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Korean vs Japanese


Japanese vs Korean


Countries

Countries
China, Jilin Province, North Korea, South Korea, Yanbian  
Japan  

Total No. Of Countries
5  
10
1  
14

National Language
North Korea, South Korea  
Japan  

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia, Pacific  

Minority Language
Japan, People's Republic of China, Russia, United States of America  
Palau  

Regulated By
The National Institute of the Korean Language  
Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁) at the Ministry of Education  

Interesting Facts
  • Korean has borrowed words from English and Chinese.
  • Korean has two counting systems. First, is based on Chinese characters and numbers are similar to Chinese numbers, and second counting system is from words unique to Korea.
  
  • In Japanese Language, there are 4 different ways to address people: kun, chan, san and sama.
  • There are many words in Japanese language which end with vowel letter, which determines the structure and rhythm of Japanese.
  

Similar To
Chinese and Japanese languages  
Korean Language  

Derived From
Not Available  
Not Available  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Korean-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Japanese-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
40  
21
99  
40

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
21  
18
5  
2

How Many Consonants
19  
9
14  
4

Scripts
Hangul  
Kana  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
5  
4

Time Taken to Learn
88 weeks  
13
88 weeks  
13

Greetings

Hello
안녕하세요. (annyeonghaseyo.)  
こんにちは (Kon'nichiwa)  

Thank You
감사합니다 (gamsahabnida)  
ありがとう (Arigatō)  

How Are You?
어떻게 지내세요? (eotteohge jinaeseyo?)  
お元気ですか (O genki desu ka?)  

Good Night
안녕히 주무세요 (annyeonghi jumuseyo)  
おやすみなさい (Oyasuminasai)  

Good Evening
안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo.)  
こんばんは (Konbanwa)  

Good Afternoon
안녕하십니까 (annyeong hashimnikka)  
こんにちは (Konnichiwa!)  

Good Morning
안녕히 주무셨어요 (An-yŏng-hi ju-mu-shŏ-ssŏ-yo)  
おはよう (Ohayō)  

Please
하십시오 (hasibsio)  
お願いします (Onegaishimasu)  

Sorry
죄송합니다 (joesonghabnida)  
ごめんなさい (Gomen'nasai)  

Bye
안녕 (annyeong)  
さようなら (Sayōnara)  

I Love You
당신을 사랑합니다 (dangsin-eul salanghabnida)  
愛しています (Aishiteimasu)  

Excuse Me
실례합니다 (sillyehabnida)  
すみません (Sumimasen)  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Jeju  
Sanuki  

Where They Speak
South Korea  
Kagawa  

How Many People Speak
10,000.00  
99+
1,000,000.00  
28

Dialect 2
Gyeongsang  
Hakata  

Where They Speak
South Korea  
Fukuoka  

How Many People Speak
10,000,000.00  
9
Not Available  

Dialect 3
Hamgyŏng  
Kansai  

Where They Speak
China, North Korea  
kansai  

Total No. Of Dialects
12  
12
31  
25

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
77.00 million  
22
128.00 million  
14

Speaking Population
1.14 %  
16
1.90 %  
10

Native Speakers
77.00 million  
12
128.00 million  
9

Native Name
한국어 (조선말)  
日本語  

Alternative Names
Hanguk Mal, Hanguk Uh  
Not Available  

French Name
coréen  
japonais  

German Name
Koreanisch  
Japanisch  

Pronunciation
Not Available  
/nihoɴɡo/: [nihõŋɡo], [nihõŋŋo]  

Ethnicity
Koreans  
Japanese (Yamato)  

History

Origin
Before 1st century  
1185  

Language Family
Koreanic Family  
Japonic Family  

Subgroup
Not Available  
Not Available  

Branch
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Old Korean, Middle Korean and Korean  
Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese and Early Modern Japanese  

Standard Forms
Pluricentric Standard Korean, South Korean standard and North Korean standard  
Japanese  

Language Position
12  
11
8  
8

Signed Forms
Korean Sign Language  
Signed Japanese  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
ko  
ja  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
kor  
jpn  

ISO 639 2/B
kor  
jpn  

ISO 639 3
Kor  
jpn  

ISO 639 6
Not Available  
Not Available  

Glottocode
kore1280  
nucl1643  

Linguasphere
45-AAA  
45-CAA-a  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Subject-Object-Verb  

Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative  
Agglutinative, Synthetic  

Countries >>
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Korean and Japanese Language History

Comparison of Korean vs Japanese language history gives us differences between origin of Korean and Japanese language. History of Korean language states that this language originated in Before 1st century whereas history of Japanese language states that this language originated in 1185. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Korean and Japanese Language History.

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Korean and Japanese Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Korean and Japanese greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Korean and Japanese language. Korean word for "Hello" is 안녕하세요. (annyeonghaseyo.) or Japanese word for "Thank You" is ありがとう (Arigatō). Find more of such common Korean Greetings and Japanese Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Korean vs Japanese Difficulty

The Korean vs Japanese difficulty level basically depends on the number of Korean Alphabets and Japanese Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Korean and Japanese are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Korean and Japanese, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Korean is 88 weeks while to learn Japanese time required is 88 weeks.

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