Korean VS. Japanese' Hangul VS. Kana & Kanji' which is easier?

The US government classifies both of them as languages which are very difficult to learn, based on how many hours it takes a native English speaker to gain fluency. How does Hangul stand up against Hiragana and Kanji? I'm going to cover some of that in this post.

Since I have been studying them both for a time I can say this out of experience. If you start with Japanese later on Korean will be more easy and I think it's the same vice versa.  I will introduce both of the writing systems to you.

Korean;

Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels which are all combined in syllable blocks. As an example 한글 (hangul) is divided into two syllable blocks. The first one is divided into three letters; ㅎ 'h' + ㅏ 'a' + ㄴ 'n'  which spell 한 'han'. The second block 글 'gul' also consists of three letters; ㄱ 'g' +  ㅡ 'u' + ㄹ 'l'.

I can say for sure Korean is more difficult in terms of pronunciation. For example the use of 'ㅂandㄱ.

'ㄱ' or 'ㅋ' is pronounced as 'ㅇ'(ng), when the latter word is started by 'ㄴ,ㄹ,ㅁ'

'ㄱ' is pronounced as 'ㅋ'(K) when the latter started by 'ㅎ',

'ㅂ' is pronounced as 'ㅁ'(m), when the latter started by 'ㅇ', and the latter is a compound word.

'ㅂ' or 'ㅍ' is pronounced as 'ㅁ'(m), when the latter word is started by 'ㄴ,ㄹ,ㅁ'

'ㅂ' is pronounced as 'ㅍ'(p), when the latter started by 'ㅎ

But, you only have to memorize 24 characters. How great does that sound compared to the Japanese writing system which has three alphabets!

Japanese;

The Japanese writing system can be divided into three 'alphabets'

-Hiragana ひらがな

-Katakana　カタカナ

-Kanji 漢字

When I studied Japanese I always explained the Japanese writing system simply like this.

Kanji is based on the Chinese Hanzi characters and is used for nouns. This means every Kanji character has a own meaning and even multiple meanings sometimes. Katakana is used for foreign words adapted in Japanese like ラジオ which is the Japanese word for radio and is pronounced as 'rajio'. Hiragana is used for everything else, for example particles like の.

These three alphabets can be combined  in one sentence. I will give you an example again;

私のラジオ = (watashi no rajio) = My radio

Kanji = 私 (watashi) = I

Hiragana = の (no) = states possesion

Katakana = ラジオ(rajio) = radio

As you can see I used all three alphabets in one sentence. Also 私 means ' I ' but together with の it becomes ' my ' . I think this is what makes the Japanese writing system beautiful but also shows how difficult it can be. 

There are a lot of particles like の and if you don't understand the particles, making sentences can be really difficult.

In comparison to Korean particles I think Japanese has the advantage in easiness. While in Japanese the particle ' は ' is only written as this, in Korean you have to choose between ' 은 ' or ' 는' . For the character ' を ' it can be either ' 을 ' or ' 를' 

Conclusion;

I think they are both equal in terms of difficulty. The downside on Korean is mostly pronunciation and the difficulty of the particles. The upside is you do not have to learn any Chinese characters. Many people say you can master Hangul in a week, I only agree to this concerning the writing part for the pronunciation you need a lot more time.

Then the downside to Japanese is of course learning all the Kanji. Again I hear a lot of people who say the Japanese pronunciation is really easy. I also read this everywhere and I really have to disagree. One of the things I thought was really important while learning Japanese was perfecting my pronunciation. I have seen so many people who studied Japanese for many years and even if you blindfolded me I could hear their pronunciation was not good.

You should not take both of them lightly but it's very rewarding speaking either one of these languages.

I wish you a lot of luck.

~Mei mei

Studying different languages at the same time

Learning two languages at the same time can be amazing but also confusing. At college I study English, German and Spanish while in my spare time I study Japanese and Mandarin. People often ask me if I get confused between these languages. While the answer is yes, I still can differentiate between all of them and I will give some pointers on how to learn different languages at the same time.

While you're studying at college you often study different languages at the same time. Why aren't we getting confused in college then? It is because they separate the classes. You spend one hour completely focused on one language, do something else and then they give you one hour again to focus on something different again. You can apply this method out of the classroom too. You can listen to Chinese music while driving to work, make your grocery lists in German and read a book in French.
The key to this is to keep everything separated and make a routine out of it. But, if you are listening to Chinese music while driving to work you must only listen to Chinese music. That way your brain is able to get used to different languages and you have less chance to mix words up.
In my daily life I speak Dutch with my classmates, English at work, German with my father, Japanese with friends and Spanish in the classroom.
As for the amount of languages, I think you should stick with a maximum of two languages at the time. Also choose two languages that are not similar to each other so they don't overlap in the process of studying.
Remember that time is a luxury and haste is the worst enemy of quality.

I hope this will help you.

~Mei mei

How to find native speakers to help you improve your skills

If you want to take your new language to a whole new level you should surround  yourself with your new language as much as possible. The best way to do this is to have a native speaker by your side. A native speaker can correct you, help you with pronunciation etc. The possibilities are endless. But if you live a 100 miles apart how do you find one? Since we live in the 21st century there are a lot of options. On the internet you have a lot of nice websites where you can start connecting with people from the other side of the world. I will introduce two of them in this post.

Interpals
Link; http://www.interpals.net/index.php
My profile; http://www.interpals.net/Meimeisensei

Interpals was actually one of the first language exchanging sites that I found when I started studying Japanese. (So I also had to remove the dust from my profile before writing about it). Interpals is a website that lets you make your own profile. You can fill in which languages you speak (and what kind of level you are) and you can fill in which languages you want to learn. You can also update your profile with all kinds of personal information like your favorite books, movies, quotes etc.

Then you have the option to search for friends. You can select the boxes for your preferences. You can search by continent, country and language. After that you can also select what kind of contact you want; language exchange, email penpals and several other options. You can send people messages to get in contact with them. Then you can choose yourself how you would like to exchange information.

Personally I really like Interpals because of the many options. You can just look for a casual friendship with a person from a foreign country or find someone which you spend your time with studying together. I think that is something that makes Interpals very versatile.

Lang-8
Link; http://lang-8.com/
My profile; http://lang-8.com/713828

Lang-8 is a new site which I recently discovered. I was searching a topic in Japanese on Google and accidentally stumbled upon Lang-8. I'm very excited to share this site because I have very high expectations of it. I just started with Lang-8 but so far I'm very pleased with what I see. Lang-8 is a website where you can make a profile just like Interpals. The major the difference is, you can post a journal in the language you are learning and it will appear directly to native speakers. The native speakers can correct it and give you tips so you can improve your skills. Also you can correct the journals of others to help them and earn points. The more points you earn more people will view your journals. I really like Lang-8. You can perfect your own language, improve the language you are learning and make new friends worldwide. Also the layout of Lang-8 is really convenient en clear.

It would be very nice if you would add me on one of these pages so we can study together. I would love to hear your thoughts one either of them.

~Mei Mei

Read 300x faster; Speed reading

How amazing would it be if you can read 300 times faster then usual. It would save you a lot of time, and you would be able to go over a lot more information in less time then you would normally need.

1. How to focus better
You can easily increase your focus with trackers and pacers. Use a pen or your finger tip to guide your eyes along the lines. This will prevent you from re-reading which makes it faster to go to the next line. Hold your pen flat against your book and underline each line keeping your vision right above the tip of the pen. The pen will serve as a tracker as well as a pacer, maintaining your concentration and speed so you don't get distracted and prevent you from staring.
Don't be concerned about actually understanding what you are reading and make sure you don't take longer than a second for one line.
Repeat this technique while increasing the speed. Maintaining this high speed will help you to get used to it and train your perceptual reflexes. Keep focusing on the exercise and try not to be distracted.

2. Perceptual expansion
This actually means reading 3 words while looking at one word. If you look at the center of the computer screen you will still perceive the sides. Training peripheral vision to register more effectively can increase reading speed by 300%. To give you an idea I use this line; ' I enjoy studying Japanese as much as I enjoy studying Korean.' If you were able to start at 'Japanese' and finish at 'studying' you eliminated 6 of the 11 words, which is more than double the normal speed. This concept is easy to combine with the trackers and pacers from point 1.

I hope this will help you!

~Mei Mei

How to start learning a foreign language top #3 tips

This will be a short introduction into the basics of learning a language.

1. Set a goal

Setting a goal is very important while learning a new language. What do you actually want to learn? Do you just want to say 'hi' and order a meal in a Japanese restaurant or do you want to understand your favorite Japanese movie? If you go for the first one, you only have to learn some grammar and the vocabulary of words you are using in the restaurant. For the second one, you have to dig deeper into grammar and learn more vocabulary.

2. Consistency

Learning a language can be simply compared to losing weight. If you don't eat healthy and ignore your workout schedule nothing will change. This is somehow the same as learning a language; if you don't study and don't practice you will learn nothing. Start with infusing your new language into your daily life. Spend 30 minutes per day for studying and have a rest day on Sunday. Listen to music in your new language and look at the lyrics. Watch movies and listen concentrated while reading the subtitles. Make grocery lists and count numbers all in your new language. Think about when you want to reach your goal and make a schedule. Be pro-active and stay consistent.

3. Maintaining

This is one of the hardest things to do. Maintaining the new language. If you don't know someone who speaks the language you learn, find a language buddy online so you can practice. The best thing to do is write everything you learn down. You will buy a lot of books, find a lot of online information and hear a lot of new things. It is obvious that you can't remember everything straight away so write everything down in your own ' language book'. Go trough the book every week and try to remember everything little by little. And if you are ready for it, combine tip #1 and #2 to set a new goal so you can challenge yourself.

I hope this will help you!

~Mei mei

Introduction to my blog

An introduction / explanation to my blog;

Welcome and thank you for visiting my blog!
On this blog I will share the experience I gain from studying different languages and cultures.
As for my self, I grew up with my father who is partly Chinese and partly Malay. As he truly loves the Chinese culture and food, he taught me a lot about his culture as I lived together with him for over six years. In times when my father was very busy I had a lot of hobbies to keep myself entertained. One of them was learning languages. I started learning Japanese a couple years a go when I wanted to use my spare time to learn something useful. Since my father rather wanted me to learn Chinese I studied Japanese in silence. A few years ago I got an amazing opportunity to work in a 5-Star Japanese hotel for half a year. Of course I had an amazing time there and my Japanese skills were put to the test. I perfected things in my pronunciation and got to practice a lot.
In the same area there is a Korean school, which was of course too interesting to stay away from. I studied Korean on the side for half a year as well and got a fairly good introduction into the language.
Now my head is full of Asian languages (and some Western I learned on the way as well) I'm really interested in learning the similarities but also the contradictions between several languages.

On this blog I can give you some tips and share some of my experiences while I'm on my Journey. I hope you enjoy reading it.