MASTER Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese AT ONCE | learn languages
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What you need to know before learning Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese!
What makes them so different and what's similar about them?
Embark on a linguistic journey with Tim Keeley, a Japanese citizen with 42 years of residency in Japan, as he shares his expertise in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. In this in-depth exploration, Tim delves into the synergies that make learning these languages simultaneously a powerful and rewarding endeavor.
🌐 Overview:
Discover the fascinating similarities among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, fueled by historical and cultural connections. Tim, drawing from his extensive experience as a professor of Cross-Cultural Management, sheds light on the unifying factor-the use of Chinese characters-and how it shaped the "East Asian Cultural Sphere."
📊 Charting Synergy:
Tim presents a comprehensive chart showcasing the potential synergy when studying these languages. Despite their distinct language families, the utilization of Chinese characters binds them together, creating a unique linguistic harmony.
🔍 Exploring Relations:
Dive into the relatedness of these languages through their writing systems, Sino vocabulary, and grammatical similarities. Tim dissects the evolution of modern-day writing systems in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, shedding light on the intricate characters that enrich these languages.
📚 Sino Vocabulary:
Uncover the significance of Sino-vocabulary shared by Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Tim explores the intricate web of words that find common ground, offering learners a shortcut to mastering multiple languages simultaneously.
🗣️ Grammatical Insights:
Tim unravels grammatical similarities, emphasizing the shared order of Subject + Verb + Object, the absence of verb tense concerns, and the use of particles for nuanced expressions. Gain insights into unique language structures and understand how they impact communication.
🔊 Politeness Levels:
Explore the politeness levels in Japanese and Korean, uncovering similarities in plain form, polite form, and honorific language. Tim breaks down the intricacies, offering a valuable comparison for learners seeking proficiency in both languages.
🌐 Shared Characteristics:
Delve into shared linguistic traits, from Sino vocabulary to the absence of definite articles and plurals for inanimate objects. Tim navigates through phonological differences, highlighting the tonal intricacies of Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese.
🎓 Mastering the Journey:
As Tim concludes, he encourages language enthusiasts to embrace the challenge of mastering Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Uncover a world of rich cultures and diverse perspectives through the rewarding journey of language acquisition. Happy learning!
🌟 About Tim Keeley:
Tim Keeley, a seasoned professor and language enthusiast, brings four decades of experience living in Japan and mastering multiple Asian languages. His insights provide a roadmap for language learners eager to unlock the synergy among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
👍 Like, Share, and Subscribe to Polyglot Dreams for More Language Insights!
🚀Website: polyglotdreams.com/
📧 email: timkeeley@polyglotdreams.com
💡More about me:
👉Academia: kyusan-u.academia.edu/TimDean..
👉 BBC : www.bbc.com/future/article/20..
👉Facebook: / tim.keeley
As the person who can speak these 4 languages, I think ppl should learn Chinese at first, then it is easy to conquer the rest of these languages.
I prefer to learn Korean, however. But you are right, I already know it.
I agree.
For writing yes... Cantonese is actually more helpful with the pronunciation of the other 3 in the case of Sino vocabulary
fuckkkk no
I'm not sure about Vietnamese as I only know Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but isn't it best to start with Japanese? It's grammaticly super similiar to Korean, so you can learn Korean in no time. And with all the sino-korean vocab, kanji knowledge and easy grammar of Chinese, Chinese is super easy to learn as well. If you start with Korean you have the similiarity with Japanese, but you don't know any Kanji. If you start with Chinese than Korean and Japanese are still really hard to learn, as they are totally different with their grammar, word order etc.
I'm Brazilian, and I'm learning Korean, Chinese and Japanese by myself online because I love their culture, and I've wanted to learn Vietnamese too... I think it's difficult but I won't give up
That's awesome 👏 try Vietnamese too.
Bom estudo e boa sorte!
Me too, I'm learning these languages
Eu estudo Português Espanhol Italiano Francês ao mesmo tempo
A ❤ from Vietnam.
To many Vietnamese, Chinese is considered the easiest languages to learn. Most individuals can achieve conversational fluency in Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) within six months. I believe Japanese and Korean are more challenging, but not as difficult as European languages.
Yes, it is due to the Sino vocabulary and similar grammar.
wait so does that mean i can learn vietnamese easy
@@guessigBut Vietnamese pronounciation is very hard
@@guessig Vietnamese and Chinese are both tonal, so difficult if you're coming froma non-tonal language. Japanese and Korean are not tonal. That said, the grammar on the first two is (generally) simpler, while the grammar IRL in Japanese and Korean for anything beyond simple sentences is more complicated. Personally, I'd say the entire video is borderline clickbait with it's claims. It just goes too far. Japanese and Korean as being related and easy-ish to learn? Yeah, ok. I guess. Same for Chinese & Vietnamese. But it really is glossing over a metric fvck-ton of detail as far as genuine day-to-day functional fluency and dialects as far as IRL use goes IMO.
I guess i must be out of the norm here. I'm Vietnamese, struggling really hard to learn Chinese and Japanese. Korean feels easier, and English is the easiest for me.
I am Vietnamese, I totally agree with you, I learn English from 10 years old, now I am learning Chinese, Korean, Japanese too so I really understand what you mean. Learn Chinese first then others, then Korean alphabet and Hira Kata in Japanese, the similar sound make you have a good feeling in 4 languages. Love your video❤
Thank you so much for your comment and support.
Hen hao, tottemo yoi@@polyglotdreams
I am Vietnamese and now I have been living in Japan as a foreign student. I totally agree with you. Convergence among Vietnamese and Japnesese through Chinese helps me a lot when learning Japanese. By the way, I am studying Chinese now, and thanks to Kanji that I learnt , I can learn Chinese much more easier, of course since the SVO structure between Vietnamese and Chinese is similar though 知的な君が羨ましい
Thank you so much for telling us your experience. I enjoyed having many Vietnamese students on my seminars here in Japan.
I don't know Vietnamese but I think your name written in Hantu is 阮維天
@@GoodGood-vb8gm It is so unbelievable that you can write my name almost right without knowing Vietnamese. The last word in my name is 進, that somehow in Vietnam is pronounced almost same as 天.
越南犭候子别学中文😂😂😂
@@duytiennguyen904 Because the spelling is very similar to Chinese pinyin
00:02 Understanding the synergy between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese can help you learn all four languages simultaneously. 01:45 Chinese characters played a significant role in the cultural exchange among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages. 03:37 Chinese characters in Korea, Vietnam, and Japan have different historical developments and usage 05:31 Sino vocabulary is an important aspect in learning Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese 07:32 Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have similar grammar and politeness systems. 09:36 Different languages have different word order patterns 11:35 Comparison of politeness levels in Japanese and Korean 13:28 Mastering Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese opens doors to fascinating cultures and new perspectives. Crafted by Merlin AI.
Thanks... cool software 😎
As a Vietnamese trying to be fluent at Chinese, Korean and Japanese... I love that they're all connected somehow. Once I'm more fluent at Korean I'm moving to Japanese all the way. Since my Chinese is at an intermediate level already hopefully it won't be too hard (except it's super hard I've seen my friend struggling lol). 若干年后，我一定会超越现在的自己。
That's awesome 👌
加油❤你很棒 欢迎你来中国
祝你顺利捏
Your language skills are incredible! Finally a great video share about the similarity of these 4 languages!
Glad you think so!... I really appreciate the kind words.
KZhead have just recommended this video to me. Your video is in great quality and the way you describe those languages is so easy to understand. I am a Vietnamese who is learning Japanese and Chinese. I'm really happy to find this informative video. Thank you and please keep up the good work.
Wow, thank you! I truly appreciate 🙏 your kind words.
@@polyglotdreams Well, I have to subcribe your channel because I don't want to be missing out. P.S. Sorry for the messed up English 🥲
So glad I came across your video. In the beginning stages of learning Japanese and Vietnamese and this is a gem! Actually would love to learn all 4 languages and many others.
Keep at it and before you know it you will be communicating in these languages. Thanks for your comments
Wow! Thank you very much! I initially only watch this video in preview mode but honestly, the quality in the way you describe the knowledge of these 4 languages is just A-class and made me jump right through the comment section to express this POV 😃. Your explanation is really detailed, and although the Vietnamese tone & pronunciations didn’t match, I truely appreciate the overall understanding & your ability to connect all the four languages’s similiarities (this might be something I could never do). The tone in your voice does help making the explanation much better too. Makes me feel bad to watch this for free .. Anyway, I just wanna say I’ve been obsessed with this problem for 2 years but this video’s just solved that long-age question been stuck in my head 😂😂! Congratulations, thank you very much & you just earned a sub!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share that with me!
I study Hakka, Hokkien and Hmong: languages that don’t have any resources like typical languages, so it takes me a VERY long time to develop learning them. Anyone else a unique language learner instead of a typical polyglot?
I am both because I also study languages for which there is limited material... namely Tibetan related languages spoken in the Himalayas: Tamang, Sherpa, Balti, etc.
I do sign languages, Atayal, and Okinawan. Challenge in learning these languages is that sometimes the community doesn't even agree upon some expressions (or they are just shifting to the main stream language). Got to be super adaptive.
Have you been to Taiwan? There you can use two of them natively.
我是廣府人，細漢兮時陳厝邊有福建人，所以我兮曉講福建話。我歡喜聽甲唱福建歌，所以兮曉看甲寫閩南字。
thank you so much !!! This is a really interesting video. As a Vietnamese, we are very proud of our history that we have been taught a lot of great education in the world. And you know, same as China, Japan and Korea, we are also affected by Confucianism and Buddhism as well so basically, it’s spreads on our life in language, lifestyle and many more. And we did, of course, used a lot of Sino-related things such as words and many more. We also have a fun game like: for some Koreans and Japaneses who are living in our country, we also translated their name in Vietnamese and call them by their Vietnamese’s version (of course, through Chinese). For example, a guy name “Takehito” in Japanese but when written in Chinese, the part “Hito” becomes 山 (shan in Chinese) or in Vietnamese, we say “Sơn” so he becomes Mr.Sơn in my country. For Koreans, let’s see, such as Jungkook, singer of BTS, in Korean, his name is 전정국 but in Chinese is 田柾國, so we call him in Vietnamese is “Điền Chính Quốc”
I love your enthusiasm for not only your own language and culture but also the Sinosphere!
How Vietnamese parents give name to their children, do you still use Chinese characters in names like some in Korea as they use a Hanja dictionary to decide which character is to be used, or just choose to name their children with some native words?
@@arbs3ryMost Vietnamese parents use Sino-Vietnamese words to name their children, for example some common Vietnamese names: Quang Huy (光輝), Đăng Khoa (登科), Anh Hùng (英雄), Phong (峰) , Tuấn (俊), Anh Thư (英姐), Châu (珠), Nga (娥), Kim Chi (金枝). However, there are also families who name their children using native words, for example: Ngọc Trai means "pearl", Gái means "girl", Giàu means "wealthy", Hường means "pink", Vàng means "gold". Additionally, female names are often inspired by flower names, such as Hồng Nhung, meaning "velvet rose."
Two Vietnamese took part in 'Boys Planet' and although I don't know Vietnamese but because I'm Cantonese, I can infer that Nguyen Thanh Cong is 阮成功 and I thought Dang Hong Hai is 鄧鴻海. So, I shared with the viewers that the former's name means 'success' and the latter's name means 'vast sea'. However, a Vietnamese corrected me saying his name is not vast sea but red sea. Practically all Vietnamese, except those literate ones who are 70 and above, do not know Chinese. So, how did that viewer know the meaning of his name when 'Hong' is just Roman letters? I saw an MV and the singer and actor was Nguyen Duc Phuc and I knew his name is 阮德福。
@@sarahchau5251 My friends were at Ho Chi Ming City History Museum and we could read the ancient scripts on display because they were written in Chinese. A Vietnamese lady produced a video introducing Confucian temple but she could not understand the writings on the pillars and the banners. Malaysian Chinese study three languages at the same time from primary to secondary school and in English-speaking Singapore, Chinese have to learn 2500 Chinese characters by the time they complete secondary school. Learning Chinese characters have never been a uphill task for the Japanese. I think Vietnamese can preserve Chinese in names (people. places. buildings, content words) such as: “Vào dịp 節中秋 tôi bắt chuyến tàu đến 峴港 cùng với hai người bạn 德維 và 英豪, like Japanese 中秋節の期間中、私は友人の德維と英豪オと一緒に電車でダナンに行きました。I used Google Translate to create this.
I'm studying Chinese, Japanese and Korean now. I find Korean to be the most difficult so far, but the similarities between the three is actually what inspired me to study them simultaneously. So far, I'm enjoying it. I had planned to start an arabic language after i got a basic understanding, but maybe I'll try Vietnamese... Or both lol
Fantastic... Great choice
@@polyglotdreams lol! I'm glad you could read through my autocorrect! Had to edit lol 😆
Woah, I thought I was the only one that found Korean starting off to be more challenging.
Thank you so much for making these videos. I enjoyed them and I appreciated how you were respectful of all 4 languages without making one language appear more superior over the others, like many other youtubers do. I cannot follow biased videos like those videos and they do not help me learn anything. So thank you again for your indepth and respectful explanations of these 4 beautiful languages. You've re-ignited my desire to learn the other three languages (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) and also to improve on my own Vietnamese language since I grew up overseas in Canada instead of in Vietnam.
I am pleased to know that... all the best in your studies.
@@polyglotdreams Thank you 😊
I'm made the same experience when I was learning Chinese and Japanese at the same time. Few years later I start with Korean. It was surprising how easy it was to learn. NExt year I should stat learning Vietnamese .
Venturing into Vietnamese next sounds like a wonderful continuation of your language exploration. Each language offers its own set of challenges and rewards... I love doing motorcycle tours in Vietnam.
As someone who’s learning Korean,I really loved this video! Could you do a video on strategies for westerners learning left branching languages?! I feel like that’s one of the main things I struggle with.😅
I am so pleased you find it helpful. That would be a very specific video but, hey, let me give it some thought and see what I can do... thanks, I like the idea.
Thank you for this fantastic overview of these four languages! I am learning Korean and my son Japanese (he also has learned a bit of Chinese before). He is much faster in learning and memorizing pattetns than I am. I know that I need to make the switch in my head to left branching languages. I guess it is a matter of practice. Someone else asked you to do a video about that already. No pressure 😅
Brilliant presentation. Thank you. My Asia languages are Chinese Vietnamese and Tagalog. Also, you showed the exact polyglot template which I have talked about.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation. It's fantastic to hear that you have that your languages are Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. I want to improve my Tagalog!
Im filipino but idk how to speak my native language 😅
I'm really interested about the topic of this video but at the end, what I like the most was the love and passion you clearly have for talking about this.
Yes, thanks fir acknowledging that.
Thank you :) Your analysis is excellent!
Glad it was helpful!
As a Japanese, the efficiency of learning Korean jumped up when I found out that the famous Korean way to express appreciation "감사합니다-Kamsa hamnida" is actually "感謝합니다" and it has a perfectly direct counterpart in Japanese, 感謝いたします (Kansha itashimasu, a more formal way to say thank you than ありがとうございます-Arigatou gozaimasu).
As a Chinese, In our language，We don't have such abundant suffixes and endings that Korean and Japanese have . If you want to say “thanks”，You just say "感謝"without any suffixes. Just as the grammar of Korean and Japanese is similar, the grammar of Vietnamese is more similar to Chinese. If Vietnamese are grateful for you ，They probably say a two-characters Kanji word "Cảm ơn"， which write down in chinese character should be“感恩”。It literally means “Gratitude 恩を感じることだ”
@@kinwon5097 Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Yes, the Chinese way to say thank you is much simpler and I like it as well. It seems kinda casual, but the meaning behind that, which Japanese speakers and Chinese speakers can understand from the letters, exhibits politeness. As a Japanese, I need to say 感謝 to the Chinese people tens of centuries ago for exporting these amazing letters!
Great input about your perspective ... thanks.
Thank you for your contributions to the dialogue... very interesting to read
@@a.kataoka2917 日本人跟慰安妇道歉
as a language enthusiast i appreciate the time you put in each language to learn them .
Thank you... and I am still learning :-)
In future I want to see myself being good in all these languages, thank you for the video! It is really inspiring and helpful.
You can do it!
Great video, professor. I studied Korean long time ago and I'd wish I had such interesting insight to all those languages. 감사합니다.
Thanks so much 🙏
9:04 i'd add another important similarity in Chinese and Vietnamese which is both language is a Tonal language so each word has a tone unlike korean and Japanese that's why when you hear a chinese word origin from Korean and Japan they tend to be flat and not much tone , while Vietnamese retain the tone since the first day that certain vocabulary was introduced to Vietnam , most word are arrive from the Tang dynasty that's when Chinese classical was the top of the region influence many others neighbor but that also when the first time in history Chinese become a tonal language , not sure if Vietnam was already a tonal language from that time yet but anyway now both are, people might overlook Tonal language think it's not important when learning Chinese or vietnamese but that's where most foreigner fail, if you nail the tone you nail basically the language its just as important as remembering the grammar or vocab
Very interesting.
Vietnamese tones are much harder.
not talking about which is hard but im talking about tone in general. Vietnamese tone can be comparable to Thai and Cantonese @@youtubedeletedmyaccountlma2263
One more: Chinese and Vietnamese are monosyllabic. Japanese and Korean are polysyllabic
@@youtubedeletedmyaccountlma2263 still a 5 tone system just like Cantonese , for me southerner so that's only reduce to 4 tone for my accent
In my opinion, I feel it's easier to learn many vocabulary from japanese, korean, and vietnamese because it is more similar to Cantonese which is one of the many chinese languages.
Yes... the pronunciation is closer to Cantonese
Lots of work. Great job. Thanks for explanation.
My pleasure 🙏
Your contents are so concrete and well-organized
I appreciate 🙏 that... thanks
I had an eureka moment when I saw how it was possible to stack up japanese, korean and chinese--but now you present the idea that is possible to go one step ahead and stack vietnamese on the top of it. Very interesting ;)
I'm thrilled to hear about your "eureka moment"! Indeed, the interconnectedness of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese languages can create a strong foundation for language learning. Adding Vietnamese to the mix can be a fascinating and rewarding challenge. Each language contributes unique perspectives and cultural insights. If you decide to explore Vietnamese further, I wish you an enriching and enjoyable journey. Feel free to share your experiences or ask any questions along the way! 😊🌐
I've learned Japanese. I've been learned Vietnamese for 3 years now and I just started MANDARIN. So I warn you that are some misapprehensions and misconceptions in this video. First, there is no this such thing as "Chinese LANGUAGE". There are Chinese LANGUAGES. There are many Chinese languages (not dialects), they are not mutually intelligible, and Mandarin is just ONE of them and is the official language in mainland China and spoken in some other countries. Second, calling those languages "close" to each other is at least being generous. More than half of the population of the entire planet lives on East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. If you are in any country of mainland Southeast Asia ALL your neighbors have a different writing systems! Japanese and Korean don't have even the same origin as Chinese, languages, ovietnamese, they are from different families. Vietnamese, though influenced by Chinese (mainly CANTONESE, and, more specifically yet, MIDDLE CHINESE, a now DEAD language, and NOT Mandarin, don't get fooled) is also from a different language family, the Mon-khmer language. It is NOTHIG like, for instance, learning ROMANCE languages (I'm Brazilian and I also speak Italian). Not by a long shot. It's not because they "are Asian" that they are similar. That part of the world is a planet on itself, on its own merits. Although they have influenced each other they are VASTLY different and knowing Japanese helped me VERY LITTLE in learning Vietnamese. And having some working knowledge of Vietnamese is helping me VERY LITTLE with Mandarin. Even knowing Japanese kanji won't help you as much as you may think with chinse hanzi. Don't get into it thinking it's like, for instance, learning German knowing English. It's WAY harder than this going from one to the other.
Yep, agree. VNese speaker here & know a bit of Cantonese and know enough of Mandarin to know that’s it’s like a different language. The writing might be the same but the pronunciation is completely different between Cantonese & Mandarin. It’s not like learning German when you know English.
@JohnnyLynnLee Well, it probably helps if you build on the similarities. Middle Chinese is the "Greek/Latin" of the Sinosphere. So, unlike Spanish/Portuguese/Italian which can be considered just dialects of the same language, this Asian situation is something like building on Latin/Greek origin words when learning other European languages. Something like English containing a lot of Latin words that entered it from French. So while English is Germanic and not Romance, the French connection can help somewhat in learning the Romance languages or vice versa. (Especially in written form). There was even a book for learning Spanish that claims to expedite the learning process building on that.
@@rob6927 But I know where you all are coming from. You think like learning, like, by list of vocabulary, comparing the words. Yah, it will LOOK easier doing that. But that's NOT how you really learn a language My point being, being able to watch and read anything I want in Japanese for pleasure does help me in sitting and watching Vietnamese news or Japanese news when I'm not compering a list of words? No it doesn't. I can't understand S** of a random Mandarin youtube video. Maybe I get some words here and there if there's subtitles because of the characters.
This video came to us in the best time ever, at least for me. Because that´s my goal, speak fluently all of these languges. Diffently this is one of the best videos I've ever watched about learn languages.
I'm thrilled to hear that the video resonated with your language learning goals! Speaking fluently in multiple languages is a fantastic aspiration, especially the languages of the East Asian Cultural Sphere. I'm here to support you on your language journey. If you ever have questions, need advice, or want more language-learning content, feel free to reach out. Best of luck, and happy language learning! 🌟
You are such a great tutor!
Thank you so much!
Great topic! Great way of teaching languages.
THANKS SO MUCH
This video is really interesting. Growing up bilingual with German and Vietnamese I admit learning Chinese when I was at university was pretty easy in comparison to my fellow students. But I also did 1 yeah Korean. I really struggled and kinda gave up. Japanese I never tried. I did try to learn Cantonese though but also no success. But watching your video I might pick up korean again 😊
Great... I am so happy it got you interested in going back to studying Korean.
Hello teacher! What an incredible video. I have been studying Korean for over a year and I also want to learn Chinese and Japanese. This video enlightened my mind, I'm going to create a plan to start with Japanese for a few months, and then continue, but also include Chinese. It will be a challenge, but I'm up for it. Thank you so much!!! (By the way, I love your videos)
That is very encouraging 👏 thanks for sharing 👍
The best feeling is when you found another persons who also spoke at least two East Asian languages and the similarities are so interesting that you can't stop talking about it.
Exactly 💯
The knowledge you said open my mind. I am Vietnamese and want to learn japanese, your videos are really helpful for my study, thank you a lot.
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I love this video! I’ve studied each of these languages to some degree and noticed the similarities over the years. I’ve always thought they’d be the ultimate group of languages to learn 😊
Thanks for sharing your experience. When I made the video I was hoping people like you would appreciate it.
I've learned Japanese. I've been learned Vietnamese for 3 years now and I just started MANDARIN. So I warn you that are some misapprehensions and misconceptions in this video. First, there is no this such thing as "Chinese LANGUAGE". There are Chinese LANGUAGES. There are many Chinese languages (not dialects), they are not mutually intelligible, and Mandarin is just ONE of them and is the official language in mainland China and spoken in some other countries. Second, calling those languages "close" to each other is at least being generous. More than half of the population of the entire planet lives on East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. If you are in any country of mainland Southeast Asia ALL your neighbors have a different writing systems! Japanese and Korean don't have even the same origin as Chinese, languages, ovietnamese, they are from different families. Vietnamese, though influenced by Chinese (mainly CANTONESE, and, more specifically yet, MIDDLE CHINESE, a now DEAD language, and NOT Mandarin, don't get fooled) is also from a different language family, the Mon-khmer language. It is NOTHIG like, for instance, learning ROMANCE languages (I'm Brazilian and I also speak Italian). Not by a long shot. It's not because they "are Asian" that they are similar. That part of the world is a planet on itself, on its own merits. Although they have influenced each other they are VASTLY different and knowing Japanese helped me VERY LITTLE in learning Vietnamese. And having some working knowledge of Vietnamese is helping me VERY LITTLE with Mandarin. Even knowing Japanese kanji won't help you as much as you may think with chinse hanzi. Don't get into it thinking it's like, for instance, learning German knowing English. It's WAY harder than this going from one to the other.
@@JohnnyLynnLee
@@JohnnyLynnLeeI’m Vietnamese (with Hokkien Chinese descent), studied Mandarin and Korean, and I agree with your point, Chinese is NOT A LANGUAGE. But I also understand where Tim comes from and is going in the Video, cuz I am blessed with the amount of Sino root vocabulary when studying Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Korean and Japanese (I’ve not study Japanese but growing up watcht a lot of anime and shounen series). In addition, starting with Mandarin itself helps a lot when studying the rest in this group.
@@thatvietguyonline The problem is it made it sound (maybe unintentionally) that study FORM ZERO all of those languages would help. It will not. It's like when I'm teaching Portuguese to some American with the illusion that he can somewhat communicate with Spanish speaking people because Brazilians can. Yeah, you can SOMEWHAT have SOME kind of communication with a NATIVE level, like a native BRAZILIAN. even with an advanced level you WON'T be able to do that. and Spanish and Portuguese is one of the closest languages you can get. There's nothing even remotely close as Portuguese and Spanish in the languages cited. My knowledge of Japanese helped me ZERO to understand spoken and written Korean. Not a single word. My five year old child level of Vietnamese, where I can understand, watching the VTV4 news, something from 30% to 50% of what's being said (in WORDS, not in meaning- that's another discussion) for every minute helped VERY LITTLE in starting Mandarin. As you've said you are a NATIVE. You can grasp the similarities. Like a Brazilian can listening to Spanish. But an American with an intermediate level in Portuguese would be HELPLESS talking to someone form Venezuela at ANY level. Zero communication.
As a Korean, studying Japanese feels like a bonus. There is nothing difficult about learning Japanese other than having to memorize all the kanji. Even though I learn English at school, it's still difficult for me and I'm not good at it. However, Japanese, which I learned simply as a hobby, was very easy to learn. Since it is a similar language, I can learn it happily, and my skills improve faster.
Thank you for sharing that perspective as a Korean learning Japanese 🙂
But I think your English is very good, at least better than mine.😁
진짜 일본어는 말하기와 듣기는 너무 쉽게 익히겠는데 한자때문에 읽기 쓰기의 진입장벽이 높네요
This is a great video, and it was especially remarkable of you that you included Vietnamese as well when other similar videos often only focus on the three east asian languages. I absolutley agree with you that it is much more rewarding than it is time consuming and requires commitment, to learn multiple languages that are similar to each other. With that said, if I may, there's 2 things I'd like to nitpick in your explanation on Japanese and Korean sharing basically 3 politeness speech levels, from 12:28. First, the Korean names of the first politeness levels are simply swapped. 해체 is the least polite form in which the verb 먹다 would be 먹어, and in 해요체, which would be in the middle in comparison among the three, it is 먹어요. Second, a Korean counterpart of Japanese 敬語 is not necessarilly 합니다체. The Japanese verb you used as an example of it, 召し上がる, would more specifically be classified as 尊敬語, which are a set of verbs that are used to describe an action of a person you pay a lot of respect to, as opposed to 謙譲語, which are used to refer to an action of yourself (or someone in the same social hierarchie level as you), to humble yourself (or the person) down in front of a person in a higher social position. The Korean counterpart of 召し上がる would be, in the sense that it can only describe a person in a higher social position eating, 드시다. As far as I know Korean 합니다체 can describe anyones action regardless of their social position, except it would just sound more polite than 해요체, in which sense there's no direct Japanese counterpart of it.
Thank you for your detailed and insightful input regarding East Asian languages, particularly Japanese and Korean. I appreciate your corrections and clarifications. Please note that if I were just talking about Japanese and Korean I would have delved into the politeness systems with more accuracy. Please correct me if I am mistaked but I believe there are seven politeness levels in the Seoul dialect of Korean, often referred to as "존댓말" (jondaetmal), encompass a range of formality and politeness. Here's an overview: 하소서체 (Hasoseoche): Usage: The highest level of politeness, typically used in formal or ceremonial situations. Example: "가세요" (gaseyo) - Please go. 하오체 (Haoche): Usage: Formal language used in polite and respectful situations. Example: "가십니다" (gasimnida) - (Someone) is going. 하게체 (Hageche): Usage: Polite language suitable for general formal occasions. Example: "가세요" (gaseyo) - Please go. 해라체 (Haerache): Usage: Standard polite language, commonly used in everyday conversations. Example: "가세요" (gaseyo) - Please go. 해체 (Haeche): Usage: Politeness level used in semi-formal or semi-polite situations. Example: "가세요" (gaseyo) - Please go. 해요체 (Haeyoche): Usage: Casual polite language, commonly used in daily interactions. Example: "가세요" (gaseyo) - Please go. 하라체 (Harache): Usage: Lowest level of politeness, used in very casual or intimate situations. Example: "가" (ga) - Go.
This was an interesting video, thank you a lot!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment.
6:40 slight correction: the word 革命 already existed in Classical Chinese prior to the modern era, having been coined as late as the eastern Han, and thus cannot be considered 和製漢語. More accurately, the historical word was reappropriated to fit a modern context by Fukuzawa Yukichi (福沢諭吉) who was a political commentator and translator who studied these things. Great video overall. As a Canto and Japanese speaker, I do plan on moving on to Korean and Vietnamese in the future
Thank you for the correction and additional information. It's always valuable to refine historical and linguistic details. I appreciate your clarification that the word 革命 predates the modern era in Classical Chinese and was later reappropriated by Fukuzawa Yukichi for a modern context. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the video and that you're planning to explore Korean and Vietnamese in the future. If you have any more insights or questions about languages or any other topic, feel free to share!
this is a absolutly fantastic video! as a chinese person that speaks both cantonese and mandarin i was able to pick up vietnamese (thanks to my vietnamese gf) fairly easy, like seriously easy lol, i also noticed that maybe historical means may have influenced the way the sinosphere developed, when i looked at the other half of asian influence, the indosphere (india pakistan bangladesh laos cambodia thailand, basically the other half of asia) things were vastly different. even culturally you can see all those countries share the same influence in their food/cuisine, clothing and celebrations, all cultural aspects, then you see the same between china/vietnam/japan and korea. it's a beautiful thing, i guess it's not that much different when you look at other neighboring counties in other areas, like ukranian/russian/east european, or the anglosphere, etc. i just wish there could be more celebration amoung these topics as it feels like most people aren't interested in history when it is the most interesting thing to me haha!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and views.
BestInformation so far for me as an Outsider. You explained Chinese time Grammar so well for me. A major leap. Thank you so much!
I am thrilled to read your comment 😀
@polyglotdreams ☺You are welcome. During Corona I started with Chinese, Korean and Japanese. But 2 out of 3 Teachers had to leave my Country and so I only learn Japanese right now. I am bad at learning. So I have studied the Sentence structures and History (connections) of each Language and Country first, to get a pattern and memorize better. Brutforce memorizing doesn't work with me. I have to understand it and need Pictures and Situations to connect. I have experienced, that by Amount and Quality, Books in English/Japanese (and the 2 other Languages) are far better for learning. But still many miss the small simple facts to explain the right use of the tenses in Chinese (for Example). We were told, using "yao" (will) was unpolite. I still try my listening by practicing with Chinese Drama.😅 And hear yao so often.Now I understand the meaning better.
@waldfee2283 thanks for sharing that
That's awesome, thanks for sharing. Actually, these 4 countries have many similarities from language to culture. Wishing teachers good health
Yes... the cultural aspect is very important.
I listened to a very similar presentation of yours on the Easy Languages podcast and I have to say you have piqued my interest! But right now I'm only less than 2 years in Japanese and am still a beginner, learning these four languages together seems like a lifelong project...
It is a lifelong project for me, too... there is always room to improve and more to know. Thanks for your comment. By the way, I love Greek and the videos.
The real picture of languages in this region is actually more fascinating. As a Chinese from the south I can speak both Mandarin and Cantonese, and some other dialects as well. Arguably Chinese dialects are often referred as Sinitic languages by linguists due to the great differences between them, but as someone who is interested in this topic I found it very similar to the relationship between Japanese and Korean: mostly same word order, mostly same vocabulary (including day-to-day verbs and grammatical particles), different phonological systems but as predictable as the similarity level between Japanese and Korean pronunciation for Kanji/Hanja words. The tone system is kind of similar as they are quite predictable, as all Sinitic languages inherit the four-tone system from Middle Chinese with their own changes like split and merge applied (that's why most Sinitic languages have 4-8 tones), which means if you know the tone of one character in one dialect, its tone in another dialect can be predicted if you know the rules to be applied. This is fascinating for me while learning Chu Han pronunciation in Vietnamese, because the process of "pronunciation guessing" is exactly the same as guessing from one Sinitic language to another. Anyway really nice work!
Thanks for your engaging input 👍
Vietnamese and Cantonese are really similar. When videos on language comparison include Cantonese and Hokkien, the 2 are often closer to Vietnamese than to Mandarin.
@@rob6927 vietnamese is actually much closer to the Chinese dialects in its neighbouring regions (Guangxi Cantonese, Hainan Hokkien) than Guangzhou/Hong Kong Cantonese (which makes sense). For example, all /s/ sound in Middle Chinese turned into /t/ sound in Vietnamese, and there was no /s/ sound in middle Vietnamese (c. 18th century), which is also a feature found in Hainan Hokkien. Some Cantonese varieties have similar features, where /s/ turned into /ɬ/ (this is common in western Guangdong and Guangxi). The deeper you get into the more connections you will find.
@@jamesyang420 Yeah, that's what I mean. The southern Chinese languages are closer to Vietnamese than to northern Mandarin.
Very informative video! Learned some new things :) really hope to someday make bigger strides with Japanese and actually start learning Korean. Thank you for sharing!!!
Thank you for joining us here.
If you familiar to Fujianese Minnan dialects, you would be greatly helped in reading into a lot of SINO words. This is because Minnan is a descendant of Middle Chinese language, when the sinosphere was flourished in Japan, Korea and Vietnam, instead of the newer dialect such as Mandarin which was actually brought by Mongols dynasty to become the official language centuries after the Middle Chinese era.
Yes... it it the same with other forms of Chinese in the south. Thanks for your input 👍 🙂
Super interesting! I started my young children on Mandarin Chinese this year…excited to expand slowly over time!
Fantastic... it is great to start young in such a distant language linguistically and culturally.
This is great. Keep this content up and you will hit 100k subs in no time.
Hope so! I will do some more videos pointing out the synergy you can get even when learning languages from completely different families.
I’m Indonesian who can speak Indonesian + 3 traditional Indonesian languages, an everage English, and now learning Japanese, that means 6 languages in my head now, not to mention French and Korean with a really basic level. watching this makes me considering to blow my head even more 😂
Great idea 💡 👏
First of all big fan of your work. I found your videos while looking into the topic of the effects of identity in the development of a native like accent since thats what I am trying to do for Japanese. Currently I am primarily trying to develop listening fluency, since my speaking skill are ok(grammer is meh but pretty sure if I developed my listening better I would have a greater grap on the sov) and literacy while I have some proficiency is not something I need for another couple of years. I regularly watch content on youtube and speak with some Japanese people for short period of time but was wondering how I could better integrate more comprehensible input and listening oriented vocab practice into my studies.
Thanks so much for your interest in my work and loyal support. I will publish a video in few days about increasing your listening comprehension skills. Please let me know any specific questions you might have after watching it.
@@polyglotdreams sounds great can’t wait for that video to come out. You really inspire me since I want to do almost exactly what you did. Have lots of world travels and explore many language while basing it out of Japan
丁度、韓国語３年前から、勉強しているところです…. I've been learning Korean now for about 3 years at this point. As someone who already spoke pretty good Japanese, I think the Kanji/ Hanja words thing and Svo n cultural similarities definitely make this much easier than if I didn't speak/ know Japanese n Japan.. I'm also slowly learning a bit of Chinese , and notice that just knowing similar kanji and how to use kanji makes the burden much less. Given how much effort goes into learning kanji for Japanese, it's nice to get some " free milage " out of kanji for Korean and Chinese. 😂 Feels a bit like a coupon deal. ..😂. 2 for 1, 3 for 1.... Deal. 😂. Anyways, this was interesting for me, including about the Vietnamese dialects. I wonder if you could talk about Vietnamese north and south language and also your experiences with learning Vietnamese.. specifically about how much would knowing Chinese ( and/ or Japanese or Korean ...) Would / were an advantage in doing that Vietnamese learning journey. ? もっと、そのような話しや、backstory など、是非聞かせてみたいです。 宜しくお願い致します。
Thanks so much for those suggestions 🎉I will do my best to get to that content.
中国人と結婚して中国に２５年以上住んでる韓国人の立場からいうとベトナム語の場合発音の面から見ると広東語と韓国語に似ているし、文法の面では中国語に非常に近いです。中国の中でも標準語に反してぼくの住んでる所で使われている広東語が分かる場合はベトナム語を勉強するときずっと有利なところがたくさんあるんです。 한국어 이외에 베트남어도 공부하신다고 해서 많이 놀랏습니다. 어느 나라 출신인가요? 하나도 아니고 두 개 이상의 아시아 언어 구사력이 뛰어난 서양인들 보면 존경심이 듭니다.
I have been trying to learn some Japanese with mediocre success, so far. I know a few phrases in Korean and Vietnamese and Chinese as well. However, this explanation of the connections between them all is remarkable! I'm going to have a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it all at first but, I believe this may be a key element in my becoming more fluent in them all. Especially, since I wish to retire to Japan or Thailand in the not so distant future and, yes, I am picking up a little Thai right now. Wait a minute! That did't sound quite right the way I wrote it. I'd better stop here. LOL Thanks for making this video. I will have to follow up with reviewing more of you productions.
Thanks so much for your comment... please 🙏 join us in this fascinating part of the world 🌎
Hats off to you Sir. I'm Vietnamese and I found it easier to learn Chinese Korean Japanese than my other south east asian friends. You are the master 🎉of
Thanks so much 🙏
Hi! I am Vietnamese, your information is great. Thanks for sharing this useful information.❤💯👍
Hi from vietnam too
Thanks so much for joining us here.
I am so pleased to get your positive feedback 😀 🙌
What many fail to notice is that the similarity between Japanese and Korean is not only just the word order, markers, and sino-vocabulary. The two languages are astonishingly similar even in much finer details, including particles, auxiliary verbs, compound verbs, and idiomatic words for certain senses. Here’s some examples. Both languages use the auxiliary verb “to see” (見る/보다) to mean “to casually try something:” “…てみる” & “…아/어 보다.” Also the auxiliary verb “to give” (くれる/あげる/주다) to mean “to do someone a favor:” “…てくれる/…てあげる/…아/어 주다.” The auxiliary verb “to exist” (居る/있다) to convey the progressive tense: “…ている/…고 있다.” “To go” (行く/가다) for “doing something little by little:” “…ていく/…てゆく/…아/어 가다.” “…て-おく” and “…아/어 두다.” “…て-しまう” and “…아/어 버리다.” They use the verb “to be hung” (掛かる/걸리다) to mean “to take a specific amount of time; to get a specific illness; etc.” sharing the exact same senses. They even shares some compound verbs: “払い込む” & “불입(拂入)하다” (to pay); “取り消す” & “취소(取消)하다” (to cancel)….
Yes, thanks for the input... I plan on making a video focusing on the similarities just of Korean and Japanese... I could not get into to deeply in this video.
因为它们都是黏着语，祖先来自北方的游牧民族。
What an interesting video! Great information, I can tell u put alot of research into this Cảm ơn chú đã cố gắng học tiếng Việt 🎉
Thank you... well actually I have been studying and using the 4 languages for many years so I did not have to do much research about the grammatical and lexical similarities. Thank you so much for your comment.
Dear Language Professor Tim Keeley I am so glad that I watch your video incidentally😂. I have been learning Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. I grow up with Taiwanese and learned traditional Chinese at schools. I found out all are transformers of 漢文. The last but not least is that Taiwanese is the one most close to 漢文.🎉❤😂 Enjoying language learning All the best Ken Chou😊
这也有台独
Thanks so much 🙏 💓
Before you mentioned it at 1:35 , my exact curiosity and why I checked this video out, was the Primary Language Family differences, from Austroasiatic to Koreanic to Sino-Tibetan and Japonic I am very curious about how these could work, beyond Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja
Yes, exactly... that is so intriguing
Thank you for the video, I've learned a lot. And fortunately for me, you haven't talked about the aspect that I think is most important, which is that all these languages have their origins in a visual-based script, which is completely different from the sound-based alphabetic script. This is especially confusing for Vietnamese because they use Latin letters and so they think that their writing is also alphabetical. That's not it, they only use the Latin letters. In your video you make it very clear that Vietnamese, like other languages, is characterized by the influence of the logographic script. Compares well with the comic strip, which also has no periods and commas, just like the old Chinese script. At the end you briefly talk about the tones, in my videos I often talk about the confusion that arises from calling these languages 'tonal languages'. I suspect that naming the languages after the tones started somewhere when the Europeans arrived in Asia and did not understand why the languages are so different, pointing to the intensive use of the tones could well be the origin. But the word 'tone languages' suggests that there is a lot of music in these languages and in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Because of the tones, the use of sound options has become extremely limited. For those who are used to English, your video is in English, so you are targeting that group, the difficulty is mainly to limit yourself to those few tones and not to use sound options to give emotional meaning to what you say, for example.
Thank you so much for the interesting input.
@@polyglotdreamsI have to thank you very much because I especially want to help my Vietnamese friends. They are generally so smart and hardworking, but they have been isolated for so long. Videos like yours make things so understandable. I mainly work for beginners, I am also a beginner. Your level is so much higher and more interesting... but most importantly: it is very accessible and that is often the problem with people who know too much, at a certain point it becomes impossible for me to follow.
As a Vietnamese currently teaching myself Chinese, Japanese and Korean, I think the best order to go is Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean. Chinese and Vietnamese have very similar grammar, and both have tones, with Vietnamese having more tones and slightly harder. Tones is the one thing that I find foreigners struggle with the most. Once you’re familiar with Chinese tones the Viet tones will be more manageable. Then since you’ve learned some Hanzi, it’ll help with learning Japanese’s Kanji. Then Korean, as Japanese and Korean have similar word order. Another reason for this order is I like to sandwich the one that I find harder with the one I find easier as a breather, but this is personal and depends on what your mother tongue is. Or maybe just start with the one that connects or inspires you the most, as it will make the learning experience less laborious and more enjoyable. In my case I love Chinese poetry so I start with it.
Sure... that is an excellent approach...
@@polyglotdreams For a native English speaker, would you consider fluency in Vietnamese to be more difficult than Mandarin, considering the extra tones, or is Vietnamese easier given its writing system?
Tình cờ cháu tìm được kênh của chú, cháu không ngờ là có người có thể nói được nhiều ngôn ngữ như vậy. Cháu là người Việt, có biết tiếng Anh và cháu rất muốn học tiếng Nhật, tiếng Hàn, tiếng Trung ạ. Sau đã học tiếng Nhật thử và cháu thấy tiếng Nhật rất khó ạ. Chỉ học bảng chữ cái thôi cháu đã thấy khó nhớ rồi. Nhưng tiếng Nhật cháu thấy phát âm khá dễ. Và chữ Kanji thì cháu không biết là học như thế nào vì quá phức tạp và khó nhớ. Mong chú làm thêm nhiều video chủ đề về các ngôn ngữ này ạ.
Yes, I will make more videos 📹 about these languages... thanks
As A Korean, I totally agree with this video. Korean and Japanese have a lot of similarities, such as grammar and vocabulary. And thanks to this, I learned Japanese much more quickly than English. Although I'm not good at reading and writing kanji, I can communicate in Japanese with almost no problem. Thanks for the video! I didn't know about the relationship between Vietnamese and other East-Asian languages, but I can see now!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I think the closest languages in this group are Japanese and Korean but as I said, each one you learn helps with learning the others.
근데 이 동영상 제목은 한중일베트남어를 한번에 마스터 할 수 있다고 하는데 이거에 대해선 어떻게 생각하시는지요
The biggest difference between Vietnamese and the other 3 languages is that in Vietnamese the adjective comes after the noun and in the remaining 3 languages the adjective comes before the noun similar to English.
That is true, but right branching is a much bigger difference affecting syntax.
Unless you have use some words that has roots in Chinese. Eg. bạch mã not mã bạch.
@@KNg-pt8wf There are also a few exceptions, for example, Vietnamese people use the phrase "Giáo Trình Hán Ngữ "( all Sino-Vietnamese words ) ( N + Adj ), they don't use phrase "Hán Ngữ Giáo Trình "( Adj + N )
@@thanh206that's true, but @KNg-pt8wf 's statement still applies. The one you mentioned is a phrase rather than a word. If you translate the literal meaning of Hán ngữ (Adj + N) it would be tiếng Hán, then it is N + Adj
Great explanation!👏
THANKS
Impressed! Grateful! Totemo omoshirokatta! I've been studying all these languages except for Vietnamese ! Fueled to keep going!! Endless Gratitude!! Take care!
Thanks so much 🙏 for sharing your experience... I am thrilled that it motivated you.
Thank you so much, I am studying Japanese and preparing to take N5 examination. I also want to study Korean or Chinese. This video is best fix for me. ^^
🇻🇳 Vietnamese: Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều! Rất tốt khi bạn đang học tiếng Nhật và chuẩn bị thi N5. Nếu bạn quyết định học thêm tiếng Hàn hoặc Trung, chúng tôi chúc bạn may mắn và hạnh phúc trong hành trình học tập của mình. Nếu có bất kỳ câu hỏi hoặc cần hỗ trợ gì thêm, đừng ngần ngại liên hệ nhé! 🌟 🇬🇧 English: Thank you so much! It's great that you're studying Japanese and getting ready for the N5 exam. If you decide to study Korean or Chinese as well, we wish you the best of luck and happiness on your learning journey. If you have any questions or need further support, feel free to reach out! 🌟 🇯🇵 Japanese: どうもありがとう！日本語の勉強とN5試験の準備、お疲れさまです。もし韓国語や中国語も勉強することになったら、幸運と学びの旅でたくさんの喜びがありますように。何か質問やサポートが必要なら、お気軽にご連絡くださいね！ 🌟
@@polyglotdreams it's wonderful, thank you so much.
@@polyglotdreamsDear Professor, I started laughing out loud when I was reading your reply comments. It is so ironic to see a westerner could write Vietnamese so fluently. I attended the elite Vietnamese high school establishment but I can’t write like this anymore. I understood your writing but to write a paragraph like this it’d take me a half of a day to look up and research the vocabularies. I have been living in the USA and have not been using my native language for decades. I have a memory deficiency in remembering facts and hence problems in learning vocabularies. When I encountered a new word as I was reading in English, I still could not remember the meaning after looking it up for more than a dozen of times. Now I am experiencing the same as trying to relearning Vietnamese. This was why I kept flunking biology and calculus II in college. I seemed to enjoy abstract thinking in philosophy, sociology, physics, visual arts…. while in college. I used to remember a couple of French songs I learned in high school. Besides this, I was unsuccessful in trying to learn French, Japanese, Norwegian and now Mandarin. Being a linguist, have you ever met anyone with this memory deficiency like this? The memory facility in my brain must be very tiny 😢. BTW, I enjoyed your video immensely. You are so phenomenal,special, and smart. I am so glad to know there are people like you out there. It is very fascinating and rewarding to watch your video. Thank you very much!
I started learning Japanese first till I decided to learn Korean and later on when I become fluent In Korean I will come back learning Japanese but during my studies In learning Korean I have noticed a lot of Chinese characters In Korean and just the pronunciation between the two are just slightly different but every much similar so I think learning Korean first is the easiest language of the four but also learning it I think as the foundation to help you learn Chinese and Japanese
That is great if it works for you. It is possible to start with any of the four I discuss. Cantonese is the closest to VN, JP and KR in terms of the pronunciation of Sino vocabulary.
@@polyglotdreams 日语、韩语 来源于中国的吴语和粤语，，如果只有粤语是欠完整的。。。再说，粤语地区是三国时代吴国的地盘。中国的语言，就是以人们最爱的三国演义的三国时代奠定了现在的中国语言公布。
I'm very interested to learn all these four languages!!! I now fully understand the nature and the background of these languages and the resulting similarities.
Wonderful! I am very pleased that you found the video useful.
I'm a 1.5 generation Chinese-American and find Chinese-adjacent languages much harder because I tend to approach foreign languages from an English or French speaker's perspective. I have very little conscious knowledge of Chinese grammar or vocabulary usage since what is right is "just right" to me since I grew up speaking and reading it but never studying it. I've also never had to learn another language from a Chinese perspective. To put things in perspective, I spent MONTHS trying to master the difference between the French verbs “savoir" and "connaître" and did not realize until nearly a decade later that the same difference exists in Chinese. When I learned Italian, I automatically used my French as my scaffold language because it was so similar and also because unlike for Chinese and English, I was aware of all the mechanics of French. It was to the point where if something didn't exist in French, I couldn't say it right in Italian even if it was more similar to the languages I knew better.
Well, I hope you can learn to use your knowledge of Chinese to help you learn these languages if that is what you would like to do. In the process you will increase your awareness of Chinese grammar.
❤❤❤ thanks a lot for very nice infor. Love it so much. These 4 countries share many similar cultures _(called Sino-Sphere or East Asian Cultural Sphere)_ , and of course many loan-words are used in all 4 China, Japan, Korea & Vietnam. There are history connections between 4 these ones. ❤❤❤ Love all of these countries - Sino-Sphere so much....!
I feel the same way
I love this video, I have been learning chinese for 3 years. I speak spanish (my mother tongue), english and french too. My goal right now is to master Chinese and move on to japanese and later korean. I'm a bit worried that I might confuse some characters with chinese when learning Japanese. Any tips? 🤔
I studied Chinese literature in Japanese and I found that it actually helped me see the different uses of certain characters in both languages.
Sounds good. Love it.
Thanks for listening
Well, it’s really difficult nowadays to learn these languages at once, since the latter three have transformed so much. Especially Japanese and Korean, they are really drifted away from Chinese aspects, which in the past, were essentially the core of both languages. Vietnamese on the other hand, started as a completely new language, but still kept the logic and most grammar from Chinese.
Japanese and Kirean grammar is still very similar.
I study mandarim for 5 years, now just begun japanese and korean, maybe i will try viet when master these three
Awesome... go for it!
Mình là người việt nam,mình đang học tiếng nhật và mình rất thích tiếng nhật vì từ vựng tiếng nhật đa số đọc theo âm hán, phát âm na ná với ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ của mình làm mình có cảm giác ngôn ngữ rất tốt, khác với tiếng anh mình phải chật vật để có cảm giác từ. Cám ơn vì video của bạn đã đem lại những thông tin hữu ích
Cảm ơn cháu đã bình luận. Vì sự giống nhau giữa các ngôn ngữ này nên chắc chắn khi cháu nói giỏi một tiếng học những tiếng còn lại sẽ dễ hơn rất nhiều. Cố gắng lên nhé
chú giỏi quá chú!! I’m currently trying to get better at English so I can try learning other languages like Italian (almost all of my family and relatives are good at italian! Yet I came out deciding to learn English) Also yes, I’m Vietnamese
@@hannatheoneandonly Fantastic... keep on learning every day!
Thank you for motivating me, I've been studying Mandarin for the past two years, I'd been interested and was studying Japanese casually when I was at the university. Also there are a lot of Vietnamese people living in our country and I've been getting curious about the language recently. Korean is tempting me as well, I like their gaming culture, the script and "simplicity" of pronunciation compared to the other ones 😁 I'll branch out this year.
It's great that these languages all resonate with you ❕
I'm a Korean student who has studied Japanese and a bit of Chinese. (srry for my bad English) First, I want to say thank you for making this great video. I've never seen a Westerner like you who is analyzing exactly the similarities between languages in East Asia. I watched it very interesting. However, there is an error, so I would like to correct the part. 12:28 is the one I found. You said both Korean and Japanese have basically 3 politeness levels to explain the similarities between Korean and Japanese. Actually, Korean politeness levels are not three. Korean is spoken with 4 politeness levels in 격식체 GYEOKSIKCHE(formal form) and 2 politeness levels in 비격식체 BIGYEOKSIKCHE(informal form). In GYEOKSIKCHE(formal form), there are 해라체 HAERACHE - 하게체 HAGECHE - 하오체 HAOCHE - 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE. In BIGYEOKSIKCHE(informal form), there are 해체 HAECHE - 해요체 HAEYOCHE. These are the six politeness levels in sentence termination, which are expressing "Who is the higher one; a speaker or a listener." The right side is more polite, and the left side is more generous. 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE corresponds to 'です。' and 'ます。' in Japanese. For example, I am a teacher. 私は先生だ。= 나는 선생님이다. -> 해라체 HAERACHE 私は先生です。 = 저는 선생님입니다. -> 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) (Subject) play with a friend. 友達と遊ぶ。 = 친구와 놀다. -> 해라체 HAERACHE 友達と遊びます。 = 친구와 놉니다. -> 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) Also you compared '召し上がる' and "먹습니다." 13:43, but they are totally different. "먹습니다." is 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE, which is one of 6 politeness levels in sentence termination, and they are expressing "Who is the higher one; a speaker or a listener." So "먹습니다." corresponds to "食べます。" However, '召し上がる' is not expressing "Who is the higher one; a speaker or a listener." It expresses politeness to the subject of the verb.(NOT "the subject of a sentence") And '召し上がる' corresponds to '드시다' in Korean. '드시다' has exactly same meaning with '먹다' which means EAT, but we have to use '드시다' if we want to express politeness to the person who is eating. In Korean, we use some special vocabularies to express politeness to the subject of the verb. And this can not be used when the subject of the verb is the SPEAKER. I'll give an example. (O) 내가 빵을 먹다. (I eat bread.) -> 해라체 HAERACHE (O) 제가 빵을 먹습니다. (I eat bread.) -> 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE (X) 내가 빵을 드시다. -> special vocabulary(polite to "I") + 해라체 HAERACHE (O) 할머니께서 빵을 드십니다. (A grandmother eats bread.) -> special vocabulary(polite to "A grandmother") + 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) To use '召し上がる' and '드시다' in other sentences, I eat (object). (O) 私が食べる。= 내가 먹다. -> 해라체 HAERACHE (O) 私が食べます。= 내가 먹습니다. -> 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) (X) 私が召し上がる。= 내가 드시다. -> special vocabulary(polite to "I") + 해라체 HAERACHE (X) 私が召し上がります。= 내가 드십니다. -> special vocabulary(polite to "I") + 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) Our customer eats (object). (O but not polite enough) お客さんが食べる。= 손님께서 먹다. -> 해라체 HAERACHE (O but not polite enough) お客さんが食べます。= 손님께서 먹습니다. -> 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) (O) お客さんが召し上がる。= 손님께서 드시다. -> special vocabulary(polite to "customer") + 해라체 HAERACHE (O) お客さんが召し上がります。= 손님께서 드십니다. -> special vocabulary(polite to "customer") + 하십시오체 HASHIPSIOCHE(polite to a listener) It's so complicated concept so I explained very very very simply(?). Korean grammar is extremely difficult even though its letters, Hangul, are incredibly easy.(even for Koreans lol) Thank you for reading this looooooong difffficult grammar stuff! XD
Thank you for your input. I said basically three levels and did not get into it deeply. Your input is quite helpful because I want to do a video on comparing Japanese and Korean in which I want to discuss it more in-depth. I do realize that Koeran has seven speech levels; Hasoseo-che (하소서체), Hapsyo-che (하십시오체), Haoche (하오체), Hageche(하게체), Haerache (해라체), Haeyoche(해요체) and Haeche(해체)... ach level showing a different level of formality and politeness to the audience. I have also seen references that say Korean distinguishes grammatically six levels of politeness, often referred to as speech styles: formal, semiformal, polite, familiar, intimate, and plain.
I'm pretty fluent in Japanese since I lived in Japan 2014-early 2020, and I took a college class in Chinese almost 12 years ago. I also studied a tiny bit of Korean before visiting in 2018. I think if I wanted to learn a language beyond the basics other than Japanese, I would do Korean, since the grammar is similar enough and hangeul took no time to learn.
excellent choice especially if you are into Korean culture
Hey, I'm interested in learning all these languages. Could you maybe make a step by step video how to learn these languages at the same time or which ones first. I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't know where to start. Thanks a lot.
Thank you for the suggestion. You might want to take a look at my other videos on how I learned languages such as: kzhead.info/sun/q8mior6JmWVmi68/bejne.htmlsi=Yqn9az0hDbAVqxbq and kzhead.info/sun/i7qTpNimmYJ6ZXk/bejne.htmlsi=_g83ikWOPpVZChhJ
@@polyglotdreams thank you. I will watch Them now
I learned Japanese first, then Korean, now Chinese, but I haven't delved more than an ankle deep into Vietnamese, but it would be a fun venture.
I love traveling in Vietnam so that has always been a strong incentive to learn the language.
Can you post a video of you speaking vietnamese? I’m just so curious of the way you speak. I’ve never known anyone who can speak Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese. That’s so surreal. I’m a vietnamese, btw.
Lol OK I will speak more Vietnamese in a future video.
Currently learning Mandarin Chinese and my plan is to learn: Mandarin Chinese 🇹🇼 Japanese 🇯🇵 Korean 🇰🇷 Spanish 🇪🇸 But I wouldn't mind learning Vietnamese too
Do it... it will be much easier with that accumulated knowledge
@@polyglotdreams I will try :) I love Asian countries so much 🤠 actually!! I enjoy their delightful culture, rich history, delicious food etc. Hopefully 🤞🍀 things will go alright
Me too!
@@chrisbeats7941 Yay 😁 You too are learning Mandarin?! That's cool 😎 Do you also want to learn the languages I want to learn?
@@Magyarosivatuvaluk Yes! You can label me as a beginner who's learning mandarin. Sure, let's do this!
Solute to your amount of knowledge!
Thanks
Thanks for making such a helpful video like this! Also, I have some questions.. Is finding a motivation really important to speak these languages fluently?
Yes, definitely... it is what drives you to make the most effort.
Great video! I have one curiosity: do you feel like your personality changes when you switch languages because of the availability of words and ways of expressing your thoughts? Greetings from a young quadrilingual! 😊
Thanks! I am planning on making a video on the subject of how switching languages affects expression of one's personality.
Koreanic language family contains Japonic or vise versa, still there is a lot of discussion about it. I believe, at least, they have common ancestor Korean kids can just easily learn Japanese just by watching anime but same thing never happen with other languages(like Chinese, Vietnamese, English)
I have always felt they had to be related.
Thanks for your videos Tim You are truly an inspiration for us language lovers! I am from Brazil, besides Portuguese I am able to speak English and Italian (and some Spanish of course, but I don't put that one on my resume, lmao) But I am currently studying German and Russian I tried Korean for a year, but hadn't much progress in almost a year studying 5x a week It's just a steep language, you know? The sentence order is tricky for my brain, I mean, German is also complicated in this aspect, but not as much as Korean. I read that Chinese use a sentence structure more similar to the western (SVO), I wonder if you have less struggle when I start learning. My dream is to be able to speak those 3 asian languages (Japanese, Chinese and Korean), but I currenctly only know basic Korean. I liked the fact that you mentioned the Brazilian music and literature in your video talking about the Russian interview, I truly believe that you need to connect with the culture before trying to learn a new language, that's why I started learning Korean in the first place, I just love the Korean movies. English is a language I never studied formally, I just got from videos talking about interesting topics here on KZhead. So yeah, I am 30 years old, and I am sure I gonna keep studying languages for the rest of my life It's an awesome process, and completely opens your mind, just with English I was able to have a good conversation with foreigners (even a German couple I meet here in Brazil, when I was visiting the city of Curitiba), I can only imagine when I reach a conversational level in more languages, the amount of content I will be able to watch, conversations I will be able to have and so much more opportunities I have a list of 10 languages I want to reach conversational level (Like a B1 or B2 at least) and others I want to give it a try just for fun, just the "tourist" level (kinda like A2), so there is a long road ahead. PS: Your portuguese is GREAT, for real
Thank you so much for the warm greetings and sharing your experiences. I wish you a joyful learning journey!
As a person who had give up learning Japanese, this video make me want to learn it again. Am I fcking lucky when found this video?
Awesome 👏 go for it
I'm learning Japanese and Chinese but Chinese not as seriously, I study Chinese only using pinyin for now, I'm not very interested on reading in Chinese but I do read in Japanese
Great... keep it up... you will be rewarded by your efforts.
Such an informative video! As a Vietnamese, should I learn Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, then Korean in that order if speaking & listening are my top priorities? Or other suggestive order? Thanks, Professor Tim.
I would suggest Mandarin... Cantonese... Japanese and then Korean.
@@polyglotdreamsI'd think for Vietnamese it makes sense to learn Cantonese before Mandarin. When Vietnamese borrowed Chinese loan words, it's from Cantonese that they borrowed. Also Cantonese is closer to classic Chinese pronunciation. Korean and Japanese borrowed Chinese words in ancient time and so their pronunciation is closer to Cantonese too even though Korea and Japan are near northern China.
@@polyglotdreamsphải nói là as a vietnamese Person mới đúng phải không thầy. As a vietnamese là sai.
@@HungPham-ki9wuAs a Vietnamese Là đủ rồi😂 Đừng có ra vẻ là hiểu biết nhiều ở đây có nhiều người hiểu biết hon nha 😂
@@verumverba5711 bạn nói vậy người ta cười cho đấy. Vietnamese là tính từ chưa bao giờ là danh từ. Lỗi này không biết bao nhiêu kênh tiếng anh sửa rồi.
I've studied Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Vietnamese and they have helped me learn each other to an extent. Hopefully I'll be able to get to Korean before too long.
That's fantastic... thanks for sharing.
I'm about to start my multi language learning journey. Gonna be learning ( on my own mind you ): Japanese, Chinese ( Mandarin ), Korean, and Russian. I'm an American English speaker. And I'm wanting to learn those languages due to an interest i have in Asian and Russian culture. I find both cultures quite interesting. Plus, i like me a challenge.
Fantastic... all the best to you.
Cháu đang học tiếng Trung và tiếng Nhật và cảm thấy rõ tiếng Trung cháu học rất nhanh và phát âm rất tốt. Tiếng Nhật thì chậm hơn một chút bởi vì hơn 90% cấu trúc của tiếng nhật hoàn toàn khác với tiếng Việt. Bởi vậy coi video cháu hiểu rõ chú nói gì. Video hay như vậy mà tại sao lại có bình luận tiêu cực. Cháu khuyên chú nên bỏ qua họ và đừng tốn thời gian trả lời với họ. Họ mang năng lượng tiêu cực không đáng để chú quan tâm!
Học tốt nhé bạn
With so many views there are bound to be some negative comments... often it is by people who have no idea what they are talking about LOL Thanks for the encouraging words!
I'm South korean who was in Vietnam for 10 years. And also I'm learning Japanese and Chinese. This video is so helpful for me to understand why I feel easier to learn Asian language than Spanish. so I gave up learning Spanish lol😂
Thanks so much for confirming it from your direct experience.
Curious to hear your experience with Vietnamese. I’m learning Korean. Which one is easiest for you, Chinese or Japanese or Viet? Btw where did you live in Vietnam? Pronunciation depends on the region that you lived in.
월남어 전공이신가요?
@@huylenam5098 Well, I learned Vietnamese at the young age. So I'm more fluent in Vietnamese than other languages. But I think Japanese is the easiest language for Korean people. Cause there is no tones and intonation. Bunch of Korean feel hard to pronounce Vietnamese alphabet and to follow the tones lol. And I was in quan 1 in Hochiminh city.
@@ChaoAnna it makes sense with Japanese and Korean pronunciation. I’m originally from Saigon too. Now I live in USA and where I live is surrounded by Korean so that’s why I’m learning Korean. I like your Vietnamese lessons I will share with my Korean friends cuz they want to learn Vietnamese
I am Japanese and I study vietnamese. and I found a lot of similar words. for example 結婚(marry) kekkon / ket hon 離婚(divorce) rikon / ly hon 連絡(contact) renraku / lien lac 隔離(quarantine) kakuri / cach ly 注意(attention) chui / chu y 意見(opinion) iken / y kien 管理(manage) kanri / quan ly 衣服(clothes) ifuku / y phuc 大使館(embassy) taishikan / dai su quan 寄宿舎(domitory) kishukusha / ky tuc xa
You will also find this Sino vocabulary in Korean.
ขอบคุณสำหรับวิดีโอครับ ภาษาไทย เมื่อเทียบกับเวียดนามและจีน ส่วนใหญ่จะคล้ายแต่ก็มีต่างกันนิดหน่อยในเรื่องรูปประโยค ส่วนใหญ่ต่างกันเรื่องคำศัพท์มากกว่า ส่วนญี่ปุ่นกับเกาหลีนี่...ถ้าเป็นญี่ปุ่นก็เรื่องเขียนตัวอักษร ส่วนเกาหลีคงเป็นเรื่องการออกเสียง ส่วนตัวผมว่าเรียนคลาสสิคละตินยังง่ายกว่าเรียนญี่ปุ่นเกาหลีทั้งในแง่การออกเสียงและเขียน 😑แต่ตอนนี้ฝึกเวียดนามเป็นหลัก ภาษาจีนนิดหน่อยครับ ขอบคุณครับ🙏
คุณก็คือคนที่มีประสบการณ์หลายภาษาเหมือนกันเลยนะครับ! ขอบคุณมากที่แบ่งปันความรู้และประสบการณ์ของคุณเกี่ยวกับภาษาไทย และที่สำคัญคือความรู้เรื่องการเปรียบเทียบกับภาษาเช่นเวียดนาม, จีน, ญี่ปุ่น, และเกาหลี ที่ท่านกล่าวถึงเรื่องความคล้ายคลึงและความแตกต่างในรูปประโยคและคำศัพท์ นั่นมีความน่าสนใจมากเลยครับ การเรียนรู้หลายภาษาที่มีตัวเองมีความคล้ายคลึงและท้าทายต่างๆ เป็นประสบการณ์ที่น่าจดจำและน่าสนุกเสมอ เป็นที่ดีที่คุณกำลังฝึกภาษาต่างๆ อย่างเช่นเวียดนาม, จีน, และภาษาไทย เป็นหลัก และขอบคุณที่ให้ความสนใจในวิดีโอของเราครับ! ทีมงานยินดีที่ได้เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของการเรียนรู้ของคุณ หากมีคำถามเพิ่มเติมหรือต้องการทราบข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมใดๆ อย่าลังเลที่จะถามมานะครับ 🌟🙏
Happy 1st advent, it was interesting hearing about the language family tree of how languages are connected, it is the same with the germanic languages, of how they are connected, like, if you know swedish, you will already know all the scandinavian languages and as well german.
Same to you! Well it is a bit different in that these languages are not in the same family but because of the cultural influence of China they share many similarities.
@@polyglotdreams Thanks and yes,, they are different cultures too.
@@jonasmark2009 no, all 4 countries are similar culturally, it is called Sinosphere or east asian culture. Chinese characters are an important element in their culture
Before you started studing Korean or Japanese, I think you should understand first that the three countries has got many cultural exchanges for more than 2,000years and that's the reason why there are so many Chinese words in both Korean and Japanese. Also in ancient times, lots of Koreans crossed the Korea strait and went to Japan for about 1,000 years. Even Japanese royal family has a close family tie with a Korean ancient royal family. Not only chinese words, there are many of natural words that has same origine btw Korean and Japanese. Mongolian and Manchurian are also similiar language with Korean and Japanese.
Yes... true 👍