It's clear that the person who put that together has never even taken a look at Korean. "Written Korean also relies on many Chinese characters". Oh really? More like very few, and you aren't actually required to use them at all. You can use 한글 for everything. All one needs to do is take a look at the Korean Wikipedia or popular Korean websites like Naver and Daum to see what I mean.
I can't speak for the accuracy of the description of the other languages, but IMO that is a glaring issue and could scare off a lot of people from learning Korean even though it's incorrect. The use of Chinese characters in modern Korean is nothing compared to the use of them in Chinese (obviously) and Japanese.
Not only that, but the amount of borrowed English words in Korean makes it pretty easy to figure out what's written on signs. The Korean alphabet is really easy to learn and very convenient!
Now, spoken Korean is a headache, that's for sure!
Agreed. I had learned Hangeul pretty easily - now grammar and speaking it is the hard part.
Hanja (Chinese characters) from what I've read is more used in legal documents and newspapers.
Its used a lot in science though. You wouldn't be able to get through Korean high school without knowing the Hanja. The biggest challenge in Korean is the hierarchy. Its almost like there are different languages for speaking with older people, younger people, your family, your friends etc.
We aren't talking about getting through a Korean high school though. We are talking about language learning difficulty from an English speaker's perspective. And the fact of the matter is, Hanja are rarely used by average people.
I am a Korean American and even though I am not fluent in the langauge, I can confirm that the way you talk to a friend is not the way you would address a parent or an elder. It's used to show and give respect to the elders and I feel that is one of the reasons why Korean can appear to be challenging to people.
It's clear that the person who put that together has never even taken a look at Korean. "Written Korean also relies on many Chinese characters". Oh really? More like very few, and you aren't actually required to use them at all. You can use 한글 for everything. All one needs to do is take a look at the Korean Wikipedia or popular Korean websites like Naver and Daum to see what I mean.
I can't speak for the accuracy of the description of the other languages, but IMO that is a glaring issue and could scare off a lot of people from learning Korean even though it's incorrect. The use of Chinese characters in modern Korean is nothing compared to the use of them in Chinese (obviously) and Japanese.
Not only that, but the amount of borrowed English words in Korean makes it pretty easy to figure out what's written on signs. The Korean alphabet is really easy to learn and very convenient!
Now, spoken Korean is a headache, that's for sure!
Agreed. I had learned Hangeul pretty easily - now grammar and speaking it is the hard part.
Hanja (Chinese characters) from what I've read is more used in legal documents and newspapers.
Its used a lot in science though. You wouldn't be able to get through Korean high school without knowing the Hanja. The biggest challenge in Korean is the hierarchy. Its almost like there are different languages for speaking with older people, younger people, your family, your friends etc.
We aren't talking about getting through a Korean high school though. We are talking about language learning difficulty from an English speaker's perspective. And the fact of the matter is, Hanja are rarely used by average people.
I am a Korean American and even though I am not fluent in the langauge, I can confirm that the way you talk to a friend is not the way you would address a parent or an elder. It's used to show and give respect to the elders and I feel that is one of the reasons why Korean can appear to be challenging to people.