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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: How much, if at all, are Koreans and Japanese alike? |
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I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
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goodgood
Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:55 am Post subject: |
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I don't have a whole lot of Japan experience either, but....
#1 They generally dont laugh, look, point, or talk to random westerners.
#2 Youth subcultures are suuuuuper big there. They (basically, besides the small punk scene) do not exist in Korea.
That's all I got. Like I said, haven't spent much time there. |
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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
I think they're incredibly similar, although Japanese seem to be more calm and Koreans more emotional, they're more similar than they'd obviously like to admit. Honestly, and this is uber-nerdy, they really remind me of Vulcans and Romulans. |
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Travelous Maximus
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Location: Nueva Anglia
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:04 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| jdog2050 wrote: |
| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
I think they're incredibly similar, although Japanese seem to be more calm and Koreans more emotional, they're more similar than they'd obviously like to admit. Honestly, and this is uber-nerdy, they really remind me of Vulcans and Romulans. |
Is the language similar at all? Aside from the obvious differences. When I was in Korea, this girl told me that Japanese and Korean grammar are somewhat alike. |
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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:06 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| Travelous Maximus wrote: |
| jdog2050 wrote: |
| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
I think they're incredibly similar, although Japanese seem to be more calm and Koreans more emotional, they're more similar than they'd obviously like to admit. Honestly, and this is uber-nerdy, they really remind me of Vulcans and Romulans. |
Is the language similar at all? Aside from the obvious differences. When I was in Korea, this girl told me that Japanese and Korean grammar are somewhat alike. |
Well, chinese is the Latin of this area, and Japanese and Korean are like a romance language equivalent. Lots of borrowing from each other and their root. |
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Travelous Maximus
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Location: Nueva Anglia
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:10 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| jdog2050 wrote: |
| Travelous Maximus wrote: |
| jdog2050 wrote: |
| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
I think they're incredibly similar, although Japanese seem to be more calm and Koreans more emotional, they're more similar than they'd obviously like to admit. Honestly, and this is uber-nerdy, they really remind me of Vulcans and Romulans. |
Is the language similar at all? Aside from the obvious differences. When I was in Korea, this girl told me that Japanese and Korean grammar are somewhat alike. |
Well, chinese is the Latin of this area, and Japanese and Korean are like a romance language equivalent. Lots of borrowing from each other and their root. |
True. However, unlike Chinese, Korean and Japanese puzzle linguists due to their uniqueness. Actually, linguists believe that Japanese and Korean are language isolates and do not belong to any language family. I have a theory that they stem from the same root maybe possibly from central asia. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:17 am Post subject: |
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After six trips there from here over the last five years I'd have to say that the two cultures are waaaaaaay more different than the same.
What motivates a desire to see similarities?
Ignorance is what made me see as the same before what is very different. |
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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:20 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| Travelous Maximus wrote: |
| jdog2050 wrote: |
| Travelous Maximus wrote: |
| jdog2050 wrote: |
| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
I'm genuinely curious to know, especially from those of you who have lived and worked in both countries.
I've only been in Korea 18 months and my visits to Japan have been quite brief. My own initial impression is that they are alike in many ways but dissimilar in some important respects.
So what's your take on this? |
I think they're incredibly similar, although Japanese seem to be more calm and Koreans more emotional, they're more similar than they'd obviously like to admit. Honestly, and this is uber-nerdy, they really remind me of Vulcans and Romulans. |
Is the language similar at all? Aside from the obvious differences. When I was in Korea, this girl told me that Japanese and Korean grammar are somewhat alike. |
Well, chinese is the Latin of this area, and Japanese and Korean are like a romance language equivalent. Lots of borrowing from each other and their root. |
True. However, unlike Chinese, Korean and Japanese puzzle linguists due to their uniqueness. Actually, linguists believe that Japanese and Korean are language isolates and do not belong to any language family. I have a theory that they stem from the same root maybe possibly from central asia. |
echh...that sounds like kind of a dubious claim. How can they be language isolates when Chinese has been a semi-official or official language for both countries at some point in time? Korea hasn't been as isolationist as they love to dramatize.
Also, while they're all really different from the step languages at this point, I will say that while I was in Mongolia, I did notice a lot of the same throat noises and...well...harshness that is present in korean. I think that the flow of humanity went into Korea from the steppes, was a *bit* cut off linguistically, then evolved and intermixed with Chinese. |
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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:23 am Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
After six trips there from here over the last five years I'd have to say that the two cultures are waaaaaaay more different than the same.
What motivates a desire to see similarities?
Ignorance is what made me see as the same before what is very different. |
Oh god, don't get that from my post. If I wrote about all the differences between japan and korea, I'd get carpal tunnel.
They're different alright; my thing is that I think a lot of Japan's difference has come more from their willingness to flat out take modernity and run with it than Korea has. Japanese attitudes=Korean attitudes 20 years in the future, complete with better porn, more suicide, and a general malaise about life. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| I haven't spent a lot of time in Japan, but the people there still seemed different. They were a lot more distant, like their minds were elsewhere doing something more important. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:50 am Post subject: |
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They are incredibly different, surprisingly. I have lived 2 years in both, and not just normal expat living either. Really "living" in those countries (i.e. learning the languages, having more native friends than foreigners, not that I got anything against foreigners except for a few on this site, etc  ). |
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knee-highs
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Location: yes
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:10 am Post subject: |
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ask POK or ask yourself... since mcgarrett and pok are the same person...
last time i said this my post got snuffed.. so , what does that mean... maybe mcgarett and POK are a mod in disguise..... or what??? esl'rs ...watch for me to get banned for outing this obvious charade.... |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:33 am Post subject: Korean & Japanese |
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| In Korea, I get called "Ku Ree Soo" (Ku-Ri-Su), & the same in Japan. The sentence structure in grammar is similar: "I food eat" with the verb always last. Then there's the indoor slippers, sleeping on the floor, onsen / hot springs, & sliding doors similarities. Apparently Japan borrowed a lot of its' culture from the Pakche dynasty of Korea. Also a few important differences particularly the language, with Japanese using 3 complicated alphabets, (hirigana, katakana & kanji), & Korea using just one simplified Hangul alphabet. Japan is a little cleaner than Korea too. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:37 am Post subject: Re: HOW MUCH, IF AT ALL, ARE KOREANS AND JAPANESE ALIKE? |
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| Travelous Maximus wrote: |
| Actually, linguists believe that Japanese and Korean are language isolates and do not belong to any language family. I have a theory that they stem from the same root maybe possibly from central asia. |
Actually, Japanese and Korean are already sometimes grouped in the Ural-Altaic Family. There may be some grammatical similarities, but I don't think the shared vocabulary supports such a connection. This is based on my quite limited knowledge of Uzbek and Korean, as well as limited readings about language families.
I'd be interested in hearing Woland's take on it (or from anyone else who has a better grasp of both a Turkic language and Korean or Japanese). |
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dutchy pink
Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:48 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| I haven't spent a lot of time in Japan, but the people there still seemed different. They were a lot more distant, like their minds were elsewhere doing something more important. |
playing pachinko |
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