Japanese vs Korean
Which should you learn?
Korean is easier to start — its Hangul alphabet takes an afternoon, while Japanese makes you juggle two kana scripts plus thousands of kanji. But the two are grammatically similar (same word order, particles, politeness levels), so the deeper grind is comparable; the FSI rates both Category IV (~2,200 hours). Choose by motivation: Japanese for anime/manga and the JLPT, Korean for K-pop/K-drama and TOPIK.
Side by side
| 🇯🇵 Japanese | 🇰🇷 Korean | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system | Hiragana + katakana + ~2,000 kanji | Hangul alphabet (learn in hours) |
| Difficulty (English speakers) | FSI Category IV (~2,200h) | FSI Category IV (~2,200h) |
| Exam | JLPT (N5→N1) | TOPIK (I→II) |
| Pull | Anime, manga, games | K-pop, K-drama |
Pick Japanese if…
Pick Japanese if you watch anime/manga, want the JLPT, or plan to work in Japan — and you accept a slower start because of kanji.
Pick Korean if…
Pick Korean if you love K-pop/K-drama or want the fastest possible reading head-start (Hangul in a day), then ride the grammar similarity.