Korean. The Korean language, or Hangul, has a speaking speed of about 150 words per minute.
Meanwhile, Korean grammar is likely the hardest, while tones in Mandarin are notoriously difficult for native English speakers to hear, and Japanese is the fastest spoken language in the world at over 7 syllables per second.
As we've already mentioned, Japanese is considered the fastest language in the world. It is always mentioned as the first on the list.
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.
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.
Is Korean easier to learn than Japanese? Yes, Korean language is easier to learn than Japanese. To be able to read and write Japanese, you must memorize hiragana, katakana, and over 2000 Kanji (Chinese characters). Memorizing Japanese Kanji takes years of daily cramming.
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”.
Indonesian or Malay is the easiest Asian language to learn. Moreover, with 77 million speakers, it's certainly worth considering learning as the easiest Asian Language! Thus, what makes the language so simple compared to other Asian Languages?
8. How long will it take to become fluent in Korean? In general, it will take about 1200 hours to reach a higher intermediate level of Korean skills. You will need additional practice, so you may want to double that number to 2400 hours to get towards fluency using this simple math.
Mandarin Chinese
Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the writing system is extremely difficult for English speakers (and anyone else) accustomed to the Latin alphabet.
They found Japanese and Spanish, often described as “fast languages,” clocked the greatest number of syllables per second. The “slowest” language in the set was Mandarin, followed closely by German.
The truth is that Korean is one of the easiest Asian languages to learn for English speakers. Although Korean ranks as one of the most difficult languages by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), you'll feel incredible ease when it comes to learning Korean grammar compared to other “difficult” foreign languages.
And it ranks as 18th in the most used languages in the world. This makes the language useful for travel, or business. If you plan on doing any sort of business in the country, you will need to know Korean.
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.
“Omo” in Korean
The word “omo” is another common romanization for 어머. This word still means “oh my god” in Korean.
In comparison, you need around 10,000 words, random or not to reach a native speaker's level. Following this thought and considering that Korean is a much more complex language than English, you'll need around 3,000 words to get around and make yourself understood.
Well, for native English speakers, Korean may be particularly challenging due to: The complexity of the Korean writing system, Hangul. The different word order in Korean compared to English. The various levels of formality in Korean that dictate which words and grammar structures are used.
2. Japanese
Coming in at the second place in Japanese. Much of the reason why it's difficult is also because of its writing system. With thousands of characters to master, it's not an easy feat. There are three different writing systems: Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji; Kanji being the hardest.
The Japanese language is one of the most popular and beautiful languages in Asia. It is an ancient language of Asia. It is a very musical language.
According to FSI, the Foreign Service Institute, Vietnamese is categorized as Category IV of languages. The difficulty is just below learning Arabic, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. It normally takes 44 weeks or 1100 class hours to reach fluency.
Wrapping Up: Should I Learn Korean Or Japanese (2023)
Korean and Japanese are both similar and different from each other in certain aspects. Both languages share Chinese characters but have different pronunciations and vocabulary. It is easier for people to learn Korean if they already know Japanese and Chinese.
As, for the language, Korean is very very close to Japanese. Korean and Japanese are similar in grammer and other fundamental features. Chinese is quite different from Korean though many words are borrowed from Chinese. Therefore Korean people can learn Japanese fluently within short period of study and vice versa.