<p>I really wanted to take Korean as a foreign language in college cause I'm half Korean but I dont know how to speak it, but they don't offer it at ND, so I've chosen Japanese instead cause it seems like the closest thing. Is it the most similar language to Korean? So like, if I learn Korean later through some other way, which I definitely plan on doing, will I find it to be fairly easier to get a grasp of and learn if I already know Japanese? I'm still excited about learning Japanese, I just would rather take Korean, cause naturally, i would rather become more acquainted with my own culture since thus far, I've pretty much been raised like a 100% whitee.</p>
<p>Japanese and Korean are only roughly related, and having experienced life in both countries, I can say that one does not guarantee success in the other.</p>
<p>they've got completely different alphabets for one thing</p>
<p>That's the least of one's concerns. You can learn hangul in two days.</p>
<p>Do any schools that offer Korean interest you?</p>
<p>If I really want to learn English.Is English the closest thing?</p>
<p>Me fail English? That's unpossible.</p>
<p>I would say they are similar in that they are both asian languages and they both have SOV grammer formation, but other than that, they are very different in writing and sound. I did just get back from U of Chicago from a 3 week intensive Japanese course, and i had to Koreans in my class. One of them said that learning Japanese for him is comparable to english speakers learning french. He said it was pretty easy for him, but only because the grammar makes sense to him.</p>
<p>"Asian languages" doesn't really mean a whole lot, though. I mean, Vietnamese and Japanese are both "Asian languages," and they're nothing alike.</p>
<p>Same goes for any Indian language and Chinese. Both Asian-- nothing alike.</p>
<p>Ultimately, what makes Japanese and Korean somewhat doable as "similar" languages is the fact that, as BIGTWIX said, they're SOV languages. That, and they have relatively similar grammar.</p>
<p>However, they are not interchangeable. Trust me there.</p>
<p>Aren't most East Asian languages isolates? So there wouldn't be too much overlap, other than influences that occurred through cultural mixing.</p>
<p>Hmm...</p>
<p>This gets interesting. Japanese is generally considered an isolate, as is Korean. The debates on whether or not Ryukyuan forms are languages or just Japonic dialects never stop. Heck, I've seen some consider Japanese an Altaic language, but that always struck me as far fetched.</p>
<p>Chinese and Japanese, outside of writing and some Chinese loanwords, are not interchangeable at all.</p>
<p>Korean and Japanese are the same. All they share are grammar structures and Chinese words. Since Koreans have mostly dropped hanja teaching, you can't even use kanji to help you...</p>
<p>Yeah i think overall, it would be easiest in the future to learn japanese after having taken korean, rather than Chinese.<br>
Although knowing how to write the chinese characters can help you with japanese, since you would already know how to write many kanji (once you know the japanese meaning of course), korean will help you better understand the grammar.</p>
<p>If you really want japanese, why not just transfer, or get some private tutor or somethin.</p>
<p>Japanese and Korean arent related at all. sometimes to the untrained ear they may sound the same. Im not fluent in Korean, but I know enough to get in trouble. id recommend that you try to find a college that offers it, if you can actually teach English in Korea, it could be a fun experience, but you wont necessarily roll in $$$.</p>
<p>If you can find Korean students in your college, you don't need to worry about it. Actually, the difficult part of learning Korean is the pronunciation, I think. OR, you can watch Korean TV dramas instead.</p>
<p>Does Godzilla speak Korean or Japanese?</p>
<p>no he just roars. And its Gojira.</p>
<p>Hanul, nobody said they were related (being that they are both language isolates)
But they do share similarities that other languages to not posess. Mainly the SOV grammar formation.
Also, they dont really sound the same even to an untrained ear. They may get confused and mixed up, but that is because many people are ignorant and think all asians look alike, and all are chinese. But Japanese phonetics are very similar to that of english</p>
<p>BIGTWIX,</p>
<p>Actually, it may be that they are related. Some have suggested that both are Altaic, which would put them in a similar family. However, research on this is still underway.</p>
<p>As far as people getting them mixed up goes, I don't think it's that people are "ignorant and think that all asians look alike." I suspect that some of the sounds are similar, and that throws people off. After all, nobody is going to mistake Japanese for German. Oh, and Japanese phonetics are not really that similar. Especially the vowels...</p>
<p>weird... so i just went back to this thread, and then i for some reason just realized that you wanted to learn korean but ur school only offers japanese. This whole time i was thinking u wanted to take japanese, but you could only take korean. WOW, i am an idiot.</p>
<p>The best bet is definitely to find a Korean international student on your campus who can trade language lessons for help with his or her English from you. Maybe you could arrange a semester abroad in Korea? or maybe you could explore online options or the Rosetta Stone software and get credit for an "Independent Study"?</p>
<p>What someone else said: watch Korean dramas :D</p>