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

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» Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 Why learn these 3 languages?
02:19 Reading and Writing
07:32 SPONSOR: Paperlike!
08:32 Vocabulary
10:16 Grammar
11:30 Pronunciation
13:12 Learner Experience
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[@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

[@arthurvanz2884]

Omg I love the fork microphone.

[@weidongli954]

where to get the fork microphone? Amazon?

[@jackchow8167]

@@weidongli954 probably DIY

[@user-xd2kf9le5y]

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.

[@1june204]

她是中国人。。

[@ignatiuschua5268]

​@@1june204她是美国人。 华语是自学的。 太聪明了。

[@1june204]

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

[@ignatiuschua5268]

@@1june204 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。

[@user-ru7ch7hs7h]

油管式评论真是够无聊的，

[@littelmoon23]

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

[@Bangkokrover]

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

[@user-yi8kl4fq6k]

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

[@IzzySealey]

Thanks!! 😊

[@jirasinthongma4842]

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

[@zakariaelmrabet]

Thank you so much Dr. Sealy 😊

[@dastin7276]

Thank You. You're an excellent teacher. 👍👍👍

[@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

[@English-ye9vg]

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

[@davidvanyshev1374]

Thank u for the video ❤ Have a nice day ✨

[@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。

[@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 🌲

[@tongsllc]

Dr Izzy….you are AMAZING!

[@diegrow1979]

MORE ABOUT THIS! SSOOOOOO INTERESTING!

[@ciganomarola]

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

[@aleksandraoi]

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 🥰

[@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!

[@ianmcmichael6576]

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

[@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!

[@naocyaka1553]

か

[@gigglyhroy7422]

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

[@user-ji3li3ph4l]

I agree with you completely as a Japanese girl;)

[@user-ji3li3ph4l]

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？

[@hawaiisalsalsa74]

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

[@yogi9631]

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 ❤❤

[@steviesmart2343]

Thanks Dr Izzy Sealey for an excellent presentation.

[@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.

[@user-mn8zj4xj4m]

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!

[@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]

❤ yeay🎉 new video thanks izzi love 😊 new topic

[@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

[@coffeebear7719]

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

[@bro_ujinsoo]

I think the Korean writing system, Hangul, is the best and easiest alphabet system in the world, and also might be the only one alphabet system that we exactly know who, when, why and how made it.

[@Ashursardan]

Wow! This was the most informative comparison of the the East Asian languages (sans Cantonese) that I’ve yet come across. Finally, KZbin suggested something really worthwhile. Liked and Subscribed.

[@davidk5093]

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

[@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.

[@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"

[@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

[@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)😘

[@kyleko3594]

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

[@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.

[@self-exploration9751]

You really brilliant ❤ from today I will also use the 🍴 for microphone 🎤 stand.

[@gillianfisher752]

While I do agree that Chinese pronunciation is the most difficult part of the language, Chinese tones are not that difficult to master. As a native English speaker, I think what makes Chinese pronunciation so frustrating as a beginner is because there are sounds in the language that simply don't exist in English. Took me a few years to feel comfortable with it.

[@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.

[@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.

[@user-iv8ex1ek4j]

@@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.

[@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) ❤

[@whj32]

Worderfull and summarized explanations! .

[@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_hates_japan]

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

[@brbapappa]

Use chopsticks 🥢

[@Thedennati]

@@rokko_hates_japan 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 :)

[@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

[@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! 😃

[@omarjanudin]

so informative, tq

[@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

[@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.

[@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!

[@PUTLER-KAPUT]

It's very interesting to discover so many amazing things about these eastern Asian languages) Thank you Izzy a lot) I've got just one question: Was the microphone delicious?😄

[@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

[@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?

[@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!

[@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.

[@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?

[@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🙏🏻

[@congviectest4702]

Your micro is amazing!

[@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!

[@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 :)

[@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.

[@robertstan298]

I only know a few words from each but I really want to learn Mandarin and Korean one day, especially the former (might look you up! subbed for starters). Seeing myself as speaking Japanese is just a no-go from all the bad Anime I've endured lol But wouldn't mind knowing a tourist-y conversational level

[@thecaptain127]

Great effort🎉🎉😊😊

[@diamondday1812]

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

[@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

[@fukushimalee4728]

Thanks! Such a video helps me a lot! （这个视频太有帮助啦！） from Shanghai

[@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!

[@vloggerslifeofficial]

Superb job! If you keep it up, you might make it into my top 10 list! LETS GO!!!

[@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.

[@PriscilaKlopper]

What an amazing video. ❤

[@isaiaspineiro8822]

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 🤣

[@jjamaismin]

the fork😭

[@IzzySealey]

🤭🤭

[@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.

[@davidk5093]

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

[@chrissetzer1216]

When I noticed the mic on the fork halfway through the video, I lost it! lol Great content! I subscribed.

[@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.

[@user-ps3fz7od7m]

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.

[@aeophylus]

Thanks for this, Izzy. I too am a Doctor learning Cantonese using traditional characters. I love the way you had amongst your Chinese books Gray's Anatomy. Once you've mastered Gray's anatomy, learning Chinese should be relatively straight forward!

[@onnanoko1711]

Beautiful doctor Merry Christmas ❤❤❤❤❤

[@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.

[@user-mn8zj4xj4m]

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

[@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

[@Thenoobz_20]

Wow I misfocused on the mic, the mic is so unique. Thank you for the video. Have a nice day Dr. Izzy

[@TourPersia]

This was such an insightful and balanced analysis of the unique challenges each East Asian language presents to learners. As someone currently studying Mandarin, I really appreciated your nuanced perspective. I found your framework for evaluating writing systems, grammar, and pronunciation very well-constructed. Breaking down the complexities and hurdles for each language in those domains provided much-needed context. Your points about Chinese's lack of an alphabet and reliance on memorizing thousands of intricate characters really drove home the monumental writing system challenge. However, as you noted, the grammar is arguably more straightforward. For Japanese, highlighting the multiple encoding systems and rigid politeness levels showed how difficult it can be, despite the phonetic alphabet easing pronunciation. And for Korean, contrasting the relatively simple writing system with the tongue-twisting sounds and complex verb conjugations was very illuminating. Ultimately, I agreed with your take that each language has its pros and cons for learners based on their native language background and personal aptitudes. There's no simple universal answer for which is most difficult. This video was such a well-researched, thoughtful take from the polyglot perspective. You did a great job highlighting the need for patience, dedication and the right learning strategies, regardless of which language someone tackles. Really insightful content!

[@IzzySealey]

Aw thank you for your very thought-out comment! So glad you enjoyed the video 🥰🥰

[@rajdeepbhavanarushi4887]

love the "FORK" language

[@IzzySealey]

👀👀

[@mohammadiftitachurrozaq8521]

Izzy and Japanese topic, nice combination and must watch😂

[@user-nm8wb8gh3t]

hey, izzy , it's long time to see you again; you're really great

[@RaiGloy01]

Wow, I have been felt weird about your microphone, at the end ot the video I saw the fork that carries your microphone it's funny and it's a conventional idea😂, As for I don't see any of those languages hard just need to be as a part of our daily life and put it at a system in it just like our mother tounge and it's also about consistency and patience and focusing on listening much more in the first then after gain the real focus to listening to target language we start to learn writing and reading because it comes very easy and sensible, and lastly what let us being slowly in learning the language our thoughts towards making mistakes and get failed in some stages of the journey of learning, if we change our thoughts to the realistic points of view we are gonna be at it excellent as we wished 💗

[@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. 😂🤣

[@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

[@hzhang9718]

Amazing Video Izzy❤, there is a book I really recommend called Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu!!

[@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

[@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?

[@robbiyoung85]

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

[@user-hg5pp9xz9x]

Hi !! i wanna learn french

[@lenkaemiya3502]

love the way you put the mic on the fork :)) i've just started self-studying Mandarin and... u know, it's super confusing how can i learn Vocabulary? handwriting? typing? how can i maintain my motivation? how can i connect the characters with the pinyin and the meaning? the day i found your channel, every question was solved thank you so much. Have a nice day 😊

[@user-qj4gk7yh5h]

Thank you very much

[@graziehiro4338]

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

[@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.

[@user-kc3dk2lf4k]

Very well explained , and cool accent