Japanese vs Korean
Is Japanese easier than Korean?
Japanese and Korean have strikingly similar grammar (subject-object-verb, particles, honorific verb forms) and both have a large Chinese-derived vocabulary, but no proven genetic relationship. Korean writes in the Hangul alphabet; Japanese mixes kanji and kana.
The short answer
Korean is easier to read early, since Hangul takes days while Japanese needs kana plus about 2,000 kanji. Korean pronunciation, with tense consonants and sound changes, is harder for most English speakers. Overall they are close, and the FSI puts both in its hardest category.
The verdict
Both are FSI's hardest category; Japanese carries the "usually more difficult" asterisk because of kanji. Korean is easier to start reading.
Closeness score
9 / 30
Mutually intelligible?
no
Shared vocabulary
Roughly 60% of Korean dictionary vocabulary and about half of Japanese is Chinese-derived; many such words correspond
Which first?
Either order works; grammar transfers almost 1:1.
Kungfucius says: Grammatical twins raised by different scripts.
Side by side
toshokan도서관 (圖書館)
doseogwanSino-Japanese and Sino-Korean readings of the same characters; Japanese writes the shinjitai 図.
junbi준비 (準備)
junbiOne of the cognates where Japanese and Korean readings coincide exactly.
wa은/는
eun/neunBoth languages mark the topic with a particle after the noun; Korean picks 은 after a consonant and 는 after a vowel.
yakusoku약속 (約束)
yaksokA clear cognate pair: same characters, closely related readings.