Which is easier to learn, japanese or korean?

Google them both- Japanese grammar and Korean Grammar. Then decide.

Korean has a much easier to learn writing system. This is a huge advantage, to not have to memorize chinesse characters. While chinese characters (called hanja when used in korean) are occaisonally used in Korean, they are definitely not necesary.

They are both language isolates, and both very difficult, so though I haven’t learned them from what I’m told one isn’t more difficult than the other. I find japanese to be much easier to pronounce however.

Japanese is a more influential language, but korean is certainly a useful language to know too. In the end, I would choose the one you feel more passionate/motivated about, because that’s the one you’ll stick with.

I’ve studied a little Japanese, and it’s great fun – especially if you like languages with a non-Latin alphabet… Drawing the kanji and kana is almost like drawing a picture… but the characters are hard to memorize (and I never even got to the hard part of learning the Chinese characters.

Having said that, learning to speak on a basic level was not that hard – not that I remember much. Apparently, Japanese becomes quite difficult at the more advanced levels, in part because of the different social registers you have to learn – that is, different phrases and constructions, depending on the person to whom you’re speaking (a respected elder, a child, etc.).

I have read that there’s a vague connection between Japanese and Korean (though both are considered language isolates, as @hut_of_war indicates), though I suspect that idea would be anathema to speakers of either language.

I think it would be great to really learn either one: Which country would you like to visit? Which culture fascinates you more? Perhaps, first learn one and then the other…

I am at intermediate level Japanese right now, and know about 350 or so kanji (chinese characters as they are called in Japanese). It is not as difficult as I thought.The kanji actually make reading easier, once you know them. And there are ways to help you remember—by using radicals or primatives (the elements that make up each kanji and have meaning). What is difficult for me is to restructure my brain to think in Japanese, which sometimes seems like the thought patterns are reversed. For example, in English you might say, “There are a lot of places I want to go to” but in Japanese it would be expressed, “Want-to-go-to places, many exist.”

The great thing about learning Japanese is that there are lots of (subtitled and not) Japanese drama TV shows and Japanese anime that you can easily obtain via the internet, and so you can have lots of listening practice opportunities. www.d-addicts.com or www.animesuki.com are two sites to check out. There are also good korean dramas on d-addicts, too.

Here’s an idea—watch some j-drama or k-drama, and decide which language you like the sound of better.

I’d say that Japanese is easier by far! Although reading and writing Korean is much easier, I find the grammar very difficult. The two languages have similar grammar rules but in my experience Japanese is easier to follow and to make sense out of. But, it’s up to you which language you pick! I started out with Japanese so perhaps I’m a little biased as to which one is easier! Check out some dramas for each language, mysoju.com and dramacrazy.net are both great since they have a lot of the latest releases with English subs :) No doubt you’ll begin to pick up the languages from watching and then you can make a more educated decision on which you would like to learn. Or you could learn both! :D Good luck!