two languages have been thought to not share any cognates (other than loanwords), for their vocabularies do not phonetically resemble each other. There is a minority theory attributing the name of the city Nara to a loanword from Korean (see: Nara, Nara#Etymology).

The phonetic system, pronunciation and the grammatical structure of the two languages are all extremely different. There are many sounds in the English language that simply do not exist in the Korean language, and this causes a multitude of pronunciation difficulties for Korean learners of English.

Well-known for its high-achieving students, South Korea's education system is quite demanding. Students spend much of their time, often between 12 to 16 hours per day, at school or at a special after-school academy called a hagwon.

Although Korean might be ranked as one of the more difficult languages to learn by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), it is by no means impossible. So don't worry about the “hours” it takes to learn Korean. You can learn Korean fast — and you may even already know more Korean than you think!

Climate in South Korea

South Korea has a continental climate characterised by very cold, dry winters and very hot, humid summers. Spring and autumn are relatively short and temperatures are mild and generally quite pleasant, making these the most comfortable seasons to visit South Korea.

According to NASA, Seoul is among one of the world's cities with the worst air pollution. Between 2009 and 2013, Seoul's mean PM10 levels were higher than in many of the largest cities in the world, including Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris and London.

A week in South Korea can cost you about $590 (per person), while a week in Japan may cost you around $724. These differences become even more noticable if you plan to spend a longer time in the country. 10 days, two weeks, or even one month of travel to South Korea or Japan can really add to your travel budget.

Koreans, along with Japanese and Tungusic speakers are generally considered a Northeast Asian group. The mitochondrial DNA markers (mtDNA haplogroups and HVR-I sequences) of Korean populations showed close relationships with Manchurians, Japanese, Mongolians and northern Han Chinese but not with Southern East Asians.

What language is Korean most similar to?

In terms of grammar, Korean is closest to Japanese. It also shares many words of Chinese origin. As such, learning Korean will give you a head start on learning Japanese, as well as some Chinese vocabulary.

Basic sounds of consonants and vowels are very similar. Japanese doesn't have certain vowels that exist in Korean. Japanese also doesn't use consonants as the last sound in a syllable with an exception of 'n'. Korean doesn't have the 'z' sound that exists in Japanese. Otherwise, they are phonetically almost the same.

Korean paper or hanji (Korean: 한지/韓紙) is the name of traditional handmade paper from Korea. Hanji is made from the inner bark of Broussonetia papyrifera known colloquially as paper mulberry, a tree native to Korea that grows well on its rocky mountainsides, known in Korean as dak.

While the similarities between the two languages are noticeable, Chinese and Korean aren't mutually intelligible. Korean and Chinese people couldn't understand each other if they only used their native language in a conversation. That's because they're from different language families.

Some reformers wished to eliminate kanji altogether, and have a phonetic written language only using kana, but this was decided against, and further reforms were halted. Modern kana usage still has one or two incongruities, as reform was halted at an intermediate stage.

1. Mandarin. As mentioned before, Mandarin is unanimously considered the most difficult language to master in the world! Spoken by over a billion people in the world, the language can be extremely difficult for people whose native languages use the Latin writing system.

Spanish has always been a go-to language for English speakers to learn due to its practicality and wide reach. Well, it's also one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.

The FSI puts Korean as a Category V language. Which means, it's one of the hardest languages to master. They estimate 2200 hours of study before you can reach fluency in Korean. Or 88 weeks of extremely intense study.

Is Japanese or Arabic harder?

Arabic is usually considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, topped by only a few languages like Japanese in terms of difficulty. Plus, it's even harder (or so they say) if you are a native speaker of English or a romance language.

However, since Korean is the easiest language to read due to its letter-based reading system, that also means Korean is the easiest language to write. You still need to know the grammar, though.

Korean is moderately easy to read (and write, but I'm not focusing on that). In fact, you could definitely learn to read it in an hour or two, and get good at it with just a few days of practice. Korean is written in its own alphabet, called Hangul (sometimes written Hangeul).

Relatively, Korean would be an easier language to learn. Thanks to its phonetic alphabet and more simplistic grammar rules, Korean is not the most challenging Asian language to learn. Chinese on the other hand is much more widely spoken. This means that finding study materials and practice partners would be easier.

The FSI puts Korean as a Category V language. Which means, it's one of the hardest languages to master. They estimate 2200 hours of study before you can reach fluency in Korean. Or 88 weeks of extremely intense study.

Due to tight-knit families and the hard-working nature of the people of South Korea, expectations of the students are consistently above the bar from a very early age. There everyone is hardworking. Every student is required to spend 2/3 of their day in the school system.

Generally speaking, we might assert that Korean is easier for an English speaker to learn than Mandarin Chinese. But this is very relative. In fact, the US Foreign Service Institute assigns Mandarin Chinese and Korean the same level of difficulty. Both languages are in “Category Four”.