Japanese vs. Chinese vs. Korean: Which is Hardest?

[@IzzySealey]

Thanks so much to Paperlike for sponsoring this video! Check out the new Paperlike 2.1 with my link paperlike.com/izzy and transform your iPad experience. Interested in hearing more about resources for self-studying Mandarin? Sign up here: www.izzysealey.com/mandarin-email

[@NurulIslam-uq9mn]

Hi. lzzy my dear. Chinese beautiful girl friend how. are. you.

[@Naksu..]

Read the Quran.

[@grantnm1]

@Dr. Izzy Sealey this is very well organized and presented video, especially considering the amount of material covered. There’s one thing I can recommend, don’t eat your mic with a fork, spoons are much better to use (LOL) 😂

[@Abeturk]

Yeğ / Yüğ = upper, superior Yeğ-mek > Yemek (to eat)= to add on oneself, to take it in one's essence Yeğ-im> Yem= provender, fodder > Yemiş= fruit Yüğ-le-mek > yeğlemek = to keep it on top of others, make it relatively superior, ~to prefer Yüğ-ka-yer-u > yukarı =(which side is on top) = Up Yüğ-ce > yüce = superior in level /sublime Yüğ-ce-al-mek > yücelmek = to achieve superiority in level Yüğ-sü-ek > yüksek = high Yüğ-sel > yüksel = exponential , superlative Yüğ-sü-al-mek> yükselmek = to rise to a high level, to ascend Yüğ-sük > yüzük =(ring)= jewelry worn on the finger top Yüğ-sü-en-mek > yüksünmek= to feel slighted / take offended Yüğ-ük > yük =(load)> carried on top, undertaken Yüğ-ün > yün =(wool)> the feathers that on sheep Yüğ-üt > yiğit =(valiant)> superior in character Yüğ-en > yüğen /yeğen =(nephew)> which is kept superior, held in high esteem, valued, precious (yüen > yen 元) Yüğ-en-cük > yüğençüğ > yinçi (inci) =(precious little thing)> pearl , 珍珠 Yüğengi >yengi> yeni =(new)> what's that coming on top , what's coming after Yüğenge > yenge =(brother's wife)> who's coming after, added to the family later (new bride) Yüğ-üne /Yeğ-ine > yine/ gene =again /over and over > yeniden = anew /once more Yüğ-en-mek> yenmek = to overcome, to cope with, to subdue Yüğ-en-el-mek > yenilmek= to be overcome, to be subdued, to show weakness Yüğengil > yengil =remains on top of, light, weak Şan= Glory, splendor 單于 > Şan-Yüğ =Exalted glorious Yormak=to tire= to arrive over someone (too many). (too much) to go onto (Yörmek)> Örmek=(to operate on something), to weave on top , to wrap around (Yörümek)> Yürümek= to go over something, to wander around (yöre=precincts) (yörük=nomad) Yürümek= to walk (yürü=go on) Yülümek=to go by slipping over something Yalamak= to lick >~to take swiping/ by scraping on something off Yolmak= to pluck=to pull by snatching off, tear off (~flatten the top) Yılmak=to throw down from the one's own top (~get bored), to hit the ground from above (yıldırım=lightning…yıldız=star) Yurmak= to pull onto, cover over (yur-ut>yurt=tabernacle) (yur-gan>yorgan=quilt) Yırmak=to bring it on top of, to take it off (yırışmak>yarışmak= to race> to overcome each other) (Yır-et-mak)>Yırtmak= to tear= to get it inside-out or bottom to top (by pulling from both sides) (~tide over, get rid of it) Yarmak= to split, to tear apart= go vertically from top to bottom, separate by cutting off Yermek=to pull down ,pull to the ground Germek=to tense= to pull it in all directions > Sermek= to spread it in all directions Yıkmak= to overthrow , take down from top to bottom, turn upside down Yığmak= to stack= put on top of each other, dump on top of each other (yığlamak=shed tears over and over, cry over) Yağmak=get rained on, get spilled on / to pour down from above Yakmak= to burn out=to purify matter by heating and removing mass , reduce its volume Yoğmak=make condensed=to tighten and purify, narrow by turning, get rid of own volume (~get dead) Yoğurmak= to knead=tighten and thicken , reduce volume, bring to consistency (Yogurt=thickened milk product) Yuğmak=to purify squeezing to clean (Yuğamak>yıkamak= to wash) Yiv = sharp, pointed (yivlemek= sharpen the tip) Yuvmak=to squeezing thin out, narrow (yuvka>yufka= thin dough) (yuvka>yuka=thin, shallow) (yuvuz>yavuz=thin, weak, delicate) Yuvarlamak=to round off=narrow by turning (yuva (smallest shelter)= nest) (yavru (smallest)= cub ) Yummak=to shut by squeezing, close tightly (Yumurmak=make it closes inward) (yumruk=fist) (yumurta= egg)

[@Abeturk]

The names of some organs it's used as the suffix for nouns, “Ak”= ~each of both (Yan= side) Yan-ak= each of both sides (of the face) >Yanak= cheek (Gül= rose) Kül-ak = each of both the roses >Kulak= Ear (Şek=facet) Şek-ak = each of both sides (of forehead) >Şakak= temple (Dal=subsection, branch) Dal-ak=dalak= Spleen (Böbür=scarlet fleck) Böbür-ak=böbrek= Kidney = each of both red-spots / blodfleck Bağça-ak>(Paça-ak)>bacak= Leg (ankle) (Pati = paw) Batı-ak>pathiak>phatyak>hadyak>adyak)=Ayak= the foot > each of the feet (Taş=stone) Taş-ak=testicle Akciğer=(each of) both lungs Tül-karn-ak =that obscures/ shadowing each of both dark/ covert periods= Karanlık (batıni) çağların her birini örten tül Zhu'l-karn-eyn=the (shader) owner of each of both times Dhu'al-chorn-ein=double-horned-one=(the horned hunter)Herne the hunter> Cernunnos> Karneios it's used as the suffix for verbs, “Ak /ek“=a-qa ~which thing to / what’s to… Er-mek = to get / to reach Bar-mak (Varmak)= to arrive / to achieve Er-en-mek > erinmek / Bar-an-mak > barınmak =arrive at one's own Erin-ek / barın-ak = what’s there to arrive at oneself Ernek / Barnak > Parmak = Finger Çiğ=uncooked, raw Çiğne-mek =to chew Çiğne-ek>Çiğneh> Çene = Chin Tut-mak = to hold / to keep Tut-ak=Dudak= Lip Tara-mak = to comb/ ~to rake Tara-ak > Tarak =(what’s there to comb)> the comb Tara-en-mak > taranmak = to comb oneself Taran-ak > Tırnak =(what’s there to comb oneself)> fingernail

[@我让它发生]

Omg I love the fork microphone.

[@weidongli954]

where to get the fork microphone? Amazon?

[@jackchow8167]

@@weidongli954 probably DIY

[@Antyo_Stark]

it just ordinary fork with mic clip on it

[@tusamec6587]

One information I miss at 05:35 is that Japanese reading ist divided into kunyomi (the japanese way of reading it) and onyomi (the sino-japanese reading). So yeah, 水 would be みず (mizu) but the onyomi is すい (sui), which is close to the chinese shui. Mostly (but there are MANY exceptions) Kanji+Kanji=onyomi-reading while Kanji+Hiragana=kunyomi-reading.

[@wannabepolyglot1584]

i noticed this too! i picked up the onyomi version years ago from a tv show i watched, since it was part of the central antagonist's weapon name (kyouka suigetsu). the last part was translated as "water moon," so i thought it was odd she only mentioned that character could be read as mizu and not sui which is way closer to the chinese pronounciation.

[@lenslo223]

very good catch!

[@ky_rien]

hiragana that follows kanji is called okurigana btw. just a fun fact 😅😅

[@yokohamakid3641]

Izzyさん、こんにちは。わたしは、日本人です。 Thank you very much for picking up our languages as the topic. I was amazed to learn how deep you know the differences of three languages such as cultural back ground or grammar which even I don’t know. I felt much closer to you now. ありがとうございました。

[@splex9752]

I'm learning Korean right now, and I love it. This was a great video and helped a lot with the understanding with what each entails. Thank you!

[@JagVentures]

Thank you for this wonderful video Dr Sealey. I'm also teaching myself Chinese (Mandarin) purely due to my love for Chinese history and my admiration for Buddhism and Daoism. As a British Indian, I relish the spiritual bonds China and India shared throughout history. I hope the two countries can grow side by side. I wish all those reading my comment peace and the best of luck with their studies.

[@smlie986]

谢谢你的喜爱

[@hangbinliu691]

As a Chinese, I also think there is no need for conflict between China and India. Both countries have their own great culture and long history. The government should do its best for the people's lives, not political attack.

[@ahkoy973]

Well said 👏

[@jinniwind]

very well said, can't agree more.

[@JP-rk6gw]

Hope both India and China are not being used by imperialists!

[@ZHENYUANBI]

As a Chinese speaker, I think you pronunciation is really great and I have been learning English for over one decade.I hope you can make greater progress in learning Chinese.

[@JasonG761]

她是中国人。。

[@ignatiuschua5268]

​@@JasonG761她是美国人。 华语是自学的。 太聪明了。

[@JasonG761]

@@ignatiuschua5268 她一看就是混血长相 家里至少一位会讲中文的

[@ignatiuschua5268]

@@JasonG761 我家也有人会讲华语，但孩子们都讲的超烂。 我自己也好的不怎么样。

[@werewhoweare]

油管式评论真是够无聊的，

[@vocabjourney23]

Hi Izzy, thanks for posting this fun and informative video! My wife is Vietnamese and I’m Japanese. She would blast Japanese as the craziest language because of all those Kanjis, and I would retort roasting Vietnamese as the nastiest language because of those six tones. We don’t get along in terms of languages but our little son speaks both languages with ease😆

[@sara.cbc92]

Vietnamese....is the most elegant language let's put it that way

[@verumverba5711]

Kanjis? Dude, apparently you don’t know anything about Vietnamese! It’s said that Vietnamese has nearly 70% of Sino-Viet vocabularies(which are borrowed Sinitic words like Japanese). The fun fact is that Vietnamese’s official written language used to be classical Chinese that ended in 1920. Further, in pronunciation, Vietnamese pronounced the Sino-Viet closer to middle Chinese than Japanese. I’ve yet to mention that ancients Chinese words are deeply entrenched in Vietnamese, that the natives think it’s part of Vietnamese and not Chinese… While it’s true that Vietnamese is a Mon-Khmer language, it uses the same percentage of Chinese loan words (Kanji in Japan) as Japanese… Maybe your wife should have taught you how to correctly pronounce those Kanji words 😂😂😂😂😂

[@yo2trader539]

Perhaps next time you may wish to remind her that Vietnamese historical texts were written in KANJI. HANOI is 河内, Vietnam is 越南, and Ho Chi-Minh is 胡志明 in KANJI. The phonetics of Vietnamese, however, is a different matter. Whether listening to Vietnamese or Cantonese...that is a challenge. I'm sure you know who 阿倍仲麻呂 is (and his famous poem in 百人一首). He served in the Tang Dynasty and later appointed to the Governor of Northern Vietnam and was stationed in Hanoi. His official title was 安南節度使.

[@bW9taeH4]

@@sara.cbc92 Vietnamese grammar is very simple for an English speaker. But if a person can't handle the tones, which are harder for people as they get older, they won't be understood and will have trouble understanding. The same is true with Chinese. Japanese grammar is much different from English, but isn't as complex as people make it out to be. It takes longer to learn sentence structure, but it's easier to pronounce. There are more sounds that don't exist in English than the video mentions, but if you don't know the difference between the H, W, N and other sounds in English and the ones in Japanese that are represented by those letters in Romaji, you will still be understood.

[@bW9taeH4]

@@verumverba5711 That's the point though. It would require being taught how to pronounce those Kanji words to get them right in Chinese, or to get those 70% of Vietnamese words to sound like their Chinese equivalent. If you wrote out the Chinese words with the Roman alphabet and compared then to written Vietnamese, it would be easy as an English speaker to recognize the similarities. But if you are a Chinese or Vietnamese speaker, they will more likely sound like different words despite having the same roots. The bottom line is that you can't look at Kanji from Japanese and figure out a Vietnamese word, and if it were possible, then Japanese speakers would pick up on a lot of Vietnamese words and vice versa. On the other hand, there's little need to teach people how to pronounce Japanese words once they know the sounds in Japanese for each syllable. There are a few things that English speakers have problems with, such as double vowels and consonants, but once they are learned, reading becomes easy.

[@English-ye9vg]

You arrived at the perfect moment. This year that is coming I have planned to learn Korean :)!

[@peachygyuk]

Love this video! I’m Singaporean so I’ve been speaking English and Chinese since I was young. Personally as a native speaker, I remembered struggling a lot with memorising thousands of chinese characters despite already learning it from my parents ever since I was a baby. I think a non-native speaker will struggle with the vocabulary even more than I did. Secondly, as a person interested in learning a third language, I found korean to be slightly easier than japanese, mainly because i found kanji far too similar to chinese and struggled remembering the different meanings and pronunciation for the exact same character. On the other hand, the hangul is indeed extremely simple to understand and I’ve been finding it a joy to self-learn so far :)

[@awaiskhan9329]

You are Chinese? I have started learning Chinese recently and I would like more interaction with the locals.

[@CrisTryingToBeProductive]

I'm learning Mandarin then I'd like to learn Korean because it doesn't use characters (hanja is for very specific uses), since Korean and Japanese have a similar grammar that would help me then by knowing hanzi I can take advantage to learn kanji. Since I'm a Spanish speaker pronunciation shouldn't be much of a problem, but who knows.

[@maklam3935]

I'm Chinese, I'm learning English by myself,but it is difficult for me,can you teach me English,and i can teach you Chinese😅

[@awaiskhan9329]

@@maklam3935 whom are you asking ?

[@maklam3935]

i am talking to you,and i gald to see your reply,thanks,good luck

[@tamashiinohako1615]

The mic on the fork 😂 I don't know about Chinese or Korean, but yes indeed Japanese grammar is a lot simpler compared to English or French and if you are indeed a native English speaker (especially if you speak the Queen's English) I feel Japanese pronunciation would feel quite naturally to you once you get into it.

[@rokko_fable]

Korean and Japanese have almost identical grammar. Chinese has the easiest grammar by far.

[@brbapappa]

Use chopsticks 🥢

[@Thedennati]

@@rokko_fable Difficulty of Mandarin is not its grammar per se. However, you get several terms with seemingly the same meaning but a lot of subtle differences, using them correctly can get tricky. And then there are idioms - 成语, which add another level of difficulty :)

[@paullee4210]

Hello Izzy, I am Korean-American been living in the US for 4 decades plus since I came here when I was a teenager. There’s much I could say about the Korean language. Yeah, your information is sufficient. I’ve been a subscriber since your last year at Cambridge University. Glad to see that you’re making much progress in different aspects of life.

[@denalisiomontpellier4064]

I had a girlfriend from South Korea when I lived in US. To make a joke to her, once I said I knew a Korean word. The funny thing is, I told her a word only used by North Korea, so she was kind of mad haha

[@xncnx-w1v]

ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ​@@denalisiomontpellier4064

[@jangelbrich7056]

Indeed, Hangul is basically extremely easy to learn - IF You are lucky to find a good explanation of that system of arrangement of the basic graphemes. I had a book some 30 years ago that failed(!) to explain that (otherwise it was not that bad), so I stood in front of a mountain - because there was no internet 30 years ago. Then last year I found some nice and simple explanation of it, and I could not believe myself that it enabled me to learn Hangul literally in a few hours. It is so beautiful!

[@SDongil]

The trick is that Koreans are very precise with pronunciation of vowels and diphthongs, but sloppier with consonants. This is the opposite of English speakers, where often English dialects are characterized by differing vowel pronunciation. Some of the Korean vowels, especially the diphthongs, sound very much alike to me as an English speaker who's reasonably fluent in the language.

[@cookingshellybean]

I am holding back on a bunch of thoughts (my previous draft was lost too). However I do appreciate the conversation you foster with this video, with care. Just wanted to interject on water 水 : • shui3 (Mandarin) • すい ("sui"- Japanese) In this context, you're not comparing using "mizu", which is for drinking water. Kanji is a tricky game of knowing which pronounciation and character you're going to read/write because you memorized the contextual usage when you learned Japanese. Actually, that's the entire language -- knowing what to choose to properly speak or write a word or phrase, based on context and audience. Korean is similar too, like you mentioned (honorifics are stricter, IMO). There is an advantage in Kanji if you studied Chinese beforehand, but only for reading, and even that, you might not understand the context with the way the Han zi is being used in Japanese text. Kanji mixes traditional and simplified Chinese too, which is a really funny situation when someone who only studied Japanese of the three, reads and scratches their head at the traditional Han zi character you chose versus the simplified one you were supposed to in the Hiragana-Kanji hot mess you wrote (true story). Hangul is such a nice writing system for this (but I didn't study it long enough to be able to comment more on it). Also: • seoi2 in Cantonese (which, I'm terrible at, but I think it almost sounds exactly like if you couldn't decide between speaking Mandarin and Japanese, you decided to speak a combination of the two) -- A really nice comparison among the three languages is actually in "library" which I think is a beautiful summation of how the three countries highly value scholarly pursuits. • 圖書館 （tu2 shu1 guan3) - Mandarin • 図書館 (としょかん / toshokan) - Japanese • 도서관 (do seo gwan) - Korean

[@jiahanglyu6758]

Good supplement. Thanks.

[@amayaperry]

There’s a few languages I want to learn and with time the list will likely grow… I considered learning Spanish bc it’s the 2nd most spoken language in the US but somehow i fell in love with Korean. I sometimes get criticized for choosing Korean before learning Spanish (which is also on my list) but then i realize that if i follow what everyone else is saying instead of what i want-I’ll learn nothing. Never fully committing to any new language. Plus you never know where life may take you. I might need Korean someday. This video came at a perfect time. (Also this video has made me feel less afraid of wanting to learn all three of these languages. Actually my brother was a big inspiration bc he taught himself some Mandarin Chinese when we were younger) ❤

[@gigglyhroy7422]

As a native Japanese speaker I’m glad you introduced our language briefly but correctly!

[@唯遥森]

I agree with you completely as a Japanese girl;)

[@唯遥森]

それな！😎

[@andresmattos7541]

Have you read about unit 731?

[@rurunosep]

@@andresmattos7541 What does that have to do with the Japanese language?

[@doggy00d]

@@andresmattos7541 What? 天安门事件？

[@jacquelynsoo9164]

Glad to have chanced upon this video! I'm a Chinese Singaporean, learning Japanese and intending to hop onto learning Korean in a couple of years! It is like a family link btw these 3 languages!

[@kahhengyeong7947]

I'm fluent in Chinese with a huge interest in self learning Korean. Yes, I almost completely agree with everything that's said! Just that maybe because I know Mandarin but not Japanese, I find Japanese incredibly difficult because many words and phrases do not have similarities with Mandarin or English unlike Korean and that Japanese has such a complicated writing system. But from this video, it's easy to see that you have got quite an in depth grasp of Mandarin having just learnt it.

[@oscarjeong9438]

For German speakers, Korean could be easier for you. There are similar vowel sounds in Korean language. ä, ö, ü are all commonly used in Korean language. Also Koreans and Germans have similar dishes: "fermented vegetables" "love for pork recipes"

[@w.z.6062]

Very informative video! Katakana and hirakana in Japanese were also developed from Chinese writing, They are more like radicals in Chinese characters.

[@TheOtakuDude]

*hiragana

[@AleenaEV]

Wow this video came out while I was learning Japanese . I already have some prior knowledge on Korean and am partially fluent in it . I’ve also always wanted to learn Chinese . So thank you Izzy for the video

[@lehg1873]

I am Mexican and I am trying to learn these three languages. I would like to know how to learn efficiently since grammar is hard. As a Spanish speaker, I think that Asian languages in the future will be essential to be able to communicate.

[@ChrisP978]

There are 808 Chinese characters that are shared between all 3 languages (old Korean hanja writing system). The pronunciations are often different so it is still difficult when learning simultaneously. The grammar structure is very similar so that definitely helps. For me it definitely helped to use resources that break the character down into radicals and showed the origin of the radical so you can mentally associate.

[@ivanovichdelfin8797]

¿Hay algún recurso para saber el origen de esos radicales?@@ChrisP978

[@jjamaismin]

the fork😭

[@IzzySealey]

🤭🤭

[@thelias91]

If you leaned a bit of Cantonese, you will notice some Japanese or Korean words pronunciation are closer to Cantonese than to Mandarin, because a lot of sino-japanese and sino-korean pronunciation came from middle-chinese, and Cantonese retain more sounds from middle-chinese, compared to mandarin which diverge due to northern foreign influences. 👍

[@IzzySealey]

Yesss it’s so cool!

[@benkim2016]

So true but it has 9 different tones!

[@vincentyip1118]

Actually Korean and Japanese are closer to Minnan (Fujian language) than Cantonese or Mandarin, I speak all three fluently since I was a kid in Singapore.

[@thelias91]

@@vincentyip1118 oh I didn't know it, that's cool !

[@syphonlo5112]

FYI, the Vietnamese language also has much influence by the Cantonese words.

[@vvxvxzjknck-wq2nf]

hi lizzy, I am Chinese, I have been watching your Vedioes for almost a year now ,and it adds so much motivations to my lifes .Thank you so much!And by the way ,you could learn Chinese more fun by watching vedioes in douying (the Chinese version Tiktok)😘

[@ioenglishworld224]

I speak Japanese at near-native level and also speak conversational Korean. (Incidentally, I can also read and write both languages.) I can tell that Dr. Izzy speaks English (and probably Chinese) at a native level, but not Japanese. And Korean probably not at all because I didn’t hear her say anything in Korean throughout the video; however, in my experience (almost 30 years in Asia, mostly Tokyo) all her analysis is spot on. Japanese and Korean are amazingly similar grammatically with Japanese being far, far easier to pronounce. Korean grammar is a bit more difficult. In terms of reading and writing, you should be able to master hangul within a week. As for learning to read and write Japanese, it’s gonna take a while - you will never stop learning all the various readings of the thousand(s) of kanji you need to read the language. But if you wanna get conversational in any of these three languages, Japanese is easily the easiest. Especially if you know Korean.

[@richardkim226]

I am an native Korean speaker and Japanese was very easy to learn because grammar is exactly the same and there are many similar words but it get harder as you dig deeper

[@graziehiro4338]

こんにちは、Dr. Izzy. I'm Japanese and I'm learning English. English is very difficult for Japanese people.

[@宋心悦-k4j]

For speakers of languages related to Latin, Chinese Mandarin is a totally different system and it has a lot to do with its traditional culture. Chinese characters are“表意文字”while others are“表音文字”（not sure）. If people learn its traditional culture and ancient Chinese, it'll help a lot to learn Chinese Mandarin but that's not an easy way. If someone has knowledge about Mandarin, it'll be easier to understand Japanese language.

[@catchnkill]

Not entirely correct. There are six categories of chinese characters. Pictogram is one of the six. However the majority is on the category of ideogram plus phonetic. Just an example of this major type. 評 means to comment. 言 is the pictogram part to denote things about talking, speech etc. 平 is the phoetic part.

[@ianmcmichael6576]

I also love the fork microphone....plus the content of course!

[@deoregiant]

Thank you for inspirational video. I am looking forward to technique of learning Korean. Thank you Izzy.

[@stephaniepraud6271]

Hi! Thanks for your advice 🙏🙏 I'm french and I learn English, Korean and Now Chinese !

[@hoctienganhtoiutah]

我是越南人。高中毕业后，我移民到了美国。 我能说流利的越南语和英语。我也在网上自学中文多十年了。 I am Vietnamese. After I graduated from high school, I immigrated to the US. I can speak Vietnamese and English fluently. I have also self learned Mandarin on line for more than ten years. I like to share some information on Vietnamese language relating to Chinese language: Vietnamese spoken language is a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese, like Japanese and Korean languages. Up to a hundred years ago, Vietnam used Chinese writing (pronounced with a Chinese dialect) for official written language. Vietnamese had its own spoken language but the written language, which is derived from Chinese writing, only used by the intellectuals. Then at the beginning of 20th century, the French and other western peoples helped Vietnam to compile the romanization of Vietnamese language, similar to Pinyin. Now, not many Vietnam people can recognize Chinese writing or old Vietnamese writing any more. I would say the difficulty of learning spoken Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese language are the same for foreigners. I feel like it is easier for Vietnamese to pick up the sound of Cantonese dialect than that of Mandarin dialect because of geographic proximity. But learning reading Chinese characters (汉字- HànZì) take more time but it is not that too difficult if you have learned the basic spoken Chinese language through Pinyin. You have to memorize Han zi. If you keep reading and writing Han zi then you will remember the Han zi. If you never see a certain Han zi before, you cannot read it. Or if you know how to speak a Chinese word but never learn how to read that word in Han zi, you cannot read or write it. On the other hand, reading Latin alphabetical Vietnamese writing is much easier after you have learned Vietnamese alphabets and tone marks (similar to the idea of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)). You can pronounce the Vietnamese word correctly when reading without even knowing the meaning of the it. If you know spoken Vietnamese and have a lot of vocabulary, learning to read Vietnamese is not that difficult. But one good benefit for China to keep Han zi is to allow all Chinese people with different dialects to communicate with one single writing system. It is like the symbol “1” can be understood by all of people in the world but pronounced differently. Having a same writing system have helped the unification of a very large country with different dialects. Any Chinese people can read the same Han zi, even pronounced differently.

[@smlie986]

我在自学越南语，发现有很多单词跟中文很像，越学学越感兴趣 哈哈

[@minitetourou8744]

You are a versatile and hard-working person.

[@amy_ht]

Thank you for introducing Japanese, my first language. I watch your videos for English listening practice, motivating myself, or just for fun and now really happy to know you are interested in Japanese language as well as other South Asian languages!

[@littelmoon23]

u look so much confident now i feels ur excited vibes 🎉🎉🎉 nice set up behinds 😊😊

[@ciganomarola]

Thanks, Izzy! That was super insightful; but I'm curious about your choice of silverware.

[@lazyyy966]

I've been learning Japanese for over a year now and I like to watch videos like this. If I have more free time I would like to learn all of these languages cuz they sound so magnificent for me for some reason, and the culture and difference about each country also the thing that I really like. 日本語が大好きで、今年、N4レーブルをあるのが欲しいです。私は頑張りますよ。♡

[@einfachlugga5149]

私も一年間日本語を勉強してあなたの言ったことが全部分かりました。よろしくお願いします🙏🏻

[@jyd1384]

In my guess, this is a relative thing. Korean and Japanese have the same word sequence for each other. So learners don't need detailed hard grammar courses like English to speak fluently. But Chinese is a member of Indo-European in linguistic theories, thus, Korean and Japanese people might feel some harsh moments when they become Chinese learners. Therefore, many Chinese people can be the fastest English learners since the word sequences are the same as English. So we can see many Western people who can speak Chinese fluently. For instance, a current high official in the present Australian government showed that he speaks Chinese fluently in an interview.

[@benjiang9789]

I speak all these languages and they are difficult in their own ways. Chinese is easy in grammar but hard in writing; Japanese is simple in pronunciation but complicated in its writing system; Korean is more subtle than Japanese in grammar. Luckily, I know the Chinese characters.

[@hyoklee3297]

I agree. As a Korean, I found Japanese easy to learn to speak, but the writing system is unnecessarily complicated imo. Kanji isn't necessary 90% of the time. Context can convey meaning just fine, if you wrote in hiragana.

[@takutakufd]

日本語のことを取り上げてくれてありがとうございます。😊

[@rajdeepbhavanarushi4887]

love the "FORK" language

[@IzzySealey]

👀👀

[@sisubkim960]

세 언어의 차이를 잘 설명하고 있네요. 어휘상으로 60~70%의 유사성이 있으니 이들 세 언어는 서로간에 배우기가 쉽죠.

[@hieulecong6725]

그렇죠. 베트남인으로 한국어를 재밌있게 쉽게 했어요 많은 공통점 때문이거든요

[@amitta5145]

@@hieulecong6725 공통점 없어요, 베트남 = 동남아 , 한국 = 동북아

[@Unknown-lq8qw]

​@@amitta5145공통점이 없다고 왜 단언하노. 베트남도 한국처럼 중국어 단어를 차용하고있는거 모르나.

[@amitta5145]

@@Unknown-lq8qw 베트남 = 동남아 인종

[@HDJess]

But why are you using a fork to hold your mic?

[@cutiebirdie2216]

I just noticed it 😂 Probably used as a stick to hold it more comfortably?

[@Darur1308]

She’s so diy I love it

[@Jeymez]

you have amazing attention to detail, because i certainly didn't notice it. but then again i was too focused on her.

[@chegzheng6688]

😂😂😂

[@coolbrotherf127]

So she could eat the mic after filming as a snack.

[@pianobunzz6514]

I'm so proud of your Fork microphone.

[@democracy404]

As a Chinese, I think the most difficult Western languages ​​to learn are German and French, and the most difficult Eastern language to learn is Japanese. Japanese borrows a lot from Chinese, but it has many unique features. Japanese is easy first and then difficult. After learning Japanese and English, I still think English is the easiest and most useful foreign language to learn. 😂🤣

[@Yogi-Megan]

As an Izzy fan, I can’t take my eyes and eyes off her ❤❤❤❤❤. Perhaps slow down a bit in this video so I don’t have to press replay that often …. 😂😂❤❤. Izzy is soooo gorgeous ❤❤

[@abdullahrokuro2024]

I love your voice your kindness your face and everything about u 🐧❤ I'm studying Japanese for almost 2 years and still trying to make slow progress ✨️

[@bubblegumbitch]

progress is progress no matter the speed, keep going, you got this!

[@dashumandarin]

无论学哪门语言，都祝大家早日成功！

[@angelbless45]

Thank you for the video! I studied Japanese for three years, and now I am learning Korean and Thai. I have a passion for Asian culture in general. Despite the challenges (given that my native language is Spanish and most information is geared towards English speakers O_O), I have come to love the process of learning (if that makes any sense haha). That being said, Chinese is on another level, and I'm not sure if I'll delve into that language. Nonetheless, I always appreciate your tips and experiences!

[@thawatchaim.6763]

Why are you so smart. you make the world more better, thank you.

[@KenYing-b2p]

This is really an informative one, thanks Dr Izzy. Always happy to see your updates on youtube. 谢谢！

[@IzzySealey]

Thanks!! 😊

[@ArinaChanuGaming]

I am from North East India near China and Myanmar. My language is a sub-family of sino- Tibetan language. And am learning Nihongo and Mandarin❤. Mandarin sounds familiar with my language 😂

[@すずちゃん-r3h]

Japanese is the hardest, no doubt. I've been learning it for 7 years now and there's still so much new stuff I encounter everyday. Don't get me wrong, I love Japan and the Japanese language, but maaaan the difficulty is just insane. I used to think it was easy during the first year or so, but the more I learn, the harder and harder it gets. Sure, the pronunciation is considered to be "easy", but even then there's pitch accent, which arguably makes pronunciation even harder to master than Chinese or Korean. And don't even get me started on the writing, grammar, vocabulary, and honorifics! I'm not denying the other languages have challenges, but I can't even imagine a language being harder than Japanese. It's completely different from English in literally every way possible. At least Chinese has fairly similar grammar to English and Korean has one of the most logical writing systems in the world.

[@AthanasiosJapan]

I can't find any important reason invest time in pitch accent.

[@oliver_peng]

@@AthanasiosJapan This is exactly the reason so many Japanese learners speak with a thick foreign tongue. Correct pronunciation of ANY language is the most important aspect and it's a shame so many ppl don't think so. Using another language as an example, if you can read/write/listen/speak Chinese at a native comprehension level, BUT your pronunciation is slightly off, compared to someone who can speak it with a native pronunciation but maybe doesn't know nearly as many words, the second person will be viewed as having a native grasp of the language and the first person will forever be perceived as someone who merely studies the language.

[@AthanasiosJapan]

@@oliver_peng Japanese people from different areas of Japan have different pitch accents. So, if you have friends from various areas and naturally learn from them, inevitablly you will end up having a messed pitch accent. And that's completly fine.

[@oliver_peng]

@@AthanasiosJapan That's like saying if a person mixes Australian accent, American accent, British accent, Irish accents it'll sound normal. Except, that's not even what actually happens. The reality of foreign Japanese speakers is more akin to a person who speaks English with a heavy Chinese accent. It's understandable and passable, but really grating to listen to and screams that they're a non-native speaker. People will start speaking slower to you and dumbing down their words because they assume your Japanese level isn't very good.

[@AthanasiosJapan]

@@oliver_peng Japanese speak to me exactly at the same speed they speak to other Japanese. I live in Japan for 20 and never noticed any trouble in communucation. Actually, what I have noticed is that Japanese can easily understand foreigners who speak Japanese with heavy foreign accent.

[@jasonloke2219]

Yes,, I learn English, Chinese, Korean and now, Japanese. Your video is very interesting. My mother tongue is Cantonese. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@davidk5093]

Thank you for making this video. I learned a lot in my journey of learning Japanese. It's very helpful

[@beckychan5792]

Wow Izzy you are really good at explaining concepts 🤩 please make a video teaching us how to do that ☺️🙏🏼

[@iliili8178]

Japanese and Korean have similarities in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, whereas Chinese is quite different.

[@scarlett.sullivan85]

Thank you Izzy! It was brilliant❤ About R sound in Japanese (らりるれろ), the closest English sound would be soft T/D in American English. like party or kitty.

[@IzzySealey]

Thank you! 😃

[@bupbengaoi]

I like the way attached your mic to the fork :)))) Thank you for the video! Feel so lucky to find your channel! Have a nice week 🌺

[@IzzySealey]

Wow thank you!! You too 🥰

[@whj32]

Worderfull and summarized explanations! .

[@peni6315]

Dr. Izzy, I am a Chinese, watching your channel several years. It does have strong relationship between these three languages. Now, I also study in England as a PhD. You help me know that PhD's life can be also interesting, you give me a positive lifestyle. Thank you!

[@fukushimalee4728]

呜呜呜,I also want to study in UK

[@Isaias.Piñeiro]

Yoo! The Fork MicHolder is my fave part of this video lol 😆😁🤣 ngl, i love it, i would have done the same thing if i had to improvise 🤣

[@Bangkokrover]

A few years ago, whilst living in Japan, I found studying kanji to be the aspect that glued the language together. Study 3 or 4 kanji at night, and next day on the subway, the ones you studied are jumping out at you from everywhere.

[@_KondoIsami_]

A few corrections and additional comments Kanji was also simplified and is not equivalent to traditional Chinese hanzi 鉄 - kanji 铁 - simplified hanzi 鐵 - traditional hanzi There are, of course similarities, but not all of them are the same, and there are also characters created in Japan. Katakana and Hiragana are not alphabets, the are syllabaries. Katakana is not just for foreigner words, it is often used in signs, company names, onomatopoeia, traditional musical notations, or to empathize a word, similarly to italics. Complicate kanji words are sometimes mixed with katakana to make them easier to read, which is common in fields like medicine.

[@robbiyoung85]

This is great, korean is the second language I wanted to learn besides french

[@물만두-i4g]

Hi !! i wanna learn french

[@hawaiisalsalsa74]

Love your channel and would love to learn all three of them.

[@norrisbethke7770]

Amazing that you have time for this considering your profession, perhaps you should open a school of languages, I am familiar with Thai, having been there several times, it is also tonal.. sheshe and arigato for the vid, oh, kamsameda also lol, thx for the fun vid 🙏🏻 and Happy Christmas 🌲

[@majorcalvary6515]

As someone whose first language was mandarin, and mastered English later, you’re spot on. This is also why being an interpreter is difficult at times. When expressions are used, meaning can be lost or true feeling is missing. I really admire interpreter who can do it fast in real time. I often like to hear press conferences when it’s done live. You may speak both languages fluently, but translation can be tough and tricky.

[@kianchong9849]

Growing up in Malaysia as a Chinese honestly I've been learning Chinese since I was a kid but little did I know about where did the meaning of those words come from ! I find it really mind blown while watching this video ! Great work about using the word 电 as an example ! I've been saying it since I was a kid but I am today years old when I know that breaking down the words actually forms up the meaning and ofcoz not to mention about the history ! Haha ! Btw, the scene where you practice writing on iPad reminds me how much I hated practice writing Chinese words back when i was a kid ! Haha ! It brings me back to the past when my teacher distributed an exercise book asking us to write 5 pages of those Chinese words. I could still remember back when I was a kid I was struggling to learn Chinese grammar. We used to had this one exercise is to find the grammar mistake (语病) in a sentence. But I guess it's easier to master that when you are an adult ? 🤣

[@profoundmemory]

rarely see a Chinese malaysian speak English with such a proper grammer.

[@미아모레사나]

@@profoundmemory*grammar (It’s _a_ not “e”.)

[@PassionPno]

@@profoundmemory I’m not sure if your comment is an insult or a compliment. However, one thing I know for sure is that you can’t spell.

[@liah2961]

有些人就是很有语言天赋，真羡慕能同时掌握3种语言以上的人。

[@diamondday1812]

I wish you made a make-up routine video. You are always glowing. ✨

[@soiamheredealwithit]

absolutely agree with your last words ---- motivation is key. In order to learn something well, you have to : 1. understand it 2. find it useful 3. find it interesting If all three criteria are met, sky is the limit for you.

[@kyleko3594]

Hey Dr. Sealey! I'm trying to learn Japanese during my free time, thanks for sharing tips from your language learning journey. XieXie

[@QianZhang-hb3kv]

As a native Chinese speaker, never thought of '好' as 'mother' and 'baby'. omg, similar to me trying to memorise english words by figuring out meanings behind it [TvT]. However, as the 'native ways of leaning Chinese', I think I learnt words during my 1st grade to around 3rd grade by memorising them straight away. Usually we were asked to copy these words, 4 times for each word and then had quiz on them the next day or so. I felt harsh while learning Chinese too, as a native...

[@mohammadiftitachurrozaq8521]

Izzy and Japanese topic, nice combination and must watch😂

[@davidk5093]

You have the best microphone ever. Very creative to make it work 😇👍

[@diegrow1979]

MORE ABOUT THIS! SSOOOOOO INTERESTING!

[@HowToSaveMoneyOnCarRepairs]

The Chinese Language is Over (3) Thousand years old. It was created in the Shang dynasty1 (1766-1123 BC), i had a hand in this , those thousands of years ago but my Major was in Dutch as i opted for that script instead..! When you complete you Mandarin Language Learning. You should be the best Mandarin Specker ever or it will just be a complete waste of time...!🤔🤔😇😇👍👍

[@KimberlyZhou23]

I’m a Chinese (mandarin) native speaker studying in Sydney. Really love your passion in languages! If anyone who sees this wish to have casual mandarin conversations to improve their skills, I’m more than happy to have a chat (like a language exchange?)❤

[@CrisTryingToBeProductive]

That would be great, maybe a discord channel?

[@linjeremy8260]

Japanese writing system originated from Hakka language in Song Dynasty and developed after the Meiji Restoration

[@ving6913]

Hi Dr.Izzy, I always love to watch your videos and all the tips that you’ve given us. I just wish you could share with us any tips on academic reading, writing, or learning in effective ways at the university. That would be awesome 😊 Thank you

[@thegirlonpointe9866]

I am self studying mandarin but I'm also in China Club at my school and they give chinese lessons lol I would've learned Japanese first but that China club has native speakers and is just such a huge resource that I won't have in a few years so I decided to start with Chinese first lol

[@kinchow1014]

love how you're using a fork as a mic handle, awesome video promoting asian language btw :)

[@hankj91]

It is very comprehensive explanation for three languages.

[@Bangkokrover]

Very informative, interesting and useful video thankyou Izzy. Especially when slowed down to 0.75 speed, as you were peaking in overdrive😊

[@milkycloud.]

I know 6-7 languages and can read and write in 9 languages (not a native English speaker, English is my 4th language). Personally, I would say Japanese is the hardest despite having the easiest pronunciation. Mandarin has the easiest grammar but mastering the characters can sometimes be tough. Korean is the easiest for me, it also has the easiest writing script, which only took me 10 mins to learn. I simply learnt the language by watching dramas, Kpop and variety shows. I can pretty much speak enough of it to get by. The grammar just naturally came to me from watching and immersing so I didn't need to study it. I just need to expand my vocabulary. On the other hand, Japanese has 3 sets of writing systems, Kanji (derived from Chinese characters), hiragana (makes up the majority) and katakana (for foreign/loanwords and onomatopoeia). So from the beginning, it was a little more time consuming with Japanese as I always learn the writing system first when learning a language but I couldn't fully do this since I needed to know the words first just like in Chinese. Additionally, the grammar in Japanese is more complex than Mandarin and also similar to Korean. I guess I'll need to watch more anime (ik most people don't speak like anime characters) and TV shows to understand the grammar because studying a language through books just doesn't go through my head.

[@mpaulwebb8345]

Great video and so interesting, thank you. Now, what techniques did you use to master the tones in Mandarin in both listening and speaking?

[@MODERN-ART-SENPAI]

For Chinese speakers, it is difficult to infer meanings from Japanese kanji. The same holds true for Japanese as well. It's like reading German without knowing German. You might be able to guess a small portion of what they're saying, but it's a different language nonetheless.

[@j.w.grayson6937]

Excellent video!! I spent 3 years in Japan in the late '60s, while in the U.S. Army. I found that it was pretty easy to pick up basic conversational Japanese. The only written Japanese I learned was numbers and dates as I collected coins. I really enjoyed my time there!

[@littelmoon23]

❤ yeay🎉 new video thanks izzi love 😊 new topic

[@cwtsang3715]

Thanks sharing Japanese and Korean here😊 I believe focus it’s very important because languages evolve in light speed in the Internet era. I’m learning Spanish, Italian and relearn Portuguese since they’re quite similar to certain extent comparatively

[@nfglrygrl]

Native English speaker here-I initially tried learning Japanese and found it a little too different for my brain, so switched to Korean. Since it’s so much easier to read hangeul, it’s made it a lot easier to learn the grammar, which in turn means that Japanese is much easier now that I’ve picked it up again (though I still get intimidated by the three different writing structures 😂).

[@josejaimevidalrosales8660]

❤❤I love your voice and British accent!

[@davidvanyshev1374]

Thank u for the video ❤ Have a nice day ✨

[@azeeartie2468]

Hello Izzy Thank you so much for this amazing video.❤ Could you gently please tell me whether you were learning all of them together or like after a certain year you learn a new one? Also, how many years did it take you to learn all these 3 languages?

[@hayden.A0]

As I understand she doesn't speak/isn't learning all 3, only Mandarin. This video was to introduce the differences and similarities between the 3 :)

[@hkidzglory]

Fork as mic handle is next-level creative I've seen so far

[@pinkshadows7379]

Chinese tone is very similar to Vietnamese as the tone can dictate the meaning of word despite having the same spelling

[@lyhthegreat]

thai language is the same too

[@faleiria]

Greetings from south Brasil. my L1 is Pt-Br, now my L2 is En -intnl, L3 Spanish, L4 French, I am slowly learning mandarim.

[@parmenideskim9739]

The fun fact: Hangul was invented by Korean King Sejong in 1425. King Sejong was also a very brilliant scholar and sacrificed his whole life to the invention of Hangul. Owing to a very strong opposition to invention of new writing system by conservative party, King Sejong had to invent Hangul alone secretly without any aid by his servants.

[@xemtuvi-nhiettinh-az]

Why have i just read in my basic korean book that Kim had many scholars helping him in that duty?

[@geoffk777]

I speak Japanee very well and know some Korean, so here i my opinion: Japanese is by far the easiest. There are a lot of English load workds like "conpyuta-" (computer), "sukuta-" (Skooter) and "Bata-" (Butter). Japanese do tend to truncate things, so "teribishon" (television) got shortened to "teribi" "pasonaru conpyuta-" turned into "pasocon". Even so, a lot of the loan words are recognizable. The pronunciation is way easier than Korean or Chinese. The ony really tricky thing is that some words have short vowel sounds and some words have longer ones with a different meaning. So "obasan" means "Aunt" but "Obaasan" (where the a is held a bit longer) means "Granny". Also some words change meaning based on stress like "HAshi" (first syllable stressed) is chopsticks, but "hashi" (no stress is Bridge. There are also a lot of synonyms. The hardest part of Japanese is reading and writing. The phonetic systems are not too hard to learn but the kanji are difficult because most kanji have a native Japanese reading AND a chinese reading. So the water kanji 水 can be read as mizu (Japanese reading) or sui (chinese reading). Also most kanji are part of two character words, which you need to learn individually, both for meaning and pronunciation. So even though only about 2000 kanji are used, you need to learn thousands of pairs also. Don't believe me? 会社 "kaisha" means corporation while 社会 "shakai" (the same two character flipped) means "society" or "community". So kanji is a bit of a bear, On the plus side, the characters do help to suggest the meanings, once you learn them. The grammer is very different from English, but, like most things in Japanese it's very logical. Unlike European languages, there are no genders, almost no noun conjugations and almost no irregular verbs. So you can learn it faster than you think. Korean has similar grammer to Japanese. But they use fewer English loan words and these are harder to recognize. For example, Coffee is kohi- in Japanese and kopi in Korean. Also Korean pronunciation is harder for English speakers. For example, they have a G sound and a K sound. But they also have a GG sound which is in-between the two and hard for English speakers to hear and make. Similarly there's a J, a CH and a midway sound. Hangul is very easy to learn, but unlike Japanese or Chinese, it doesn't give you any hints about the meaning of what you're reading. So I think that Korean is harder than Japanese. Chinee is hardest. They use very few English loan words and the writing system is a bear (although, in fairness, they don't have multiple character readings like Japanese does). But the worst part are tones. I just can't hear these and I think it would take a long time to get proficient in them. But, ultimately, I agree with the advice here. I love Japan and Japanese, so, even if it was hardest rather than easiest, I'd have chosen it. All of these require committment and interest, so choose what you Love and take the individual challenges of each language as just that--challenges to be overcome to your goal.

[@mascness_gaming]

Cantonese is the hardest !

[@ftu2021]

How do you know? There are over 50 dialects in China. Mandarin is the most standard one which all Chinese uses

[@mascness_gaming]

i have a fd (Oxbirdge Chinese Linguistics) who learned both Chinese mandarin and Cantonese for years, and yet he still cannot master Cantonese like he does for mandarin @@ftu2021

[@mirae9163]

​@@ftu2021There're 302 languages in China