While Korean writing may be easier to interpret than Chinese, both are different from each other and look nothing like any European language. Chinese and Korean both use characters but Chinese characters are not letters of the alphabet but represent different sounds. Some characters are words in their own right.
To recognize Korean script, you only need to look for the circles and ovals embedded in the text. Korean writing consists of open squares and open circles and ovals, which are unseen in Chinese and Japanese writing systems.
The Korean language is much more related to Chinese than one might think. Korean is also very closely related to Japanese, probably even more than Chinese, but Chinese words actually make up about 60% of the Korean vocabulary, though in actual speech (especially informally) native Korean words are more common.
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.
Chinese and Korean writing may look similar at first glance, but there are quite a few differences between the two. Chinese writing is based on ideograms, while Korean writing is based on phonetic symbols. This means that each Chinese character represents an idea, while each Korean letter represents a sound.
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.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
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?
As we've already mentioned, Japanese is considered the fastest language in the world. It is always mentioned as the first on the list. So, here are 6 of the fastest spoken languages in the world, based on the average number of syllables spoken per second (SPS): Japanese - 7.84 SPS.
There's certainly nothing wrong with South Korea, however China has even more experiences to discover because of the vastness of the land. The culture is also more welcoming and inclusive than Korean culture tends to be. For these reasons, China comes out on top as the best place for teaching English.
South Korea and Taiwan are densely-populated mountainous lands whose agriculture is primarily rice, although Taiwan is more tropical. In addition, the countries have a similar standard of living.
Overview of the Korean language
Linguistically, Korean isn't related to Chinese but is similar to, but still distinct from the Japanese language. One of the hardest aspects of Korean is that it is a hierarchical language which means different words are used depending on who you are communicating with.
Chinese characters, 漢字 (simplified 汉字), are known by many names: “Sinograms” (from the Greek name of China), “Hànzì” (from Mandarin), “Hanja” (from Korean 한자), and “Kanji” (from Japanese かんじ).
If you're new to learning the Korean language and it's your first time encountering the Korean writing system, it may just look the same as Japanese or Chinese writing. However, Korean writing's distinctive characteristic is the round letters like ㅇ or ㅎ. Korean writing also has spaces added between words.
Modern Korean
Even though Koreans no longer use Chinese characters in writing, the language is still full of words borrowed from Chinese.
According to a UNESCO survey, Bengali has been classified as the sweetest language in the world. As a language, Bengali is widely spoken all over India, including Assam and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The sweetest language in the world is also recognized in the Constitution of India.
Thus, given this evidence, Sumerian can also be considered the first language in the world or one of the ancient languages. Sumerian was gradually replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, but it continued to be used as a literary, ceremonial, scientific and sacred language until the 1st century AD.
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.
1. 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.
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.
It is more challenging than learning English but far easier than learning Chinese or Arabic. Research says 720 hours of serious study is required to attain basic proficiency in Urdu (10 hours per day). Furthermore, to achieve complete mastery of Urdu, a dedicated effort of 1100 hours (44 weeks) is required.
The language is written from right to left. This is difficult both conceptually and technologically — most computer systems were developed for left-to-right languages like English. Letters change shape based on whether they're in the beginning, the middle, or the end of a word.
Why is Pashto hard to learn? Pashto is a language spoken in both Afganistan and Pakistan. It's written in Perso-Arabic, a writing system similar to and derived from the Arabic alphabet. Pashto grammar is difficult--which nouns go with which verbs depends on tense.