Thread: Seriousness Learning a new language
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Old 07-17-2009, 10:38 AM   #144
igorsk
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN View Post
That is a theory many Koreans put forth. Japanese claim it is not true. Of course, nationalistic passions ride high between these two nations! I have no knowledge of Korean, I only know it is not related to Chinese, even though they have picked up a lot of Chinese words and Kanji. And Finnish and Hungarian are Asian in origin. So some minor similarities with Japanese, as commented on by Nekokami, would not be unheard off; but probably are just coincidental as mentioned.
I don't know any Korean but a few times when watching Korean movies or animation (subtitled) I've heard some words which sounded extremely similar to Japanese words I knew and the translation matched.

Here's an interesting article on the subject:
Quote:
The similarities of Japanese and Korean syntax are remarkable by any standards. To begin with what is usually considered a superficial point: Word order is almost the same, not just in broad SOV (subject-object-verb) terms but often down to the tiniest quirks of linguistic device. I would guess they are nearly as close as English and Danish at the everyday conversation level. But Danish is not only closely related to English; it seems the Vikings additionally Scandinavianised English word order. That Japanese and Korean have retained a similar degree of closeness down the centuries may not mean anything, as many linguists say, but it is certainly suggestive.
http://www.translationdirectory.com/article527.htm
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