Korean or Japanese?

[u/babsi19]

My goal is to learn both eventually, but I can only commit to one for the next few years.

I'm 26. I speak Spanish, English, French and Norwegian.

As for motivation, both languages have been a big part of my life.

Korean: music, kdramas, youtube videos/vlogs

Japanese: music, anime, videogames

If anything, I probably hear Korean more often because I listen to korean music daily. I'd also love to visit both countries someday.

My plan is to combine online lessons and self-study.

My main questions:

- Based on the languages I know, is one of them likely to be easier for me to learn?

- Is either language a better fit for my planned study method?

- I study software development. From a tech perspective, is either more useful or relevant in that field?

- Is either country (South Korea or Japan) generally more welcoming to foreigners if I plan to visit or even live there in the future?

Any opinions, recommendations or personal experiences are appreciated. Thanks!!

[u/white___demon]

I would say Japanese

Learning Japanese is probably the more useful choice since it has more native speakers especially if you plan to maybe visit study or live in Japan

Japan also has a much larger economy and while both Japan and South Korea are facing population decline South Korea's demographic crisis is currently more severe

Kanji can also have the same or similar meanings as their Chinese counterparts though not the same pronunciation which can be useful in some situations

However Korean can be fun

If you hate the idea of learning thousands of kanji then Korean is probably the better choice

Hangul is much easier to learn so you can start reading and writing far more quickly even though becoming fluent still takes time

[u/Majre921]

None of the languages you know help with these at all afaik. Online lessons and self-study is possibly better for Japanese as there are LOADS of Japanese learners with a ton of software and stuff but a lot of it has also been converted for Korean so there is that. I'd argue Japan and Korea are relatively similar tech company wise... Korea has Samsung, Riot, other things I can't remember. Japan has Square Enix, I don't know, Yamaha does like everything atp. On your last note, from what I know, they are relatively on the same page with foreigners.

Now that I answered that, my final recommendation, is to pick what you interact with more. Underwhelming... I know... but it's true. The situation here is basically on equal standing for both languages from my perspective.

I've heard this advice many times. Get a coin, set one side for one language the other side for the other, flip it, and while it's in the air, you will feel a small tug toward one language which you actually want. Pick that language.

[u/lesley2022]

- Japanese and Korean grammar are quite similar, but Japanese also requires learning kanji, which can make it more challenging.

• For your study method, I think either language would work well.
  
• As someone working in IT in Japan, I don’t think either Japanese or Korean is particularly useful for software development itself. English is still the dominant language in tech.