Korean vs Chinese: which should you learn?

Estimates for a native English speaker, following the US Foreign Service Institute’s groupings. Languages the Institute does not rank are placed beside their closest relatives. Your own pace will differ.

• You want K-pop, dramas and a writing system you can learn in days.
• You will use it in South Korea and North Korea.

Watch out for: verb endings change with politeness, and sounds shift where words meet.

• You want the largest first-language community of any language and a major business language.
• You will use it in mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Chinese communities worldwide.

Watch out for: tones and characters; spoken grammar is simpler than most people expect.

Korean. Longer than European languages, mostly because of grammar and vocabulary. Hangul is quick to learn, and speaking is worth practising from the start.

Chinese. It takes more hours than most European languages. Tones and characters are the main hurdles. Spoken grammar is simpler than people expect, with no verb conjugation or plurals to learn.

In both, the quickest fix for pronunciation is the same: hear a whole sentence, say it out loud and check how close you were. That is the loop 4ToSpeak runs on every sentence.

Korean and Chinese are not close relatives, so learning one saves little time on the other. Pick the one you will use soonest, get to a comfortable conversation, and add the second later.

If you cannot decide, start both for a week at 15 minutes a day. After seven days you will know which one you look forward to, and motivation matters more than the difference in hours.

Start Korean or start Chinese, both free with no card.

• Japanese vs Korean
• Spanish vs Chinese
• Japanese vs Chinese
• Chinese vs Arabic